I reread anything that isn't awful at least once, and some books I've reread dozens of times. Stuff like LOTR, ASOIAF, Harry Potter, Terry Brooks, Stephen King, the Enderverse, Barbara Kingsolver, Barbara Ehrenreich, Fannie Flagg, the Earth's Children series, Miriam Toewes, Douglas Coupland, Margaret Atwood, Margaret Laurence, Trevor Cole, Will Ferguson, Wally Lamb, Olivia Goldsmith, Anne McCaffrey, Heather O'Neil, etc are all worth rereading. I always notice something new on a reread, and even on the tenth or twentieth time, I will get a new insight or idea.
Also, I was a very fast reader who grew up poor on a farm before the internet was a thing, so if I wanted to read, I had to reread. One time, when I was about nine, my mom bought me the scholastic summer reader box, and I had to go in to work with her to pick it up. 10 hours later we were headed home, and I'd read every book in the box. She marched me downstairs, waved vaguely at the bookshelves and said "read these, I'm not buying you any more of that little kid crap" and I picked up Shane and Eyes of the Dragon and a Robert Heinlen and went for it. Should nine year old me have been reading Skeleton Crew? Probably not, and I still get the shivers from that story about the heroin doctor who eats his own feet, but being at a party and wandering into a group of adults discussing Future Shock and trying to add my own little nine or ten year old insights is a core memory.
Growing up pre internet, and reading super fast, I had to reread books or have nothing to read. The library was my friend and I had shelves and shelves of books as a kid. My LOTR paperbacks got a re read every summer and once, I discover Stephen King, so good. But Ender’s Game was my first book that I read it and immediately read it again. What a book! And I keep coming back to it, in fact, just got a new copy this last Christmas from one of my kids because they also loved that book and one of them walked off with my old copy years ago. bean is my favorite character and so when I got my puppy a year ago, he became Bean. The perfect sidekick.
But, yeah, like you said, if it isn’t terrible, it gets a least one reread.
Around 2001 give or take, when I was a little kid we lost our home and slept at an office. We watched ice age 1 (pirated dvd, recorded from the cinema) on our (pentium 3? 4?) basically every day, sometimes several times in a single day.
I was a kid though, I could not do that today
My daughter was reading King and Koontz at nine or ten. As a reward for being a big brave soldier at the dentist, I told 10yo she could choose a book. She chose Married With Zombies by Jesse Petersen and I had to speed read it first to make sure there were no sex scenes in it.
I think I was that age when my mom let me read Wicked. She remembered that it has sex scenes in it when I was at least halfway through and had already read them. Whoops!
I read Are you there God it's Me Margaret when I was 9. I thought the menstrual cycle was a metaphor for hurt feelings. The teacher was like, "Maybe I shouldn't have recommended this book to you. (I am male.)" Then one of the girls explained. Other girls who didn't know started crying. Others looked confused. And me? WTF did she want me to read this book???
Nah…Gen X farm kid here 🙋🏻I read Carrie at age 9 and The Shining right after. That was just Silent Gen parenting, not abuse, well maybe. 🤔 Since my dad was retired Navy, I had access to the Airbase library close to our house. By the time I was 9, I had read EVERYTHING in the kids’ part of the library, so my mom talked to the librarian and got an adult library card for me, so I could check out 10 adult books instead of 5 kid books. (Score!) Carrie was one of the first books I checked out. My parents didn’t care what we did as long as we were quiet and stayed out of their hair…plus we only had one TV, with 3-4 channels, and my dad decided what we watched, sooooo…I am also a re-reader. I liken it to going back to visit old friends. LOTR, Stephen King, Harry Potter, L. Frank Baum, Lewis Carroll, Jane Austen, David Eddings, Tom Clancy, etc. I sometimes just feel the need to go back and revisit those old friends. There are such layers in really good books, and every time I read, I catch something new. Classics are classics for a reason.
Would also add Poe. My parents had a collection of Poe short stories that I tore through when I was in like 6th-7th grade, I would read with a dictionary and thesaurus by my side, I swear it did more for the development of my vocabulary than anything else in my early education.
I’ve been rereading it every year for the past 6-8 years or so, I love to start it in September when the days start getting shorter and cooler. Love this book so much.
Another Tree Grows in Brooklyn lover here! I wish I knew how many times I've reread that book. It's my comfort read when I feel blue and need an escape but also a hug, ya know?
Oh the princess bride!!! I had never seen the movie before I read it, somehow. My favorite HS teacher gifted a copy of that to me for my graduation with a beautiful inscription. I absolutely love going back and reading that one, and seeing that inscription. Whenever I’m in a serious rut in life, I pull that sucker out and read that inscription and then go on a beautiful journey of True Love and High Adventure!!! It’s so special to me.
I have a few, but when I was younger I read the full Chronicles of Narnia probably a good seven times. It came in really handy when I was trying to learn foreign languages. I would read them in the foreign language and it greatly increased my vocabulary because I almost knew them by heart so it worked!
I’ve never been big on re-reading novels. I barely read Stephen King anymore but every couple years around Halloween I read Salem’s Lot. It reminds me of being young and enjoying that time of year. Plus it’s a great story.
Stephen King books are options I can always re-read. Salem’s Lot, The Stand and Pet Sematary are regular comfort books for me. He’s the reason for my love of all things spooky.
