Page 4 | What books do you re-read regularly?

Snorerephron · 2026-04-30T22:06:38+00:00

I've got some book vouchers that have been lurking in my wallet since Christmas, and I would like to use them to purchase a few books. I mainly buy books second hand and pass them on, or get library books, as I have far too many books already. So if I am buying books I want to know they will be ones I am likely to read over and over again So my question is what are your favourite books to re-read regularly? (I like classics, literary novels, funny novels, good contemporary fiction) I'd ideally like to get a few books but really beautiful editions of them -decent hardbacks

beguilingeyes · 02/05/2026 21:09

Notabarbie · 02/05/2026 19:02

Green dolphin country

I capture the castle

My friend Flicka

A town like Alice

Gilead

Middlemarch

Blimey. I haven't read My Fiend Flicka for years, and it's on the shelf. Must dig it out.Also Thunderhead and Green Grass of Wyoming.

Phineyj · 02/05/2026 20:47

Michael Chabon, The Yiddish Policemen's Union.
Daniel Kahneman, Thinking Fast and Slow.
Jeffrey Bernstein, 10 Days to a Less Defiant Child.
Dorothy L Sayers' Lord Peter Wimsey books.
Everything Donna Leon has written.
Pride and Prejudice.
Terry Pratchett, Making Money and Going Postal.

Serenissimissima · 02/05/2026 20:29

Have you come across the Folio Society, @Snorerephron ? I think it works by subscription, but they produce really lovely hardback editions of the classics.

Also the Everyman collection- less artistically produced than Folio Society but really nice well-bound volumes.

localnotail · 02/05/2026 19:24

H P Lovecraft
Zola
Daphne Du Maurier
Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon
Idols of Perversity by Bram Dijkstra - I must have read it 100 times

ghostyslovesheets · 02/05/2026 19:08

ChagallsMuse · 01/05/2026 18:52

I'm really interested that you chose "The Kitchen God's Wife" z I love Amy Tan but that was my least favourite.

100 Secret Senses is outstanding though.

Sorry to derail @Snorerephron , hope you find some lovely books!

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I like her other stuff as well - especially The Bone Setter’s Daughter

But I like the way mother and daughter have grown apart and how the discovery of her mums history and how that explains the things the daughter finds annoying about her mums history and family. Similar reasons why like Behind the scenes.

We all have different tastes in life

Notabarbie · 02/05/2026 19:02

Green dolphin country

I capture the castle

My friend Flicka

A town like Alice

Gilead

Middlemarch

ghostyslovesheets · 02/05/2026 18:54

AmberSpy · 02/05/2026 18:51

I love these ones! I'd add Human Croquet - some very dark themes but told so brilliantly. It really turned me on to magical realism as a genre.

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Love Human Croquet as well !

Notabarbie · 02/05/2026 18:53

Arran2024 · 30/04/2026 23:12

I regularly reread The Good Soldier by Ford Maddox Ford- it's my all time favourite book. Btw one of the main characters is a soldier in a fashionable regiment but that's a minor detail - it's not a book about wars or fighting.

Love this book.

AmberSpy · 02/05/2026 18:51

ghostyslovesheets · 30/04/2026 23:21

Behind The Scenes At The Museum

The Kitchen Gods Wife

Life After Life

my comfort books 📕

I love these ones! I'd add Human Croquet - some very dark themes but told so brilliantly. It really turned me on to magical realism as a genre.

BlakeCarrington · 02/05/2026 18:44

Terry Pratchett
Jeeves &Wooster
Lord of the Rings

Iocanepowder · 02/05/2026 18:20

Harry Potter.

Read them all 3 times in English and twice in French

HelenaWilson · 02/05/2026 18:19

4.50 from Paddington.

That's interesting. I re-read it not long ago and I thought something I hadn't thought before too. About Lucy.

redskyAtNigh · 02/05/2026 18:08

HelenaWilson · 02/05/2026 18:02

I've read all(most?) of the Agatha Christie books over and over so many times I can virtually dictate the dialogue in some of them.
I've just re-read one of my favourites and I now have a different view about one of the subplots than on the many, many, many times I've read them before.

