10 authors I want to try again
Yes, I may have been wrong the first time around.
While I’ve only recently started DNF-ing (not finishing) books on a somewhat regular basis, I’ve always been pretty decisive about my reading takes. Even years later, I can have a pretty gut reaction to a book cover if I know it’s something I didn’t love when I picked it up. Like grudges in my personal life (oops!), I generally don’t let those things go.
I don’t always think it’s worthwhile to go back and try a specific book again, but that doesn’t mean that authors I didn’t love the first time around don’t deserve another shot. In fact, there are a lot of writers who I’d like to explore further, even if I haven’t historically been a huge fan.
Here are a few reasons that I think it’s worth trying again with a particular author…
As readers and as people, we evolve! There are many reasons that I might respond differently to an author after several years have passed.
Writers also evolve! Perhaps an author’s debut wasn’t my cup of tea, but their future books could be a huge diversion in terms of style, substance, and more.
As I’ve talked about in other bookish posts, sometimes, a book just doesn’t hit us at the right moment. The same is true for an author.
It’s a good way to test if that *one* book was a fluke.
I considered including something on that list about reacting to prevailing tastes or friends’ recommendations, but I’m actually not so sure. A lot of the authors that I want to revisit are beloved by my family members and loved ones and just didn’t land with me, but I don’t think that is, in itself, a great reason to circle back. For the record, there are plenty of authors that I have no interest in reading for the first, third, or sixth time simply because readers I trust enjoy them.
Still, our first reaction to something shouldn’t necessarily always be our final reaction to that thing, and I’m admitting it right here!
Currently Reading: The Wedding People by Alison Espach
I just started this book last night and am only about 30 pages in, but I can already see why everyone is so obsessed with it. Stay tuned for more of my thoughts next week!
Recently, I scrolled through my reading log from the past couple of years and flagged books that didn’t earn high marks but whose authors have since published other titles that have piqued my interest. And I’m sharing those authors with you today!
On the left side of the graphics below, you’ll see the books that I have already read from the indicated author. The books on the right are the ones tempting me to give these writers another go.
1. Sally Rooney
Along with what seemed like the rest of the world, I hopped right on the Sally Rooney train when she broke out in the U.S. in 2018. I can’t remember if I read Conversations With Friends or Normal People first, but whichever it was, I wasn’t blown away. Given how much buzz Rooney was getting, I figured it was a purely me problem, so I promptly picked up the other one… and was also underwhelmed. I’m still not totally sure why there was such a moment for these books, but since a couple of years have passed, I wonder if my opinion would be different! I’m especially interested in Intermezzo, which I’ve been told is a big departure from Rooney’s early work. According to my crowdsourcing, big fans of Normal People and Conversations With Friends struggled with Intermezzo—and vice versa.
2. Linda Holmes
I picked Evvie Drake Starts Over up in peak pandemic lockdown days after hearing rave reviews about it from some friends. While there were some elements of it that I enjoyed and thought were kind of fresh and cool, it was a pretty slow read for me, and I definitely didn’t share my friends’ love for it. Linda Holmes’s new book—Back After This—looks like it might be even further up my alley (podcasting! an influencer/relationship coach! a dog on the cover!), so I might give it a shot this summer.
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