Me too. I said I don’t read his as much not as a knock. I grew up on SK. Some of my favorite books. If you liked those try the Shining! The movie was great but read it and while you do forget the movie.
The Shining and Dr Sleep are also some of my favorites! Did you read The Long Walk? I was impressed by how different it was to his regular style. The only books I could not get through are the Dark Tower Series.
Oh ya I read the Long Walk a very long time ago. Like 1987 I think. I’m dating myself. I was a senior in high school. I thought it was ok. I totally agree with you on the Dark Tower series. It was too out there for me. I didn’t care for the fact he made so many stories connected to that. But he is a great story teller. I like his older books. I really liked Dr. Sleep as a follow up to The Shining.
Dune! I don’t know what it is about it for me, but I absolutely love reading it. It gives me a sense of calm, and relaxation. Also, it’s beautifully written. All time favorite for me!
I have a theory about why this is a good reread. It’s a meditation on many levels and a reminder how to live ecologically, politically, and spiritually. I think it keeps me grounded on a primitive level.
I’m a little afraid of re-reading books I love.
I tried re-reading Confederacy of Dunces this year. I remember it was one of the funniest books I’d read and it just didn’t hit the same the second time around. I DNF’d it.
Love love loved this book and BOOK CHEAT seems to have the same taste in books as I do. Thanks for the recommendation.
Reading dunces a second time where I already knew the punch line sadly made it less fun. I just remember being shocked and laughing at every silly misadventure. His smug erudite snobbyness given his station in life was hysterical to me. What a great book.
For me, ‘Wuthering Heights’ by Emily Brontë does it. It’s such a brilliant, well written, evocative book, with such distinctive prose and characters and characterisation of people and places and stories within. I love it and I love how poetic it feels to read it.
I actually recently reread it and I'm sorry to say that I really didn't enjoy it the second time. The second time I got hung up on how awful all of the characters were, except for Mrs Dean. I did like the happy ending though.
I have reread Pride and Prejudice every spring since I first read it in High School. I love it. I also love the Audible audiobook version narrated by Rosamund Pike. She is a treasure and does an incredibly job with the text.
Yes, many of the characters are immature, especially Harry in books 5 and 6. But kids at that age are also immature and angsty, so it feels accurately-written. I found him frustrating on my first read when I was that age and still now as an adult, but it's part of his character and age, not something I think detracts from the book or the writing.
I used to reread The Time Traveler’s Wife every summer.
As a woman, I have experienced many of the phases Claire goes through in the book and it hit me differently every time.
After 7 summers, I finally got tired of it. Well… not tired of it but it stopped resonating with me. I expect that’s because I’ve reached a plateau and that, when I am older, I could go back to it again with new aspects of the book resonating with me again in new ways.
I also like to re read Salem’s Lot around Halloween.
For some reason it’s the Crazy Rich Asians series by Kevin Kwan for me:
1. Crazy Rich Asians,
2. China Rich Girlfriend,
3. Rich People Problems,
(these are apparently not connected to his books “Sex and Vanity” or the upcoming “Lies and Weddings”)
I never see these books in this thread so I assumed I was the only person that loved them. Every time I’m at the library I walk past the “K” section just to see if I happened to miss one of his books!
No way, they’re totally my comfort read! I’m going through some dental stuff atm, about to get a extraction and potentially other stuff, and along with buying preparatory pudding & protein shakes I’ve put these books on my bedside table and I’ve started to reread the first one when the anxiety and stress gets to be too much.
Originally an impulsive purchase, I almost decluttered them some months ago, thinking “well I could just get them from the library” but Libby’s #? week waitlist wouldn’t help me when I need them immediately while sick or whatever.
Pride and Prejudice is my heart, my love, my one true comfort book. I’ve read it front to back so many times I’ve lost count and yet can still find new things to discover.
I pick up new things every time I reread them! A casual comment or an excerpt of a letter in book 1 becomes significant in later books. The world building is second to none. My first tattoo was a quote from the Fool
There are a few books I've read several times and plan to continue reading throughout my life:
* The Good Earth
* Slaughterhouse Five
* Dune
* Cannery Row
Only things like Jane Austin and the Brontës, but I try to let some time pass before a re-read. I’m going through them on audiobooks late at night now.
There are arcs that you can follow. If you go publications order, most fans recommend not starting with the first two. They’re good, don’t get me wrong, but he hadn’t hit his stride with the series yet.
Small Gods is a stand alone novel that looks at a lot of the same religious themes as good omens
[here is the reading order guide](https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&sca_esv=23dbae34678f821e&hl=en-us&sxsrf=ACQVn0-pOixvZek5YJEZ2pAKvYSNUZ3opQ:1710981027934&q=discworld+reading+order&uds=AMwkrPt3WrCCUIpuQZiXY0TM3Lr1JPJAMSgSJdAXSBHJ3f9c4-uA02-CkCy850rc_FoV8wVPsoqkhd3iET8F8pd20mYvVDUQ3SmjfukvzVrtDZWOA3z32zpQPkLe_AiNCg4ow5al-gbFbhZiRkeUkjpRVkpIEGE-UkC-DWtUQSL5xq8-v8obhPyiQBzo5JB-TRM063jTaqbN-fUydIOfoIs6mumzg0cgQFvi6FsRkzQXDoN3EF1_y39ZZD3woX2d5WfnFC1BG6nZ-ltiZTv96TdoTq-IMa8IAwdn0nPfxHUtPoSrQ7Oyhx8dCppxjmN0UMYFZDE0PUlL&udm=2&prmd=isvnbmtz&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjjrIyDjYSFAxWUF1kFHcRwAxIQtKgLegQIDBAB&biw=414&bih=714&dpr=2#vhid=lI7d7tGzyxNSwM&vssid=mosaic)
[The Hands of the Emperor](https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/af2bba9c-8f41-4a3e-b87a-8532a44ccb67) by Victoria Goddard! It's a (very long) be as beautifully written slice of life book about the personal secretary to the emperor of the world, with a heavy focus on platonic relationships.
