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Favorite Repeat Reads

I just finished "She's Come Undone" for the umpteenth time, although it had been a few years since my last read. I couldn't remember some parts and again enjoyed it all the way to the end. I'm eyeing my friend's copy of "The Lovely Bones" even though I'm the one that bought it for her because it was such a good read. Maybe I'll go back to "The Milagro Beanfield War" just for kicks.

Anyone else have favorite repeats?

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Permalink Reply by Melissa Jo on April 17, 2009 at 10:48am: I have read the Mists of Avalon at least seven times. I love the perspective of Camelot through the eyes of the women. I'm also re-reading the Little House on the Prairie series with my 8 year old daughter. It is great to watch her eyes and see her joy and interest in books that started my love of reading!

She's Come Undone is a fave as well. I may have to re-read that one~!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Wag on April 19, 2009 at 5:43am: I used to read all four LotR books once a year. Been a while now, but maybe I'll get back to it in the near future!

--Wag--; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by summer of like on May 28, 2009 at 10:06pm: Written on the Body (Jeanette Winterson) and Wuthering Heights (Bronte). Winter rolls in and for some reason all I want to do is curl up in bed read about tortured love. :) Also - Cane by Jean Toomer, although it's mostly poems and short stories.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Rita on May 29, 2009 at 8:22pm: I adore Wuthering Heights! read it under the same circumstances as well. Something about those cold winter days.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Amy on June 5, 2009 at 8:41pm: I do this and working in a bookstore, I really shouldn't. There's so much that comes out, it's hard to keep up when I go from one galley to the next. Much less if I stop to reread something. But I can't help it. There are some books that are just soothing to me, somehow, when I'm in a certain frame of mind. Like when I am having a tough time I reread Harry Potter Book 4. It's the book equivalent of fuzzy slippers and a warm blanket and a cup of cocoa, somehow.

Here's my reread list:
- Valley of the Dolls (here we go, I am coming clean)
- Bridget Jones' Diary, both books
- Harry Potter books 2, 3, 4, and 7 (wasn't too fond of 1, 5 and 6)
- Circle of Friends by Maeve Binchy
- A whole bunch of Margaret Atwood - The Robber Bride, Alias Grace, Cat's Eye, Oryx and Crake, The Blind Assassin
- Ditto Anne Tyler - The Amateur Marriage, Saint Maybe, Breathing Lessons, The Accidental Tourist
- Books about business craziness: Liar's Poker (about Salomon Bros. in the 80s and the development of mortgage securities, great book); Final Cut (about the making of the movie Heaven's Gate, which sunk United Artists); Barbarians at the Gate (about RJ Reynolds and mergers in the 80s); Conspiracy of Fools (about Enron). Think your job is crazy? Those four books have a way of putting it all in perspective :)
- Heavier Than Heaven (biography of Kurt Cobain, I read it when I'm depressed. Yes, I am a deeply disturbed person.)
- Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
There are others, but those books are the ones I've read so much that they're now coming apart.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Joy on June 6, 2009 at 12:54am: Save Me the Waltz, by Zelda Fitzgerald.
Of Human Bondage, Somerset Maugham; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by BoogieMama on June 6, 2009 at 8:51am: Lifetime winner for most reads:
Crying of Lot 49, Thomas Pynchon (also V, Against the Day)
First runner up: Rubicon Beach, Days Between Stations, Steve Erickson
Second runner up: Infinite Jest, David Foster Wallace
Third runner up: The Flounder, Gunter Grass (maybe should be 2nd, been rereading it 20 years now)

Hon mention: Ender's Game series (all 4) by Orson Scott Card

The funny thing about the last one, my cousin left them in my aunt's house, which is otherwise only populated with books on alternative health care & eastern religion, so whenever I am in WY, I end up rereading them (twice a year). I have deep issues with Orson Scott Card (he is a Mormon writer who has recently been campaigning against gay marriage), but those Ender books are pretty darn good. I do feel guilty enjoying them, though!

I'm totally with Amy about the favorite books being like fuzzy slippers. I could quote whole sections from Crying of Lot 49, but every sentence just feels wonderful all over. Good writing is a miracle that never ceases to awe me.

BTW, if by chance there are any other rabid Steve Erickson fans out there I just got The Black Clock, a quarterly periodical he edits, written by the U-CA writing students. It's pretty brilliant! Available at Hastings, Flying Star, etc.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Lynn on June 6, 2009 at 10:09am: Love In The Time Of Cholera, Gabriel Garcia Marquez.
Andy Warhol's Diaries, edited by Pat Hackett.
You'll Never Eat Lunch In This Town Again, Julia Phillips; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Rob Creighton Garrison on June 28, 2009 at 12:17pm: THE SECRET HISTORY, by Donna Tartt.

A CONFEDERACY OF DUNCES, by John Kennedy Toole

I read both of these at least once every couple of years. I love to read about terrible people and how their lives careen out of control.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Jo LaMore on June 30, 2009 at 6:28am: My current favorite re-reads are any of the books from Shirley Rousseau Murphy in the Joe Cat mystery line (#14 just published.) Any of the books is a good for scratching a "I want to read something" itch and when a new JC book comes out I like to get a running start and back up a few books, if not all the way to the beginning. They are all light reads, but the characters are what keep me coming back. They just speak to me, which is completely natural since the main characters are crime-solving cats that talk....out loud.

Whenever the new Harry Potter book would come out I would start from the beginning (definitely NOT light reading) so I could be up-to-date on the storyline/character mindset when I launched into the next book. Now that there are no more HP books, I find that I must re-read the book upon which the next movie is based in order to be ready to watch the movie.

Jo; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Rita on July 2, 2009 at 5:20pm: Jo,
I've definitely got to re-read The Lovely Bones as it has been made into a movie. I'm hoping it's worthy.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Alyx Megan on July 23, 2009 at 10:14am: My favorite book, and I book I enjoy every time I read it is mMy Sisters Keeper
It was made into a movie recently. The movie was ok, but the book is fantastic.
If you haven't read it I recommend that you do. Its the kind of book you can't put down!; ▶ Reply to This