Regularly Re-Read?

[Joel]

What books do you re-read every few years or so? I'm guilty of forsaking newer stuff for the likes of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, The Sun Also Rises, the Hitchhiker's series and a bunch of others.

[Melki]

I don't know if once a decade is a regular re-read, but I'm on my fourth go-round for the Anne of Green Gables series.
Reading familiar and much loved books is like comfort food.

[Brenda]

Melki wrote: "I don't know if once a decade is a regular re-read, but I'm on my fourth go-round for the Anne of Green Gables series.
Reading familiar and much loved books is like comfort food."

My guilty pleasure is going back to the Sweet Potato Queens books - they always make me laugh.

[Brena]

I don't re-read books, but my favorite books have my favorite passages highlighted, and I go through those repeatedly.

When I was a child, my favorite book for a long time was White Fang. I reread it as an adult and was sorely disappointed. It was kinda lame... I miss my warm fuzzy memories of the book.

[Jay]

Brena wrote: "...When I was a child, my favorite book for a long time was White Fang. I reread it as an adult and was sorely disappointed. It was kinda lame... I miss my warm fuzzy memories of the book."

You must have had an adventurous spirit when growing up. Jack London's stories entertained generations of boys, and I'm sure a few girls along the way. After all, adventure and dogs...what's not to love. Now, if we could only reread those stories with innocent eyes, we'd probably still love them.

[Melki]

Jay wrote: "You must have had an adventurous spirit when growing up. Jack London's stories entertained generations of boys, and I'm sure a few girls along the way."

I never read Jack London because I was convinced that his fictional dogs would go the way of Old Yeller or Sounder. Even as I child I refused to read anything where I knew in advance that the dog dies. (Hope that's not a spoiler.)

[Brena]

Call of the Wild..classic...must read

[Brena]

Melki wrote: "Jay wrote: "You must have had an adventurous spirit when growing up. Jack London's stories entertained generations of boys, and I'm sure a few girls along the way."

I never read Jack London becaus..."

Call of the Wild...classic...must read

[Rebecca]

Melki wrote: "I don't know if once a decade is a regular re-read, but I'm on my fourth go-round for the Anne of Green Gables series.
Reading familiar and much loved books is like comfort food."

I'm another for Anne, as well as some of Montgomery's other books. I also periodically go back to Louisa May Alcott, and wander through Middle Earth every decade or so (used to be annually). A few other childhood favorites get re-read whenever I'm in need of serious comfort food.

[Joel]

Unlike you obvious intellectuals, my childhood favorites involved The Hardy Boys. Might be fun to pick one of those up again. Not exactly "Little Women", though.

[Melki]

Joel wrote: "Unlike you obvious intellectuals, my childhood favorites involved The Hardy Boys. Might be fun to pick one of those up again. Not exactly "Little Women", though."

One thing I'm enjoying about working in the childrens' section of the library is watching the kids discovering these books for the first time. My favorite 14-year-old just read his first Hardy Boys. He told me he wished he had found them when he was "younger." Aw, poor kid . . . all those wasted years.

And, I could never read Little Women. There's something about Marmie that irritates the hell out of me.

[Brena]

Joel wrote: "Unlike you obvious intellectuals, my childhood favorites involved The Hardy Boys. Might be fun to pick one of those up again. Not exactly "Little Women", though."
When I was young, the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew were not in the libraries so I had to borrow them from kids who had cool parents. My mom only bought a set of encyclopedias.

[Brena]

Melki wrote: "Joel wrote: "Unlike you obvious intellectuals, my childhood favorites involved The Hardy Boys. Might be fun to pick one of those up again. Not exactly "Little Women", though."

One thing I'm enjoyi..."

Marmie is totally irritating!

[Joel]

I'm considering being swallowed up by "Ulysses" again. Somebody talk me out of it. Please!!!!

[Jay]

Joel wrote: "I'm considering being swallowed up by "Ulysses" again. Somebody talk me out of it. Please!!!!"

