Re-Read, Rewrite, Burn!

Hey, y'all! So I've seen this game floating around Booktube and I've always thought it looked like fun, but I'm always really busy and don't have time to make a full post devoted to the game. But huzzah, a wild FALL BREAK appears! 

So the basic gist of the game is that it's like Kiss/Marry/Kill except with books. You write books on slips of paper and fold them up and then pull out 3 at a time. And of those 3, you have to choose to re-read one, rewrite one, and burn one. Because I wanted to go all out, I wrote down basically all of the books on my shelf that I've read. A few got left out, but they weren't important enough to make the list. And I had way too much fun making this. So let's jump right into it.

Round #1

 The Diviners by Libba Bray 

City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by JK Rowling

This one was a doozy, and it was only the first one, so I knew that this was going to be really hard. I love all three of these books, so I didn't want to burn any of them. Eventually, however, I had to make a decision...

There was obviously no chance of me burning The Prisoner of Azkaban. And it's too perfect to rewrite. So it was the clear re-read. The Diviners was really great, but I could definitely have done with less of the colloquial language of the time. Cut out a couple of the annoying analogies, and it would be even better. While I love City of Ashes, it's not my favorite in its series, and the Jace/Clary drama made me want to rip my hair out.

Round #2

Raven Rise (Pendragon Bk. 9) by DJ MacHale

The Tales of Beedle the Bard by JK Rowling

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by JK Rowling

I originally had this one a certain way and then changed it...

You're probably looking at me like I have a million heads right now. I've made it very clear that Harry Potter is the best series ever, and that Deathly Hallows is one of my favorite books ever, ever, ever. So why am I choosing to rewrite it? One reason and one reason alone. I would change one single thing. Fred. The end. Otherwise, it's perfect. But I'd jump at the chance to change that. Yes. I originally chose to rewrite Raven Rise because there are some things in it that I wasn't super happy with, but the chance to change the Fred thing was too great to pass up. So I'd definitely re-read Raven Rise. And I like Tales of Beedle the Bard, and it serves a great purpose within the Harry Potter series, but it's not that important to me, especially compared to the other two books.

Round #3

 City of Bones by Cassandra Clare

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by JK Rowling

The Giver by Lois Lowry

One decision was really easy to make, but the rest were not. I think that my choices on this might be a little controversial, but I don't really care because it's how I feel.

I read The Giver for the first time earlier this year, and although I liked it, I wasn't incredibly impressed. I thought it was too short and didn't have as much world-building as I wanted. So it had literally no chance going up against my favorite series. Now, most of you are probably raging because I chose to re-read City of Bones over Chamber of Secrets. Hear me out. I know a lot of TMI fans don't like City of Bones as much as the rest of the series, but when I first read the series, I fell head over heels in love with City of Bones and it remains as one of my favorites in the series. It holds a very special place in my heart. Chamber of Secrets is my least favorite Harry Potter book and I would love to try to make it as perfect as the rest of the series. Is that possible? Probably not. But I'd like to try.

Round #4

 Horrorstor by Grady Hendrix

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by Meg Cabot

All-American Girl by JK Rowling

This was fairly easy for me, quite honestly...

All American Girl and Horrorstor really had no chance. Half-Blood Prince is my favorite of the Harry Potter novels and I've re-read it like 20 times and will continue to do so for the rest of my life. All American Girl has been a favorite of mine for a long time, and I don't really want to re-write it, but maybe I could just change a word or something? I don't want to do anything to it. Horrorstor isn't bad, but it definitely isn't anywhere near as great as the other two. Sorry, buddy, you got the short end of the stick.

Round #5

Divergent by Veronica Roth

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

Ignite Me by Tahereh Mafi

It was easy for me to decide which book went where, but this was definitely the most painful one because I really like all of these books. A lot. 

Like I said, I really like all three of these books. The easiest decision was to burn Ignite Me. I really like it, but the other two are ultimate all-time faves, so unfortunately it couldn't quite stack up. And, as much as I enjoyed Divergent, Ready Player One was actual perfection. I'm sure I could find a couple words to change in Divergent. Plus, I actually do want to re-read Ready Player One. Even though I read it only 2 months ago.

Round #6

 Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by JK Rowling

Hollow City by Ransom Riggs

This one surprisingly didn't require a ton of thought, even though two of the books are in the same series.

Re-reading Goblet of Fire was the very easy and obvious choice. Although I enjoyed both Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children and Hollow City, I thought that Hollow City was a significantly better book. There were definitely a couple things that I'd like to change in it, so I think I'd rewrite it. Miss Peregrine's is good, but doesn't stand up to the other two.

