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| SFReader Forums > SF Fiction and Art > Books You Should Read > books you reread most | Forum Quick Jump
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nathan
Sage
      
Date Joined Mar 2006
Total Posts : 2111
| Posted 1/18/2007 3:55 PM (GMT -4) |   | | Here in no particular order are the books I've reread the most over my life. I'm curious as to who others shake out on this and if my list crosses over to anyone elses. I've omitted books I've reread but less than 3 times and short stories.
1) Such Men Are Dangerous by Lawrence Block. about 5 times over the years.
2) The Sunset Warrior by Eric Van Lustbader. about the same.
3) The Gunslinger by Stephen King at least 8 times.
4) Harry Potter. I reread the entire series right before a new book comes out.
5) Tarzan of the Apes. Read this at a minimum of 12 times as a kid.
6) The Hobbit 3 or 4 times.
If I counted short stories then Robert E. Howard and Karl Wagner would top my list though Hemmingway and Fitzgerald would make enough of a showing to be respectable. I've read a lot of twice but not many reach the level of repetition as the above. I picked 7 for not particular reason.
Anyone else have books they always keep around because they know they'll read read them every 1-3 years?
VIEW IMAGE"Writing the wet dreams of teenage boys" - Lindsey Llyod, Tangent Reviews
Tarantino himself has been forward and unapologetic about his influences. In a 1994 interview with Empire magazine, he said, "I steal from every single movie ever made. If people don't like that, then tough tills, don't go and see it, all right? I steal from everything. Great artists steal, they don't do homages." | | Back to Top | | |
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Bill Ward
Biblioholic
Date Joined Jul 2006
Total Posts : 1635
| Posted 1/18/2007 4:48 PM (GMT -4) | | The Gunslinger is a great book, I've read the whole series and I think the gunslinger is the only one I'd read again (I've read it twice I think). I definitely want the 'old' version rather than the one with changes.
1984 is the book I've read the most in my life, five or six times since I was a kid. I'm generally not a big rereader of things, as there is so much I want to get to, but some others I've read multiple times and will definitely read again are: Lord of the Flies, A Clockwork Orange, The Hobbit & Lord of the Rings, Brave New World, The Stand, Dune, The Book of the New Sun, The Name of the Rose, and the Gormenghast Trilogy. These are in about the two to four times range, and I'll certainly revisit them all. | | Back to Top | | |
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Frank
Adept
Date Joined Aug 2005
Total Posts : 629
| Posted 1/19/2007 1:56 PM (GMT -4) | | I used to reread my favs quite a bit, but not usually more than a second time. The few that I've read three times or more are:
The Hobbit
The Fellowship of the Ring
The War of the Worlds
Starship Troopers
I have to avoid even picking up War of the Worlds off my shelf anymore. Every time I open it up and read the opening paragraph again I can't stop and I end up rereading the whole thing. I've read that one four times in twenty years.
There are many more I'd like to reread but there's too much out there that I haven't read yet at all... | | Back to Top | | |
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ScrewMoonshine
Adept
Date Joined Aug 2005
Total Posts : 852
| Posted 1/19/2007 2:38 PM (GMT -4) | | Heh. I've never reread a book more than once, if you exclude picture books. Ping, Goodnight Moon, Jonah, and Tromp-o-Moto got heavy rotation when I was a very little boy. Other than that, rereading takes up too much time, and I forget very few of the better parts of the books, so there's not much point. The few books I've reread include:
The Tripods trilogy
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
The Chronicles of Narnia
The Indian in the Cupboard
As you might guess, most of these are books I read when I was a young boy and reread as an adolescent or adult. I plan on eventually rereading The Sword of the Spirits trilogy and the Dark is Rising sequence as well, but new books keep on pushing those projects back.
Robert Orme
Out now:
"Such Dreams" in Amazing Journeys Magazine #12 (www.journeybookspublishing.com)
"On the Tree Top" in Ultraverse vol.3 #5 (www.ultraverse.us)
Coming soon:
"The Scab, the Man, and the I.V." in Mount Zion Speculative Fiction Review #3 (www.mountzionpress.com)
"More Than One Way to Protect" in Lords of Justice (www.pitchblackbooks.com)
"And Afterward" and "Candy Lover" in Flashshot, April 30 and May 23 (www.gwthomas.org/subscribe.htm) | | Back to Top | | |
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MichaelEhart
Sage
Date Joined Jul 2005
Total Posts : 2315
| Posted 1/19/2007 5:29 PM (GMT -4) | | Elmer Gantry by Sinclair Lewis
Patrick O'Brian at random.
Incomplete Enchanter
Lew Griffin mysteries by James Sallis--- these last are unlike anything you have ever seen in the genre. I just re-read the entire series. Griffin is a black detective in NOLA from the 50's through the late '90's. His narrative is very unreliable-- in three different books he retells a defining story with three different outcomes. They hit you like an elbow to the kidneys. At the end of several of the novels, there will be casual mention of some detail that is a stunning perception change for the reader. Unusual structure, but not in any way artsy--- they are gritty, realistic, fast-paced, and taut.
"The Scarlet Colored Beast" The Sword Review, September 2007
"Nothing But Our Tears" The Sword Review. August 2007
"Weaving Spiders Come Not Here" The Sword Review, July 2007
"The View from the Shotglass Floor" T. N. Thomas' TimeFlash, January 2007
"The Death of Number 23" Dark Krypt, Fall 2006
"Servant of the Manthycore" Sword Review, April 2006
"Voice of the Spoiler" Better Fiction, Spring 2006
"Dancing with the Elder Gods"-- Thirteen Magazine, October 2005
"It's a Living" Byzarium---November 2005
"An Exorcism Straight, Hold the Elvis" The Sword Review, October 2005
Host, 2005 Nebula Awards Live Chat, sff.net
http://mehart.blogspot.com/ | | Back to Top | | |
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von Darkmoor
Small Press Publisher (and Dancer still)
Date Joined Dec 2005
Total Posts : 2951
| Posted 1/19/2007 6:14 PM (GMT -4) | | erazmus said...
