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Re-readers - what do you re-read and why

Beady said:
For a fun use of language, try Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin series (two volumes of which were the basis for the movie Master and Commander, the Far Side of the World).
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Thanks for that. I have seen and enjoyed the film a couple of times, but if the books are well-written too then town library here I come!
 
I wish I liked re-reading books, and I really tried quite a few times, but no, once is enough for me. When I see and hear about the pleasure that other people have in reading again and again a cherished book, I know I'm missing out on something, but it just isn't me. There is one sort of exception. I have an audio version of Pride and Prejudice (when I bought it there were only three unabridged versions available and on the other two the voices of the readers were all wrong) and about once every two years or so, I'll listen to remind myself of all the details in the story.
 
I love rereading books, for a number of reasons. I've read every book in the Discworld series at least 3 times, most of them more, and most Douglas Adams books close to 10 times. If it's a good book, I usually like it better the second or third time, because I don't have to worry about what happens next, and can enjoy seeing how the plot comes together, how well the book is written, and reading about my favorite characters.

I'm also a fairly obsessive reader, and I simply can't buy books as fast as I can read them.

And as Armi Shanks said, there's something comforting about a book you've read a few times, if only because the book is so constant. It's nice to know that the Vogons will always destroy the Earth to make room for a hyperspace bypass.
 
I'm not much of a re-reader, but I do re-read The Iliad (transl. Robert Fitzgerald), The Grapes of Wrath and Dracula every couple years.
 
Not much of a re-reader here aswell (except from literature pertaining my research) – I’m much of a re-watcher though (TV/Movies). But I do intend to re-read “The passing of the techno-mages” trilogy by Jeanne Cavalos. I know, it’s kind of silly, but I really like the story and the universe presented there (Babylon 5). I’m also contemplating on re-reading Dan Simmons’s Hyperion-Endymion saga.




hgc, if you like the Iliad, than you might want to take a look at Simmons's Ilium & Olympos. He's kind of re-writing the I'lliad in a weird way.
 
hgc said:
I'm not much of a re-reader, but I do re-read The Iliad (transl. Robert Fitzgerald), The Grapes of Wrath and Dracula every couple years.
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I'm with you on the Iliad, but I'll the Odyssey to that. Fitzgerald's translation is unsurpassed.

Michael
 
Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, every three or four years, during the summer.
 
OK, I read LOTR thrice (twice in French, once in English), The Hobbit twice (in French), The Silmarillion twice (once in French, once in English). And Menaud, maitre draveur twice (each time as a school assignment, though the requirement was just "written by a Canadian author"). I wish I had the time to reread some other books, or just get the time to read books period. Until the next Harry Potter comes out, it's unlikely I'll make the time...
 
Kullervo said:
Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, every three or four years, during the summer.
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Oh yeah. For me it's the language, his beautiful, beautiful use of words. I have Mark Twain's Roughing It is part of the Lavatory Selection - things that are worth dipping into (no giggling!). To be woken from by "Are you going to be in there all day!?".

I re-read fiction for the language - Mervyn Peake, Jack Vance, Le Carre spring to mind. I re-read non-fiction to re-evaluate in the light of what I've read since, and of what's actually happened.
 
For some odd reason Stoker's "Dracula", King's "It", Melville's "Moby Dick" and a novel by a great Indian writer and an old teacher "Samskara"
 
Susheel said:
For some odd reason Stoker's "Dracula", King's "It", Melville's "Moby Dick" and a novel by a great Indian writer and an old teacher "Samskara"
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Another Dracula repeater! I didn't think there were others.
 
I'm reading Medawar's Pluto's Republic for the umpteenth time, because it contains most of the essays anthologized in the smaller collections. The poor book is now more sticky tape than printed page, but I keep on reading it because Medawar was incapable of putting together a duff paragraph. [ Note to those who like Dawkins or Gould: both of them admired Medawar greatly.]

Volumes 10 and 12 of The History of Middle-Earth are on the bedside table, to be re-read half a chapter at a time. Because I like them. So there.
 
Ah the desert island question, with that subtle threat implied...

I'd bring a book on island survival, what sort of question is that?
 
Beady said:
The film gives you a small taste of the language as found in the books during the dinner scene in Aubrey's cabin (especially when the doctor is told to choose between two weevils).
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Thanks. I had a look at the library and the first book isn't available - I assume it won't matter too much if I start reading the books out of order?
 
Mr Clingford said:
Thanks. I had a look at the library and the first book isn't available - I assume it won't matter too much if I start reading the books out of order?
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Not so much the first quarter of the series. After that, the author seemed to develop a set of over-all plots and sub-plots that continue in chronological order.

BTW, I'm also a Dracula and Holmes re-reader. As I said earlier, I've also read War and Peace four times, as well as the Hornblower series. The most powerful novel I've ever read, however, is a little-known novel about the Boer War, called Rags of Glory, by Stuart Cloete.
 
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Beady said:
Not so much the first quarter of the series. After that, the author seemed to develop a set of over-all plots and sub-plots that continue in chronological order.
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Right, so one of the first few books will work then.

Beady said:
BTW, I'm also a Dracula and Holmes re-reader. As I said earlier, I've also read War and Peace four times, as well as the Hornblower series. The most powerful novel I've ever read, however, is a little-known novel about the Boer War, called Rags of Glory, by Stuart Cloete.
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Respect for reading War and Peace four times. Tell me about this Rags of Glory; I have studied the Boer War and have visited Spion Kop.
 
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With regard to the Illuminatus trilogy. I always say that you can't expect to make any sense of it the first 4 times you read it.
 
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