Round #7

And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie

Soldiers of Halla (Pendragon Bk. 10) by DJ MacHale

Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare

This was one of the harder ones for me, because I love all three of these books, and the idea of burning any of them is just a terrible and daunting task. And I think this one will be another somewhat controversial one...

And Then There Were None is my favorite stand-alone novel, so there was no way that one was getting burned. I'll just re-read it for the millionth time. I loved both The Soldiers of Halla and Clockwork Angel, but I would have to rewrite The Soldiers of Halla. Those first 70 pages with the info dumping... those could use a little help. And I liked it more than Clockwork Angel in the first place. I love the Infernal Devices, but Clockwork Angel is my least favorite of the trilogy. But I do still love it, I promise!

Round #8

The Lost City of Faar (Pendragon Bk. 2) by DJ MacHale

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

Allegiant by Veronica Roth

This is definitely one of the easier ones, given how much I love one of these books and dislike another of them...

These were basically all no-brainers. I actually need to re-read Brave New World because it's been more than 2 years since I read it, so I've forgotten quite a few things. I'd definitely want to rewrite The Lost City of Faar because Cloral is my favorite of the Pendragon territories and I would want to take more advantage of the territory and add more fun adventures into the plot. And burning Allegiant was a pretty easy choice. I didn't enjoy the way that it ended the trilogy. Not because of the big, spoilery thing that I'm not going to mention, but I just didn't like the direction it took the trilogy.

Round #9

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

The Fault in our Stars by John Green

I thought it was really funny that these three are all YA contemporary books, and they're all 3 in my top 15 stand-alones. And they're also basically the 3 most popular YA contemporary novels. So I'm going to be stepping on some toes. But this one actually wasn't that hard. Sorry, not sorry. 

OK, hear me out here. The easiest choice was to burn The Perks of Being a Wallflower. It's a great book, but I like the other two more than it. Then, I was going back and forth as to what to do about the other two. Currently, Fangirl is sitting at #7 on my favorite stand-alones, while TFioS is at #8. So my love for them is pretty equal. However, I realized that if I rewrote TFioS, I could change the ending. And obviously, who wouldn't want to do that. So I decided to rewrite TFioS. And honestly, what could I do to Fangirl to make it more perfect? Nothing. The answer is nothing.

Round #10

Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher

The Never War (Pendragon Bk. 3) by DJ MacHale

This is Your Brain on Music by Daniel Levitin

Choosing which of these to burn was the easy part. The rest? Not so much.

The Never War is one of my least favorite Pendragon books. It's good, but it doesn't stand up to the other two, because they're both in my top 10 stand-alones. I can't burn them. Between the two, I've re-read Thirteen Reasons Why several times, but I've read This is Your Brain on Music only once and really need to re-read it. So the choice was tough. In the end, I didn't think I could change anything about Thirteen Reasons Why. It's too great. And I feel like I'm somewhat qualified to rewrite This is Your Brain on Music, since I study Music and Psychology. At the very least, I might get rid of the chapter with intense musical definitions, because they're unnecessary for me and I just skipped it anyway.

Round #11

Unravel Me by Tahereh Mafi

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by JK Rowling

1984 by George Orwell

OK, y'all. Prepare yourselves please. Allow me to explain before you grab your pitchforks and burn me at the stake.

Unravel Me had absolutely no chance against the other two. I like the Shatter Me series, but it's not my favorite by any stretch of the imagination. Now, when it comes to Order of the Phoenix and 1984, I actually enjoy Order of the Phoenix more. However, my decision came down to which one I would prefer to rewrite. My initial reaction was to rewrite the ending of 1984, but it makes a big statement and even though I dislike the ending for the characters and story, I love the statement that Orwell is making with the ending. So I couldn't possibly change it. If I rewrote Order of the Phoenix, I could just cut out a few Harry angst moments. We all know that there were a few too many paragraphs that were entirely in caps lock.

Round #12

The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

Across The Universe by Beth Revis

172 Hours on the Moon by Johan Harstad

This one was possibly the hardest one to figure out. It wasn't particularly painful, I just had absolutely no idea as to which book would go in which category.

Typically, the book that I choose to re-read is my favorite of the group. However, my favorite book in this one is Across The Universe. My one big qualm that I had with Across The Universe was that I figured out who the "villain" was within the first like... 30 pages. It was incredibly obvious. I'd just fix that and the book would be even better than it is now. And I'd also change the fate of a certain character. If you've read the book, you know who I'm talking about. And of the two left, I'd want to re-read The Lightning Thief, because I want to finish that series. So 172 Hours on the Moon gets burned. Like I said, this one was really difficult. It could've gone several different ways. I almost re-read Across The Universe, rewrote 172 Hours on the Moon, and burned The Lightning Thief. Because 172 Hours on the Moon could probably be fixed with a rewrite because its biggest problem was pacing. But I decided I'd rather make Across The Universe even better.

