# Books you reread over and over **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** books-writing-myths\ **Created:** [December 8, 2024, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-you-reread-over-and-over/1011325 "2024-12-08T02:18:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Capn\_Carl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/838e76/32.png) [@Capn\_Carl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capn_Carl)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2024, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-you-reread-over-and-over/1011325/61 "2024-12-10T01:52:57Z")
_Guadalcanal_ by Richard Frank. Plenty of good books about that campaign, but Frank’s account stands above. I’ve probably read it 5 or 6 times. I don’t often re-read fiction; it seems there’s always some new book I need to read, so I don’t make time for repeats. I’ve made an exception for Ann Patchett’s _The Dutch House._ I read it once, and listened to the audiobook twice. It’s read by Tom Hanks and his voice is perfect for the role. I’ll be ready for another listening in a year or so. ---
**Author:** ![Galactus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/galactus/32/3581_2.png) [@Galactus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Galactus)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2024, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-you-reread-over-and-over/1011325/62 "2024-12-10T03:19:14Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > The only books I have read more than twice is the entire comic book run of _The Fantastic Four_ which I’ve done (appropriately) four times. The Fantastic Four is my favorite comic book series. I own issues 15 - 358. When you say reread the full run what exactly are you saying? And what format are you reading them in? ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2024, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-you-reread-over-and-over/1011325/63 "2024-12-10T03:26:51Z")
> [@Galactus](#): > > When you say reread the full run what exactly are you saying? And what format are you reading them in? I have the first five Masterworks collections covering FF 1-50, and original copies of 51 to the present (#717 using the old numbering). I’m missing a few annuals. If I do another read-thru, it will be on Marvel Unlimited on my iPad. ---
**Author:** ![Galactus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/galactus/32/3581_2.png) [@Galactus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Galactus)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2024, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-you-reread-over-and-over/1011325/64 "2024-12-10T03:39:23Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > to the present (#717 using the old numbering) How would you rate 359 - 717. Should I seek them out? ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2024, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-you-reread-over-and-over/1011325/65 "2024-12-10T03:55:58Z")
The rest of Vol. 1 is really hit and miss…mostly miss, as are the 13 issues in Vol. 2 (Heroes Reborn) Vol. 3 is pretty solid and peaks with the Waid/Wieringo run which is only exceeded by the Lee/ Kirby and Byrne years. About 20 years ago there was a sister FF title under the Marvel Knights brand that I really enjoyed. The last 15 years have been one issue at a time, so I don’t have a really good feel on how to rank them. I’m enjoying the current run which relaunched a couple years ago after a lengthy hiatus foisted on the title by some corporate idiot for “movie reasons”. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2024, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-you-reread-over-and-over/1011325/66 "2024-12-10T06:53:58Z")
> [@cieskokid](#): > > _Jitterbug Perfume_ by Tom Robbins (best novel ever written, IMHO) I’ve read all of his novels at least twice, _Roadside Attraction_ and _Cowgirls_ four or five times, and for me _Jitterbug_ is his best by far. ---
**Author:** ![Strenger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecae2f/32.png) [@Strenger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Strenger)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2024, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-you-reread-over-and-over/1011325/67 "2024-12-10T08:03:03Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > I’ve re-read _Dracula_ and _Frankenstein_ just a few times once I got the annotated editions. Do me a solid and give me some links to those editions you favor. Also, I do come back to Mark Twain pretty often. Language changes, but humor somewhat less, IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2024, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-you-reread-over-and-over/1011325/68 "2024-12-10T11:52:04Z")
Jane Austen The Patrick O’Brian series of Aubrey/Maturin sea stories The Wolf Hall series by Hilary Mantel Susanna Clarke: Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, Piranesi Marilyn Robinson, anything she wrote is worth reading more than once Lord of the Rings Bulgakov, The Master and Margarita Dostoevsky, the Brothers Karamazov Tolstoy ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2024, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-you-reread-over-and-over/1011325/69 "2024-12-10T12:34:48Z")
