The Next Best Book Club discussion

I have read War and Peace over and over again. I have also read Prince of Tides a couple times and my Stephen King novels I reread every few years, usually around Halloween. Those are about it, I'm sure there's a couple more, To Kill A Mockingbird...I can't remember any more.

I've read the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe around 5 times.

I've read To Kill a Mockingbird a few times. I've also read Twilight twice. That's probably the only book I've read again so quickly after the first read (a year later). I will read the entire series again at some point I'm sure.

I also plan on re-reading Time Traveler's wife.

When I was a kid I read Judy Blume books over and over and over. I think I read almost everthing by her when I was young but I read,Blubber, Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret, Just as Long as We're Together, and Starring Sally J. Freedman as Herself many times.

Jane Eyre, The Winthrop Woman - I read them both in high school (for AP English and AP US History respectively) and re-read them years later.

I plan to read the Outlander series again before the new book comes out.

I've lost count how many times i've read Twilight. I try not to re-read books as i've got so many books on my tbr list.

Pride and Prejudice and HP is it for me. I've started books more than once, but never finished any others. But Jonathan Strange is going to be another one. Oh, and Guernsey will be another one.

I have read To Kill a Mockingbird several times. I also re-read Melanie Rawn's Dragon Prince and Dragon Star trilogies a few times; all the HP books except the last one, Foundation trilogy; most of Guy Gavriel Kay's books. I'm sure there are more. I usually re-read a series as the new books come out.

I want to re-read Time Traveler's Wife. I will probably re-read 13th Tale since it is the bookclub book at my library for next January.

Fiona, I first picked it up 10 years ago while pregnant..I thought it would last the whole time but I ended up finishing it in about a week and loved the story so much have read it two more times. I guess like anyone elso it never seemed as daunting as some books, I would rather read that than Grapes of Wrath for some odd reason. That book scares me!

Ive reread a few books (Wrinkle In Time, Neverwhere) from my younger years recently for group reads and sort of wished I hadnt.

Ive reread others (Lord of the Rings, Old Man and the Sea, Of Mice and Men, Catcher in the Rye) cause I had read them in HS and knew I wasnt able to fully appreciate them, and LOVED them more the second time around.

I used to reread The Hottest State over and over years ago, it was just a brilliant fall in love/heartbreak story and it amazed me that it was written by a guy, let alone a famous actor!

Song of the Lionness series by Tamora Pierce, I found that I re-read the whole series every few years. Especially love the first book

Pellinor series by Alisson Croggon, it's a newer series than Song of the Lionness but I just absolutely love the first book (The Gift - Aust. ed or The Naming - o/s ed.), I re-read it a few times last year and this year whilst awaiting the final book which was released mid '08 (HOORAY!)

HP series (mainly books 1-4)

Obernewtyn series by Alison Carmody - again I find myself re-reading it every few years (the newest books just been released... it took a while)

I just realised all of the above are YA fantasy, hhhm... guess I never really did grow up ;p
I finally got a copy of the Song of the Lioness series recently - saves me from borrowing from the library every few years, lol

I reread quite a few books. There are some that just so beautiful that I keep coming back to them- Nine Stories, Steppenwolf, Corelli's Mandolin, Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc, Les Miserables and Notes From the Underground are a few.

Then there are others that are so engrossing that I make regular appointments to visit them again. These include Snow Crash , The Diamond Age, Stranger in a Strange Land, the original Ender's Game series (not the Bean books) not to mention pretty much anything written by William Gibson, Tom Robbins or Chuck Palahniuk.

The Harry Potter series and the Diary of Anne Frank are about it for me. I used to be a big re-reader but thanks to GR's, I have so many new books that I want to read that it's hard to find the time to reread something.

Harry Potter, i've read all but the final one at least 5 times (obsessive, i realize this).

i've also read some chick lit more than once, Jennifer Weiner and Jennifer Crusie mainly.

i've read Hamlet twice, as well as Frankenstein, and i *think* i've read Jane Eyre twice as well.

i keep a list in a notebook, as well as on GR, and cross of as i go so that i eliminate accidentally re-reading something.