I'm a massive rereader.
Last year I reread Bujold's Miles Vorkosigan saga, Weber's Honor Harrington series, Kurtz's Deryni series, Robert Heinlien's Number of the Beast, Time Enough for Love, Starship Troopers, The Rolling Stones, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress and The Star Beast. Also most of Ringo's Aldenatta series and Ringo and Weber's March series, and Eric Flint and company's 1632 universe series, including my own story in that.
Plus a lot of others I don't recall off hand.
Mike
You're disqualified, Mike.
Reading 300+ books a year allows you so much more leeway than the rest of us have, it ain't even funny! 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sir Lord Jason the Essential
Get Your Own Peculiar Aristocratic Title @ www.masquerademaskarts.com/memes/peculiartitle.php
~ Visit www.vondarkmoor.blogspot.com for reviews and commentary related to writing and reading. | | Back to Top | | |
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che2000
doc caliban
Date Joined Oct 2006
Total Posts : 438
| Posted 1/20/2007 2:23 PM (GMT -4) | | Books I come back to again and again, like old friends or very comfortable shoes:
Shogun by James Clavell (I've lost count of how many times I've read it)
The High Deeds of Finn McCool by Rosemary Sutcliff
The Chronicles of Narnia by C S Lewis (but particularly The Horse and His Boy and The Last Battle)
Elric of Melnibone by Michael Moorcock
The Getaway by Jim Thompson
The Collected Ghost Stories of M R James | | Back to Top | | |
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che2000
doc caliban
Date Joined Oct 2006
Total Posts : 438
| Posted 1/20/2007 3:19 PM (GMT -4) | | The Getaway is a remarkable book - and, indeed, Jim Thompson was a remarkable writer. Savage Night , The Grifters, The Killer Inside Me and Pop. 1280 are amazing.
The Narnia books are timeless classics, Puddleglum the Marshwiggle in The Silver Chair is hilarious when he gets drunk (or pretends to) and refers to himself as 'a respecto-biggle'.
The Elric saga varies in quality as it goes along but the very early ones are great (to my shame, but also to my delight I only read Stormbringer quite recently and it reminded me how fluid Moorcock's imagination was with those books, especially in the way he throws away ideas and concepts that other writers could make an entire novel from). | | Back to Top | | |
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Frank
Adept
Date Joined Aug 2005
Total Posts : 629
| Posted 1/20/2007 5:23 PM (GMT -4) | | | I love that kind of dense writing, in which authors casually toss around big ideas. Among the books I've recently read, 'A Fire Upon The Deep' by Vernor Vinge had one of those paragraphs almost every second page. My mind was appropriately boggled. | | Back to Top | | |
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che2000
doc caliban
Date Joined Oct 2006
Total Posts : 438
| Posted 1/20/2007 9:51 PM (GMT -4) | | | The Stand, I'd sort of forgotten about that - great book (even, or perhaps especially, the 'extended cut' - the miniseries sucked though). | | Back to Top | | |
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Nicholas
Adept
Date Joined Jun 2006
Total Posts : 970
| Posted 1/21/2007 8:16 AM (GMT -4) | | |
Off the top of my head, these are books or series I've read three or more times (and will likely read again):
The Chronicles of Narnia C.S. Lewis
The John Carter of Mars books Edgar Rice Burroughs
The Lord of the Rings Tolkien
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Twain
Of Mice and Men Steinbeck
Heart of Darkness Joseph Conrad
The Great Divorce C.S. Lewis
The Four Loves C.S. Lewis
Anthologies of Lovecraft and Poe
Hmm...I'm surprised at how short this list is. I must be forgetting something.
Oh, and several plays that I had roles in--but does that count? I had to read them over and over again until I had my lines memorized. 
www.myspace.com/Ropespor
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nathan
Sage
Date Joined Mar 2006
Total Posts : 2111
| Posted 1/21/2007 2:10 PM (GMT -4) | |
Frank said...
I love that kind of dense writing, in which authors casually toss around big ideas. Among the books I've recently read, 'A Fire Upon The Deep' by Vernor Vinge had one of those paragraphs almost every second page. My mind was appropriately boggled. As I said above I'm rereading amber series and Roger Z does this in spades. Not the dense writing part as his style is pretty lean but as Corwin scoots through shadows Zel just tosses off huge plot concepts and skims through epic quests in the length of a short story. Jordon should read Amber...
Nick, steinbeck of course! Had to read Mice and Men in high school and promptly read everything he ever wrote over the next 6 months (I think). Loved Cannery Row.
I've read the Stand x2 and the uncut version once. Great epic fantasy.
Stranger in a Strange Land has made it on a lot of people's lists. I remember picking it up then putting it down after I read Starship Troopers -- mostly because it wasn't Starship Troopers.
I think I may just try it again.
VIEW IMAGE"Writing the wet dreams of teenage boys" - Lindsey Llyod, Tangent Reviews
Tarantino himself has been forward and unapologetic about his influences. In a 1994 interview with Empire magazine, he said, "I steal from every single movie ever made. If people don't like that, then tough tills, don't go and see it, all right? I steal from everything. Great artists steal, they don't do homages." | | Back to Top | | |
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