Flashback Challenge Reading List

I have been trying to think of a list of books for the Flashback Challenge, but I have no idea what to choose!  It's a matter of far too many books to fill the list.  With other challenges, it is somewhat easier to choose because there are some guidelines as to what to choose, and you kind of pick books that sound good or have been recommended to you or have been sitting on your shelves for a while.  With the Flashback Challenge, you already know the book.  You know whether you like it or not.  You know what happens at the end.  You know what impact it had on your life.  And there are so many books that I want to reread, to recapture that response I had upon first reading them.  So it's very hard to pick.

Should I read a book I read when much younger?  That I loved and has a place in my heart that I cherish?  Or is it too scary to read a book from then, in case it is tarnished?  For example, will I find The Phantom Tollbooth as witty and clever now as I did at age seven?  Or will I even see my favorite characters of Anne Shirley and Gilbert Blythe from Anne of Green Gables in the same way, now that I'm a somewhat cynical adult, compared to when I was an idealistic girl?  I don't know!

Should I read a classic from high school that I really enjoyed, or one that I didn't like at all?  Or one that I didn't really "get"?  I really loved To Kill a Mockingbird and All Quiet on the Western Front when I read them for class.  I absolutely hated Lord of the Flies.  But maybe that was because I was younger and just thought it was odd.  And I think there were many aspects of A Tale of Two Cities that I missed that I might pick up on a reread.  Plus, that book takes place during one of my favorite periods, the French Revolution.

And then the list of books from adulthood... my goodness, there are too many!  Spanning all genres.  I certainly want to reread Persuasion.  I should remind myself of why it's my favorite Jane Austen book.  I also want to reread The Shadow of the Wind, mostly because I don't remember what happened in that story, except that I loved it.  And then there's Mary Stewart's Merlin trilogy, which I've been talking up a lot recently but don't really remember.  And I'd love to reread The Lions of Al-Rassan because it's been so long since I've read Guy Gavriel Kay and I'd like to brush up a bit.  And I seriously want to reread some Georgette Heyer (more on my FABULOUS Georgette Heyer find tomorrow!).

So... what to do?  I have no idea!  I am just going to make a huge list of possible titles below and see what happens... I am hoping for the Literati level myself!


1.  The Phantom Tollbooth, by Norton Juster (a book from childhood)
2.  A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens (a book from high school)
3.  All Quiet on the Western Front, by Erich Remarque (a book from high school)
4.  To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee (a book from high school)
5.  The Lions of Al-Rassan, by Guy Gavriel Kay (a book from adulthood)
6.  The Count of Monte Cristo, by Alexandre Dumas (a book from adulthood)
7.  Any number of books by Georgette Heyer (a book from adulthood)
8.  Any number of books by Terry Pratchett (a book from adulthood)
9.  Persuasion, by Jane Austen (a book from adulthood)
10.  Goblin Moon, by Teresa Edgerton (a book from adulthood)
11.  Rilla of Ingleside, by L. M. Montgomery (a book from childhood)
12.  The Enchanted Forest Chronicles, by Patricia C. Wrede (a book from childhood)

Ok.. that is where I am going to end that list!  So many books, so many options, so many difficulties choosing!  Do you suggest any of the above over another?  Or do you think I may have missed one that "everyone" read when they were younger?