Read THE COLOR PURPLE three times.
Read THE SECRET LIFE OF BEES twice.
BELOVED twice.

To Kill a Mockingbird 3 times
Old Man and the sea 4 times
Dracula 3 times
Frankenstien 2 times
Diary of Anne Frank 2 times

Oh I forgot to add: One Tattered Angel 3 times- great book!

I reread EVERYthing. And then read it again. I haven't reread anything in the past month or two because of my goal to read 300 books in two years.

I have read GONE WITH THE WIND 3 times. I have read THE STAND twice. The 1st time, I was young and can't really remember much. The 2nd time, It seems like I skipped a bunch, and now I have the extended copy that I am going to get to as soon as I can. I also read COLD MOUNTAIN twice.

Oh, man, where do I start?

All of L.M. Montgomery's books, especially Anne of Green Gables. I've lost count of how many times I've read that one.

To Kill A Mockingbird
Ahab's Wife: Or, The Star-gazer: A Novel
James Herriott's books
Peace Like a River
The first 3 of HP
Fair and Tender Ladies
Neil Gaiman's Stardust
The Chronicles of Narnia
Ursula, Under
Quite of few of Charles de Lint's books

I'm sure there are more. I've slowed down on the re-reading since I joined GR though. Too many on the TBR!

When I was in elementary school/junior high I think I read the Diary of Anne Frank at least seven times.
Other than that, the only books that I have reread are the Outsiders by S.E. Hinton and Pride and Prejudice. I haven't reread any books as an adult...I think because I don't have as much free time to read, I want to read something new. I would LOVE to reread the Harry Potter books however...

All of Nicholas Evans his books, all of the onesAgatha Christiewrote(I keep rereading those) and all the ones of Patricia Cornwell.

One I read twice and would reread any time is A Fortune-Teller Told Me: Earthbound Travels in the Far East (Un indovino mi disse).

And Pride and Prejudice.

Okay, am I the only one in awe of all of you re-readers?

I don't re-read, sorry. Apart from my Enid Blytons in my childhood (because there was always a shortage of books then!) and the literature texts in school, I never re-read anything, because, well, these days, too many books, too little time I guess.

I don't reread either*. Or at least not intentionally. Sometimes I have started a book and think its really fantastic, definitely above average and then a little while later I think I've read this before and I can't read it. I feel disappointed that I've read it but I can't reread books.

*This doesn't apply to dirty books, 'adult' novels. I reread my favourites all the time!

I re-read the Lord of the Rings every few years, and noticed that I focus on different points at different ages. I've been re-reading it since 1973!
I also re-read several of my favorite authors' books when I need to give my brain a break, but can't quit reading. Makes it easier to read because I know where the story is going! I've also re-read The Witch of Blackbird Pond and Little Women several times, they are "comfort" books for me!

I have read Lady Chatterley's Lover at least three times. and I will continue to re-read that novel.

Others include

Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn
Jane Eyre
Edgar Allen Poe
The Sun Also Rises

There are others that I want to read again but have not.

Life of Pi
The Road
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter
No Country for Old Men (these last two I listened to and loved but think I might get more out of them by reading actual words on paper.)

Besides A Fortune-Teller Told Me: Earthbound Travels in the Far East don't reread intentionally either. But I tihnk I could reread Pride and Prejudice again. The othe rones are books from three of my favourite writers: agatha Christie, Patricia Cornwell and Nicholas Evans. I haven't reread any of Nicholas Evans but they were so special that I might. For the two other authors it si ebcause I read so many of tem many years ago. Then I have the problem that in the beginning I read them in Dutch and especially for Patricia Cornwell books I want to read them in English.So I read many in Dutch and in English. Beginning this year I was home in Belgium and decided to reread all the Patricia Cornwell books I have but in the correct order. That way I could also see which ones i have, because sometimes i think I have the book but I read it from the library in the past. And her books I want to have all. The same for Agatha Christie, jsut that I started rereading them in order too late before leaving.
But in the end I actually don't reread. There are already too many books that I haven't read and want to read, that I get desperate..so rereading???

