BS: Books you read multiple times

Subject: BS: Books you read mulitple times
From: Wesley S
Date: 11 Sep 10 - 04:26 PM

Earlier this year I read EL Doctrow's "Ragtime" again for what must be the seventh or eighth time. Ditto with "Alas, Babylon" by Pat Frank. There are some books that are so multi-layered that they need to be read every few years - because each time you will find something new - they always seem to be fresh. And there are other books that are favorites - and it's like having the same conversation with an old friend.

We finished our basement recently and for the first time in decades I have ALL of my books out where I can find them. So I've spotted some classics that are going to end up on my "to read" shelf again. "Old Fishhawk" by Mitch Jayne is one of them. "Little Big Man" is another. I think I heard somewhere that Christopher Lee reads The Lord Of The Rings every year at Christmas. Do you have a favorite that bears up well under multiple readings?

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read mulitple times
From: John on the Sunset Coast
Date: 11 Sep 10 - 04:47 PM

Grapes of Wrath -- started about four times; finished last time.
East of Eden
The Egyptian
A Peace to End All Peace   --   currently mid way through second reading
The Rubaiyat
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner   --   about every three years I go into my office, close the door and read it aloud
The Destruction of California -- red through when new about 45 years ago. Periodically reread the introductory chapter which is about as
close as elegaic prose gets to poetry.
The Revolutionary War tetrology by F. Van Wyck Mason -- all four of it.

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read mulitple times
From: catspaw49
Date: 11 Sep 10 - 04:57 PM

"To Kill A Mockingbird"..........Harper Lee may only have had one full novel in her, but it is a work for the ages.


Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read mulitple times
From: Little Robyn
Date: 11 Sep 10 - 05:01 PM

Devil Water by Anya Seton.
Set in Northumberland, it covers the Jacobite uprisings, following the Radcliff family, who lived at Dilston Hall.
It also includes the song Derwentwater's Farewell, one of my favourites.
Robyn

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read mulitple times
From: Bill D
Date: 11 Sep 10 - 05:27 PM

"Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenence" by Robert Pirsig....but not recently. I just found it in a pile, and it may be time to start it again.

Several of the Sci-Fi books by Marion Zimmer Bradley about "Darkover"...

and a rare little thing by Arthur Herzog.. The B.S. Factor: The Theory and Technique of Faking It in America
I wish I wish I could memorize it...and afford to buy a copy for everyone below the line... ;>)

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read mulitple times
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 11 Sep 10 - 05:57 PM

Two to read online:

Diary of a Nobody - Mr Pooter's Diary, by George Grossmith and Weedon Grossmith

The Ballad of the White Horse, by GKC Chesterton

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read mulitple times
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 11 Sep 10 - 06:00 PM

"The Leopard," Giuseppe di Lampedusa. The best picture I know of the changes that took place as the old noble families were displaced by members of the middle class.
Only partly fictionized- di Lampedusa belonged to the noble family with the leopard central in their coat of arms. It really is his story.

"Rubiyat." I once was able to quote many verses. Greatly impressed me in my teenage years, and still brings memories that have little to do with Omar's verses.

Most volumes of Joseph Conrad.

"Pillars of Wisdom," T. E. Lawrence.

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read mulitple times
From: GUEST,Shimrod
Date: 11 Sep 10 - 06:30 PM

I find that the work SF/Fantasy author, Jack Vance is eminently re-readable, particularly the second book in his 'Dying Earth' series, 'The Eyes of the Overworld'. In this book the incorrigible rogue, Cugel the Clever, has a series of mis-adventures in the world of the far future - a world dominated by magic, magicians and monsters. This sounds like standard fantasy fare, but Vance was a pioneer in the field (the original 'Dying Earth' book was published c. 1950) and he has a unique style which I have always found highly addictive.

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read mulitple times
From: Arkie
Date: 11 Sep 10 - 06:54 PM

Watership Down

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read mulitple times
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 11 Sep 10 - 06:57 PM

First and foremost, Tolkien:
Lord of the Rings, 6 times so far,
   (but for The Hobbit, once is enough.)
The Silmarillion
The Lays of Beleriand
The Book of Unfinished Tales
The Book of Lost Tales
Leaf by Niggle
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
(and at least two others, the titles of which my aged memory refuses to yield up.)

The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, of course
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
Wind in the Willows
Yes, and Watership Down

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

Beowulf

A Confederacy of Dunces 3 (or is it 4?) times so far

I just reread Master and Commander, as the beginning of rereading that whole cycle of great novels.

Those are the ones that spring fairly easily to mind.

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read mulitple times
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 11 Sep 10 - 07:03 PM

Possession - A.S. Byatt
I Capture the Castle - Dodie Smith
The Sixteen Pleasures - Robert Hellenga
Pigs Is Pigs - Ellis Parker Butler
My Very Own Special, Particular, Private and Personal Cat - Sandol Stoddard Warburg
The Sheltering Sky - Paul Bowles
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy "trilogy" - Douglas Adams
Bachelor Brothers Bed and Breakfast - Bill Richardson
Name of the Rose - Umberto Eco
Perfume - Patrick Suskind

Oh, and all the Travis McGee books of John D. MacDonald.

I really want to reread all Ian Fleming's James Bond books, now that I've acquired them again in paperback -- same editions as I read back in the '60s.

