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Books you've read again and again and again...

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Slide Rulez 4 Life
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Oct 17, 2007
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Inspired by this thread.

What book (or books/series) do you enjoy reading the most?
The ones you'll happily read repeatedly. It doesn't matter if they're popular or even good literature. Just as long as they are books. Heck, I'll even allow graphic novels.

For added content, give a brief blurb as to why you like it.


In my case, I have two guilty pleasures:

The Deathstalker series by Simon R. Green is one. It's a nice, long and engrossing space opera. Not particularly good, and the author is obsessed with bloody swordfights, but still enjoyable.

And Rats, Bats and Vats along with its sequel The Rats, the Bats and the Ugly by Eric Flint and Dave Freer. Just because they're fun.
 
I keep a 5-year stack of Sci-fi magazines, and every once in a while go thru it, oldest to newest. F&SF, Analog, Asimov's.
And just finished my collection of P.J. O'Rourke's screeds. :)
The guy is a word craftsman!
My paperbacks of Gould's science stuff are falling apart through age and re-reading.
 
I've read The Chronicles of Prydain series by Lloyd Alexander (adolescent fantasy based partly on Welsh mythology) about a dozen times. There was a period in my 20s when I read them every summer.

I've also read Lord of the Rings through twice, and certain parts I've read many times over.

I've read The Exorcist by WP Blatty four times, and again, certain passages I've read over and over.

Some medieval fiction, such as Malory's Le Morte D'Arthur and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, I've read multiple times in different translations.

And finally, certain graphic novels I've read multiple times as well. The Killing Joke, The Dark Knight Returns and Batman: A Death in the Family fall under this heading.
 
I'm gonna get blasted, but here goes:

The Lord of the Rings. I've always loved those books.

The Enchanted Forest Chronicles. My introduction to fantasy. You've gotta love a princess that volunteers to work for a dragon, and people used to say that I WAS the magician.

Faith of the Fallen. Well, most of Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth series, but this is his best. A good fantasy story, plus I like his philosophy.

Atlas Shrugged. This one I know I'm going to be flamed for. :p But it's not that I agree with everything Rand says (and I agree with others, Rush's version of Anthem is vastly better), but I still want to understand what she had to say. Also, I really enjoy the character of Hank Rearden.

The Rogue and Wraith squadren series in the Star Wars fiction. They're brain candy--the story has little depth, the authors obviously can't handle 12 characters, and they're probably only worth reading as a Star Wars fan. But I was one, and the books are a good way to kill some time between better books (I've almost always got a book I'm reading, though now it's switched to a game I'm playing).

Then there are a number of books by G.K. Chesterton that I enjoy re-reading. Partially I mention this because it proves that I'm not a complete Randroid, even if I do agree with some of what she said. And partially I really enjoy Chesterton's sense of humor and his view of the world. I'm not a fan of his religious views, but the rest are well worth re-reading. The Defendent is perhaps the best one, in that it's still largely relevant (which is really, really sad).
 
Lord of the Rings - several times, but not for quite a while.
Lord of Light by Zelazny.
Quite a few of Partchett's such as Night Watch.

There are more, which are may add once I remember them.
 
Yep, LOTR for me too. First read it in the army in '65 or so.. Re-read many times.

Others include almost all of William Gibson's novels, Greg Bears duology Forge of God and Anvil of Stars, All the Fritz Lieber Fafherd and Gray Mouser stories....
The Worm Oroborous, The Once And Future King, Lord Of Light, Dune, and most all of Jack Vance's stuff but particularly the Demon Princes novels and the four-part Planet Of Adventure stories.
 
Everything by HP Lovecraft. I've read it all numerous times. I love the moods and atmospheres he creates. His style of weirdness just resonates with me. I get a response from his work that I don't get from anyone else.

The Lord of the Rings, et al.

I've been considering getting an e-reader and the first thing I did was check to see if these two (Tolkien and Lovecraft) are available in e-book form, because without them, I'd have little use for the thing.

a few Larry Niven items (his stuff is so much fun):
The Magic Goes Away
Ringworld
Inferno

Christmas Customs and Traditions by Clement A. Miles -- the publisher, Dover Publications, has this paragraph-long blurb at the beginning about how durable the book is re: the binding, the cover thickness, the paper, etc. And every word of it is true; it's one of the most durable books I've ever owned, and I managed to totally wear it out. It's in tatters.

Do cocktail guides count? :D
 
LOTR all books, countless times

Ringworld by Larry Niven, many many times

"It Can't happen Here" and "Babbitt" by Sinclair Lewis many many

"Burnham's Celestial Handbook" vols. 1-3, many many manymany
 
LotR. When I was in high school, I re-read it every year. I still re-read portions of it every now and then. I read the Hobbit aloud to my kids, and they've listened to most of LotR on CD.

Zelazny's first five Amber books, plus Lord of Light.

McKillip's Riddle Master trilogy.

Le Guin's EarthSea.

Dawkins' The Selfish Gene.

Donaldson's first several Covenant books.

I re-read various reference books, or portions thereof, esp. those a bit above my level (Penrose, Einstein's papers, etc.) as needed to refresh my understanding.

Seuss, for my kids.

Lloyd Alexander, again for my kids. I remember loving the Taran books when I was a boy, but I didn't find them all that compelling when reading them aloud to my own kids. However, the boys wanted to hear about Hen Wen over and over.

Oddly, Airframe by Michael Crighton gets on the list. I don't know why I find it compelling enough to have read once, let alone re-read.

Lady Mary Stewart's Crystal Cave, Hollow Hills, and Last Enchantment. Holds up amazingly well to multiple readings.

Peter S. Beagle's A Fine and Private Place is worthy.

And of course, all the Heinlein juvies. When I was a teenager, I couldn't get enough. They are too formulaic to hold up to an adult's reading, but rereading The Moon is a Harsh Mistress is like cuddling up with a puppy.
 
I think I reread most of my books over and over again.

Right now I'm rereading "Dream of the Red Chamber", the Qing Dynasty novel. The translation I got is pretty good, although I am amused every time I reread it that I think "I'll need to write out the family tree to keep all these characters straight" and then I turn the page and find that I did so years ago and placed it at the exact point where I start to feel the need for one. I must remember to thank my past self for going to the effort!
 
Well I read a lot of books more than once. But for books I've read over and over and over...

Treasure Island, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, all the Harry Potter books, anything by Kurt Vonnegut, various fairy tale books, and a lot of comic books (Fables, Sandman, Lucifer, Watchmen, Desolation Jones, etc)...all because they are fun and easy to read.


and "The Princess Bride," because it is the best book (and film) ever written in the history of the universe. Anyone who says differently is selling something.
 
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Lady Mary Stewart's Crystal Cave, Hollow Hills, and Last Enchantment. Holds up amazingly well to multiple readings.
Click to expand...
Was going to say this one, but forgot the author's name. :)

Zelazny's first five Amber books,
Click to expand...
I forgot the Immortal City! :jaw-dropp I even walked a labrynth this weekend! (Mostly to demonstrate how to some people--they were going the wrong way.)
 
To balance out some of the dissing it got in the other thread, I've read Moby Dick several times, and the works of Jane Austen more than several.

Also, I'm ashamed to admit I've read East Lynne at least half a dozen times

'Dead, and never called me mother....'*







*I know that's not in the book
 
Here is one more:

The First Man in Rome by Colleen McCullough
 
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