# What is your favorite book to read again, and again, and again... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 30, 2004, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-book-to-read-again-and-again-and-again/242803 "2004-04-30T04:39:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![robgruver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/13edae/32.png) [@robgruver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robgruver)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2004, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-book-to-read-again-and-again-and-again/242803/1 "2004-04-30T04:39:45Z")
I started reading _Ender’s Game_ last night after I finished _The Bad Guys Won_ about the '86 NY Mets. When my wife saw what I was reading, she asked just how many times I had read it… So that got me thinking about all my favorite books I read over and over again. _Ender’s Game_ by Orson Scott Card _Have a Nice Day!_ by Mick Foley _The Runaway Jury_ by John Grishom The first one is pretty popular, but the other two are a bit off the wall. I love Mick Foley’s writing, and have read everything he has written so far. Same goes for Grishom (for better or worse). _Runaway Jury_ was a great tale, and a supposedly interesting movie. So what are yours? ---
**Author:** ![Thaumaturge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/858c86/32.png) [@Thaumaturge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thaumaturge)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2004, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-book-to-read-again-and-again-and-again/242803/2 "2004-04-30T04:58:07Z")
I like re-reading anything by Feist, _Battle at Sethanon_ has some truly awesome material, as does the rest of that series. My favorite character, Nakor, doesn’t come until later, but I love the original series the best. I need to re-buy the books as well, they’ve been read so many times that they are falling apart. I plan on re-reading the Fire and Ice books soon, timing it so that I finish when the next one comes out. But usually I only read books once. ---
**Author:** ![Darkhold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@Darkhold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darkhold)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2004, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-book-to-read-again-and-again-and-again/242803/3 "2004-04-30T05:07:21Z")
I used to read **NightBlood** over and over. It’s a great little action/vamp book for when I was in the mood for an easy read. **Wheel of Time** I used to start from book 1 everytime a new book was coming. Now bleh. But I must have read the first book about 20 times over the years. **Dune** and **Shogun** **The Shining** and **The Stand** **Sword of Truth** But lately that’s going the Wheel of Time Route. **Oath of Swords** another really good ‘easy’ read **Briar King** frankly I can’t figure out why I don’t see it mentioned more often. It looks like the start of a great series. damn now i feel like a dork. There’s not a book on that list I’ve read less then 10 times. ---
**Author:** ![Zulema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/db5fbb/32.png) [@Zulema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zulema)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2004, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-book-to-read-again-and-again-and-again/242803/4 "2004-04-30T05:11:34Z")
I almost never read a fiction book more than once except _A Prayer for Owen Meany_ . I’ve read it five times and cried at the end every time. ---
**Author:** ![Syntropy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/65b543/32.png) [@Syntropy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Syntropy)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2004, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-book-to-read-again-and-again-and-again/242803/5 "2004-04-30T05:15:34Z")
Same author, **SP2263**. _A Widow for One Year_ _IT_ by Stephen King The Amber series by Roger Zelazny anything by Terry Pratchett ---
**Author:** ![Tentacle\_Monster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba9def/32.png) [@Tentacle\_Monster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tentacle_Monster)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2004, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-book-to-read-again-and-again-and-again/242803/6 "2004-04-30T05:18:08Z")
As I’ve said in another thread, I read _The Devil’s Day_ a _lot_. Same for _Breakfast of Champions_ and _Player Piano_. I’ll also re-read Thomas Harris’s Hannibal Lecter trilogy on occaison. Books I’ve read all the way through once and like to thumb through: The Real Frank Zappa Book Skipping Towards Gomorrah Portnoy’s Complaint Deathbird Stories Fear of Flying ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2004, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-book-to-read-again-and-again-and-again/242803/7 "2004-04-30T05:36:23Z")
Anything by Douglas Adams. The Hitchhiker’s paperbacks especially tend to wear out. ---
**Author:** ![Odinoneeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/97f17d/32.png) [@Odinoneeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odinoneeye)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2004, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-book-to-read-again-and-again-and-again/242803/8 "2004-04-30T05:40:07Z")
Anything by Terry Pratchett and/or Neal Gaiman. I also like to flip through my superhero novels (The Last Days of Superman, Knightfall) and just read the fight scenes. ---
**Author:** ![Jenaroph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e8c25b/32.png) [@Jenaroph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenaroph)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2004, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-book-to-read-again-and-again-and-again/242803/9 "2004-04-30T05:55:05Z")
Currently re-reading **Lord of the Rings**. Again. I wore out my paperbacks a while back and was given a hardback volume last year as a gift. It’s just what I needed. ---
**Author:** ![Paladud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Paladud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paladud)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2004, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-book-to-read-again-and-again-and-again/242803/10 "2004-04-30T06:16:04Z")
Feist’s _Silverthorn_ and _A Darkness at Sethanon_. Card’s _Ender’s Game_ Clavell’s _King Rat_ - leaps and bounds better than _Shogun_, which is pretty good in its own right Glen Cook’s _The Black Company_ Vonnegut’s _Cat’s Cradle_ and _The Sirens of Titan_. I love _Mother Night_ above all others but it’s too emotionally loaded to re-read 2-3 times a year. ---