Linn

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read mulitple times
From: Mrrzy
Date: 11 Sep 10 - 07:21 PM

100 years of solitude - took at least 3 readings before I followed the thread to the child being eaten by the ants...

All Dick Francis mysteries
All Tony Hillerman mysteries
All Alistair McLean mysteries

Narnia and the Lord of the Rings, yes, also too.

The Edward X. Delaney mysteries (author forgotten) as he makes SUCH great sandwiches...

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read mulitple times
From: akenaton
Date: 11 Sep 10 - 07:33 PM

Sunset Song ...Lewis Grassic Gibbon.

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read mulitple times
From: mauvepink
Date: 11 Sep 10 - 08:17 PM

Pride & Prejudice... Jane Austen
Tipping the Velvet... Sarah Waters
PS I Love You... Cecelia Ahern
The Selfish Gene... Richard Dawkins
The Red Queen Hypothesis... Matt Ridley
The Bible... (not all at once)... numerous authors
Verdi... George Osborne
Womanwords... Jane Mills

and others

mp

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read mulitple times
From: Eiseley
Date: 11 Sep 10 - 09:07 PM

Pride and Prejudice (read for the third time at least :)
Persuasion
To Kill a Mockingbird
The Glass Bead Game
All the Strange Hours
The Great Divorce
The Screwtape Letters
Walden
Blue Willow
The Chosen
Arabel and Mortimer
Mortimer Says Nothing
Homer Price
Centerburg Tales
Housekeeping
A Wrinkle in Time
Anne of Green Gables books
Chronicles of Narnia
Tolkein
Good Omens

And many others

Eiseley

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read mulitple times
From: Mark Ross
Date: 11 Sep 10 - 09:20 PM

BOUND FOR GLORY Woody Guthrie
Anything by Robert Heinlein
GRAPES OF WRATH & IN DUBIOUS BATTLE John Steinbeck


Mark Ross

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read mulitple times
From: GUEST,David E.
Date: 11 Sep 10 - 09:38 PM

Wonderful lists. I must say that Mudcatters are certainly very well read. Makes me wonder why so many of us listen to folk music. (joke!!!)

David E.

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read mulitple times
From: jacqui.c
Date: 11 Sep 10 - 10:10 PM

The Stand - Stephen King

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read mulitple times
From: Rapparee
Date: 11 Sep 10 - 10:15 PM

Oh, good Lord. what a silly question! Of course I do!

Almost everything by Heinlein, Clarke, Asimov, S. Robinson, Dana Stabenow, Patrick McManus, Bill Shakespeare, Al Pope, Sam Clemens, and others far, far too numerous to list.

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read mulitple times
From: LadyJean
Date: 11 Sep 10 - 10:34 PM

When my nerves are truly frazzled I read Dorothy L. Sayers' mysteries. Strong Poison and Murder Must Advertise are my favorites.

I, recently, acquired an anthology of Rudyard Kipling's horror and science fiction stories. It is nice to spent time with another old friend.

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read mulitple times
From: Bill D
Date: 11 Sep 10 - 10:43 PM

Oh, and "The Mote in God's Eye" ....Niven & Pournelle ..amazing book.

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read mulitple times
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 11 Sep 10 - 10:48 PM

There are very few books I've read more than once.

I've read the complete Sherlock Holmes stories maybe 3 times. I find that, after an interval of 10 years or so, I can't remember how most of the stories end, so it's like reading them for the first time (sort of).

I'm sure I've read several of Shakespeare's tragedies multiple times: Hamlet, Macbeth, Richard III. (Is that classified as tragedy or history? It could be either, I guess.)

I'm sure I've read Huckleberry Finn at least twice.

I used to read a lot of SF, but I think A Canticle for Liebowitz is the only one I ever read twice.

Oh, there's Great Expectations and David Copperfield.

I guess I'm always hoping that the next book I read is the one that's going to unlock the mysteries of the universe, but I'm always a little disappointed, and that's why I don't look back.

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: ChanteyLass
Date: 11 Sep 10 - 11:33 PM

Pride and Prejudice
Return of the Native
Moby Dick
and many children's books which I read aloud yearly to my students

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: mrdux
Date: 12 Sep 10 - 12:04 AM

mostly, there's so much to read that i don't get around to rereading things, with a few exceptions:

Borges and Kafka (especially his stories) get regular rereadings
Tolkein's Ring, every four or five years
Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass
Wind in the Willows
Catch-22
Candide
The Odyssey
Robert Graves' retelling of the Greek Myths
and, lately, Asimov, Poul Anderson and early Heinlein (but only after a forty-year hiatus)

that's all that comes to mind at the moment.

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: open mike
Date: 12 Sep 10 - 12:21 AM

my first inclination is to mention (tongue-in-cheek) howthe title reminds me of a joke.... A Texan is trying to explain the size of his ranch and mentions that he can drive all day and still not be to the end of his land. The person he is speaking to says "I used to have a car like that, too."

I can just picture someone saying "I can read all day and not get to the end of the book" and the reply "I used to read that slowly too."
Or I guess I was really thinking of something like this: A guy walks into a bar and says Hey, I have a good banjo joke to tell. The bar tender says I am a banjo player, do you still want to tell that joke?
A very large man at the table says I am a banjo player, do you still want to tell that joke? The bouncer says I am a banjo player, do you still really want to tell that joke?

