Reader Mailbag: Books You Re-Read
In the June 2023 newsletter, I asked readers if they re-read books and if so, what books.
Here were the responses:
Ayesha: I reread various (types of) books from time to time but mostly short story &/or poetry collections, but recently I reread The Nancys by R.W R. McDonald. I saw it in the garage (yes, I know it’s shameful but I’ve got heaps of bks relegated to the garage! Ha) & remembered how hilarious it is… When I first read it I was hoping he’d write a sequel (he did, but I hadn’t gotten around to reading it). Anyway it was as funny as I remembered so I borrowed the sequel (Nancy Business) from my local library (also hilarious!) & now I’m waiting for the next one to come out (actually I should check to see if there is one/yet…)
Michelle: For me, there are a lot of books that I read repeatedly. Some more frequently than others, sure, and honestly, most are part of a series. But in no particular order:
The Black Dagger Brotherhood by JR Ward – honestly, I think she could make a grocery list sound thrilling and engaging. I absolutely love her writing style. I reread the entire series (at least the ones I have, I’m missing a few of the newer ones) whenever a new book is coming out and some I can just read individually when I want to revisit a specific event or character.
In The Garden Trilogy by Nora Roberts – I usually find myself pulling these off the shelf at the end of January or beginning of February. When my Pennsylvania winter has been bleak long-term and I’m longing for colors and sunshine. The 3 books: Blue Dahlia, Black Rose, and Red Lily are just wonderful. Part ghost story, part romance, part family and part fun, they just make me happy when the weather has me really depressed.
The Pendergast series by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child – oddly, I’m not a big fan of either writer individually, but put them together and I just can’t stop. I really like their non-Pendergast books too, but they hooked me with Relic, hung on with Reliquary and I was a collector!
The Spearwielder’s Saga by R.A. Salvatore – admittedly, I was late to the brilliance of RA Salvatore, and this is the only book(s) I’ve read. It’s such a fun read with all the mystical creatures, the humor, the action. I’ve owned it both as individual books and 2 copies of it as an all-in-one.
The Women’s Murder Club by James Patterson – I started reading the books after watching the unfortunately short lived television series (thankfully, I was able to get it on DVD eventually). I hadn’t realized it was based on a book series until the closing credits, but I was already interested. I’ve read them in order and out of order so many times and I never tire of them.
The Rizzoli and Isles series by Tess Gerritsen – with these, I started reading the books before the TV series came out, but not by much. The female leads in these sort of echo the Women’s Murder Club, so it’s not much of a stretch to understand why I’m a big fan. I have a “thing” about forensics and the sciences, so I’m always drawn to books (or TV or movies) that deal, in a realistic way, with either.
Anything by Stephen King – except for Cujo. (I don’t think I could bear to read that one again. It absolutely destroyed me the first time and I will NEVER watch the movie). I really love how Stephen King draws his settings and his characters. They always feel like some place I know or could be, or a person I could actually meet and have a conversation with. I also love how so many of his stories interweave people, places or even ideas from other books together. Sometimes his little hints or ‘easter eggs’ will have me scrambling to find the book that has the original situation in it. Also, Stephen King is one of only 3 authors for whom I’ll read any foreward, afterward, author’s notes, book dedication…the other 2 are JR Ward and Nora Roberts/JD Robb (love the In Death series, too, but there are so many of them I’m not sure there are many that I’ve read more than 2 or 3 times.)
JR: I don’t reread books anymore, there are too many new books to read, and at 73 years young, time is fleeting.
I have read a few books several times:
Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn
Lord of the Rings trilogy
The Stand
Salem’s Lot
It
Misery
The Shining
11/22/63
The Shepherd of the Hills
These are the ones that come to mind quickly. Stephen King is on the list several times, as he is probably my favorite author, followed closely by Mark Twain. I have read most of Twain’s books but only Tom and Huck more than once.