*bullhorn* "Step away from the book and let me see your hands. Now!"

[Melki]

Joel wrote: "I'm considering being swallowed up by "Ulysses" again. Somebody talk me out of it. Please!!!!"

Apparently, you only have to read one chapter - http://www.slate.com/articles/life/th...

[Gary]

I try to read Hamlet every year, but I stumble over Macky Beth or leer at Lear and fail as often as not. I've read Zelanzy's Amber series and Herbert's Dune (less often the later books in that series) maybe ten times each, which probably works out to about once every three years of my life give or take a childhood. Lolita and The Great Gatsby are books I am perfectly happy to just pick up and start at any given point when I have an extra 15 minutes, so I must have read them more times than a theologian in a seminary reads the Book of Genesis. I just reread Catcher in the Rye for the umteenth goddam time, so that probably makes it into second half of my Top Ten list.

[Joel]

Melki wrote: "Joel wrote: "I'm considering being swallowed up by "Ulysses" again. Somebody talk me out of it. Please!!!!"

Apparently, you only have to read one chapter - http://www.slate.com/articles/life/the_s..."

You can't read just one chapter of "Ulysses". It's like Orphan Black - you'll hate yourself afterward, but you've gotta take the whole trip.

[Joel]

Gary wrote: "I try to read Hamlet every year, but I stumble over Macky Beth or leer at Lear and fail as often as not. I've read Zelanzy's Amber series and Herbert's Dune (less often the later books in that seri..."

Gatsby is a periodic re-read for me, as are other FSF novels and short story collections.

[Joel]

I don't know why, but when faced with having a choice between some new best-seller and something I've already read at least once, the re-read seems to win out every time. Lately it's Waugh. It's still the biggest downside to being a fan of dead authors: you have to wait forever for their next one.

[Brena]

I looked at the list of 100 top selling authors. Shakespeare and Agatha Christie came in number one. Number two position is held by Barbara Cartland and Daniel Steele. what??? Mostly they are detective, romance, and thrillers. I learned from the list that Japanese people buy a lot of books. Most of my favorite writers did not make the cut.

Every aspiring writer should ask themselves if their books are really as good as the Potter and Twilight books.

[Joel]

I don't know if "good" really enters into it these days, though the Potter books certainly are that (or so I'm told). I get the sense readers like nice, linear stories - anything requiring too much thinking may be more commitment than they're willing to make.

[Brena]

Joel wrote: "I don't know if "good" really enters into it these days, though the Potter books certainly are that (or so I'm told). I get the sense readers like nice, linear stories - anything requiring too much..."

Many people today have decision fatigue. Our parents trusted doctors, lawyers, and indian chiefs. We discovered the world is full of idiots and exhaust ourselves trying to make educated decisions. An average adult makes 35,000 decisions a day. At some point a person just has to shut down.

[Rebecca]

A lot of the time what I'm doing with reading is what most people are doing with the TV--shutting down the brain, as Brena says. So yeah, I read a lot of genre fiction, stuff that doesn't require a lot of mental engagement.

My books are better than Twilight. Potter, that's a matter of opinion :D

[Joseph]

Reread Pratchett regularly, esp. as I normally read library books, and Pratchett is the one author whose I've bought his books

[Kate]

I can't stand either the Potter or Twilight books and if they are the standard , I'm proudly ... substandard?

[Kerrie]

Terry Pratchett is my hero

[Rebecca]

Kate wrote: "I can't stand either the Potter or Twilight books and if they are the standard , I'm proudly ... substandard?"

Well, you saw my comment :D

[Brena]

Kerrie wrote: "Terry Pratchett is my hero"

I second that. love Terry Pratchett.

[Brena]

Kate wrote: "I can't stand either the Potter or Twilight books and if they are the standard , I'm proudly ... substandard?"

I don't read Potter or Twilight books, but they represent the appetite of the masses for that genre.

I don't know if it is healthy to compare yourself to other writers, but it is best to pick writers within your genre that you admire. There are many writers I read for inspiration.