WEll, not if i have to repeat(explain) it 3 times..


oh, any way i rarely repeat a book..

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: katlaughing
Date: 12 Sep 10 - 12:34 AM


Several of the Sci-Fi books by Marion Zimmer Bradley about "Darkover"...

We've got the entire series; haven't read them in years, maybe it is time. My fav. was Thendara House.

I don't reread very many books, either, but there are a couple I can think of right off:

The Cowboy and the Cossack - Clair Huffaker
To Kill A Mocking Bird
Elephants in the Living Room, Bears in the Canoe - Elizabeth Levy, Liz Hammond and Earl Hammond
All of James Herroit's
James Whitcomb Riley and other poets

I have set aside three which I plan to read, again:

Cavedweller - Dorothy Allison
Alias Grace - Margaret Atwood
Secrets of the Flesh: A Life of Colette - Judith Thurman


And, always some of the classics including Kipling, Twain, Scott, and Shakespeare, but not too often.

With Morgan around, I find myself reading aloud, again, the Jungle Book, stories from a children's book for teachers which my grandma used then gave to me, "How to tell stories to children," and various other classics. He's almost ready for some from other old books I have collected over the years if I don't sell them first!:-)

Wesley, that is such a good feeling, isn't it, to finally have all of your books out and in one place? We had that in WY, but here it's just too limited on space and we really want to lighten up so we've been going through them all.

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 12 Sep 10 - 03:25 AM

I share Sayers' Lord Peter Wimsey with Lady Jean as comfort reading: even wrote entries on Dorothy L Sayers for two encyclopedias of literature. Gaudy Night my favourite, I think.

Others are P G Wodehouse, esp Jeeves & Wooster and Lord Emsworth; Richmal Crompton's William books: on more serious note, Jane Austen, esp Mansfield Park, Emma, Persuasion, P&P; Dickens, Great Expectations; Twain, Huckleberry Finn; Broadway stories of Damon Runyon.

Julian Fellowes' Snobs has recently been adopted to this catalogue.

~Michael~

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: Slag
Date: 12 Sep 10 - 03:48 AM

The Bible

Nine Princes in Amber

Shakespeare

Alice In Wonderland/ Through the Looking Glass

Robert Frost

Poe

Foundation Trilogy

Jack London

Mark Twain

T.S. Eliot

C.S. Lewis (Two in particlular; The Screwtape Letters & That
Hideous Strength)

The World Almanac (does that count?)

I know there are others but they are not coming to mind. Just as well. These are probably closest to me. Sorry to say my reading has dropped off a lot over the last few years. I used to average about 200 books a year. Now I'm lucky to read 30 to 40. I'll blame the computer, OK?

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: kendall
Date: 12 Sep 10 - 05:07 AM

Silverlock by John Myers Myers

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 12 Sep 10 - 05:15 AM

This is a serious answer: Hutton's Arse, by Malcolm Rider. A magnificent book on the topic of three billion years' geological history of the north-west Highlands of Scotland. My son bought it for my birthday and I read it through three times non-stop. If you know the area you really can't not have this book!

I also have a penchant for reading use-of-English books again and again, and I have a wildflowers book by Marjorie Blamey that is my favourite bedside dipper.

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: fat B****rd
Date: 12 Sep 10 - 06:01 AM

Heart of Darkness
Moby Dick (short version)
Sherlock Holmes (long and short stories)
Robert B Parker's Spenser series
Moulded In Earth (Richard Vaughan)
Carter (Jack's Ruturn Home) Ted Lewis

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: GUEST,HiLo
Date: 12 Sep 10 - 08:23 AM

Shakespeare and the Bible of course. I have read Yeats literally hundreds of times as well as Keats and Coleridge.
Novels are as follows

The Waves by Virginia Woolf
Howard's End E.M. Forster
Far From The Madding Crowd Thomas Hardy
Wuthering Heights Emily Bronte
No Great Miscief Allister MacCleod
A Distant Mirror Barbara Tuchman
All of the Hornblower books C.S. Forester
Speal Memory Vladimer Nabakov

and so many more

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: Deckman
Date: 12 Sep 10 - 08:42 AM

1. The Kalevela
2. Everythig by Ivan Doig ... again and again and ....

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: gnu
Date: 12 Sep 10 - 09:28 AM

A Man Called Intrepid
Mountbatten (the official bio)

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 12 Sep 10 - 09:30 AM

I forgot previously to mention George MacDonald Fraser's Flashman series. Anyone else for those?

~Michael~

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: Anne Lister
Date: 12 Sep 10 - 09:51 AM

Top of my list for multiple re-reads are Dorothy Dunnett's historical novels - the Lymond Chronicles and Niccolo Rising, as well as her wonderful novel about the real MacBeth, King Hereafter. But there are quite a lot of other books I love to re-read, which is why our house is full of books, many of which are looking a tad shabby.

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 12 Sep 10 - 10:22 AM

How could I leave out Moby-Dick? See more in it with each re-read.

Then, too, there's all of the books by adventurer Richard Halliburton.

And the Lord Peter Wimsey novels of Dorothy L. Sayers.

I need to REread (yet again) the early Flashman books by George MacDonald Fraser and read some of the later books which have been patiently waiting on the book pile(s) for years.

Oh, and "Songlines" by Bruce Chatwin. Hmm...anything by Bruce Chatwin.

Too many books; not enough time...