Corinne: Man, I reread a lot of books regularly! Maybe not every year or even two, but often. Some of my favorites are the Dragonriders of Pern books by Anne McCaffery, I’ve been rereading those since 8th grade, which would be like 45 years now. Also Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card, at least 10 times. And all the Fitz and the Fool books by Robin Hobb. Every few years I get on a vampire kick and re-read Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Jonathan Barrett Gentleman Vampire by P.N. Elrod, and The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova, all in a row. I also like to reread Wilbur Smith’s Hungry as the Sea (MANY times), and Sara Donati’s Into the Wilderness series. There is a book called Eifelheim by Michael Flynn that I have listened to on audiobook at least 6 times and I can’t really figure out why. It just intrigues me. If re-listening to audiobooks counts as rereading there are too many to list, but you mentioned you were going to read Wool, and that is one I have listened to probably 3-4 times so far. I’m not as fond of the other two books in that series but Wool is great! I love finding new books, I have read many that have been recommended in the newsletter, (and I JUST discovered LITrpg books which may be my new favorite genre for awhile) but I also love to revisit old favorites. Going back into a familiar world is just sometimes the best thing!
Christine: The only book I ever re-read was a Nancy Drew Book — I had read them all as a kid and just grabbed one in the library and re-read during my niece’s story hour. So, I am probably one of the few people who only reads a book once versus re-reading the same one on a regular basis. I have just too many new ones I haven’t read that I want to get to. On the off chance that I accidentally start reading a book that I realize I have already read I shut it down. This applies to movies as well.
Sincerely,
Susan: Since I first read it when I was a teenager (many decades ago), I’ve re-read “To Kill a Mockingbird” dozens of times. I can’t really tell how many…every 2 or 3 years. I will pick up the book when I see it at a library sale or a yard sale so I can give it to someone who’s never read it, of course keeping at least one copy in my bookcases at all times. When I want mysteries, I re-read the early Michael Connelly books (don’t care for the newer ones); for mysteries a little lighter I read Sue Grafton; and when I want fantasy/mystery I re-read the very light, quite silly Joe Grey series by Shirley Rousseau Murphy. But right now I’m re-reading Nathaniel Philbrick’s “Mayflower” to feed the early American history part of my brain. Happy reading!
Chris: I reread several books over the course of a year. Some are literary classics, like Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte and Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. Other books that I love returning to are the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon and the Harry Bosch series by Michael Connelly. What motivates me to read a book again? I may be trying to recreate a pleasant experience or, often, I’m simply turning to reliably good writing when all the new books I’ve been trying to read disappoint me. I get my fill of these excellent books and then I try again to find new favorites!
Annette: I tend not re-read books generally, as there are so many new books to read, especially after reading one of your newsletters š And buying a Kobo during Covid. But I do have a mental list of books that I really enjoyed and keep saying I will re-read, Jeffrey Archerās Kane & Abel and The Prodigal Daughter, I must have read them thirty years ago but they left a lasting impression, along with Wilbur Smithās Egyptian Series.
I did re-read the Harry Potter Books first time proof reading before letting my children read them, then we all re-read them as a family taking it in turns to read, before the final book came out. Great times.
Vicki: I’ve probably re-read The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis more than any other complete book. There are a few others, mostly science fiction and fantasy, as well. What I usually do, though, is pick up a favorite and re-read the end or favorite sections. I especially like to do that with authors like Nora Roberts/J.D. Robb, Jayne Ann Krentz/Amanda Quick/Jayne Castle, Nalini Singh, and Anne McCaffrey. Jim Butcher and Patricia Briggs are authors where I do that more often.
So if I’ve re-read that last three or four chapters from a J.D. Robb In Death four or five times, does that count as re-reading the book???
Veronica: There are 2 books that I reread every 5 years or so because by then I canāt remember every detail. I love Gone With The Wind and always picture Rhett Butler as Clarke Gable. Lol. Also, The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough where I always picture Father Ralph as Richard Chamberlain. My preferred reading material is mystery but these two beautiful books evoke so many emotions. I read over 100 books a year.
