Old Favourites

The librarians tremble when they see my family coming through the door. We haul in our bags, bursting with borrowed books, dump them down the chute, then make for the bookshelves, where we’ll strip the shelves.

The problem with borrowing so many books though, is that after a while, you run out of unread books. The library seems to take forever to get new books in. Sometimes I struggle to find books I haven’t read, books I might like to read.

Last library trip however, was a bit different. There was the usual selection of books, the usual empty bag, waiting to be filled, the usual lack of unread, interesting books. But this time, I saw a shelf of old favourites. The Billabong books by Mary Grant Bruce.

That got me thinking. How long had it been since I’d last read her series? I could hardly remember the plots now. Well, maybe it was time to reread them. I took the whole lot.

It was the same when I located Brian Jacques’ Redwall books. Pleasant memories of talking animals, big badgers, fast hares, brave mice, flooded back. I hadn’t read these books in ages either. A couple of them quickly found their way into my bag.

Later, at home once more, I opened a Billabong book and was instantly transported back in time, back to cattle drovers, horse riding, and camping. Sucked into that world, I worked my way through six of those books in a couple of days. How could I have forgotten to read these books?

With the Redwall books, my only sorrow was that I hadn’t borrowed more. Why on earth didn’t I reread books like these more often? Why hadn’t I borrowed more than two? Now I’d have to wait until next library trip to get some more.

Suddenly I’ve remembered how good these books are. Now I’m thinking, wondering what other books are lying around, read once, and then forgotten. I’m sure if I look hard enough, I’d find more books I’d loved once, more old favourites abandoned for newer, fresher books.

I’ll always be looking for new books to read, new books to become my favourites. But I won’t be forgetting my old favourites in a hurry. I wonder, which ones will I reread next?

Have you reread any old favourites recently?