Linn

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: Bettynh
Date: 12 Sep 10 - 10:32 AM

I re-read just about anything by Terry Pratchett or Anne McCaffrey to get out of this world.

In this world, John McPhee, especially his love story "Rising from the Plains" and most of Berndt Heinrich, especially "The Trees in My Forest" which are so familiar.

I have the "Hitchhiker's Guide" original and new series on my Itunes list, and bits and pieces turn up when I listen randomly. Ditto for the poems of Robert Frost and Emily Dickinson and "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Riding" (the GOOD reading by Audio Renaissance not the more easily available Audible.com reading). I wish I could find a recording of Matt Parker, a Vermont poet (I think) who wrote "The Giving War."

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: Nancy King
Date: 12 Sep 10 - 11:53 AM

There are lots of books I have read more than once, but the ones I find myself going back to over and over are the Aubrey-Maturin series books by Patrick O'Brian, starting with "Master and Commander" and going through all 20. I have read them in print several times, and by now have lost count (who needs to count, anyway?) of how many times I've listened to the wonderful Patrick Tull recordings.

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: kendall
Date: 12 Sep 10 - 12:11 PM

The Odyssey

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: katlaughing
Date: 12 Sep 10 - 12:34 PM

Forgot:

Mists of Avalon

Also certain ones by Barry Lopez, esp. Crow and Weasel
Waiting for the Galactic Bus & The Snake Oil Wars - Parke Godwin

Deckman, "Everything by Ivan Doig"..I just *discovered* him this year and agree!

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: fretless
Date: 12 Sep 10 - 02:00 PM

Lord of the Rings probably tops my reread list -- many times but not since the movies came out.

The Lattimore translation of Homer's Iliad and Odyssey.

In science fiction, Asimov's Foundation trilogy (but not the subsequent additions). Similarly, Herbert's Dune (but only the first in that over-done series). Also the Mote in God's Eye and Lucifer's Hammer. And of course Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle.   

Of short stories, Twain's A Cure for the Blues -- one of the funniest essays ever -- and all of Saki.

There are others. I tended to reread novels when I was younger, not so much since I passed 50. Too little time now; too much on my waiting to be read list, I suppose.

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 12 Sep 10 - 02:19 PM

Dorothy Sayers mentioned more than once. Me too.
Poe's poems and short stories, but not recently.

Dashiell Hammett. "Strictly speaking, there are no real substitutes for sexual satisfaction."
Raymond Chandler- "An age which is incapable of poetry is incapable of any kind of literature except the cleverness of decadence."
"The more you reason, the less you create."

Read only recently, but will read again- Marti, Versos sencillos.

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: gnu
Date: 12 Sep 10 - 02:27 PM

Q... "Poe"

I thought that was a given! >;-)

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 12 Sep 10 - 02:32 PM

fretless ~ agree re Asimov, tho personally prefer the Robot series to the Foundations.

~M~

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: kendall
Date: 12 Sep 10 - 02:38 PM

The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: gnu
Date: 12 Sep 10 - 02:46 PM

Fascinating thread. Gives insight to those who post.

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: IvanB
Date: 12 Sep 10 - 03:05 PM

Asimov, particularly the Foundation & Robot series.

Heinlein, esp. "Something Wicked this Way Comes."

LOTR, every few years.

Dickens, "Tale of Two Cities."

I reread all the previous Harry Potter books every time a new one was to come out. I suppose now that she's finished the series I won't reread them quite as often.

"The age of Innocence," by Edith Wharton

Steinbeck, esp. "The Grapes of Wrath" & "Travels with Charlie."

Anne McCaffrey's "Dragonrider" series as well as any of the harper books.

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: Ebbie
Date: 12 Sep 10 - 03:05 PM

Long ages past I read and reread many of the above mentioned, especially those of Shakespeare, Twain, Austin, the Bronte's, Asimov, and a number of other classics.

In more recent times, I keep on hand (among others):

Coming into the Country - John McPhee
One Man's Wilderness - Richard Proeneke
The Road- Cormac McCarthy

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: robomatic
Date: 12 Sep 10 - 03:15 PM

Little Big Man by Thomas Berger
The Making of the Atomic Bomb by Richard Rhodes
900 Grandmothers by R A Lafferty
Men and Women by Robert Browning
1984 by George Orwell
The Travis McGee 'color' series by John D. MacDonald
The Return of the Continental Op by Dashiell Hammett

I want to add an "AMEN" to the rereaders of Harper Lee and Dorothy Dunnett. I gave (leant out) my copy of the Lymond Chronicles at some point and haven't seen 'em since. Wonderful language.

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: John on the Sunset Coast
Date: 12 Sep 10 - 03:21 PM

Several others beside myself have noted the Rubaiyat. Recently I Googled that poem, and found a couple of recent translations which are supposed to be more accurate representations of the original Persian. The problem is that I could correlate only a couple of quatrains with the classic Fitzgerald. Moreover, they did not flow as well as Fitz's, irrespective of accuracy.

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: Slag
Date: 12 Sep 10 - 03:49 PM

MtheGM, I think you would have to admit that The Robot series and Foundation not only overlap, they dovetail: dovetail in such a way that the implication is that the 'bots have been there all along!

Yes, now that I've slept on it, so many I've overlooked!

All of the Sherlock Holmes

Yes to 900 Grandmothers which I have in an anthology, I've read many times.