Ellen: I also love The Martian Chronicles and have re-read it many times, but the book I re-read most often is Anne of Green Gables. I read it nearly every year. I re-read the rest of the series, too, but I loved Anne when I was her age and wanted to be her andI still love her now that I’m Marilla’s age.
Martina: I love this question! I have reread a few books:
All the Black Stallion books- they take me back to when I first fell in love with horses! I reread them every few years
Watership Down- there’s something about rabbits fighting to live a better life and making friends with unusual animals- we could learn something from them! Read it every few years
Dragon Riders of Pern- dragons, bonding, friendship, — my first real Dragon series and it’s like coming home to a friend- Read every year!
Where the Red Fern Grows- story about a boy and his dogs and their adventures- makes me cry every time I read it which is every few years
Big Red by Kjelgaard– story about a boy and his dog and the adventures they have in the Wintapi wilderness- I actually love and reread all the authors dog stories every few years
I also reread Harry Potter series once a year– I’m still waiting for my Hogwarts acceptance letter, lol!
Cinda: I totally enjoy your newsletter. When it arrives, I wait until I can settle in a comfortable spot and devote some time to reading it. I always make notes of your recommendations for future reading.
I have reread “The Chronicles of Narnia” every year since 1963. And I always find something new!
Nancy: Tops on my re-reading list is The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings (at least 30 times by now).
Also on my list are The Chronicles of Narnia; Terry Pratchett’s Wee Free Men series (part of his Discworld); Diana Wynne Jones’ The Dalemark Quartet & Howl’s Moving Castle; Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca; and most anything by Agatha Christie, Margery Allingham, & Dorothy Sayers. It’s also fun to revisit books I read & enjoyed long ago like Mary Norton’s The Borrowers, Walter R. Brooks’ Freddy the Pig series, Grimm’s Fairytales, old time sci-fi by Andre Norton.
Re-reading books I love is like being with a trusted & beloved old friend. I know it’s going to be a good read, & there’s also a certain comforting nostalgia in it!
pdotson: I’ve only re read ONE book: Follow The River by
James Alexander Thom. The ending ties it all together. The story tells the strength of pioneer women.
Linda: Very good newsletter again this month. As to what book I regularly read again, that is not hard. As a Christian I do read the Bible over and over again. But as far as regular reading books, I very seldom read again. I have read a Vince Flynn book again as I love his books. I have read a Grisham book again as I watched the movie and wanted to see how true it was to book. I also read The Firm again as I started watching the series and was curious how it followed the book. If there is one series that I would like to read again, it would be the Inspector Gamache series by Penny. There is also an old series called “The Ladies of Covington ” . I was so into that series and the lives of the ladies that I would love to experience that again.
Faye: Lord of the Rings trilogy by Tolkien. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve read this and I still pick up on something different each time.
Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. Love it!
A book I don’t reread often is The Prince of Tides by Pat Conroy. The reason I take so long between readings is because this book shakes me to my core. Anything written by Pat Conroy is a work of art but this book is just so damned powerful. Conroy was one of those authors on another level. There’s something about southern writers that’s just…different. James Lee Burke comes to mind. He’s another southern writer who has that “je ne sais pas”.
Patrick: Because I don’t get to read nearly as much as I’d like to, I’d hate to spend too much time reading books I’ve already read (though I understand the attraction). So, there are only two books I recall having re-read, and I’m about to give the first a fourth go-round. You might think it silly, but it was a book I first read as a child and loved then as much as I do now. The book is called “The Shy Stegosaurus of Cricket Creek”, by Evelyn Sibley Lampman. It’s an innocent little book, written for children, but it’s got geology and crime, adventure, science fiction and family, friendship and humor; pretty good in my opinion. I also am quite fond of the desert, which is the book’s setting. I will leave the identity of the second book for some other time, as I know you appreciate a good mystery, haha.
Fran: Books I have read more than once, 5 times or more “Tisha” as told to Robert Specht. A story of a young girl who went to Chaicken, Alaska, to teach in the early 1920’s. I don’t know what, but that it really got to me.
The other is one I am going to reread next week is “Meadowlark” by Walter Tevis. With everything lately about robots and AI, it really makes you think.
