Books you read over and over (and over) again

I will happily go back and reread any and all of the books I own (and do...a lot), but there are a few standouts that I make a point to reread at least once a year, if not more.

First and foremost is the entire Chronicles of Narnia. I first read all of them in...hmmm...7th grade, I think? At least once every year, I read the series again in its entirety (in the right order, damn it, even though the huge all-in-one book I own puts them in chronological order.)

Occasionally, that sends me into a kids' books binge, and I'll read all of the Song of the Lioness quartet and the Enchanted Forest Chronicles in quick succession (young adult books = very light reads, obviously, so it only takes a couple days per series.)

Charles de Lint is one of my favorite authors, and I revisit his Newford books a lot. Widdershins in particular, but really, anything with Jilly Coppercorn.

Do you have books you like to reread? It's kind of like meeting up with an old friend...except that no matter how much you change, they're always exactly the same. That's comforting sometimes.

 

Narnia is a good series, along with the Hunger Games or almost anything by Stephen King.

 

Oh, yeah! Eyes of the Dragon is a regular reread for me, too.

I've only read the Hunger Games, not the rest of the series. I'm waiting for them to come out in paperback (I have issues. Every series I own, all the books have to be in the same format. With the same cover styles.) I loved the first one, but it hasn't gotten to Epic Reread Status. Yet.

 

Frankenstein. I love the subtext and discover something new every time I read it.

 

i don't reread much. I've been through Frank Herbert's Dune series three times, though, and Isaac Asimov's Robot and Foundation novels several times.
Philip Jose Farmer's Riverworld has drawn me back, as well.

 

William Gibson - Neuromancer
Chuck Palahniuk - Rant
japanese name - Battle Royale (english translation, not the comic books)

 

I'm a bit of a fantasy nut. Some of my favourite re-reads:
Lord of the Rings (I've read this 15 or 20 times).
Magician by Raymond Feist
Piers Anthony's Incarnations of Immortality series
Lots of David Gemmell stuff (quite miffed that he died last year).

Cinn - what is the *right* order for the Chronicles of Narnia - I have the set in a soft cover box set, starting with the Magician's Nephew. I will finish them all one day (strange isn't it when they are relatively short that I'm not done yet).
GrumpyOldDude - I have just book Dune Messiah and Children of Dune at a second hand book sale - I'm looking forward to re-reading these (I already had Dune).

 

i also have wet (no pun intended) dreams about the Dune series

 

Generally speaking, I don't read books more than once. However, this doesn't apply to select philosophy texts, as they continue to be intellectually provocative. Here are a few: Cronopios and Famas, Tao Te Ching, The Republic, and everything by Aristotle.

 

I like re-reading the Harry Potter books, the Reacher novels, the Louis L'Amour collection, the Jean M. Auel series, and the Shannara series.
I won't mention the Dune books I haven't read.

Plus, too many others to list.

 

I have read the following a few times:
Tolkien's Lord of the Rings
Neal Stephenson's Cryptonomicon, The Baroque Cycle and Snow Crash

There is just something about Stephenson's books that keeps me coming back to re-read them.
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Given the amount of reading you appear to do, I am shocked (shocked!) that you still haven't read these great books.

 

Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein. I read it at least once a year (just finished it again actually.) I know it's an idealistic hippie book, but it makes me happy.

 

The Harry Potter series
The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy series

Not sure if I am going to re-read the HP series again since all the movies have been released, but maybe (a small maybe) I will continue reading them once a year.

 

The originally published order (and, in my opinion, the most fun way to read them) is:

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
Prince Caspian
Voyage of the Dawn Treader
The Silver Chair
The Horse and His Boy
The Magician's Nephew
The Last Battle

I used to have the series in that order, before they started publishing chronologically (which happened in 1994, I think.) Very unfortunately, I had a huge fight with my mother in 2000, and a significant portion of my book collection was tossed (well, donated) in the process. Included in that box were 5 of the 7 Narnia books

 

I've had to reread parts of Calculus: Early Transcendentals multiple times. All my book rereading is confined to referencing textbooks.

 

A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich - Solzhenitsyn
The Stand - King
Huckleberry Finn - Twain
Candide - Voiltaire

I have a feeling I'll run through the Harry Potter series again at some point too.

 

Hah! I love this argument. I'll probably have my son read them in series order when I get around to it.

Other children's books that I reread are The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin and The Phantom Tollbooth by Norman Juster. In fact, I just finished reading PT to my son; he's the same age as when my schoolteacher first read it to me. He loved it as much as I do.

The Hitchhiker's Guide is a frequent return book, when I need to shut my brain off.

And really, if the book is good, I'm likely to reread it. Books are old friends. In fact, if I don't plan to reread it, why would it still be sitting on my bookshelf?

I haven't been able to psych myself up for rereading the Baroque Cycle; that's a frickin' lot of pages. However... his Reamde will be released (at least in the US) on September 20!

 

There are a number of book series that I have read multiple time (Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter), but I don't "go back to them". I reread them when the movie versions were released.

I've read The Blind Watchmaker by Richard Dawkins, Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams and The Miracle of Mindfulness by Thich Nhat Hanh several times each without movies to motivate me.

 

Jules Verne - 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
Jack Chalker - Midnight at the Well of Souls/The Well World Series
Julian May - The Pliocene Exile Saga/Intervention/The Galactic Milieu Trilogy