1984, and only recently

The Left Hand of Darkness

Moby Dick (though not recently)

any Philip K. Dick opus, especially: Ubik; Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said; and Radio Free Albemuth

Mote (yes, all you Motie fans, and associated tales { "I will teach your horse to sing hymns"])

Sirens of Titan

The Prophet

many more with multiple readings, more than a few already mentioned by others above. Gee, maybe I'll start reading again!

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: kendall
Date: 12 Sep 10 - 05:08 PM

Many people hate the story of Moby Dick. I think it is one of the best ever written, and it is based on a true story.

That's the book I was thinking on when I wrote THE LAST WHALE HUNT.

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: Paul Burke
Date: 12 Sep 10 - 05:29 PM

Red For Danger (LTC Rolt)

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 12 Sep 10 - 05:45 PM

Re Rubaiyat- most of us know the Fitzgerald translation. New ones lack the poetical feel and inventiveness of Fitzgerald.
The Arabian Nights most of us know has been redone as well.
Look at Chaucer in the Graves edition. The tales are the same, but modern English completely changes the feel.

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 12 Sep 10 - 06:50 PM

AND all the Spider Robinson books -- especially the Callahan's Crosstime Saloon stories.

"If a person who indulges in gluttony is a glutton, and a person who
commits a felony is a felon, then God is an iron." -- Spider Robinson

Mistress Masham's Repose - T. H. White

And a lot of Heinlein.

It's about time to reread all the Brother Caedfel books by Ellis Peters, the early Lovejoys by Jonathan Gash, the early pub mysteries by Martha Grimes, all of the Boney books by Arthur Upfield...

Mostly, though, I'm trying to get caught up on the stacks of books I haven't yet read.

Linn

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: John P
Date: 12 Sep 10 - 08:09 PM

The Lord of the Rings
All of Mary Renault's books about ancient Greece
Dune
Mary Stewart's Merlin books
Another Roadside Attraction
The Chronicles of Narnia
The Riddle Master of Hed trilogy
The Earthsea books by Ursula K. Le Guin
Almost everything else by Ursula K. Le Guin
Darkover
Honor Harrington
The Dark is Rising books by Susan Cooper
Most books by Robert Heinlein
the Ender books by Orson Scott Card
the Alvin Maker books by Orson Scott Card

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: katlaughing
Date: 12 Sep 10 - 08:27 PM

OH, yes, Bat Goddess, almost everything you listed!:-)

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: bobad
Date: 12 Sep 10 - 08:34 PM

The Tin Drum = Günther Grass
The Master And Margarita - Mikhail Bulgakov
Heart Of A Dog - Mikhail Bulgakov
St.Urbain's Horseman - Mordecai Richler
Borstal Boy - Brendan Behan
Water Music - TC Boyle
The Ginger Man - JP Donleavy

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: robomatic
Date: 12 Sep 10 - 08:41 PM

Kendall, you just opened the door, so I'm gonna say as a PURELY PERSONAL note and with no aspersions on the lovers thereof, that as a kid I loved the notion of Moby Dick, I love the Rocky & Bullwinkle version (Maybe Dick), and I love the Steve Goodman synopsis-in-five-minutes of the tale "Moby Book".

But when I finally sat down to read the original I found it charming in spots, wrong in spots, and stultifying on the whole. It's one of the very few books I was unable to finish.

Again, no aspersions on the lovers thereof. Feel free to hurl verbal brickbats my way, I won't complain and I won't explain.

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: Slag
Date: 12 Sep 10 - 09:18 PM

Bat Goddess! Lightening strikes twice! First margaritas, now you've mentioned one that I have been tempted to engage in so many times but... The Callahan Crosstime Saloon series!,, Is it that good? I'll accept your recommendation. Yes! Heinlein! and Yes Le Guin!

robo, I find a lot in common between Conrad and Melville. Never forget that they are works of fiction even though they are based on actual experiences and occurrences. Some of it that seems stultifying is in there for just that reason: to convey the stultifying nature of the environment and the tedium of the occupation(s). Sorry for the drift but we live in a high paced time like no other in history and it changes our perspective (ah, you probably already knew that).

I wish I still had a couple of my H.P.Lovecraft books...all gone.

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: Naemanson
Date: 13 Sep 10 - 12:40 AM

This summer I have been rereading many of my old favorites. Guy Gavriel Kay's fantasies, Tigana and the Fionavar Tapestry, have to top the list.

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: theleveller
Date: 13 Sep 10 - 03:21 AM

Every year or so I reread John Cowper Powys' 'A Glastonbury Romance' - IMO one of the finest books in the English language that can compare to the best of Dickens or Thomas Hardy. I also reularly reread Nikos Kazantzaki's 'Zorba the Greek' and 'Report to Greco'.

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: Bill D
Date: 13 Sep 10 - 10:58 AM

"The Callahan Crosstime Saloon series"

Someone gave me a couple of those: I couldn't put them down, though I am not sure why. The plots and premises are not what I would think I would like, and I find myself saying, Oh, c'mon! Thats silly!" all the way thru... and still reading.

I 'think' it's because of the characters and the relationships and thus, the insights into myself that those strange folk bring me.

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: GUEST,Neil D
Date: 13 Sep 10 - 11:13 AM

I've read "Huckleberry Finn" three times. At age 12 it was the greatest adventure story of all time. At 18 it was the irreverent commentary on society that stood out. In my late 20's I realized that it was about many things but the most profound theme was one of friendship. It is still my favorite book of all time and I should probably read it again now in my middle age.