Gregory: A favorite re-read is The Lord of the Rings. Can always pick up something new with each read. These books simply cannot be read too much.
Gail: Books that I can reread anytime are the Death series by JD Robb. Over 50 books now and if I reach a time that reading is a chore and not pleasure I pull this series out.
Phoenix: You ask what books I re-read, and the answer is actually fairly easy. Every few years I re-read “The Peaceable Kingdom” by Jan de Hartog. This historically accurate fiction is in two parts – the first being the early beginnings of the Quaker movement in 1652-1653 in Lancashire, England. George Fox is the founder of the movement, and the wife of Judge Fell, Margaret Fell becomes not only his follower but eventually his wife after her husband dies. While I can’t risk quoting my favorite passage verbatim, due to copyright infringement, I would direct you and your readers to page 232, in which Fox tells Margaret that God works through those who are capable of doing what needs doing. Margaret Fell is probably the bravest woman I have ever come across, and her work with the children in the dungeons of Lancaster Castle is harrowing. The second part of the book takes place in America, circa 1754-1755. Once again, the book is spellbinding and very, very real. I have read this book so often that the binding is coming apart. I have two copies. I will occasionally loan one, but I dare not open it first, or I’m simply gone again and cannot put it down.
Every few years I also re-read the entire Sister Frivesse mysteries by Margaret Frazer. There are 17 of them, and I’ll read them, in order, one right after the other. Every so often, if the mood strikes, I’ll re-read the Narnia series, and The Lord of the Rings series. I enjoy the Mitford series by Jan Karon as well, but I rarely read the entire series all over again.
Peggy: For quite a while I reread the entire first four books of the Outlander series (Diana Gabaldon), which comes to about 2000 pages, if I recall. No interruptions, one after the other. I loved doing it but finally did stop. I reread the Chet and Bernie series (I like rereading series, I guess!) by Spencer Quinn, all of which I own, every year or so up to the current one. And last is a favorite book that bears rereading: The Frontiersmen by Allan Eckert.
Roger: Hi Graeme,
My for sure reading list, and filled in with others .
Steffany Plum by Janet Evanovich
Joe Pickett by CJ Box
In Death Series by J.D. Robb
Sei, Mui, and Abby series by Ty Hutchinson
Women”s Murder Club by James Patterson
Kat: Basically I am not in the habit of doing a regular reread of a particular book.
I will reread a book if it’s part of a series and it’s been awhile since the last book was released. An example would be the Eragon series books released a few years ago by Christopher Paolini . He is now releasing another book this fall. I must reread the whole enjoyable series again. š¤
If a series has a new book coming out and it’s been a year since the last one I will reread the last book released if the last book left me hanging by my toes waiting for the next. Nora Robert’s Dragonheart Legacy is an example of a cliffhanger. It took three years for the trilogy to finish.
Morninbug: Every so often I reread the Mrs. Pollifax series by Dorothy Gilman. Not deep reading, just fun.
Louis: I like Robert B. Parker from time to time as well as Ed McBain, John Sandford and Robert Crais plus the great Elmore Leonard. Hope you don’t mind my listing more than one. So many great books, so little time and yes, a bit trite but oh so………true! Would imagine I am not the only responder to list more than one author as June days pass.
Linda: I have a full set of Rex Stout, Erle Stanley Gardner, Ellery Queen, John Sandford, JD Robb etc. Will start at the beginning of a series and read all the way through each and every book! Also Janet Evanovich and Charlaine Harris
Lee: The one book that stands out that I have reread a coupe of times is “Fate Is The Hunter” by Ernest K. Gann. It does make a person think!
Marilyn: I am currently re-reading the Mitford series by Jan Karon. These books mean a lot to me, everyone of them is special.
Thank you for the good work you do for us, I certainly appreciate looking up my authors for their lists.
Donna: Like you, I too re-read The Martian Chronicles at least once a year. I also will pick up Bradbury’s Dandelion Wine as well. I think I have read that one at least five times in the last ten years.
