Narrator: Take me to the book you wish you could reread for the first time.
Claire [white person with gray hair in purple jacket, pronouns she/her]: (laughs) I love that question!
Christine [black person with black bandana and orange shirt, pronouns they/them]: sure!
Rosie [white person in patterned dress with black cardigan, pronouns she/they]: ooβ¦
AmyΒ [white person in brown cardigan and blue shirt, pronouns she/her]: okay!
Claire: not done yet! [runs off to find another book].
Claire: (sighs) I loved both of these books so much. [holds up a book titled The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner] This is The Thief. You read the whole book, you love the whole book, and the author does this revelation at the end that you go: what?! How did she do that!
Claire: [holds up a book titled Code Name Verity by Elizabeth E. Wein] Code Name Verity, also a fabulous book, set in World War II. This is a person whoβs been captured by the Naziβs and forced to write out a confession. And she also handles that amazing trick where you get to the end and youβre like: βwhat??β And you have to go right back to the beginning and start over again. I so wish I could experience these revelations again for the first time.
Rosie: [holds up a book titled Stay and Fight by Madeline Ffitch] Alright, this is Stay and Fight by Madeline Ffitch. If youβre a queer person, you probably have at least three friends who want to start a commune in the woods. This book is about a group of queer women who actually start living off the grid in Appalachia. It has the most, like, fiercely tender writing about found family and subverting family structures that Iβve ever read. I read this book a few years ago, Iβm still thinking about it.Β
Christine: [holds up a book titled More Than This by Patrick Ness] Ah, this book would have to be More Than This by Patrick Ness. Um, itβs really hard to explain without giving it all away, but itβs essentially a kid who accidentally dies and wakes up in a coffin in a desolate world, not knowing whatβs going on, and itβs just - youβre in for a huge roller coaster, itβs so much fun.Β
Amy: [holds up a book titled Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood] I wish I could read Alias Grace again. Um,itβs about a girl who is accused and convicted of killing her employers, but she has no memory of what happened. And so sheβs being interviewed to try to figure out what happened, and itβs just every time she starts the story itβs a little bit different and the facts donβt line up so itβs an unreliable narrator. Um and you just - you get to the end and youβre still, your - your brain is just, βwhat happened?β Itβs fascinating, itβs amazing, and they made it into a Netflix series so you should definitely check it out.
Claire: Iβll take that!