The Year of Rereading | Book Club of 2026

The Prophet – Kahlil Gibran

We will start the year with good advice and motivation. The Prophet is one of my favourite spiritual works. A beautiful and poetic work that advises on how to lead a good life. The advice feels relevant no matter where you stand in your life right now; it is timeless. The book is short and can be read in a week or less. If you want to explore Gibran’s writing more, I would also recommend reading The Broken Wings as a bonus book. Very short as well, but a beautiful love story.

Jane Eyre – Charlotte Brontë

In February, we will tackle a long and famous classic: Jane Eyre. Most have heard of this book, but not all have read it. It is one of my favourite novels of all time. The story follows Jane, an orphaned girl raised by her aunt, who dislikes her and sends her away to a religious boarding school. As a reader, you follow her rebellions in childhood, her friendships, and her hardships. Later on, when she is an adult and ready to start her first job, we are taken to a gothic castle filled with new and interesting characters. A book that should be read at least once in a lifetime, if you ask me.

Orlando – Virginia Woolf

In March, we continue with another strong-willed character, but this time in a time-unbound world of Virginia Woolf. This was the first novel I read by Woolf, and it made me fall in love with her writing. Whimsical, adventurous, and original. Woolf’s writing can be complex at first; she writes in a string-of-though style. Orlando is definitely one of her more experimental works, but it is such a treat to read it for the first time, and I think even better to reread it once more.

The Hobbit & The Lord of the Rings

These three months, we will focus on the works of J.R.R. Tolkien. In April, we start with The Hobbit. I read this book multiple times in my childhood, but I never revisited it as an adult, and I had never read it in its original English.

In May and June, we will read the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy. It does not matter which edition you pick, but I will be rereading the one that contains all three books. In contrast to The Hobbit, I never read these books as a child; I only grew up with the movies. The first two books of the trilogy I read a couple of years ago, but I never got around to reading the last book (The Return of the King). So technically, I will be reading one of these books for the first time, too.

Letters to a Young Poet – Rainer Maria Rilke

For July, I have picked a very short work by Rilke; his letters on writing and life in general to a friend. This way, we will have some time to finish up The Lord of the Rings and then move on to something very different compared to the fantasy months behind us. Rilke’s letters are not meant to be only read by writers and poets; they are timeless and relevant to everyone, just as Gibran’s Prophet, but maybe less spiritual; they ground the spirit more to earth. I found them difficult to understand the first time, and I hope that a reread would open up his thoughts a bit more to me.

Kokoro – Natsume Soseki

I had to include one of my favourite Japanese classics on this list. Kokoro is a unique story about the friendship between a student and an older man whom he calls teacher (sensei, 先生). Kokoro (心) in Japanese means heart, but the meaning of this character (kanji) goes deeper than just the word heart. In Japanese, heart and mind are bound in this character, and represent usually someone’s state of mind or spirit. It has been a long time ago that I read this novel, and I want to revisit the friendship between a troubled youth and an isolated old man.

The Haunting of Hill House – Shirley Jackson

After having read some romantic classics and fantasy, we are going to step into the realm of darkness and autumn. And there is no better start than Jackson’s Hill House; of course, a classic of its own. This is a psychological ghost story or haunted house story done really well. Just like with Henry James’ The Turn of the Screw, in Hill House, you are never sure if there really is a haunting or just some minds playing tricks on themselves and others.

If you have read this novel before, then you know how well it is written and how much fun it is to read it during the colder and darker months. If not, please do not compare the story to Mike Flanagan’s adaptation of Hill House, which is a masterpiece in its own right, however, completely different from Jackson’s. Go in with an open mind and let yourself be surprised by the House.

The Halloween Tree – Ray Bradbury

If you love Autumn, October, and horror as much as me, then you probably have a lot of books planned to read during this month. So I will keep it short and to the point: The Halloween Tree. It will be my third time reading this children’s novel, and I bet it will not fail to surprise me again and again. Bradbury’s writing is difficult to compare to anyone else’s. It is simultaneously flowery, poetical, and gloomy. I feel like no child in our day will appreciate such a book, but there used to be a time when children were reading his novels at night to scare themselves. The Halloween Tree or Something Wicked This Way Comes are both perfect for October, and both are worth rereading. Pick your favourite, but I’m going for the mystical night of Halloween. The story is about a group of boys looking for their friend and discovering the origins of All Hallows Eve.

The Picture of Dorian Grey – Oscar Wilde (uncensored edition)

This is another undeniable Gothic horror classic. I will be reading the uncensored edition this time, but you can pick any preferred edition. The story is as old as civilisation itself; an elitist and rich young man is becoming more and more corrupt through his lifestyle and his choices, but he remains beautiful and wealthy. Only his portrait shows the real picture of his mind. Despite the dark theme surrounding the downfall of our antagonist, the novel is also a love story, a toxic one, but still a love story.

The Shining – Stephen King

Finishing the year and starting winter with, in my opinion, King’s best work: The Shining. There is no better time than to read this novel during the winter months. The story follows Danny, a little boy who has to move to the Overlook Hotel with his parents for the winter because his father got a job there as a caretaker of the estate. When the snow falls, they will be isolated from the rest of the world and the only ones there. The question is: is there something wrong with the hotel or with Danny’s parents? The psychological terror in this book reminds me of Jackson’s Hill House; however, both stories are very different from each other.