Others that I will read again are 1984, Pride and Prejudice, and The Lord of the Rings. I like to go back and delve into some of my favorite Shakespeare plays such as Romeo and Juliet, Julius Caesar, Coriolanus, and Much Ado About Nothing. Isaac Asimov’s The Caves of Steel is another one of re-reads.
I know I have others, but these are the only ones I can think of at this moment.
William:
Beth: Re: Re-reading books. Iāve never re-read
a book. I have so many books to read that I
canāt take the time to read one again.
My daughter read all the Harry Potter books
over as each new one was being published.
She can tell you where in which one something
happened. Iām impressed. Also, people are
always saying they are reading the Gamache
books over as they wait for the next one.
Sue: I AM NOT ONE TO RE-READ BOOKS, OR REWATCH MOVIES, WITH A FEW EXCEPTIONS.
i REMEMBER IN HIGH SCHOOL (LATE 1950’S, YIKES) I REREAD THE GOOD EARTH BY PEARL S. BUCK FOR ENGLISH IN MY SOPHMORE, JUNIOR AND SENIOR YEARS. I JUST GOT SO MANY FEELS FROM IT THAT I CAN REMEMBER IT ALL THESE YEARS LATER.
THE OTHER SERIES WHICH I RE-READ 2-3 TIMES, DEPENDING ON WHEN IT WAS PUBLISHED, WAS HARRY POTTER. ALSO WATCHED ALL THE MOVIES A COUPLE OF TIMES.
I DO LIKE SERIES BOOKS, MOST OF WHAT I READ IS ONE SERIES OR ANOTHER. I LOVE CHARACTER GROWTH.
Shannon: I have to say that I don’t even think about re-reading any books. There are just soooooo many books I want to read and so few hours in the day to do so.
That being said, my favorite book is The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein. I absolutely LOVED that book. I had just gotten a beautiful German Shephard puppy and I remember looking at my dog and wondering what he was thinking. If I ever reread a book it would be top of my list.
Phil: The books that I like to re-read are the Travis McGee series by John D. MacDonald. Thank you and best wishes
Martha: The one author that I re-read often is Georgette Heyer. Her regency stories. When I first started working back in the early ā70s, I was in San Francisco and Staceyās bookstore was just a block away. It was there that I found my first Georgette Heyer. I believe I have a copy of each of them and re-read them every so often. One is so old that it is held together with a rubber band as the pages are falling out.
She also wrote some good mysteries but it is the regency stories that I go back to every so often.
Ken: An easy one for me…”Citizens of London,” by Lynne Olsen.
She paints a vivid picture of London during the start of WWII and the Blitz. The lives of every day people as well as the Savoy dining crowd are described as well as telling us about Edward R. Murrow and the start of the War reporting by CBS radio. Periodically I have the opportunity to stump a few people by asking them who was the US Ambassador to England during WWII. No, it was not Joseph Kennedy! John Winant is his name and the author describes how and why FDR appointed him and brought back Kennedy. Olsen also writes that Winant was an advocate for Churchill and England (unlike Kennedy,) and often took to the streets to help in rescue and recovery operations after bombing raids by Germany. I must stop now and pick up the book for my yearly re-read…
JM: My favorite re-read is “Folly” by Laurie King I also like to re-read other books of her’s and the Cadfael series and Margaret Maron. I do read new books but sometimes like to read my favorites (bought and kept) when my mind is not up to total concentration (evenings!)
Hollins: About every ten years it seems I reread J. R. R. Tolkien’s “Lord of the Rings” trilogy.
Some of my favorite authors have died, so I reread their books since I miss them so much. These include P. D. James and Rex Stout’s Nero Wolfe novels. (Although Robert Goldsborough has continued the series, I don’t think they have the same appeal.)
There are some current authors I reread occasionally because I enjoy their writings and characters. These include Louise Penny, Michael Connelly,and John Sandford.
Assuming I live long enough (I am now 75), I can imagine rereading Richard Osman and Anthony Horowitz.