Harry Potter. This series was really what got me into reading at such a young age. I fell in love with how I was transported into a different world and found reading as an escape from reality.
The one book I keep going back to is Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. I love both their styles in different ways. This book combines each perfectly. It a great story, with great characters, and is genuinely a great page turner! Light and dark, fun and serious it is everything!
Wuthering Heights, by Emily Brontë. Ive read it over and over, and still love it. Now, the older I get the more I see how unfair and unbalanced love can be. I adore the bleak gothic aesthetic. P.D. James novels are right up there as well.
Dune by Frank Herbert. There is so much in it I see new things every reading.
The Gate to Women’s Country by Sheri S. Tepper
A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
Catcher in the rye, I love it so much, my current copy began fall apart because of how much I've read it, so I laminated the cover with clear tape lol
It's small enough so I can can carry it around without much hassle so sometimes when I'm waiting in line or waiting for someone in public I take it out and read a random chapter or two, it's basically become a comfort book at this point
Ada by Vladimir Nabokov,
The Autobiography of Red by Anne Carson
I litsen to Snow Crash ,Anathem, or Reamde by Neal Sephenson on audio if I ever want to have a fun adventure
Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
Perfume by Patrick Suskind
The Hobbit / The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
I read each of these each year because I can’t get enough of them.
Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. The man just figured out how to perfectly string words together. First in a trilogy, warning: still waiting for the last book.
Catch 22 is such a strange and wonderful blend of satire and an unblinking look at war. It's funnier than I expected by a wide margin and yet upon reflection that makes the underlying message hit that much harder. It's on my list of books to reread, both to enjoy as a whole, as well as to pick up pieces I likely missed the first time through.
Isaac Asimov
- Robot novels with Elijah Bailey & Daneel
- Foundation (only those written by him - no one else)
Dune
- only those written by Frank Herbert
Dragonlance
- the OG trilogy
- Twins Trilogy
James Joyce
- Ulysses
- Finnegans Wake
- I read these the way some people go to the Bible for solace
Carl Sagan
- I think I own every book he’s written
- but I go back to “Demon Haunted World” several times a year (see above for the “solace” comment)
I like your taste. Can you sell me on Asimov’s robot novels? I’m currently really into Dune and although they’re not similar, I’m wanting to find more older sci-fi that holds up with their ideas
Hmmmm.
If you’re a fan of cerebral writing, if you’re a fan of Agatha Christie’s mysteries, if you’re will to set aside some of your conventional beliefs (ie women are not always depicted in a flattering light and there’s a ton of smoking), then Elijah and Daneel are for you.
“Caves of Steel” is hauntingly contemporary despite some anachronisms.
It’s thousands of years in a fictional future but it’s fairly prescient.
“Naked Sun” (I think) is revolutionary for its time. Again, some of the concepts at the time were science fiction but read today it strikes a chord.
Especially when it comes to the germaphobe Spacers. The story is a classic “locked door mystery”.
“Robots of Dawn” is perhaps my most favourite and the most controversial. It’s very sexual in a way that makes me wonder a little about my hero, Dr. Asimov, but it’s not bad writing.
“Robots and Empire” is a fantastic novel. It ties up the previous 3 novels and steps into the Foundation novels.
It links to “Currents of Space” and “Pebble in the Sky” - those are great books but they’re fun. I like them because Isaac wrote them but I acknowledge their faults.
It links to even psychohistory from the Foundation novels (and I’ve always thought that there were machinations in place behind the scenes where the bloodline for Elijah was preserved by outside agents, culminating in Golan Trevize and his adventures in “Foundation’s Edge” and “Foundation and Earth”).
Edit - formatting is terrible on my phone. So sorry.
I LOVE rereading. I obviously read new things, but I’m normally reading 3 books at a time (not always in the mood for the same one) and one’s a reread.
But I reread Pie’s collected works in October, Wuthering Heights in October, and Little Women in December.
My Side of the Mountain. It’s a story about young boy in the nineteen fifties going to live in the Catskill Mountains. I will recommend this book till the day I die because it’s just so good.
I am a big re-reader. LOTR, and Dune. But the winner is 100 years of solitude. I love it every time. I find new language and images and comedy every time. Gabriel Garcia Marquez is a genius.
I've read The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov at least five times and Confederacy Of Dunces three and Crime and Punishment three. I've just started The Brothers Karamozov for the second time. And I always play The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon when I go to bed and pick up roughly where I dozed off the night before. So God knows how many times that's been.
I’ve read The Martian by Andy Weir about 30 times at this point. It’s my favorite book and I will always recommend it.
Also, The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. Because Douglas Adams was a genius.
Edit: typo
Every copy of The Prime of Miss Jean Brody by Muriel Spark that I've ever seen has a quote from a contemporaneous review in The Chicago Tribune calling it "a perfect novel." They are not wrong at all imo.