> [@XOldiesJock](#): > > **Slaughterhouse Five** by Kurt Vonnegut Oh boy. I had a Social Studies teacher in Jr. High. One day, every week, he would just read Vonnegut to us. He made me into a reader. Possibly the best teacher I have ever had. Maybe he was lazy and didn’t have a lesson plan. But that was the best lesson I ever got. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2024, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-you-reread-over-and-over/1011325/70 "2024-12-10T13:32:37Z")
> [@Strenger](#): > > Do me a solid and give me some links to those editions you favor. > > Also, I do come back to Mark Twain pretty often. Language changes, but humor somewhat less, IMHO. I’m a huge Twain fan, as well, but I have to admit that I haven’t re-read several of his works. I do re-read _a Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court_ (which, as I’ve frequently said, I’d like to see filmed at least close to faithfully), _Letters from the Earth_, and bits and pieces of others (_Diary of Adam and Eve_, _The Innocents Abroad_) As for Annotated Editions, I’m talking about the whole series of oversized “The Annotated\_\_\_\_\_\_” books, which have been coming our since the 1960s and they’re still adding to. Here are the ones I have. Please note that this is not an exhaustive list. I know that there are many others. You can look these up on Amazon or Abe Books or Barnes an d Noble if you need links.: **The Annotated Alice** – Martin Gardner annotated this circa 1970, then updated it (with new, non-Tenniel illustrations) circa 1980, then released the “Final Alice” in 2000. Then some other people updated it again after he died. I’ve got copies of the first three. Definitely worth getting) **The Annotated Ancient Mariner** – also by Gardner. Recommended. I’m not sure I could’ve gotten through the poem even once without Gardner. **The Annotated Hunting of the Snark** – Gardner annotating Lewis Carroll again. This was the first time I read this weird little poem, and the annotations definitely help. (Gardner also annotated _Casey at the Bat_ – although it’s not part o the series – and _The Night Before Christmas_, which I don’t have. I think he did others, too) **The Annotated Frankenstein** and **The Annotated Dracula** – both annotated by Leonard Wolf in the 1970s. I love them both, although Wolf isn’t without errors. Later on, he dissociated himself from The Annotated series and re-issued these as _The Essential Frankenstein_ and _The Essential Dracula_, which didn’t have the illustrations. He added two more horror classics that had never gotten the “Annotated” treatment before – _The Essential Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde_ and _The Essential Phantom of the Opera_. All well worth the read. Later on. Leslie Klinger became The King of Re-Annotated Editions. He issued \*_The New Annotated Dracula_ and **The New Annotated Frankenstein** (to celebrate the bicentennial of its publication) **The Annotated Gulliver’s Travels** , annotated by Isaac Asimov – he did what I always wanted someone to do, which was to explicate a lot of the satire. Although a lot is pretty obvious, a lot has become obscure since SWift’s time, and this book helps. It also restores a passage that had been deleted and I hadn’t seen restored before. Asimov canget a little tedious, as when he tries to defend all the “projectors” of Lagado in the name of looking after scientific research – but Swift deliberately made their research projects as absurd as possible in trying to poke fun at them. Asimov annotated a lot of other works that I’d love to read, but I’ve never seen them – Gilbert and Sullivan, Don Juan, and others. **The Annotated Sherlock Holmes** – in two volumes by William S. Baring-Gould, who also annotated Mother Goose (the first of the Annotated series, I think). Interesting, but I’m annoyed by his constant attempts to fit the stories into a real chronology (something our own _Exapno Mapcase_ liked). A newer edition was **The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes** with annotation by the Re-Annotated, Leslie Klinger. It’s in THREE volumes, and doesn’t try to fit the stories into a chronology. I’ve got both sets. **The Annotated Lost World** annotated by Ray Pilot and Alvin Rodin – definitely worth it. I’d read the book more than once before, but it becomes more palatable with the annotations. I hadn’t realized that Doyle researched the plateau or Roraima so thoroughly before, or that he “proto-photoshopped” a picture of the Lost World plateau, or that he and his friends dressed up as characters from the book and had themselves photographed (Doyle himself as Professor Challenger). The book has an appendix on the 1925 movie adaptation, made with Doyle’s blessings, but the book came out before the recent restored editions of the