in the last 7 days...
phil has 12 comments and is ahead of the game like the national anthem.
beth is in Striking Distance like Bruce Willis & boats with 11.
Joe is closing quickly like Circuit City with 8.
Tiffany! has the capabilities to pay the utilities with 8.
prof. fancy pants just wants something to dance to and has 5.
DirtyDanSin has his/her dignity, but only 4 comments
jon has 3 comments and is kicked back like italics.
Stace has only 2 and needs to step up like when the escalator is broken.I am reading Neuromancer by William Gibson right now, and it occurs to me that it is one of my “go-to” books that I have reread like upwards of 20 times or something. There are a few other ones on the list of comforting books that I have read over and over again.
Question: What is your list of books that you keep re-reading every once in a while?
duh duh duhh duhh (on facebook) or
(on twitter)
category: a very serious question
→ 18 answers so far ↓
1
jon
// Mar 10, 2010 at 9:58 am
The Raymond Chandler cannon.
A little cliche but Catcher in the Rye has been worn out by me as well.
I have been reading Death on the Installment Plan for about 10 years and even though I like it I never finish it so I will add the first half of that one.
2
C Lo
// Mar 10, 2010 at 10:10 am
On The Road is probably the only “adult” one. My comfort books are mostly books I read in grade school….Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh and Tiger Eyes by Judy Blume are my two go-to books that I’ve read probably upwards of 100 times each.
3
phil
// Mar 10, 2010 at 10:11 am
I re-read tetherballs of bougaineville or the book of beasts sometimes and have read animal farm the most of any book probably.
I don’t usually reread novels or rewatch movies. Instead of reading neuromancer 20 times you could have read 20 books (even though 18 of them aren’t as good as neuromancer, maybe one of them might be).
I read neuromancer a long time ago so I still think of it as blowing my mind with new ideas I’d never heard of plus I was a kid anyways so the book could have told me that the sun doesn’t disappear at night and it would blown me away. You probably think of it as a comfortable old pair of slippers. Do you get more out of it when rereading?
4
heypal
// Mar 10, 2010 at 12:05 pm
I’ve read ‘For Whom the Bell Tolls’ about six or seven times. Comfort books are the Bachman Books, maybe a couple other of his stories. I haven’t read any as much as ‘FWTBT,’ though.
5
Tiffany!
// Mar 10, 2010 at 12:33 pm
I re-read the stories in 22 Stories by JD Salinger. I also re-read various novels by Hawthorne, and plays/sonnets by Shakespeare. It’s very comforting and I always feel like I am seeing them with new eyes.
6
Tiffany!
// Mar 10, 2010 at 12:35 pm
I also read Good Night, Moon. And I’m pretty sure that I am still reading a New Yorker from last year.
7
Tiffany!
// Mar 10, 2010 at 12:37 pm
@Jon- Do you still get mad at phonies when you complete Catcher? And do you still ponder where the ducks from Central Park go in the winter?
8
jon
// Mar 10, 2010 at 12:42 pm
@tiffany- just this past sunday as I watched part of the Oscars I was thinking about how mad those phonies in Hollywood make me. Also I was in Central Park last week and did not think about the ducks. I did however see a sheep pasture that was closed for the season and I was curious as to where the sheep were.
9
NateG
// Mar 10, 2010 at 1:06 pm
-Anna Karenina by Tolstoy – I have loved this book since i first read it when i was 15 and have read it about 5 times since. I also like to just pick it up and read passages or chapters at times…
-Winter of our Discontent by Steinbeck – One of my favorite books ever with a main character that i can relate to more closely than any other book i have ever read
-Hemingway in general – i have reread for whom the bell tolls, the sun also rises and some others a couple of times.
10
Stace
// Mar 10, 2010 at 1:09 pm
The Giver by Lois Lowery and Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury.
11
jake
// Mar 10, 2010 at 2:03 pm
Catch-22, Frankenstein and Mark Twain’s Roughing It.
If you count graphic novels/trade paperbacks: Watchmen, The Dark Knight Returns, Batman: Year One, Elektra: Assassin, Daredevil Reborn and Squadron Supreme.
12
DirtyDanSin
// Mar 10, 2010 at 2:27 pm
My most frequently read book is The World According To Garp. I used to read it annually as a teen.
Other books that I re-read include the following: any and all William S Burroughs *non-fiction*, Liber AL vel Legis, Little Big Man, Les Chants de Maldoror & A Rebours.
13
phil
// Mar 10, 2010 at 3:37 pm
H.C. seemed like a pretty smart kid but DUCKS FLY SOUTH IN THE WINTER! Who doesn’t know that?
14
Chris
// Mar 10, 2010 at 4:32 pm
I have only reread one book multiple times in my life… the Bible. I have read many books, but never bothered cracking them open for a 2nd go round. I really can’t watch tv episodes or movies multiple times… i think it has something to do with not knowing what to expect. The reason I can reread the Bible is because it is so long, I forget most of it by the time I get to the end.
I have re-read many books to my son at bedtime. I think I read “Biscuit” and “Olivia” to him several hundred times.
15
Joe
// Mar 11, 2010 at 10:47 am
Aside for Chris, you guys have way less embarrassing answers than me.
Mine are:
Magician: Apprentice and Magician: Master by Raymond E Feist (I also read Darkness at Sethanon etc byt not as many times). They are two novels charting the rise of “pug” from bumbling apprentice to one of the most powerful magicians in.. Sethanon? I forget the name of their land. At any rate I have read those two books so much that their covers are now ripped and the glue holding the pages is starting to wear off.
The entire “Amber” series by Roger Zelazny. His main theme of “order” vs “chaos” and the shadow worlds are both very appealing.
“Dune” by Frank Herbert I have only reread this one like 5 times but I have read it twice in the past year so I think it should probably be added to the list. Unlike a lot of people, I also think the movie was really good. Muuuaaaa… … … D’ib!
“Snow Crash”, “The Diamond Age”, and “Cryptonomicon” by Neal Stephenson. Engineer porn. I have reread each of these to shreds. Diamond Age in particular helped me figure out a lot of my own ideas of morality, ideals etc.
Neuromancer, count zero, and mona lisa overdrive by william gibson. again reread to shreds.
Like Jon, the ray chandler works as well as the works of Dashell Hammet. I especially like the latter’s “Continental Op” books/short stories.
16
heypal
// Mar 11, 2010 at 1:56 pm
@Joe- I forgot about ‘Dune,’ I’ve read that one about five times, too, and liked the film lots and lots. I get funny looks when i reference it as something good. It’s not as bad as saying ‘Ishtar’ was a hit, or we should make another ‘Waterworld,’ but people don’t appreciate it as much as they should.
17
panasonicyouth
// Mar 11, 2010 at 4:31 pm
Definitely Carson McCuller’s “The Heart is a Lonely Hunter.”
Makes me feel every time.
18
April
// Mar 11, 2010 at 8:48 pm
Party Monster (or Disco Blood Bath) By James St. James.
Girl a novel by Blake Nelson
Dangerous Angels (the Witzy Bat complete Series) By Francessca Le Block.
There are others cause I’m a compulsive re-reader and always have been. I’ve even picked up old Fear Street books I never returned from the libray as a kid and re- read them as an adult.
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