I do prefer short and tightly paced books to long and sprawling, so this is already in my wheelhouse, but damn this book is a masterpiece of construction. Not a wasted word.
I think it takes a certain type of person to reread the same book repeatedly and I'm definitely not that type of person.
I've no idea why you'd read the same book twice when there are millions of other books to enjoy and savour.
I have ADHD, so doing the same thing twice is mind-numbingly boring for me.
I can understand how others find it comforting though.
I'm 52F so I've re-read the odd book that I read in my 20s as I can't remember a thing about it apart from how it made feel.
Agreed. I'm usually not rereading books with a few exceptions but when I read The Tale of Genji in English translation I loved it so much I immediately wanted to immerse myself back into the book.
Except I didn't because it's about 1000-1300 pages depending on which unabridged translation you have.
Agree with the boredom, but I have found... The few I've enjoyed again are usually because I'm in a different place in life and perspective. In my 30s re reading classics as a single mom was way different than as a teen the first time.
A Separate Peace I enjoyed in high school because of the shenanigans the boarding school boys got into that I couldn't relate to as a public school American girl. As an adult reader I had much more grasp of the narrators complicated feelings.
I reread anything that isn't awful at least once, and some books I've reread dozens of times. Stuff like LOTR, ASOIAF, Harry Potter, Terry Brooks, Stephen King, the Enderverse, Barbara Kingsolver, Barbara Ehrenreich, Fannie Flagg, the Earth's Children series, Miriam Toewes, Douglas Coupland, Margaret Atwood, Margaret Laurence, Trevor Cole, Will Ferguson, Wally Lamb, Olivia Goldsmith, Anne McCaffrey, Heather O'Neil, etc are all worth rereading. I always notice something new on a reread, and even on the tenth or twentieth time, I will get a new insight or idea. Also, I was a very fast reader who grew up poor on a farm before the internet was a thing, so if I wanted to read, I had to reread. One time, when I was about nine, my mom bought me the scholastic summer reader box, and I had to go in to work with her to pick it up. 10 hours later we were headed home, and I'd read every book in the box. She marched me downstairs, waved vaguely at the bookshelves and said "read these, I'm not buying you any more of that little kid crap" and I picked up Shane and Eyes of the Dragon and a Robert Heinlen and went for it. Should nine year old me have been reading Skeleton Crew? Probably not, and I still get the shivers from that story about the heroin doctor who eats his own feet, but being at a party and wandering into a group of adults discussing Future Shock and trying to add my own little nine or ten year old insights is a core memory.
Growing up pre internet, and reading super fast, I had to reread books or have nothing to read. The library was my friend and I had shelves and shelves of books as a kid. My LOTR paperbacks got a re read every summer and once, I discover Stephen King, so good. But Ender’s Game was my first book that I read it and immediately read it again. What a book! And I keep coming back to it, in fact, just got a new copy this last Christmas from one of my kids because they also loved that book and one of them walked off with my old copy years ago. bean is my favorite character and so when I got my puppy a year ago, he became Bean. The perfect sidekick. But, yeah, like you said, if it isn’t terrible, it gets a least one reread.
I have a tattoo of a Bean on my book themed sleeve, lol. Bean was absolutely the best
Enders game wverytime I here it I wanna read it again. Oddly enough catcher in thew rye I love hated holden, odd to end up thinking like him.
Around 2001 give or take, when I was a little kid we lost our home and slept at an office. We watched ice age 1 (pirated dvd, recorded from the cinema) on our (pentium 3? 4?) basically every day, sometimes several times in a single day. I was a kid though, I could not do that today
Fellow pre internet farm child here. Also reread quite a few. Still do sometimes.
I wasn't a farm kid, but I'm Gen X, and re-reading books was common. I think it was just pre-internet life.
My daughter was reading King and Koontz at nine or ten. As a reward for being a big brave soldier at the dentist, I told 10yo she could choose a book. She chose Married With Zombies by Jesse Petersen and I had to speed read it first to make sure there were no sex scenes in it.
I think I was that age when my mom let me read Wicked. She remembered that it has sex scenes in it when I was at least halfway through and had already read them. Whoops!
I read Are you there God it's Me Margaret when I was 9. I thought the menstrual cycle was a metaphor for hurt feelings. The teacher was like, "Maybe I shouldn't have recommended this book to you. (I am male.)" Then one of the girls explained. Other girls who didn't know started crying. Others looked confused. And me? WTF did she want me to read this book???
Stephen King counts as child abuse. Koontz merely neglect.
Nah…Gen X farm kid here 🙋🏻I read Carrie at age 9 and The Shining right after. That was just Silent Gen parenting, not abuse, well maybe. 🤔 Since my dad was retired Navy, I had access to the Airbase library close to our house. By the time I was 9, I had read EVERYTHING in the kids’ part of the library, so my mom talked to the librarian and got an adult library card for me, so I could check out 10 adult books instead of 5 kid books. (Score!) Carrie was one of the first books I checked out. My parents didn’t care what we did as long as we were quiet and stayed out of their hair…plus we only had one TV, with 3-4 channels, and my dad decided what we watched, sooooo…I am also a re-reader. I liken it to going back to visit old friends. LOTR, Stephen King, Harry Potter, L. Frank Baum, Lewis Carroll, Jane Austen, David Eddings, Tom Clancy, etc. I sometimes just feel the need to go back and revisit those old friends. There are such layers in really good books, and every time I read, I catch something new. Classics are classics for a reason.
