Booking Through Thursday

Booking Through Thursday is a meme created at the blog of the same name that poses a different question about reading each week.

This week’s question is: What’s the first book that you ever read more than once? (I’m assuming there’s at least one.) What book have you read the most times? And–how many?

I’ve always loved to reread books. It’s why I always have to buy rather than borrow or check out of the library- I need to know that my favorite stories are at my fingertips for whenever the mood strikes me. I have no idea the title of the first book I ever reread, since it has been a lifelong habit.

I have no such problem figuring out which book I have reread the most. While I love all the books in my collection, there is one that speaks to me more loudly than the others. My mother

My first copy is slowly but surely falling apart.

handed me my first copy when I was in fifth grade. I eyed the cover skeptically, seeing no dragons or princesses, nothing in fact but a plain woman standing in a plain expanse of land. Trudging through the first fifty pages, I repeatedly wondered why I was doing this to myself, but kept reading on as my mom assured me that it got better.

Then she got to Thornfield.

I still remember sitting in math class with the book open in my lap, hidden beneath my desk. As my teacher droned on about long division, I witnessed Rochester declare his love to Jane. Finishing the chapter, I closed the book with a sigh, a flush tinging my cheeks as I acknowledged that this was the book that would stay with me my whole life. My teacher just thought I really liked integers.

There is so much I could say about Jane Eyre, but the feelings that resonate within me when I read it really aren’t suited to words. And so instead, I simply urge you to read it. Persevere through it. You won’t regret it.

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