London, 9th November 2007: New research released today by Costa, the UK’s fastest growing coffee chain, reveals that 77% of UK readers have enjoyed a book* so much the first time that they’ve gone back to read it again. {Full article here.}
I’ll post the top twenty reread books, as listed in the article quoted above, but first I have to say: Coffee chain? What, do you suppose, would prompt a coffee chain to poll this sort of thing? And how was it done? Informal conversation? A survey? A long essay which had to be filled out before your low fat no whip double mocha latte would be passed over the counter? But anyway, here, as promised, is that top twenty:
The Top 20 Revisited Reads:
1. The Harry Potter Series by J.K Rowling
2. The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien
3. Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen
4. The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien
5. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
6. 1984 by George Orwell
7. The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown
8. The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis
9. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
10. Catch 22 by Joseph Heller
11. Notes from a Small Island by Bill Bryson
12. To Kill a Mocking Bird by Harper Lee
13. Flowers in the Attic by Virginia Andrews
14. Black Beauty by Anna Sewell
15. Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett
16. The Bible
17. Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
18. Bridget Jones’s Diary by Helen Fielding
19. Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
20. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
So, if you do revisit certain books, did you see yours on the list? If not, what are some titles you find yourself going back to?
I find that the books which I have read over and over (and those that I would like to if I ever have time) are mostly books which I read when I was young. I think I invested more in my reading then — I didn’t have so many other things to occupy my time. Reading then was more my life, as opposed to a diversion. Anyway, the ones that come immediately to mind
are The Prince And The Pauper, the Black Stallion books, The Scarlet Pimpernel, Little Women (I’m surprised that wasn’t on the Top Twenty list — perhaps it would have been if the poll had been taken in America), To Kill A Mockingbird, Light In The Forest, Big Red, Mrs. Mike… I could go on, but I won’t. Thanks for reminding me of these!