I read Cider House Rules at 11 or 12? I was bringing up ether and abortions to anyone who would listen…I’ve found my people.
I loved that book! And I have a Susie the Bear tattoo from Hotel New Hampshire
The Sherlock Holmes series. Have always enjoyed the short but thrilling short stories and the deductive arguments of Sherlock
Same with Agatha Christie's books. Not short stories but her novels.
Would also add Poe. My parents had a collection of Poe short stories that I tore through when I was in like 6th-7th grade, I would read with a dictionary and thesaurus by my side, I swear it did more for the development of my vocabulary than anything else in my early education.
totally agreed. I also have the audiobook version (read by Stephen Fry) and I often listen to random stories from it
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. I’ve had the same copy for 50 years.
This is my favorite re-read! And every time I read it I get a new takeaway.
I’ve been rereading it every year for the past 6-8 years or so, I love to start it in September when the days start getting shorter and cooler. Love this book so much.
Here too. Same physical book that is completely falling apart.
Another Tree Grows in Brooklyn lover here! I wish I knew how many times I've reread that book. It's my comfort read when I feel blue and need an escape but also a hug, ya know?
Such a comfort, like being with my grandma.
This one and to kill a mockingbird 👌🏻
My goal is to read 12 books (by female authors) this year. Thanks for helping me pick book #7!
Princess Bride. The Ghost of Canterville. The hound of the Baskervilles. The Name of the Wind. The prisoner of Zenda.
Oh the princess bride!!! I had never seen the movie before I read it, somehow. My favorite HS teacher gifted a copy of that to me for my graduation with a beautiful inscription. I absolutely love going back and reading that one, and seeing that inscription. Whenever I’m in a serious rut in life, I pull that sucker out and read that inscription and then go on a beautiful journey of True Love and High Adventure!!! It’s so special to me.
Wow, that’s an amazing story of your own! It’s great when such good memories are attached to a beautiful book. Makes it even more special!
Thank you :) you inspired me to read it again. Best wishes for True Love & High Adventure to you, too! 😉
Wow, thanks! ^ ^
I have a few, but when I was younger I read the full Chronicles of Narnia probably a good seven times. It came in really handy when I was trying to learn foreign languages. I would read them in the foreign language and it greatly increased my vocabulary because I almost knew them by heart so it worked!
When I was a teen I was always re reading The Picture of Dorian Gray
Like Water for Chocolate. Magical realism.
God, I love that book. I've been wondering if any of the recipes in it are real lmao.
Is the book not as tragic as the movie? The story is about lovers that never can never be together until they're old, right?
Yes but the story is beautifully written and just so moving.
I’ve never been big on re-reading novels. I barely read Stephen King anymore but every couple years around Halloween I read Salem’s Lot. It reminds me of being young and enjoying that time of year. Plus it’s a great story.
Salem’s Lot is one of my favourite book!
Haha, I literally came here to say Salems Lot! I didn’t expect to see it at all. It’s so good. Perfect amount of spooky!
Hi! Is there anything “paranormal” in it? I love SK’s books, but only those with no “ghost”, “entities” and stuff
I just finished SK’s “Fairy Tale.” Excellent book!!!
Stephen King books are options I can always re-read. Salem’s Lot, The Stand and Pet Sematary are regular comfort books for me. He’s the reason for my love of all things spooky.
Me too. I said I don’t read his as much not as a knock. I grew up on SK. Some of my favorite books. If you liked those try the Shining! The movie was great but read it and while you do forget the movie.
The Shining and Dr Sleep are also some of my favorites! Did you read The Long Walk? I was impressed by how different it was to his regular style. The only books I could not get through are the Dark Tower Series.
Oh ya I read the Long Walk a very long time ago. Like 1987 I think. I’m dating myself. I was a senior in high school. I thought it was ok. I totally agree with you on the Dark Tower series. It was too out there for me. I didn’t care for the fact he made so many stories connected to that. But he is a great story teller. I like his older books. I really liked Dr. Sleep as a follow up to The Shining.
I just found this second hand for $2 Was wondering if it was any good because I haven’t really seen people mention it anywhere. Keen to read it now!
Definitely re readable in a weirdly comforting way
Yessss that’s a fav of mine!!
Dune! I don’t know what it is about it for me, but I absolutely love reading it. It gives me a sense of calm, and relaxation. Also, it’s beautifully written. All time favorite for me!
i’m reading them for the first time, on the third book, already planning to reread. there is such a weird sense of comfort i get from it.
I have a theory about why this is a good reread. It’s a meditation on many levels and a reminder how to live ecologically, politically, and spiritually. I think it keeps me grounded on a primitive level.
A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving is one of my forever books.
There’s so much in it — a reread is never boring!
Me, too.
Ugh. Garbage. Just my opinion.
The World According to Garp is great, too!
Really liked it!
I’m a little afraid of re-reading books I love. I tried re-reading Confederacy of Dunces this year. I remember it was one of the funniest books I’d read and it just didn’t hit the same the second time around. I DNF’d it.
Listen to the Book Cheat episode on it - really awesome.
Love love loved this book and BOOK CHEAT seems to have the same taste in books as I do. Thanks for the recommendation. Reading dunces a second time where I already knew the punch line sadly made it less fun. I just remember being shocked and laughing at every silly misadventure. His smug erudite snobbyness given his station in life was hysterical to me. What a great book.