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 13 Sep 10 - 11:34 AM

Books I've read and reread include

The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit

To Kill a Mockingbird

Moby Dick

Huckleberry Finn

several collections of stories by Roald Dahl (simply one of the best and funniest writers to come along ever)

A Sand County Almanac

Babbitt

Mama Makes Up Her Mind, essays by Bailey White that first appeared on radio's All Things Considered

Go Down, Moses

Cannery Row, Sweet Thursday and several others, including the two collections of Steinbeck's amazing short stories

On The Road

Many others, when I come to think about it, that I reread, at least parts of the books, every so often. And when I was a child I remember rereading Caddie Woodlawn and The Secret Garden several times.

An eminent book reviewer one time pooh-poohed the desire of many people to reread the same story. He/she (can't remember who it was now - so memorable was their work!) felt that once was enough and then you should move on. I disagree. Humans evolved as storytellers and privileged storytellers in all cultures before the written word. There are some stories we have heard many times and we love them each time - they tell us who we are, or teach us things about ourselves and others. Same with the written word (and film).

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 13 Sep 10 - 11:55 AM

I'm reminded by my bookshelves that I have also reread The Sun Also Rises and several books of poetry, the most prominent from childhood being a collection called Rainbow in the Sky.

More recently, I have reread and enjoyed some of the Harry Potter novels.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 13 Sep 10 - 12:04 PM

Oh, I'm embarrassed to say that, on reading my list above, I left out one of the greats: The Once and Future King.

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: katlaughing
Date: 13 Sep 10 - 12:17 PM

I've just found him this year, but I am sure I will be rereading Paul Coelho's books. Read the Witch of Portobello and am now reading the Alchemist, BOTH worth a second read.

Every other year or so, I read daily from The Cherokee Feast of Days by Joyce Sequichie Hifler and also, Women's Words, Women's Stories: An American day book by Lois Stiles Edgerly.

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 13 Sep 10 - 07:41 PM

I keep thinking of more --

Of COURSE, the Mary Stewart Merlin Chronicles. How could I forget?

Christopher Morley's Haunted Bookshop and Parnassus On Wheels -- and anything else he's written that I can get my hands on, like his books of essays and short pieces.

One of the things I like about Spider Robinson is that (among other things) he writes science fiction that takes place in 1972.

I also like Harlan Ellison, Arthur C. Clark, The Dragonriders of Pern books, John Dunning's bookstore mysteries...oh, and great pieces of literature with wonderful titles such as "Dwarf Rapes Nun, Flees In UFO" ("A novel of journalism") by Arnold Sawislak.

And, as far as books only published in audio format, I love the Jack Flanders series including "Fourth Tower of Inverness" and "Moon Over Morocco" -- and I really need to listen to them again REAL SOON NOW.

Linn

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: Mrrzy
Date: 13 Sep 10 - 07:42 PM

Also, we have always lived in the castle, by Shirley Jackson.

And, ye, to kill a mockingbird. Just reread that last year as the twins were studying it in school.

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: katlaughing
Date: 13 Sep 10 - 09:29 PM

John Dunning!!!

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: katlaughing
Date: 13 Sep 10 - 11:35 PM

Question, have any of you read any of the Spanish Bit series by Coldsmith? I can't tell if I'd like them or not...they *look* a little formulaic, but who knows? Tks!

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 14 Sep 10 - 01:13 AM

I also constantly return to Thurber, & to Anita Loos' Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.

~M~

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 14 Sep 10 - 01:37 AM

Linn, I've been meaning to re-read those Merlin stories. I have re-read some of Mary Stewart's modern mysteries. I think I read all of hers over the years - they were very well written and researched. (The gift of a writer who is able to travel a lot!)

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: Micca
Date: 14 Sep 10 - 03:43 AM

Most of my "re-reads" have been mentioned already but a few notable exceptions
" Puckoon" by Spike Milligan ( I strongly advise against reading this on the Underground, as you tend to be subjected to giggle and LOL fits)
Thorne Smith. especially
"Night Life of the Gods"
" The Bishops Jaegers"
" Turnabout"
The 2 Topper Books
and many more of his (all,to my great glee, available from Project Gutenberg as FREE downloads for my e book!!!)
John Harveys "Inspector Reznick" Novels
and as anyone who knows me will tell you
"The Rubiyaat" is a constant and much quoted companion
"The Prophet" Khalil Gibrhan

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: Wesley S
Date: 14 Sep 10 - 09:38 AM

I'm glad to see that Bat Goddess mentioned Harlan Ellison. I rarely see his name mentioned here at the Mudcat - but looking through my books I probably have as many titles by him as I do any other author.

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: Bill D
Date: 14 Sep 10 - 10:42 AM

MtheGM - you mentioned Thurber. One of the most fascinating things I have seen in ages is Friday nights on a national news program.

Thurber read on TV

The article was written many weeks ago, but the weekly reading still continue.
I'm sure many are bored, but millions are hearing Thurber for the first time.

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 14 Sep 10 - 11:05 AM

"Night Life of the Gods" by Thorne Smith! Thanks, Micca, for reminding me -- it needs rereading on of these days, too -- along with the Topper books.

