The only problem with great writer's of yore is that when you've read everything they've written, you've read everything they've written. You can reread them, but it's just not the same. I read my first novel by Flannery O'Connor in my early twenties, and I have doled out her meager catalog bit by bit. A decade later ;), I have one collection of short stories left.
The Bible was the first adult book I read for myself. I started at five with the story of Moses in the Bulrushes. I went on to read all the usual Bible stories. Preaching had me reading the New Testament, and boredom with preaching introduced me to all the weird and wacky bits no one ever reads. The practice of a daily quiet time moved me to get my reading organized. Starting my freshman year of college, I used three different incarnations of the One Year Bible over the course of more than a decade. Rereading and rereading and rereading, even the wacky bits became overly familiar.
One of the best benefits of converting to Catholicism is that there are all these new books of the Bible to read. It feels like it would if someone discovered a lost Shakespearean play, and we could all experience his wisdom and genius in a fresh way. These new-to-me books of the Bible promise to be the Holy Spirit's fine work and work in me. Getting around to reading them has taken longer than expected, but, at last, the time has come. I have an amazing Catholic Bible I was given during my RCIA classes, but it's paperbound, four inches thick, and the other dimensions are pretty generous too. It wouldn't survive the kind of hauling around my loved books receive, so I have invested in a New Catholic Answer Bible. A rosary is embossed on the leather-like cover. The Table of Contents refers to the helpful inserts, not the books of the Bible, and a picture of Pope Francis was included free of charge. I'm starting with Tobit. Let the renewal begin!
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