**Author:** ![nifferka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bbe5ce/32.png) [@nifferka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nifferka)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2004, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-book-to-read-again-and-again-and-again/242803/11 "2004-04-30T06:30:57Z")
Mostly, I just re-read textbooks to fall asleep. There’s too many other books out there I haven’t read yet to spend wide-awake time re-reading. That said, if I can’t get any new books and want something to read right away, anything by Terry Pratchet, Jane Austen, or Joel Achenbach will keep me occupied–even if I’ve read it several times before. ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2004, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-book-to-read-again-and-again-and-again/242803/12 "2004-04-30T06:39:49Z")
**SP2263** , I read _A Prayer for Owen Meany_ for the first time only a few months ago. What an _incredible_ read! My favorite to reread is _Trinity_ by Leon Uris. The two novels have in common the thread of the coming of age of two boyhood friends. ---
**Author:** ![maddog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a183cd/32.png) [@maddog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maddog)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2004, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-book-to-read-again-and-again-and-again/242803/13 "2004-04-30T11:13:46Z")
The _Lucia_ books by EF Benson. They are funny and cheering in a 1920s English village way. Benson’s gorgeous prose is rather dense and as I have a bad habit of reading too fast, reading the books every couple of years is like coming to a fresh new book; I find new things all the time. _The Wind in the Willows_ by Kenneth Grahame. Another perennial, again one I grab for comfort and charm. I nearly know the story off by heart, so that if the world burns and there are no books left, I can be the teller of this story and will have some use at last. Providing, of course, that I am left, too. ---
**Author:** ![Idlewild](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8491ac/32.png) [@Idlewild](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idlewild)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2004, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-book-to-read-again-and-again-and-again/242803/14 "2004-04-30T11:43:29Z")
_Pride and Prejudice_, _Mansfield Park_ and _Persuasion_ all get read pretty frequently, bless Miss Austen. _Gaudy Night_, my favourite of Dorothy L. Sayers’ Lord Peter Whimsey novels comes out at least once a year so I can have a good sniffle over it. I guess I’m just a sucker for romance. ---
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2004, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-book-to-read-again-and-again-and-again/242803/15 "2004-04-30T11:58:18Z")
> [@Idlewild](#): > > _Pride and Prejudice_, _Mansfield Park_ and _Persuasion_ all get read pretty frequently, bless Miss Austen. Yeah, those are all worth a couple of re-reads, aren’t they? :: happy sigh :: I read _A Tree Grows In Brooklyn_ about once a year. I’ve read _The Stand_ about a dozen times or more. Over the summer for pool-time reading, I grab a paperback of either Sue Grafton or Janet Evanovich. Quick, easy and fun reads. ---
**Author:** ![ZombiesAteMyBrain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b4bc9f/32.png) [@ZombiesAteMyBrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZombiesAteMyBrain)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2004, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-book-to-read-again-and-again-and-again/242803/16 "2004-04-30T12:22:49Z")
[QUOTE=Idlewild] _Pride and Prejudice_, _Mansfield Park_ and _Persuasion_ all get read pretty frequently, bless Miss Austen. Jane Austen is my favourite too for ‘comfort reading’ - along with ‘To kill a Mockingbird’ and Shogun. When I want to cheer myself up I re-read one of Bill Bryson’s books - still the only books which make me laugh out loud, even when I’m feeling really down. ---
**Author:** ![flamingbananas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f4b2a3/32.png) [@flamingbananas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flamingbananas)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2004, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-book-to-read-again-and-again-and-again/242803/17 "2004-04-30T12:26:33Z")
The Harry Potter books. I must have read each one about 10 times, but I still get nervous at the end, and I still giggle at the sarcastic quotes in the books. Here is one of my favorties: Uncle Vernon: You’re watching the news? _Again?_ Harry: Well it changes everyday you see. Ahahahahahahaha ---
**Author:** ![Starguard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Starguard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starguard)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2004, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-book-to-read-again-and-again-and-again/242803/18 "2004-04-30T12:49:59Z")
**She Who Remembers** **Voice of the Eagle** **Let the Drums Speak** All by Linda Lay Schuler \*\* Mother Earth, Father Sky\*\* \*\* My sister the Moon \*\* \*\* Brother Wind\*\* All by Sue Harrison Chldren of the Ice By Charlene Printess **The Oddessey** By Greek author Homer There were many others, buy the above listed were by far my favorites 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2004, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-book-to-read-again-and-again-and-again/242803/19 "2004-04-30T12:58:47Z")
I’ve read a ton of books more that once - lots of sci-fi and fantasy when I was a kid - but the ones that make the cut now: **To Kill a Mockingbird** **Dune** **The Chosen** I have read **Pride & Prejudice** several times, but after we got the DVD of the BBC mini-series with Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth - my wife’s favorite movie of all time - we have watched it, or just parts of it, dozens of times… ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2004, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-book-to-read-again-and-again-and-again/242803/20 "2004-04-30T13:13:33Z")
**Dune** - A good thinking read. **Lord of the Rings** - Ditto **Dracula** - Because who could pass up an adventure written by a sick bastard (victorian version). [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-book-to-read-again-and-again-and-again/242803.md?page=2)