Round #13

Mr. Penumbra's 24 Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan

The Reality Bug (Pendragon Bk. 4) by DJ MacHale

Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare

Once again, this one was actually really simple and painless for me...

I chose to re-read Clockwork Prince because it's my favorite of the three. And I would definitely love to rewrite The Reality Bug. I love the whole concept of Lifelight and would love to delve into it even further. It's just so interesting to me. And honestly, I liked Mr. Penumbra's but it's not my favorite. I'd rather burn it than the other two any day.

Round #14

The Merchant of Death (Pendragon Bk. 1) by DJ MacHale

City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare

Unsaid Things: Our Story by McFly

This one was painful. These books are all very important to me, and I was not excited about having to burn one.

I had to re-read Unsaid Things. I actually need to re-read it IRL, so it made even more sense to choose it as the re-read. When left with the other two to choose which to rewrite and which to burn, I was very conflicted. My favorite character in The Mortal Instruments isn't exactly themselves in City of Lost Souls, and it drives me crazy because I hate seeing them like that, but it's integral to the plot, so I really can't change it. Whereas, I'd kinda like to take The Merchant of Death and make it a little less middle grade and more full-fledged YA. So I'd rewrite Merchant of Death and burn City of Lost Souls so that I could forget all the crap that my favorite character went through in that book.

Round #15

The Rivers of Zadaa (Pendragon Bk. 6) by DJ MacHale

Shades of Earth by Beth Revis

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by JK Rowling

This one took a bit of thought but in the end, it wasn't too difficult.

The first decision I made was to burn The Rivers of Zadaa. It's my least favorite Pendragon book and it's just not as good as Shades of Earth or Sorcerer's Stone. I went back and forth between Shades of Earth and Sorcerer's Stone for what to rewrite, but ultimately decided that I couldn't rewrite Sorcerer's Stone. And I would really like to change the fate of one of the characters in Shades of Earth. I don't want to spoil it for anyone who hasn't read the series, but if you're curious about who it is, just ask in the comments and I'll tell you. 

Round #16

City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare

A Million Suns by Beth Revis

City of Heavenly Fire by Cassandra Clare

Oh yay, another round full of my favorite series...

I really like all three of these books. But I'd have to burn City of Fallen Angels. It's not subjectively my personal least favorite in the series, but I do think that it's objectively the worst in the series. Between A Million Suns and City of Heavenly Fire, I would definitely have to rewrite City of Heavenly Fire. I love it a lot, but near the end, something happens to a character that I really love and I would want to change that character's fate. 

Round #17

Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

City of Glass by Cassandra Clare

The Princess Bride by William Goldman

Once again, this one was pretty easy...

The obvious choice here was to burn Shatter Me. I did not like the first book in that trilogy. At all. That's a bit of an exaggeration, but it wasn't that great. I absolutely love City of Glass, so I would gladly re-read it. And then I'd rewrite The Princess Bride to be exactly like the movie. Because that's the one movie that I actually like better than the book. Because I saw the movie when I was 9 and fell in love and then didn't read the book until I was almost 17. 

Round #18

The Pilgrims of Rayne (Pendragon Bk. 8) by DJ MacHale

The Quillan Games (Pendragon Bk. 7) by DJ MacHale

Black Water (Pendragon Bk. 5) by DJ MacHale

I was very displeased to see that I pulled 3 Pendragon books...

It wasn't hard to choose which got what, because I've ranked all of the Pendragon books, but it was painful. These three are all in my top 4 Pendragon books. So I really love all 3 of these. I decided to re-read The Pilgrims of Rayne because it's my favorite Pendragon book. I decided to rewrite The Quillan Games because I'd just like to do more with the super cool territory of Quillan. It's one of my favorites. And I'd have to burn Black Water. It has one of the best Pendragon plots, so it makes me really sad to burn it, but I'm not a fan of Eelong. So it doesn't hurt as much as it could have.

Round #19

Carrie by Stephen King

Insurgent by Veronica Roth

Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare

Thankfully, we end with a rather easy round...

I'm obviously going to re-read Clockwork Princess. Because it's the epitome of perfection. Like holy crap. And I'd really like to try to improve Insurgent. Because I really, really love Divergent and I'd like to try to fix the sequel so that it's worthy of being called the sequel to Divergent. Because I'm not a huge fan of the 2nd and 3rd books in the trilogy. And then I'd have to burn Carrie, which makes me sad. But I could never rewrite it because my writing style is way too different from Stephen King's. It just wouldn't mold together correctly. 

So that's it for the Re-Read, Rewrite, Burn game! I hope you loved this as much as I did! Let me know if you'd like me to do another one, because I'd be 100% down to do that. 

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