What's your most re-read book?

Two books I have tried to re-read , as I am convinced I didn’t get them …
On The Road – Jack Kerouac
Catcher in the Rye

I still don’t get them … I am truly sorry to say think that Holden Caulfield was just a little shit ….

‘Bravo Two Zero’ by Andy McNabb, it actually improves with every read.

Thank you , Mr Partridge ….

Slaughterhouse 5 – Vonnegut
The Fan Man – Kotzwinkle
Fear and Loathing – Thompson

The road to Wigan pier & down and out in Paris and London by Eric Arthur Blair ( better know as George Orwell )

The Stranger – Camus

It’s an astonishing read isn’t it, three men all desperate to turn round and none of them willing to give up no matter how bad things got

It is. I can just re-read ‘the winter journey’ chapter over and over. It’s inspiring.

I quite like re-reading books, I think it’s because it’s safer than trying something new which is, I fear, to my own detriment. 🙁 Particular favourites are –
The Dambusters, by Paul Brickhill – the first and still the best war story I’ve ever read, an incredible story cleverly told with gentle humour. He also wrote The Great Escape which is another corking read, if slightly different to the film.
The Hour, by Michael Hutchinson – THE best book about cycling I’ve read, in the “finish it the first time, turn to page one and start again” category. Heavily loaded with information, laugh-out-loud funny.
The Stand, and Different Seasons, by Stephen King – really enjoyed his earlier stuff when I was a lad, although he’s gone a bit overblown for my liking of late. Loved The Stand, just an immense world to immerse yourself in – and Different Seasons has the stories on which Shawshank redemption and Stand By Me were based. Fantastic novellas, and for my money the best writing he’s ever done.

-The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy: A Trilogy in Five Parts
-Dune
-Duck in the Truck – My 3ry olds favourite.

Starship troopers,
Fantastic and so much going on. Realy got the training down pat takes me back to my basic.
Not with monsters and space obviously. Althought the drill sargent was a total bastard 😆

When I was a kid I had what I called ‘Sunday night’ books which were familiar stories I would reread before facing another crap week at school. As an adult? I still have loads that fall into this category anything by Ian M Banks or Jack Vance being favourites.
What a great pity to lose Ian Banks, he seemed such a normal bloke but with extraordinary talent

Got to be The Hobbit. I’ve read TLOTR a couple of times but lost count of how often I read the Hobbit, especially as a child.

In more recent years though, most likely one of Brian Lumley’s short story collections or Clive Barker’s Books Of Blood, followed by H.P. Lovecraft’s Omnibus series.
Short stories are great when you’re short of time, so I tend to re-read them a lot.

I don’t re-read that often, but those I do form a particular pattern:

Jon Stewart – Naked Pictures of Famous People
David Sedaris – Me Talk Pretty One Day
Garrison Keiller – We Are Still Married/Radio Romance/Lake Wobegone Days
Woody Allen – Without Feathers
Groucho Marx – Beds, Memoirs of a Mangy Lover, Groucho & Me
Steve Martin – Pure Drivel, Born Standing Up, Shopgirl, The Pleasure of My Company

On Extended Wings – Diane Ackerman

An account of her struggles learning to fly light aircraft and getting her pilots licence. She’s a poet by trade, and the prose is fantastic.

On The Road – Jack Kerouac
Catcher in the Rye

I still don’t get them

I thought On the Road was garbage!

ps. the best film ever of the best book ever, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, is on BBC1 tonight 🙂

I thought On the Road was garbage!

+1

DezB is not only a fox – he has a discerning literary taste. That’s a proper power combo. 😉

I’ve tended to re-read everything I’ve enjoyed over the years, but I tend to speed read (skim?), I can easily miss details and pick it up the next time round, so enjoy them more the 2nd/3/4/10th time round.
Stuff I re-read numerous times though include all the Iain M. Banks books, the Pratchett discworld, David Brins uplift saga (Neil Stephenson’s & China Mieville will be joining this list, as I’ve only just discovered ‘them’ [my loss]).

Though I’d guess what I’ve read the most time would be Asimov’s Robot and Foundation series – purely as they were around the longest & to be fair are brilliant.

Quite a catch, me.

Don’t I just know it, Dez. If you like jazz and long walks by moonlight, you’d be positively irresistable. 😉

Ah, sorry.. Dezzy Hates Jazz 🙁

Dammit!

An amazing life well lived.

Anything by Nevil Shute plus Touring Bikes by Tony Oliver.

Lord of the Rings about 20 times 😯

Ian m banks
William Gibson
And guilty pleasures are
David gemmel and Bernard Cornwall .

On the Road and Briideshead Revisited. No doubt accounting for lots of travelling and a love of fine wine. Made me the wreck I am today.

20 times

blimey.
that’d take me about infinity years.
still only half way thru the dvd boxset trilogy (must get thru the 2nd half before DVD becomes totally obsolete), edit: which should save me the effort of reading the books.

I expect it was a book from my youth, maybe Call of the Wild

Probably on about my 8th re-reading now. Still amazes me.

Electric Brae by Andrew Greig …the man is infuriating he writes poetry non fiction thrillers romances but electric brae is where it all comes together best
Also Homage to Catalonia and Burmese Days by Orwell and when I was a teenager Lord of the Rings

PSA

for the other Cuckoo’s Nest fans

BBC1 @ 11:50 tonight.

Great book, great film.

Good thread, has bulked up my amazon wishlist!…

my entry would probably be a Joseph Connolly, probably SOS, Summer things or winter nights…

The Restaurant at the End of the Universe (Adams)

Or

Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency

Or

Grapes of Wrath

Or

The Warriors (Sol Yurick)

Or

Weaveworld (Clive Barker)

Not sure which – read them all several times.

Erm.
Erm..
Erm…
I’ve never read a book more than once.

Do you have too much time on your hands?? 😆

Often reread as I pick up stuff I missed first time through. Currently rereading The Passage by Justin Cronin, highly recommended, in preparation for reading The Twelve.

Probably most reread would be Michael Moorcock’s Eternal Champion series and Clive Barker’s Books of Blood. Read the LOTR a few times too.

I thought On the Road was garbage!

Good man ! But it inspired a generation apparently!

Loddrick – American Psycho . I absolutely hate that book. The film was 100 5 worse. And Less Than Zero is terrible.
Brett Easton writes like a 16 year old who has never had sex but tells everyone he is a playa!

The song of Phaid the gambler by Mick Farren
Would make an awesome movie

Don’t often read books more than once, there’s too many books out there. Have read the following twice though;

Shantaram, Gregory Roberts
Norwegian Wood, Murakami
Desert Solitaire, Edward Abbey
Master and Margarita, Bulgakov

Only read The Alchemist once, but now I’ve just seen it up there ^, it will be the next book I’ll read. Thanks.