film. **The Annotated Hobbit** – Annotated by Douglas A. Anderson. With lots of Tolkien’s own illustrations, and those of Foreign editions (Bilbo looks Russian , almost like Gorbachev, in the Russian edition. And he’s got curly hair and looks very French in the French illustrations), and illustrations that influenced Tolkien. And, of course, he includes the section Tolkien excised after he published Lord of the Rings, because it clashed with the story of Gollum as told there. **The Annotated Wizard of Oz** – annotated by Michael Patrick Hearn. With all the original illustrations, in color. They re-issued it for the centennial of the book’s publication. They ought to put out another one now because of _Wicked_. Defintely worth it. **The Annotated Christmas Carol** – also annotated by Hearn. With the John Leech illustrations and some good essays. Also explains the weird local references that show up in some film versions (like the Zemeckis edition) without explanation. **The Annotated Arabian Nights** – annotated by Paulo Lemos Horta, with new translations by Yasmine Seale, and quoting from many other translators. It’s not the complete Arabian Nights, of course, and the existence of this book might seem weird when you consider that Richard Burton’s 17-volume translation is overabundantly footnoted. But this one bristles with new material. Searle’s translations seek to avoid the prejudice of past editions. There are included some of Antoine Galland’s first editions of stories and the notes made by Hana Diab from which Galland wrote those stories. And several notes explode misconceptions and myths about the Nights. Definitely worth getting hold of, even if it only tells a frac tion of the stories. Well, I have lots of other annotated editions, but that’s enough for now. ---
**Author:** ![cieskokid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cieskokid/32/5374_2.png) [@cieskokid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cieskokid)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2024, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-you-reread-over-and-over/1011325/71 "2024-12-11T05:51:25Z")
Indeed! I’ve also enjoyed his last few novels, especially _Villa Incognito_ and _Skinny Legs and All_ . The latter being particularly relevant as two of it’s characters are and Arab and a Jew who get along just fine and serve as a sort of symbol of how to co-exist with others not of one’s own tribe. I just love how in ALL of his novels Robbins so colorfully creates a tapestry of plot and characters woven around some cool af themes and seemingly ancient secrets. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2024, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-you-reread-over-and-over/1011325/72 "2024-12-11T11:37:49Z")
I don’t reread books like I used to because I just don’t read as much as I used to. Partly because I have less time for reading but mostly because, sadly, my phone has completely damaged my attention span. I am making an effort to use my phone less to try and fix this (dumping Twitter has helped) and I hope to read more. All that said, there was a time where I would reread Stephen King’s The Stand every year because it was and probably still is my favorite Novel. Eventually I settled into starting it in June because that is when the Novel starts. I did that for at least ten years maybe more. I have reread other books also but none more than The Stand. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2024, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-you-reread-over-and-over/1011325/73 "2024-12-11T21:24:03Z")
> [@Quimby](#): > > Partly because I have less time for reading but mostly because, sadly, my phone has completely damaged my attention span. I am making an effort to use my phone less to try and fix this (dumping Twitter has helped) and I hope to read more. Yeah, only thing I check on my phone is weather and news. So I stay off my phone. Mind you, I use up a couple hours a day here and on FB, etc on my computer. ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2024, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-you-reread-over-and-over/1011325/74 "2024-12-11T22:07:18Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Asimov annotated a lot of other works that I’d love to read, but I’ve never seen them – Gilbert and Sullivan, Don Juan, and others. Didn’t he do an annotated Bible, too (or at least portions thereof)? ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2024, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-you-reread-over-and-over/1011325/75 "2024-12-11T23:02:48Z")