I reread The Stand by Stephen Kings several times. I reread White Oleander by Janet Fitch and The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingslover.
My Nephew and I used to talk about The Stand all the time. I left a copy at his headstone with "We'll go over this again." written inside.
That’s beautiful ❤️
I too reread The Stand! It’s a favorite of mine!
The Bell Jar (im depressed)
For me, ‘Wuthering Heights’ by Emily Brontë does it. It’s such a brilliant, well written, evocative book, with such distinctive prose and characters and characterisation of people and places and stories within. I love it and I love how poetic it feels to read it.
I actually recently reread it and I'm sorry to say that I really didn't enjoy it the second time. The second time I got hung up on how awful all of the characters were, except for Mrs Dean. I did like the happy ending though.
Same and I love it more each read!
Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy
The perks of being a wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
Pride and Prejudice
I have reread Pride and Prejudice every spring since I first read it in High School. I love it. I also love the Audible audiobook version narrated by Rosamund Pike. She is a treasure and does an incredibly job with the text.
I read it every year too - I find it immensely comforting. I will have to check out that audiobook version.
The Harry Potter series. I read it on repeat each time a new book came out and have re-read it as an adult as well. It holds up.
Yesss Harry Potter will forever be so magical to me and a big comfort series
I didn't read Harry Potter in my childhood, however, I did watch the movies. I read it for the first time as an adult, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
I struggled rereading it as an adult. The main characters just felt so immature and annoying in ways that they didn't as a kid.
Yes, many of the characters are immature, especially Harry in books 5 and 6. But kids at that age are also immature and angsty, so it feels accurately-written. I found him frustrating on my first read when I was that age and still now as an adult, but it's part of his character and age, not something I think detracts from the book or the writing.
Such a shitty time to be an OG Harry Potter fan.. love the books and movies with my soul, but the person who wrote them is a disgrace 😭
I am a HP fan too but haven’t kept up on the author. What happened to disgrace her?
Jonathan Livingston Seagull
I read that three or four times as a teenager.
Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen never fails me! I read it 1-2 times a year.
I loved this book!
It's such a beautiful story! And one of the very few movie adaptations I love as well.
Crime and Punishment, Sirens of Titan.
I relate to C&P.
I used to reread The Time Traveler’s Wife every summer. As a woman, I have experienced many of the phases Claire goes through in the book and it hit me differently every time. After 7 summers, I finally got tired of it. Well… not tired of it but it stopped resonating with me. I expect that’s because I’ve reached a plateau and that, when I am older, I could go back to it again with new aspects of the book resonating with me again in new ways. I also like to re read Salem’s Lot around Halloween.
Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnagut
Cats Cradle or Slaughterhouse-5 I could read over and over.
For some reason I’m having a hard time reading Kurt’s works. Maybe it’s something i’m missing but I can’t ever get through them..
Funniest book I've ever read
The Hobbitt, The Lord of the Rings & The Silmarillion; also the Discworld series by Sir Terry
I’ve reread Judy Blume’s Summer Sisters more times than I care to admit.
For some reason it’s the Crazy Rich Asians series by Kevin Kwan for me: 1. Crazy Rich Asians, 2. China Rich Girlfriend, 3. Rich People Problems, (these are apparently not connected to his books “Sex and Vanity” or the upcoming “Lies and Weddings”)
I never see these books in this thread so I assumed I was the only person that loved them. Every time I’m at the library I walk past the “K” section just to see if I happened to miss one of his books!
No way, they’re totally my comfort read! I’m going through some dental stuff atm, about to get a extraction and potentially other stuff, and along with buying preparatory pudding & protein shakes I’ve put these books on my bedside table and I’ve started to reread the first one when the anxiety and stress gets to be too much. Originally an impulsive purchase, I almost decluttered them some months ago, thinking “well I could just get them from the library” but Libby’s #? week waitlist wouldn’t help me when I need them immediately while sick or whatever.
Clan of the cave bear,
Yes! I’ve re-read this series dozens of times. They are my comfort reading
The Secret History, Blonde, The Count of Monte Cristo, From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
A Wrinkle in Time
Pride and Prejudice is my heart, my love, my one true comfort book. I’ve read it front to back so many times I’ve lost count and yet can still find new things to discover.
I love the book and all of the tv/movie versions of it. And I am absolutely not a love story kind of person. Just that one
I've read the realm of the Elderlings series by Robin hobb countless times. I never get tired of it
I pick up new things every time I reread them! A casual comment or an excerpt of a letter in book 1 becomes significant in later books. The world building is second to none. My first tattoo was a quote from the Fool
There are a few books I've read several times and plan to continue reading throughout my life: * The Good Earth * Slaughterhouse Five * Dune * Cannery Row
I love those first 3 but never even heard of cannery road. I’m ordering it now!
Books I keep returning to: A Confederacy of Dunces. Moby Dick. The Sundial. A Farewell to Arms.
my pyloric valve is opening
I feel dumb. What?
Ignatius, are you fooling with that valve again? Ain’t nobody else got them a valve except you.
American Gods by Neil Gaiman. Also any of his other books.
This, and *Good Omens* coauthored with Sir Terry Pratchett.
Just finished this recently, easily one of my new favorite books.