The only book I've read more than once is The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux. I think I read it about 3 times during the summer when I was 12.

There are a ton of books I'd like to read again someday, particularly the HP series & Twilight series — but there are so many unread books out there that I haven't read yet, so I don't know if it will ever happen. sigh.

Anything worth reading is worth re-reading. I don't think you get much out of a novel until you've read it at least twice. (Thinking, of course, of literary fiction there.)

The great problem with trying to forge ahead and read all kinds of stuff so that you can be well-read is that you tend to know all that stuff only superficially -- I went through bouts of this in the past and there are books I read during those bouts that frankly, I don't much remember. It was a matter of getting through them and on to the next.

But there are other books I've re-read so many times that I've lost count: any Steinbeck, Richard Ford, or Thomas McGuane; a lot of Hemingway and Kurt Vonnegut and Jim Harrison. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream, Trout Fishing In America, Bright Lights, Big City ... actually, most of the books on my shelves I've read more than once.

I'd rather know a few things well than know the entire Western canon superficially.

Jeane, thanks for reminding me about A Fortune-Teller Told Me. I'm a fiend for travel writing and Terzani's travels through SE Asia were fascinating. The entire concept made for a great book.

Probably Twilight for me also. I really liked it.

To Kill a Mockingbird
The Hound of the Baskervilles
The Call of the Wild
Ethan Frome
The Secret Life of Bees
Jane Eyre
Various Agatha Christie mysteries
Poe stories
The Metamorphosis

YA books
The BFG
Whirligig

I re-read Harry Potter all the time....

Books I NEED to re-read:
Eragon and Eldest
The Thorn Birds (I read it as a teen and loved loved loved it)
The entire Inkheart Trilogy (I'm sure I missed a ton).

If I owned it as a child, the odds are that I've read it several times, at the least. Possibly many times.

The winners of the "most re-read" title for me has to be one of:

The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis
The Oz books, by L. Frank Baum,
or
The Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkien.

I've re-read Elswyth Thane's books a lot as well.

i re-read:
to kill a mockingbird
the hobbit
many waters

more times than i can count.

I don't think I've re-read any of my books since I was a kid -- the two, I know that I've re-read are Fantastic Mr. Fox and George's Marvelous Medicine by Roald Dahl. I don't know that I've found a book since being an adult that I've liked enough to read more than once. I can think of some that I say I might read again, but since my TBR list is so long, they're definitely not a top priority.

Hmm...I've read The Chronicles of Narnia at least 7 times. I read Summer Sisters maybe 4 times. And A Wrinkle in Time 3 times I think. And The World According to Garp twice. I think that's it. Well I do reread Ann Beattie's short stories a lot. I usually keep one collection or other in the bathroom for bath reading and what not.

I have re-read the first 4 HP books at least twice, I think I read the first one a third time but didn't continue on.

I have read the Alanna series by Tamora Pierce a thousand times but not recently and I've read the Arrows trilogy by Mercedes Lackey another thousand times and much more recently. I finally just bought them so I wouldn't have to go get them every time the urge to re-read them hit.

Another series I absolutely love are the "Only" books by Elizabeth Lowell. The characters in those, for some reason, make them endlessly enjoyable.

My one and only re-read from Stephen King is "Bag of Bones" which I've read 5 times and will definitely read again.

I've read most of Nora Roberts' books more than once.

That's probably it for me, for the most part I try not re-read books because I have so many others that I want to read.

Pride and Prejudice is at the top of my list. I went years with a copy tucked away everywhere I went, even if I was reading something else.

Others:
The Harry Potter series
The first 3 books of the Dragonriders of Pern
Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow
The Anne of Green Gables Series, but mostly just the first 3
Beach Music, which is one of my favorite books to give...and every time I do, I feel compelled to reread it as well...
Pillars of the Earth...have been a fan long before Oprah recommended it...