Robert Hellenga's books (did I mention them already?). I've reread "The Sixteen Pleasures" several times, but his others I've read a little too recently to reread.

Shirley Jackson (actually just reread "We Have Always Lived In a Castle" within the past couple years),

I'd love to find a copy of Thurber's "The White Deer" and read it again.

Oh, "The Decline And Fall of Practically Everybody" by Will Cuppy along with everything else he wrote. Maine writer/journalist John Gould, too. Some other Maine writers like Elizabeth (ohmagawd, I'm drawing a blank -- too early in the morning) and Ruth Moore. Especially Ruth Moore. ("Spoonhandle" was the most recently read.)

Linn who really MUST head to work...

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 14 Sep 10 - 11:11 AM

Thank you, Bill D ---

*~Michael~*

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 14 Sep 10 - 12:46 PM

Mention by at least two posters of The Bishop's Jaegers and other Thorne Smith books got me to thinking about those and other books I compulsively read and reread when an adolescent.

Which reminded me of the funniest book I ever read, I think, Barefoot Boy With Cheek, by Max Shulman. And reread. And reread. His later books were good, but to my mind he never again achieved the sublime zanyness of Barefoot Boy.

To this day, sixty-six years later, I remember verbatim the first paragraph of the novel, where the hero, Asa Hearthrug, says:

The morning of the great day dawned bright and clear. "Huzzah!", I cried, bounding out of bed. I bounded right back in again. During the night my drop-seat pajamas had become entangled in the bedspring.

It was "the great day" because Asa was about to leave home to attend the "University of Minnesota". It is explained by the author, of course, that "The University of Minnesota" is a purely fictional institution. The word "Minnesota", we are informed, is actually an American Indian word meaning "The place where three Braves and two Squaws ate underdone pemmican." Shulman gives the reader, through the mouths of various characters, the history of what he calls "The University of Minnesota". Or maybe I should say "histories". Each "history" is wildly different from the others, but equally weird.

His characters have magnificent names. For instance, the glad-handing president of Asa's fraternity is Roger Hailfellow. The fraternity treasurer is Shylock Fiscal. Asa's girlfriend, an enthusiastic missionary Communist who interprets EVERYTHING Asa mentions in the light of dialetical materialism, is Yetta Samovar.

I've got to quit now. I have way too many hilarious instances and circumstances from Barefoot Boy With Cheek to give any fair representation of the book in this post, which is too long already.

Now I have to quit this post, to put in a request to the library for Barefoot Boy With Cheek, which I have neglected reading for about twenty years.

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: Stringsinger
Date: 14 Sep 10 - 12:48 PM

Darwin's "Origin of Species".

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: Micca
Date: 14 Sep 10 - 06:16 PM

One I left out was for several years I re-read " Lehninger,Principles of Biochemistry" (probably the same 3 pages) as it was the greatest soporific ever, and perfect if one had any difficulty sleeping, it worked better even than "Case law relating to issues in Health and Safety" I got so that opening Lehninger produced sleep!!

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: Joe_F
Date: 14 Sep 10 - 06:22 PM

Nineteen Eighty-Four, by George Orwell
The Age of Longing, by Arthur Koestler
The Revolt of Mamie Stover, by William Bradford Huie

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: LilyFestre
Date: 14 Sep 10 - 07:16 PM

Some of my favorites to read over and over are "Mrs. Mike" and "King Henry VIII" by Margaret George.

Michelle

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 14 Sep 10 - 09:00 PM

I reread Mrs. Mike several times in my teens.

As I mowed the lawn this evening I remembered another: I've reread Under the Tuscan Sun a couple of times since the first reading. The movie is cute, but the book has a lot more substance.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: GUEST,Patsy
Date: 15 Sep 10 - 09:41 AM

The Prince and the Lily, by James Brough about the story of Lily Langtry. I find it fasinating from being a Reverend's daughter in Jersey to becoming mistress to the future King of England and how she managed to get away with it in Victorian England. Apart from all of that it is an interesting look at the Theatre, Victorian society, and also it touches on how ordinary people who virtually did the same thing didn't fair so well and the double standards of the time.

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 30 Nov 13 - 02:18 AM

Another fave I had forgotten is John Mortimer's stories of Rumpole, the fat scruffy old ❤·in·right·place barrister. I think they started as a tv series, but he adapted the episodes as short stories for print, and has also added a couple of novels. Recently came across them all stashed away in the office & am wallowing in a full reread.

~M~

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: Eldergirl
Date: 30 Nov 13 - 06:38 AM

A winter's tale by Mark Helprin.. (Or is it Halprin? Damn synapses fritzed again) full of wonderful characters, and wouldn't I just love to spend some time at the Lake of the Coheeries? - where Daythril Moobcot is always the first resident to greet you.
Horse of Air by Lindsey Campbell. (kept me sane-ish when I was a child)
The Firebrand by Marion Zimmer Bradley
Glory Season by David Brin
Miss pettigrew lives for a day
Anything by Catherine Fox, Haven Kimmel, Christina Jones,and Sharon Penman.. Wildly different women writers, but have read much of their stuff often.
And if I only had a copy, I would gladly re-read Emmett Otter's Jug-band Christmas by Russell Hoban. Anyone out there have a spare ??

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 30 Nov 13 - 12:29 PM

Just noted that I posted three years ago. No changes, but two additions.