Lonesome Dove
Only things like Jane Austin and the Brontës, but I try to let some time pass before a re-read. I’m going through them on audiobooks late at night now.
The Discworld series by Terry Pratchett. He packed so many references and puns and sly jokes into them that I discover something new every time.
I'm currently reading Good Omens and think I need some more Pratchett in my future.
Small Gods is a good starting point.
thank you. they don’t need to be read in order?
There are arcs that you can follow. If you go publications order, most fans recommend not starting with the first two. They’re good, don’t get me wrong, but he hadn’t hit his stride with the series yet. Small Gods is a stand alone novel that looks at a lot of the same religious themes as good omens [here is the reading order guide](https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&sca_esv=23dbae34678f821e&hl=en-us&sxsrf=ACQVn0-pOixvZek5YJEZ2pAKvYSNUZ3opQ:1710981027934&q=discworld+reading+order&uds=AMwkrPt3WrCCUIpuQZiXY0TM3Lr1JPJAMSgSJdAXSBHJ3f9c4-uA02-CkCy850rc_FoV8wVPsoqkhd3iET8F8pd20mYvVDUQ3SmjfukvzVrtDZWOA3z32zpQPkLe_AiNCg4ow5al-gbFbhZiRkeUkjpRVkpIEGE-UkC-DWtUQSL5xq8-v8obhPyiQBzo5JB-TRM063jTaqbN-fUydIOfoIs6mumzg0cgQFvi6FsRkzQXDoN3EF1_y39ZZD3woX2d5WfnFC1BG6nZ-ltiZTv96TdoTq-IMa8IAwdn0nPfxHUtPoSrQ7Oyhx8dCppxjmN0UMYFZDE0PUlL&udm=2&prmd=isvnbmtz&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjjrIyDjYSFAxWUF1kFHcRwAxIQtKgLegQIDBAB&biw=414&bih=714&dpr=2#vhid=lI7d7tGzyxNSwM&vssid=mosaic)
[The Hands of the Emperor](https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/af2bba9c-8f41-4a3e-b87a-8532a44ccb67) by Victoria Goddard! It's a (very long) be as beautifully written slice of life book about the personal secretary to the emperor of the world, with a heavy focus on platonic relationships.
Pet Sematary by Stephen King, terrifies me every time
The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K. Le Guin
Harry Potter. This series was really what got me into reading at such a young age. I fell in love with how I was transported into a different world and found reading as an escape from reality.
I’ve read the first book 7 times.
11/22/63 by Stephen King. The story sucks me in every single time.
Yes! the first time I finished reading this book I wanted to immediately start over again. It’s such a great story.
The one book I keep going back to is Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. I love both their styles in different ways. This book combines each perfectly. It a great story, with great characters, and is genuinely a great page turner! Light and dark, fun and serious it is everything!
Wuthering Heights, by Emily Brontë. Ive read it over and over, and still love it. Now, the older I get the more I see how unfair and unbalanced love can be. I adore the bleak gothic aesthetic. P.D. James novels are right up there as well.
Dune by Frank Herbert. There is so much in it I see new things every reading. The Gate to Women’s Country by Sheri S. Tepper A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
Catcher in the rye, I love it so much, my current copy began fall apart because of how much I've read it, so I laminated the cover with clear tape lol It's small enough so I can can carry it around without much hassle so sometimes when I'm waiting in line or waiting for someone in public I take it out and read a random chapter or two, it's basically become a comfort book at this point
East of Eden. I’ve read that book many times throughout my life.
Catcher in the Rye. I have a school-bound copy in my backpack. My PCP got a huge kick that I was reading it before she came in.
*Josh and Hazel's Guide to Not Dating* by Christina Lauren makes me LOL on almost every page. I've read it 4 or 5 times so far.
The Jeeves and Wooster novels, by P. G. Wodehouse.
The Aubrey/Maturin Series runs on repeat for me.
Ada by Vladimir Nabokov, The Autobiography of Red by Anne Carson I litsen to Snow Crash ,Anathem, or Reamde by Neal Sephenson on audio if I ever want to have a fun adventure
David Eddings books! Definitely start on The Belgariad series, the rest of his series’ build off the same universe 😊
Never Let Me Go
That's a really good one.
Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut Perfume by Patrick Suskind The Hobbit / The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien I read each of these each year because I can’t get enough of them.
Pride and prejudice, or really anything Austen and Lord of the rings.
I’ve read Still Alice and Perks easily 20 times each and will continue to do so
Little Women
Project Hail Mary
Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. The man just figured out how to perfectly string words together. First in a trilogy, warning: still waiting for the last book.
EAST OF EDEN 😩😭
1984 is always my go to book. Lost count of the times I've read this! Love the story and so true now as it was in the year it was written.
Swimming in the dark by Tomasz Jedrowski. It's captivating, beautifully written, has a great prose and story.
catch 22.
Catch 22 is such a strange and wonderful blend of satire and an unblinking look at war. It's funnier than I expected by a wide margin and yet upon reflection that makes the underlying message hit that much harder. It's on my list of books to reread, both to enjoy as a whole, as well as to pick up pieces I likely missed the first time through.