> [@SCAdian](#): > > Didn’t he do an annotated Bible, too (or at least portions thereof)? He did _Isaac Asimov’s Guide to the Bible_ . In two volumes. He didn’t print the Bible with annotations. His books are quotes from the Bible with lengthy notes. I always wondered why he did this book. The Bible is an immense work , dense with information already and, because it’s is central to many faiths, people have dissected it line by line. I direct your attention to the Anchor Bible, for instance (of which I have a few books). Or the Pelican Bible Commentaries (of which I have the Evangelists). Or any of a number of other commentaries. There’s no way Asimov could hope to compete with that level of examination. It looks as if he had a few sentences from each book of the Bible that he wanted to comment on, so he just selected those. Even with such a cherry-picking strategy, his two-volume work is stil pretty thick. A couple of others in my collection: **The Annotated Huckleberry Finn** – I’m a Twain fan, but this isn’t my favorite f his. But it’s an important piece of literature – in my opinion, it really is The Great American Novel. But it took me a long time to work my way through it.Hearn, again, is the annotator **The Annotated Flatland** – Edwin Abbott’s mathematical classic is definitely worth the Annotated treatment – there’s a lot to comment on here. **The Annotated Lovecraft** – There already existed two volumes of annotated Lovecraft fiction by the Lovecraft scholar S. T. Joshi, but Leslie Klinger, the Great Re-Annotater, decided to put out a two-volume edition in the series. His notes are very different from Joshi’s ---
**Author:** ![Fir\_na\_tine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Fir\_na\_tine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fir_na_tine)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2024, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-you-reread-over-and-over/1011325/76 "2024-12-11T23:03:44Z")
The Reacher series by Lee Clarke Anything by Steven King - especially Duma Key and The Stand Anything by Heinlein Anything by Kenneth Roberts - raw history Anything by James Michner The Harry Potter series The Outlander series and last but not least The J.D. Robb series about Lt. Eve Dallas (don’t knock it till you try it) ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2024, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-you-reread-over-and-over/1011325/77 "2024-12-11T23:17:19Z")
Catch 22 The Sun Also Rises Master and Margarita The Aubrey/Maturin series Jack Vance ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2024, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-you-reread-over-and-over/1011325/78 "2024-12-12T01:12:43Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > He did _Isaac Asimov’s Guide to the Bible_ . In two volumes. He didn’t print the Bible with annotations. His books are quotes from the Bible with lengthy notes. > > I always wondered why he did this book. I enjoy the book, a lot of it is well known quotes from the Bible. Also, the Anchor Bible, while a marvel of scholarship, isnt all that entertaining or readable. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2024, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-you-reread-over-and-over/1011325/79 "2024-12-12T21:13:25Z")
Too many to count or list, to be honest. I re-read Pier Paul Reid’s _Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors_ so many times that my brother got disgusted with me and threw my book out the window during a thunderstorm. I was around 8, 9 years old. Going to throw David Wallechinsky’s incomparable [The People’s Almanac](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_People%27s_Almanac#:~:text=The%20People's%20Almanac%20is%20a,almanacs%20that%20regurgitated%20bare%20facts) in the mix, a _very_ 1970s twist on almanacs which was 70% fact, 30% bullshit, and 100% loved by my 10yo self. _The People’s Almanac_ spawned two sequels and what may be my most re-read book of all time, [The Book of Lists](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Book_of_Lists). This book changed the way I think (lists, lists, and lists!), was one of the original touchpoints I had with Sophia’s mother (also a fan), and literally gave me _decades_ of conversational topics, especially the ever-popular ‘who from history would you invite to share in your life/have dinner with?’ TBoL even got me in trouble with my grandmother when she found the “Six Most Common Sexual Positions” list. My protestations that TBoL was ‘moral’ because it also had the Ten Commandments fell upon unsympathetic ears. Luckily for the hero in this story, she made the rare tactical mistake when she handed the book to my father who… knowing it was my reading obsession which kept me quiet, which in turn made his solo-parenting job much easier… promptly gave it back to me once we were out of her range. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2024, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-you-reread-over-and-over/1011325/80 "2024-12-15T06:35:29Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > (Gardner also annotated _Casey at the Bat_ – although it’s not part o the series – and _The Night Before Christmas_, which I don’t have. I think he did others, too) I have read his _The Annotated Thursday_ (on Chesterton’s _The Man Who Was Thursday_). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-you-reread-over-and-over/1011325.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-you-reread-over-and-over/1011325.md?page=5)