The Rubaiyat
The Leopard
Seven Pillars of Wisdom (the beginnings of the Mideast upheavals can be seen here)

Add- Poems of Robert Burns and poems of Cicely Fox Smith.

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: GUEST
Date: 30 Nov 13 - 02:13 PM

Like Q, I recapped my earlier post before rereading it, and found it was virtually the same. Since that post I have re-reread from the list The Egyptian, Rime of the Ancient Mariner, part of A Peace to End All Peace, and parts of the Rubaiyat (just last night by coincidence).

Since, I have reread:
Exodus
The Maltese Falcon
Five Weeks to Winning Bridge]__Both pretty much out of favor these days
Goren on Defense            ]

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: John on the Sunset Coast
Date: 30 Nov 13 - 02:15 PM

Guest at 02:13 PM is me. Sorry.

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: SINSULL
Date: 30 Nov 13 - 09:07 PM

Moby Dick
Atlas Shrugged
A Planet Called Treason
A Prayer for Owen Meanie
Pride and Prejudice
Time After Time

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 30 Nov 13 - 11:19 PM

Don't think I have mentioned Treasure Island yet.

Pieces Of Eight! Pieces Of Eight!

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 01 Dec 13 - 02:29 PM

Glad this thread re-appeared.
It reminded me of many books that are worth re-reading, and I have some on my bookshelves.

Does anyone remember the odd (hilarious) mysteries by Elliot Paul (Paris locale)?
Mention of Thorne Smith brought him to mind.

Archy and Mehitabel is a favorite of mine that I didn't see mentioned so far.

Poetry by Badger Clark.

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: sciencegeek
Date: 01 Dec 13 - 02:41 PM

" Lehninger,Principles of Biochemistry" ROTFLMAO!

a 40 year flashback... but Morrison & Boyd's Organic Chemistry was the bane of my existence.... :)

I re-read any number of books- fiction & non-fiction. My hope is to reread a whole lot more in my retirement.... she fondly dreams on...

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: Janie
Date: 01 Dec 13 - 03:34 PM

Here are few I have read twice or more.

"A Species of Eternity" by Joseph Kastner. Reading it now for the third time after having found this out of print book on-line. (Previous copy stayed with the ex in the property settlement *smile*.) It is about the early New World naturalists - Colden, Banister, Lawson, Bartam, etc.

"The Best of the West Virginia Hillbilly" Jim Comstock (may his curmudgeonly and comic, sharp witted soul rest in peace, even if he was a Republican:>)

"A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century" Barbara Tuchman

"Bodyguard of Lies" Anthony Cave Brown (Allied espionage and the resulting smoke and mirrors to conceal preparations and plans for D-Day.)

Most of E. B. White's books.

Several of John Steinbeck's novels.

A slew of books I read for the first time between the ages of 11 and 25. I had the vocabulary and the basic intellect to enjoy them at the time, but not the life experience to fully appreciate their richness and complexity. would certainly include several of Steinbeck's novels, a few by Hemingway, and "To Kill a Mockingbird" among them.

"Fair and Tender Ladies" Lee Smith

"A Place to Come To" Robert Penn Warren

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: kendall
Date: 01 Dec 13 - 03:44 PM

Treasure Island.
Robinson Crusoe. Based on a true story. A sailor maned Alexander Selkirk was marooned on Juan Fernandez island. Actually, it was his choice rather than continue in what he thought was a cursed ship.

Kidnapped is also a favorite. (Robert Louis Stevenson)

These days I'm deeply into books by Bernard Cornwell. Today's favorite, 1356. All those battles between the French and the English, lots of blood and gore; I feel sorry for the horses.The English archers took them out to make the French men at arms fight on foot which they did not like to do.
I have to wonder if they were really that cruel in those days.

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: Don Firth
Date: 01 Dec 13 - 05:46 PM

I read Rafael Sabatini's Scaramouche when I was about thirteen and have reread it several times since.

Sabatini was famous for setting his historical novels in carefully researched backgrounds, and Scaramouche covered a wide area. The abuses of "privilege" that led to the French Revolution, much of the politics of the time, even the hero's hiding out with a troupe of travelling Comedia del Arte players from those who would silence him because of his "dangerous gift of eloquence"—and taking the name, "Scaramouche." Again, forced to flee from the comedy troupe, he takes refuge as the assistant of a fencing master in Paris, profits by the master's tutelage, eventually inherits the academy when the master is killed in a mob riot (leading up to the Revolution)—then is pressed into service to provide a nasty surprise to the aristocratic "bully swordsmen" who force political opponents into duels and kill them to get them out of the way.

In the milieu of the Assembly, he encounters his old enemy, the Marquis who killed his best friend because of his populist political views.

The novel has one helluva surprise ending!

The Fifties movie with Stewart Granger was a pale, deeply flawed attempt and didn't even come close.

I don't know how many times I've read this novel. It is one whacking good adventure story!

In fact most of Sabatini's novels are excellent reads, several of which have been made into movies. Early on, Errol Flynn made his career playing Sabatini heroes such as "Captain Blood" and "The Sea Hawk." Tyrone Power did similarly in "The Black Swan." Sabatini's novels are well-known for their carefully research historical backgrounds being woven into the fabric of the plots.

There are many other books I reread, but right now I have an urge to pull my copy of Scaramouche off the shelf and at least give it a thumb-through. . .  .

Don Firth