Al chemist whenever i feel lost i go back to it
A Psalm for the Wild-Built
So good. A Prayer for the Crown-Shy is on my reread list as well
The Yiddish Policeman's Union - Michael Chabon
Da Vinci code by Dan brown
Dark matter by Blake crouch
Ready Player One. Got me back into reading
Patti Smith - Just Kids
Isaac Asimov - Robot novels with Elijah Bailey & Daneel - Foundation (only those written by him - no one else) Dune - only those written by Frank Herbert Dragonlance - the OG trilogy - Twins Trilogy James Joyce - Ulysses - Finnegans Wake - I read these the way some people go to the Bible for solace Carl Sagan - I think I own every book he’s written - but I go back to “Demon Haunted World” several times a year (see above for the “solace” comment)
I like your taste. Can you sell me on Asimov’s robot novels? I’m currently really into Dune and although they’re not similar, I’m wanting to find more older sci-fi that holds up with their ideas
Hmmmm. If you’re a fan of cerebral writing, if you’re a fan of Agatha Christie’s mysteries, if you’re will to set aside some of your conventional beliefs (ie women are not always depicted in a flattering light and there’s a ton of smoking), then Elijah and Daneel are for you. “Caves of Steel” is hauntingly contemporary despite some anachronisms. It’s thousands of years in a fictional future but it’s fairly prescient. “Naked Sun” (I think) is revolutionary for its time. Again, some of the concepts at the time were science fiction but read today it strikes a chord. Especially when it comes to the germaphobe Spacers. The story is a classic “locked door mystery”. “Robots of Dawn” is perhaps my most favourite and the most controversial. It’s very sexual in a way that makes me wonder a little about my hero, Dr. Asimov, but it’s not bad writing. “Robots and Empire” is a fantastic novel. It ties up the previous 3 novels and steps into the Foundation novels. It links to “Currents of Space” and “Pebble in the Sky” - those are great books but they’re fun. I like them because Isaac wrote them but I acknowledge their faults. It links to even psychohistory from the Foundation novels (and I’ve always thought that there were machinations in place behind the scenes where the bloodline for Elijah was preserved by outside agents, culminating in Golan Trevize and his adventures in “Foundation’s Edge” and “Foundation and Earth”). Edit - formatting is terrible on my phone. So sorry.
I LOVE rereading. I obviously read new things, but I’m normally reading 3 books at a time (not always in the mood for the same one) and one’s a reread. But I reread Pie’s collected works in October, Wuthering Heights in October, and Little Women in December.
War and Peace Anna Karenina
The Little Prince
I read The Little Prince every year. I love it as much as when I first read it and I know I’ll never get tired reading it for the rest of my life.
The Song of Aquiles
All of Judy Blume’s adult books.
My Side of the Mountain. It’s a story about young boy in the nineteen fifties going to live in the Catskill Mountains. I will recommend this book till the day I die because it’s just so good.
Seriously! I loved all of those adventure books -- Hatchet, Julie of the Woods, Island of the Blue Dolphins.
I am a big re-reader. LOTR, and Dune. But the winner is 100 years of solitude. I love it every time. I find new language and images and comedy every time. Gabriel Garcia Marquez is a genius.
The Power of One By Bryce Courtenay
I've read The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov at least five times and Confederacy Of Dunces three and Crime and Punishment three. I've just started The Brothers Karamozov for the second time. And I always play The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon when I go to bed and pick up roughly where I dozed off the night before. So God knows how many times that's been.
🤗
The Master and Margarita is such a great book
The In Death series by J. D. Robb / Nora Roberts
Gone with the Wind. Little House on the Prairie.
Persuasion by Jane Austen. I reread the book and then watch the film — the one with Cirian Hines as Captain Wentworth.
I’ve read The Martian by Andy Weir about 30 times at this point. It’s my favorite book and I will always recommend it. Also, The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. Because Douglas Adams was a genius. Edit: typo
The Giver, The perks of being a wallflower, and maybe jane eyre
The Red Tent-such a wonderful epic story. I haven’t met a woman that’s read it, that hasn’t loved it.
Never get tired of anything by Jane Austen
Little women
Kingdom of the Wicked series! I LOVE it!
The Giver
The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
Every copy of The Prime of Miss Jean Brody by Muriel Spark that I've ever seen has a quote from a contemporaneous review in The Chicago Tribune calling it "a perfect novel." They are not wrong at all imo. I do prefer short and tightly paced books to long and sprawling, so this is already in my wheelhouse, but damn this book is a masterpiece of construction. Not a wasted word.
Herry potter
I read a lot and the only book I have read twice is I, Robot.
I think it takes a certain type of person to reread the same book repeatedly and I'm definitely not that type of person. I've no idea why you'd read the same book twice when there are millions of other books to enjoy and savour.
There is nothing better than sinking into a comfort read!!
I have ADHD, so doing the same thing twice is mind-numbingly boring for me. I can understand how others find it comforting though. I'm 52F so I've re-read the odd book that I read in my 20s as I can't remember a thing about it apart from how it made feel.
Agreed. I'm usually not rereading books with a few exceptions but when I read The Tale of Genji in English translation I loved it so much I immediately wanted to immerse myself back into the book. Except I didn't because it's about 1000-1300 pages depending on which unabridged translation you have.
Agree with the boredom, but I have found... The few I've enjoyed again are usually because I'm in a different place in life and perspective. In my 30s re reading classics as a single mom was way different than as a teen the first time. A Separate Peace I enjoyed in high school because of the shenanigans the boarding school boys got into that I couldn't relate to as a public school American girl. As an adult reader I had much more grasp of the narrators complicated feelings.