Growing up I loved science fiction, but now when I reread some of my old favorites, I wonder how in the world did I ever like those books!
Vinnie: I love this site. Books I reread over the years: Jane Eyre, The Robe, Power Down by Ben Coe and The Knock Out by Catherine Coulter. All Vince Flynn, Fern Michaels and Stuart Woods.
I was raised in the 40s and 50s when there was little money for entertainment. But there was always the library. I still prefer to hold a book in my hands. And books saved me during the Covid in time.
Keep up the good work in letting us know about books and authors we never read and those many who are our favourites. Thanks a bunch.
Debb: I reread Laurel K Hamilton, JD Robb and her In Death series, Anne Bishop and The Others series. I reread Fanfiction a lot.
Deb: Happy Summer!
I re-read all 30 “The Cat Who ” series by Lilian Jackson Braun (in order) every few years. This is my 5th time through and I still find something new of interest in each book! I never tire of the antics of Koko and Yum Yum. It is a collection I will never part with. Now the question is, to whom will I entrust them in my will? š
Tom: The book I have most faithfully re-read over my adult life is The Alexandria Quartet, by Lawrence Durrell. It has a lot going for it:
1) beautiful writing
2) exotic setting, convincingly evoked
3) intersection with real-world history of World War Two and the Middle East (some of which echoes down to the present day)
4) fascinating structure.
It’s really the structure that keeps me coming back and makes it richer than many other books or series. The four books are each told in a different way:
Justine is first-person
Balthazar is second-person (Balthazar is a character in Justine, in this book he is writing what he calls an “interlinear” commentary on Justine)
Mountolive is third-person
All three of these books cover the same story, but each one suggests different explanations for everything that happens, and how the characters feel about it all. The “I” of Justine becomes the “you” of Balthazar and is just another character (not the main one) in Mountolive.
The fourth book is Clea which, back in the first person, extends the story forward in time, resolving or at least illuminating some of the paradoxes of the first three books.
Summarizing it like this helps me understand why I have re-read it so often, but risks making the Quartet sound confusing, or mechanical in some way. It’s not! That’s Durrell’s big achievement — the structure is not a gimmick, it lets him tell the story “in the round” in a way that a conventional novel would not allow.
I’ve read and enjoyed other books (novels, memoirs, travel books) and poetry by Lawrence Durrell, and when I was a child re-read his brother Gerald’s great book on growing up on Corfu, My Family and Other Animals. I also read Gerald’s fascinating books on his life as a wildlife collector for zoos and then the founding of a zoo for wildlife preservation. Quite the family! But The Alexandria Quartet is the book that makes we want to re-read it, knowing that each time I will enjoy it in new ways.
Cheers!
Tom Hughes
P.S. All too intellectual? Well, I also periodically re-read The Complete Richard Hannay Stories, by John Buchan.
sven: I reread James Lee Burke, Donald Westlake, and Elmore Leonard.
Pat: At one dark period of my life, I reread The Lord of the Rings and the Harry Potter series a couple of times in a row. I think the fantasy worlds helped me to escape the real world. Currently, I am ārereading ā the Gamache series by Louise Penny via audiobooks. I am really enjoying this. I tend to read very quickly and realized I was missing or forgetting many details from earlier books as I was reading each new book. But, I can only listen at one speed, so I am absorbing a lot more detail as the books are read to me. Other than that, I am not rereading, Iām trying to get through the enormous to-be-read pile of books I have. So many good booksā¦
Kenicia: I also would like to answer your question of the month. I seldom have time to re-read books anymore. My to-read list is overwhelming. However, when I want to re-read something, I usually listen on audio to save my official reading time for new books. Most recently, I finished D. R. Meredith’s John Lloyd Branson series and plan to start her Megan Clark series tomorrow. I re-read Jane Austen occasionally, and I re-read lots of children’s novels. I enjoy Beverly Cleary’s Ramona, Barbara Park’s Junie B. Jones, and Astrid Lindgren’s Bill Bergson (Kalle Blomkvist) series. I am slowly making my way through Elizabeth Peters’ Amelia Peabody series again on audio, and I hope to re-read The Count of Monte Cristo soon. My most re-read series, though, is “The Chronicles of Narnia.” I read them many times when I was young, and I listen to them on audio every two or three years as an adult.
