QotW #168: Repeats

[Kathi, Moderator & Book Lover]

This week’s QotW is courtesy of Kateblue— thank you!

What books do you read over and over (or that you used to read over and over)?

And why those particular books, for you?

[Leserling]

Jerome K Jerome - Three Men in a Boat (To say Nothing of the Dog) -- because it is incredibly funny and always cheers me up.
All Harry Potter books, because I really love those stories. Robin Hobb's Farseer series, because they're great books. Same goes for Philip Pullman's Dark Materials and spin-offs. I wouldn't exactly say that I read those over and over, but I have read all of them more than once.

[Kateblue]

I am going to have to answer this later, but thank you for asking the question I wanted.

My answer will probably be in two parts--books I used to read over and over until I can tell them to you in my sleep, and books I am reading or think I will be reading over and over.

[CJ]

Currently it's the Murderbot Dairies. I had read the first book years ago, not long after it came out, but only read the rest after my cancer diagnosis. These series has since become my go-to comfort read for many reasons. I like how it handles gender as well as its neurodivergent-coded MC, and also the way it touches on issues of autonomy, relationships and identity. Plus I really like Wells as an author and how she writes stories with many characters.

When I was in grad school I would read The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy over and over, because I was dealing with so much stress and it was a way for me to cope with it.

I've read Fahrenheit 451 so many times I could do an interpretative dance of the whole story. Bradbury was one of the first SF authors I read as a kid, so it's just something I keep coming back to, sort of like going back to your roots.

Neuromancer is another one I've read many times over the years. I could write essays on why I think it's an amazing novel, the way it tapped into the culture of the time when Gibson wrote it and incorporated it into this futuristic world of the novel. It's also a big nostalgic trip for me and it was a major influence on my favorite movie, The Matrix. There's a lot of stuff around that pretends to know what the 1980s were like, but none of it gets that time like this novel does.

[Random]

ok, this is all was. I've been specifically trying not to do rereads, though it doesn't always work. But usually its earlier parts of a series because a next book has come out now instead of just cycling through.

At the height of my reread cycles back before I joined Goodreads, I would cycle through the following books/series.

Discworld series by Terry Pratchett
Belgarion and Mallorean series by David Eddings
Young Wizard series by Diane Duane (minus one book)
Vorkosigan series by Lois McMaster Bujold
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series by Douglas Adams
A Bad Spell in Yurt by C Dale Brittain
Chronicles of Amber series by Roger Zelazny

I didn't put them all on reread rotation at the same time. They entered my life at different periods. Some entered my life in high school, some my young 20s, and Bujold was mid/late 20s. But once they entered the rotation, they stayed there.

Why? They were easy reads and, like CJ mentions above, a way to cope with some really stressful periods in my life. Quite often they were the only way I could get to sleep.

[Kathi, Moderator & Book Lover]

CJ wrote: "I've read Fahrenheit 451 so many times I could do an interpretative dance of the whole story. "
I would pay money to see that! 😁

I am not a much of a re-reader.

I read The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett more than once when I was young, & once as an adult. I read In Watermelon Sugar by Richard Brautigan several times in my college and early adult years. I’ve read The Hobbit, or There and Back Again and The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien 3 times. None of them were what I’d call “comfort reads”—the first 2 were just books that, at those times in my life, really spoke to me. The Tolkien books I re-read because they are magical story-telling experiences for me & because the movies were coming out.

I have occasionally re-read books to refresh my memory when a new books in a series comes out, but that’s been very occasionally.

I can’t imagine reading a book “over and over”.

[Dawn]

I'm with Kathi. Not much of a re-reader. I've reread more books than usual lately because I've had to refresh my memory for restarting a series or for long delayed sequels.

I can maybe see rereading more in the future, once my memories dim, Agatha Christie and Terry Pratchett in particular.

I've only ever had one author that I reread for "comfort" and that is L.M. Montgomery. I don't remember when they found all the short stories she wrote and published them but I read all of them many times. And The Blue Castle, I haven't read it in a long time now but I read it quite a few times in the past. Maybe I should read it again....

[Kateblue]

I should say that I joined GR because I was reading things over and needed ideas. Well, I sure got them. As you look at my list you might note, I like page turners and character development--those are the two things I really need to love a book. Descriptions mean less to me. Just give me a couple of lyrical sentences and I can take it from there because I have an imagination. :-)

I meant this year to reread some of my favorites by Mary Stewart. They used to be my rereadable comfort books. Not her King Arthur books, which are great, but the suspense/romance ones my mom loved that were so ahead of their time. The women actually got to do something instead of just standing around waiting for their hero. Although there are some really stupid, dated customs re women in them, I still love them. But TMBTLT, so I only read one this year. Here's a list of what I wanted to reread:
Madam, Will You Talk?
Airs Above the Ground
This Rough Magic
Nine Coaches Waiting
The Moon-Spinners
My Brother Michael
The Gabriel Hounds

Right now, I reread many of the Vorkosigan books for comfort/stress relief, particularly Mirror Dance, Memory, Komarr, A Civil Campaign and more recently Captain Vorpatril's Alliance. I also love Barrayar, but you have to trudge through (literally) Shards of Honor before Barrayar. (Shards of Honor is where I recommend new Vorkosigan readers start, even though it's not my favorite.)