Need to reread: The Bridge of San Luis Rey...apparently I was too young to fully appreciate it...or so I have been told...and Catcher in the Rye...I read it when I was a teen and didn't get what all the fuss was about...

Logan, when Tiziano terzani died I was so sad because I was thinking about all the other great books he wouldn't be writting anymore. I am not a religious person, so the bible aslo doesn't mean a thing for me. But A fortune teller told me feels like what the bible is for many other people. it doesn't make sense but I bought it a second time just because my first copy was in belgium and I was living in England. I have now two copies, but both in belgium and I am not there anymore so I thought to buy it again...
Do you know that when he wrote Letters against the war, nobody wanted to publish it so he put it to download on the internet.

Jeane, I hadn't heard that he had died. That's sad, he had a great gift for words. I didn't know that he'd released Letters Against the War on the nets, but a quick Google search provided me the PDF of the book. I can't wait to read it.

Ann reminded me - I've read Gone With The Wind 2x too.

Let's see..

To Kill a Mockingbird
East of Eden
Slaughter House Five
His Dark Materials Trilogy
LOTR
Smiley's People and Tinker,Tailor,Soldier,Spy
Catch 22
One Hundred Years Of Solitude
Dracula
Jane Eyre
Rebecca
The Secret Garden
The Moonstone
Something Wicked This Way Comes
Anna Karenina
Frankenstein
Tom Sawyer
Stranger in a Strange Land
Things Fall Apart
The Handmaiden's Tale

I'm sure there's more.

yes Logan, sadly another great person that we lsot. I hope you like letters against the war. when i heard about it from my friend, the first thought i had was to print out the whole text(which I did), make many copies and leave them behind 'accidently' in libraries....

Pride and Prejudice
The Color Purple
The Chronicles of Narnia
His Dark Materials Trilogy
The Swans War Trilogy

I've probably read the Chronicles of Narnia probably 5 or 6 times.

The rest I've read at least twice, and I will for sure be picking them up again...

I do like to give them a little breathing room before I pick them up again, it makes them feel less predictable for me :)

Oh yeah... I've been reading the Twilight series as of late, and I absolutely love it.... I'm sure I will be re-reading these in the future.

Pride and Predujice-- is a fail safe always!!
Twilight-- is my detox book, I can read the books in a day or so and they are easy
Jane Eyre-- She is my hero as far as women going with the punches and standing up for what you know is right.
Wuthering Heights--- Heathicliff and Catherine are amazing I would love to get in their minds!

I always pick up new things each time I've read them. The more I read them the more I understand the characters. I'm addicted to that.

There are many..

The Horse Whisperer,
To kill a mockingbird,
Lord of the Rings,
Life of Pi,
Seabiscuit

Have read multiple times and will again:

Les Miserables
Hawaii
Atlas Shrugged
The Fountainhead
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
Diana by R.F. Delderfield
Islandia by Austin Tappan Wright
1984
Valley of the Dolls
The Rich are Different
Sins of the Fathers

Have read once and want to read again:

What Now? by Ann Patchett
The Shack
In Cold Blood
The Conscience of a Conservative
Scruples
In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson

When I was in grade school and junior high school, I read Wind in the Willows, I'm surprised they didn't charge me at the library for wearing out one of their books.

Only 2 books I've re-read: I read I Never Promised you a Rose Garden...when I was nine...and read it again in my mid-twenties. WHOLE different perspective. I read and re read One Hundred Years of Solitude...my favorite love story.

I wish I had the time to reread good books. The little time I have to read I rather use to read books I haven't read yet than to reread books. Although I have to admit there are several books I would love to read again like The Thirteenth Tale by Setterfield or Living History by Hillary Clinton.
There is one book I read at least ten times: The Thornbirds by Colleen McCollough but that was in the 80s when I had more time to read.

Stef I enjoy a lot Living history too. Did you read MY life by Bill Clinton, loved that one.