Deb: What do I re-read?
altho I also LOVEd The Martian Chronicles, I don’t reread anything because there are way tooooo many books already on my Kindle, on the audio & on my list of books to add to those 2.
(in my much younger days I reread Heinlein’s Stranger In a Strange Land, & also Asimov’s Foundation Series. The 2nd go-round for Foundation, while enjoyed, wasn’t as “stunning” (might not be the word to use because that series is definitely remarkable! just not for a 2nd time for me…)
OrderOfBooks of course adds to that list every month! I’ve passed your email to others to subscribe to & they, also, have been thoroughly impressed!
Connie: My return-to authors are Diana Galbadon, C.J. Box and Craig Johnson. I also reread the entire Ryder Creed series by Alex Kava whenever she (finally) publishes the next in the series.
I have recently begun re-reading John Grisham books. It has been a few years and suddenly got a yen for his style.
For further nastalgia on the romantic side, Mercy by Julie Garwood.
My all-time favorite, though is is Linda Howard’s Cry No More. The protaganist lives in El Paso, near where I had recently moved. Which is why I picked it up in the first place.
Christine: I’ve read a number of books “over again.” “The Revolt of Sarah Perkins,” by Marian Cockrell (plain New England spinster goes to Colorado to teach school in 1869 and changes her own life and the town’s); “Lonesome Traveler,” by Weldon Hill (13-YO boy sets out from NE Oklahoma to visit his mother in a New Mexico sanatorium); the Melendy family trilogy by Elizabeth Enright (four kids in 1941-2 and their experiences in NYC and Upstate); the Swallows & Amazons series by Arthur Ransome (British kids camping and sailing in the 1930s and enjoying a rich fantasy life as “pirates and explorers;” my favorite is “Pigeon Post”); Kipling’s Jungle Books (I have an illustrated unitary edition-everyone should read Kipling if only for his rich language); “The Pirates in the Deep Green Sea,” by Eric Linklater (a British fantasy about two brothers who discover a society of sailing men from the era of Wooden Ships &c. existing under the sea; just reread this); any Western by Luke Short. I’ll probably think of more after I hit Send!
I did think of more, mostly kids’ books. “Tom Sawyer,” “Black Beauty,” “The Swiss Family Robinson” (can’t count how many times I’ve reread that), most of L. M. Alcott (“Little Women” and “Eight Cousins” are my faves). Have finally gathered up a full run of the Black Stallion series in paperback and hope to get around to them this summer.
Steve: The books I read either yearly or more then once
Watership Down
The Spencer books
And books by John Grisham
Kathie: I have to admit, I am one who does not re-read a book. Once I know the characters and the ending, I canāt go back and read it as if I didnāt know what was going to happen, and Iām not one to go back to see any details/nuances I might have missed the first time. There are so many new books and so many new authors waiting for me to enter their world that once a book is read, I will never return again. Are there books I think about re-reading? Absolutely. Like The Grapes of Wrath, which is one of my favorite books of all time, and maybe one day I will pick it up again, but as long as there are new books calling my name all the time, the old favorites will have to wait for another day.
Steve S: Books that I re-read is any book in the Brady Coyne series by William G. Tapply
Any book in the Nick Delvecchio series by Robert J. Randisi
Craig: The book(s) I re-read on a regular basis are the The Dark Tower series by Stephen King. Iāve told people this series is my āHarry Potterā series-the one I can read multiple times, as well as listen to the audiobooks repeatedly. Since there are 7 books, and most of them are quite long, I allow a period of time to pass before I start over so that I can read all the other books I delayed reading; but at some point, there will come a time when the itch returns and I have to start them over again.
Carol: I would love to have time to reread a lot of books. But at 76, and very much a realist, I just donāt have time to do that and read what is current, or just books I havenāt read before. And thanks for this wonderful site.