What's your most re-read book?

Microserfs by Douglas Coupland (probably read it once every 3-4 years or so, purely nostalgic reasons).

Of course, The Gruffalo and its ilk get read more than any others – some get read every evening for weeks on end it seems (those with kids will understand)…

As a kid – The Machine Gunners, Robert Westall
As a teenager – Catcher in the Rye
As an adult – Trainspotting

I’m not a massive fan of Rohl Dahl’s other stuff, but Danny the Champion of the World is my alltime favourite book.
I just love Danny’s relationship with his Dad, and all the little things he teaches him. In fact being able to read this book to my kids is one of the reasons I had kids 🙂

‘Lord of the rings’ or ‘To kill a mockingbird’, but fast catching up is ‘The name of the wind’ and the rest of the trilogy (once the bugger gets round to writing the last one)

Wind in the willows

Sir Nigel, and also The White Company by Conan Doyle.

‘Acid House’ and ‘Trainspotting’.

Gotta be JUPITERS TRAVELS by Ted Simon.

Riding around the world on an old Triumph in the 1970s – adventures galore… 😆

Michael Marshall Smith – One of Us

Mudshark – I’ve been trying to remember the name of that book for ages. Will be seeking it out.

Mine – probably one of the Jeeves and Wooster books – Code of the Woosters I think.

Irma Kurtz – “The great American bus ride”.

Fiction…got to be “The day of the jackal” by the masterstoryteller.

Eh one of these……

A star called Henry Roddy Doyle

Close to the Wind pete Goss

Never been one for reading a book a second time but a few weeks ago when i broke my collar bone, i reread the bit in THHGTTG about the definition of flying. Couldn’t stop laughing and have made a mental note to read it all again soon.

As a kid i tried and tried to read the Lord of the Rings Trilogy – start / stop / restart / stop – over and over again. Great films but wasn’t over keen on the read.

@sweepy – i’m waiting for him to publish the third book too!

The Lord of the Rings. First read it when I was 9, read it about 6 or 7 times since.

Tom Bombadil still annoys me every single time.

Neuromancer / Count Zero / Monarch Lisa Overdrive – William Gibson.

Good Omens – Pratchett / Gaiman.

I get stuck on LOTR during the dead marshes bit. I just wish Golem would murder the furry midgets and have done with it.

One of the joys of growing old is that I can re-read all my old books, without remembering the plots 😳

Oh, and Thomas The Tank Engine.

Rogue Male, haven’t seen that for a while. I read that probably 6 or 7 times over the course of my childhood.
Also read Inferno by Larry Niven about that many times when I was younger. Eventually tracked down a copy as an adult for about £1.50 somewhere.

In more recent times, Catch 22, maybe 4 times.
And Only Forward, by Michael Marshall Smith.

this:

in depth look as to why the world is what it is today….

would encourage any closet rascists to give it a read.

Catch-22 here, funny, savage and brilliant in equal parts

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

World War Z

Are probably my top 3 for re-reads

As an adult it’s probably ‘A Walk In The Woods’ by Bill Bryson. Lots of Frederick Forsyth, Willard Price, Arthur Conan Doyle and The Hobbit in my youth.

a few times and – again

When they put back in 40,000 words cut from the original.

Day of the Triffids – was my favourite book as a kid. Must have read it a dozen times…

Sunset Song. Absolutely stunning book.

Of more recent, Anathem. Think that’s three times now (Crytonomicon only twice so far…) and Kitchen Confidential. KC I bought and gave to several friends as I enjoyed it so much.

stuey – you think it benefits from the additional 40k words? I mean, it was already a bit… baggy, I thought.

And there’s something about reading 70s SF in the original paperback, weird cover art, yellowing pages and all. Our house had a stack of slim Pohl books which all had weird covers. Great fun – not as good in newer packaging.

Some good ones there, I forgot about Sunset Song – have re-read it a couple of times, didn’t even do it for Higher English..

Lord of the Rings – 4-5 times maybe?
The Crow Road, and The Bridge (both with scribbled autographs as it happens)
Still like the ratchet in tension in Day of the Jackal, too…

John Steinbeck – Cannery Row, probably read at least once a year for a decade.

Can’t remember as a child, though I did do quite a bit of re-reading. There was lots of Roald Dahl, Enid Blyton, C S Lewis et al.

For me great fiction creates a vivid picture inside the mind that I can inhabit at will. I cannot imagine not wanting to be ”Doc” from Cannery Row again before I die, so at regular intervals I’ll pull it from the shelf and immerse myself again. It’s like going for a drink with an old mate really, reliving past glories.

LOTR

Fear and loathing in Las Vegas

nico74 – I tried reading them side by side – the cut version comes across all “Johnny Staccato” and is definitely lacking in comparison – but I do the 75p retail 70s cover 🙂

I rarely read a book more than once but I’ve read LOTR 3 times but one book I do make sure I read over and over again is Stephen Kings “The Stand” IMO it’s his best book ever and he’s wrote some brilliant books.

Generally there just doesn’t seem to be the time, there are so many books to read for the first time, but I have re-read Zen and Catcher in the Rye.

I also re read Robertson Davies 3 trilogies. His is not a name I can recall anyone mentioning on book threads on here but he’s one of my favourite authors.

LOTR’s about 6 times. I’ve also read The Belgariad and The Malloreon by David Eddings about 3 times :nerd:

Dune

The Reality Dysfunction

Startide Rising

The foundations of mechanical accuracy by Wayne R Moore

Mine are probably Number9Dream and Ghostwritten by David Mitchell. Seem to read Ghostwritten every year at some point. Ive always got a partially read Culture novel secreted in a dark corner of the house, even when you’ve read them a couple of times it’s nice to dip in.

A young boy puts a feather in his mouth…

20 years old now, weird! Overdue a re-read actually.

Espedair Street by Iain Banks and The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress by Heinlein close runners up though. And the first Amber series and the Mars trilogy would be higher if they didn’t take so bloomin long to read

Senor Vivo and the Coca Lord

Cannery Row by John Steinbeck

I’ve read A Suitable Boy- Vikram Seth, three times.
I’ve also read a lot of books twice. If you leave a 10 to 15-year gap between readings, you spot new things you didn’t spot the first time!

The Escape Artist by Matt Seaton
A truly wonderful (cycling) book about Matts rise into cycling and his gradual descent back out of the sport, as family and work pressures take their toll.
This is the only book I’ve ever finished and gone straight back to page one and started again.

Mr Pea