It’s difficult to justify reading something you’ve read before, and can easily seem like a waste of time when there are so few hours in the day and so many other things on your reading list. But, now, with nothing but time on our hands, perhaps it’s about time you did pay a much-loved book from a time gone by another visit. Never has there been such a good opportunity to revisit your favourite books. Here are some of our best books to re-read during isolation:

1. Harry Potter – J.K. Rowling (obviously!)

I don’t think we even need to justify this. Witches and wizards, spells and Quidditch. Join Harry, Ron and Hermione as they fight he-who-shall-not-be-named all the while doing their best to avoid being “killed, or, worse, expelled!” The comfort and familiarity, yet escapist magical world, of Hogwarts is obviously exactly what we need right now.

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2. Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen

Re-live the romantic dramas had by Lizzie Bennet and her four sisters in this out and out classic. Send our love to Bingley, Darcy and the rest. Whilst this is certainly in our top pick of the best books to re-read during isolation, if you’ve already read it a zillion and one times, and know the words to the Colin Firth film version like the back of your hand, why not watch one of these more, um, creative adaptations or iterations of the story.

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3. The Princess Diaries – Meg Cabot

OMG, this was the book of our childhoods. If you were born between 1990 and 2000 then there is a very large chance that this was the series that taught you what to expect from being a teenager. Mia was the perfect heroine even before she discovered she was a princess, but once that revelation had been made the story took the most wonderful series of turns. All we know is that we were at the front of the line to the book shop every time a new instalment was released and that we will forever hold Meg Cabot responsible for labelling Lichtenstein ‘Genovia’ in all of our Geography tests. Thanks Meg. Nevertheless, the series definitely makes it onto our list of the best books to re-read during isolation.

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4. The Secret Garden – Frances Hodgson Burnett

There’s no better time to re-read this children’s classic than this month as we are due a remake release come end of April (corona-pending; it may well be delayed). The indomitable Mary is as relevant as ever. Spoilt she may be, but her anger and contrariness are a mask for a deep, fundamental loneliness. A great read to ignite the imagination during isolation and to remind you of nature’s incredible power to heal (even if we can’t actually be in nature right now).

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5. The Bell Jar – Sylvia Plath

The Bell Jar is the utterly unputdownable bildungsroman by one of the most talented observers of the 20th century. Plath’s astute commentary in coming of age as a woman of her time is still relevant today, and although times and socio-political clime have altered, the fundaments of the emotional inner-life described in the novella remain as true today as ever they were. You won’t regret re-reading this (plus it will only take you a couple of hours).

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6. The Great Gatsby – F. Scott Fitzgerald

Whilst it may be true that we’re all enjoying ‘quarantinis’ and virtual house parties right now, there is nothing quite like the glamour and razzle-dazzle of one of Gatsby’s parties to get you excited for all the IRL social gatherings that are to come once we’re out the ‘other side’ of our current predicament. Pour yourself a very stiff drink and curl up with one of the finest – and most fun – novels of all time. Guaranteed to add some charm and splendour to your – otherwise the-same-as-the-day-before-and-the-day-before-that – day.

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7. The Secret History – Donna Tartt

NGL, this book made our list because we were chatting about it the other day and realised that whilst all of us had read it, and all of us had loved it, none of us could actually remember what happened. Whether this was because we all read it so long ago, or because we were so taken with the prose that the plot just passed us by, we couldn’t discern. What we did agree on, though, is that there will probably never be another time like the present to re-read this absolute stonker of a novel, and so we should probably milk it and remind ourselves of exactly what did happen to Bunny and the rest.

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