Others I reread because of how great they are AND for stress relief if needed are:
**This Perfect Day by Ira Levin Read anything of his. I have read most of his and they are all great
**Little Fuzzy by H. Beam Piper. There are more in this series, some by other authors. Details upon request
**The first three of Ilona Andrews's Hidden Legacy series https://www.goodreads.com/series/1221..., even though it is tagged as PNR. I think it is Urban Fantasy really, but I guess the publisher is known for romances, so they put in more romance in than in the Kate Daniels series https://www.goodreads.com/series/3425..., which I also really like a lot but have only read once TMBTLT
**John Sandford's Prey and Virgil Flowers police procedural mysteries https://www.goodreads.com/series/4140... and https://www.goodreads.com/series/4371...
**Doorways in the Sand, Jack of Shadows and the Amber series The Great Book of Amber by Roger Zelazny. Although Amber is not as evenly paced as I could desire, books 1 and 6 (the beginnings of the two related sagas) are both great, and the others good. But Doorways is my favorite of his even though I mislike the structure. You'll see if you ever read it.

Books I used to reread, but I guess I got to know them too well:
The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein
Also some of Heinlein's juveniles-we just started a buddy read in the Hugo and Nebula group if anyone is interested -- some are really dated, though
Watchers by Dean Koontz
Watership Down by Richard Adams
Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
The Witches of Karres by James H. Schmitz
Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card
King and Joker by Peter Dickinson
Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank

I think these last two are lesser known, but try them. King and Joker is particularly good

Now I am going to go and try to find all the ones you guys love

[Kateblue]

Hey Kathi, here's another question for another week: Which series (singular or plural) are you really sorry you abandoned because TMBTLT and/or because you couldn't remember the preceding books well enough? (Maybe we can generate some buddy read series reads from this question?)

[Shel, Moderator]

I'm definitely a comfort re-reader. When I get stressed out I just want to escape into a familiar world and visit with characters that are old friends. My most frequent fluff re-reads are any of Mercedes Lackey's Valdemar books. I'm also with Random in frequently revisiting the Belgariad and Malloreon books. When I don't want fluff but I still want comfort, I gravitate towards Guy Gavriel Kay's books (Tigana, A Song for Arbonne, and the Fionavar Tapestry trilogy are my favorites) or the Hyperion Cantos (I know, not really a comfortable read, but I find it comforting to know what emotions to expect, if that makes sense).

[Cheryl]

The Secret Garden. So glad to see other fans here!
Both a comfort read, and one that I find re-rewarding each time, in part because as I mature & age I see different things about it to appreciate.

Others that reveal more each time include -

Other children's/all ages classics like The Phantom Tollbooth and The Princess and the Goblin.
All ages fables like The Pushcart War and A Barrel of Laughs, a Vale of Tears.

The Hobbit

A Christmas Carol even though I don't celebrate the holidays.

Just about anything by Michael Perry. Or Becky Chambers.

The 13 Clocks and the other fables of James Thurber.

The Expendables series by James Alan Gardner.

Breadcrumbs and others by Anne Ursu.

Children's SF The Forgotten Door.

My "Keep Forever" shelf is an imperfect answer to this question -
https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...

And now I have to check out the titles that you all are listing!

[Cheryl]

Thank you for the rec. of King and Joker. Peter Dickinson has written a variety of wonderful books, including Tulku and The Kin.

[Kathi, Moderator & Book Lover]

Kateblue wrote: "Hey Kathi, here's another question for another week: Which series (singular or plural) are you really sorry you abandoned because TMBTLT and/or because you couldn't remember the preceding books wel..."

Thanks! I’ll add that to the mods’ spreadsheet of possible QotW ideas.

And on a side note, if anyone has ideas for QotW, feel free to message me or Shel—we are the 2 mods who usually manage the QotW topics. (Our other mod, Chris, is always managing the nominations & polls!) Or just add them here… : )

[Ken]

Not much of a rereader
Too much new stuff to try

I reread LOTR and some of The Wheel of Time

[Dawn]

How did the Wheel of Time go? I tried that in order to finish the series but quickly found that I would rather keep my memories of the series than ruin them by re-reading.