Ooh, which book? (Don't say what you thought about the subplot.)

I agree that one sees books differently as one gets older. I haven't re-read Dorothy Dunnett for a long time because I'm afraid I won't feel the same way about the books as I did when I was twenty. That and it's more of an undertaking than whizzing through a bit of Agatha or Georgette or a childhood favourite.

Dear Mrs Bird series by Aj Pearce. So good!

I agree. Bad things happen because it's wartime, but it's about friendship and working together and the overall mood is uplifting. I keep looking to see if she has anything new out.

Ooh, which book? (Don't say what you thought about the subplot.)

4.50 from Paddington. Not one of the well known ones. We didn't have many books in the house when I was a child, so most of my reading was from the library, but this was one of the few books we did have so I read and re-read it a lot. Hence lots of memories.

HelenaWilson · 02/05/2026 18:02

I've read all(most?) of the Agatha Christie books over and over so many times I can virtually dictate the dialogue in some of them.
I've just re-read one of my favourites and I now have a different view about one of the subplots than on the many, many, many times I've read them before.

Ooh, which book? (Don't say what you thought about the subplot.)

I agree that one sees books differently as one gets older. I haven't re-read Dorothy Dunnett for a long time because I'm afraid I won't feel the same way about the books as I did when I was twenty. That and it's more of an undertaking than whizzing through a bit of Agatha or Georgette or a childhood favourite.

Dear Mrs Bird series by Aj Pearce. So good!

I agree. Bad things happen because it's wartime, but it's about friendship and working together and the overall mood is uplifting. I keep looking to see if she has anything new out.

Avie29 · 02/05/2026 17:27

Belle
The promise- Belle sequel
Remember Me
Charity
Stolen
^^ all by lesley pearce have read them countless times and still enjoy them, i am actually thinking about reading remember me again- 5th time lol 😂 its actually a true story.

beguilingeyes · 02/05/2026 17:22

Cocolapew · 02/05/2026 16:58

Myron Bolitar books by Harlan Coben
The Prey books by John Sandford
I'm currently re reading the Inspector Banks books by Peter Robinson then going to re read the Rebus books by Ian Rankin.

I love John Sandford so much and there are so many of them. Bliss.

ChristAliveHelp · 02/05/2026 17:02

Dear Mrs Bird series by Aj Pearce. So good!

Cocolapew · 02/05/2026 16:58

Myron Bolitar books by Harlan Coben
The Prey books by John Sandford
I'm currently re reading the Inspector Banks books by Peter Robinson then going to re read the Rebus books by Ian Rankin.

Gonnagetgoingreturnsagain · 02/05/2026 16:58

DisplayPurposesOnly · 01/05/2026 08:13

A couple of Jane Smiley ones - Duplicate Keys and The All True Travels And Adventures of Lidie Newton

Some Terry Pratchett ones, eg Mort, The Truth, the ones with Moist von Lipwig

Jane Austen - Emma, Persuasion

A few children's books - The Children Of Green Knowe, The Little White Horse, The Warden's Niece, the later ones from Little House On The Prairie

Read multiple times but not read for ages American Psycho, The Secret History

I love Mort.

Gonnagetgoingreturnsagain · 02/05/2026 16:57

Oh and Colm Toibin and William Trevor books

Gonnagetgoingreturnsagain · 02/05/2026 16:55

Also Rosamond Lehman, Dodie Smith. And most Virago books

Gonnagetgoingreturnsagain · 02/05/2026 16:54

And Austen books

Gonnagetgoingreturnsagain · 02/05/2026 16:54

Loads. Hilary Mantel, Molly Keane, Suzannah Dunn, Helen Dunmore

redskyAtNigh · 02/05/2026 15:30

Snorerephron · 01/05/2026 13:20

I'm currently on a first read through of Agatha Christie having just discovered the joy of her books and I was looking forward to reading them again knowing the ending - now you've inspired me to read her autobiography before the re -reads begin!

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I've read all(most?) of the Agatha Christie books over and over so many times I can virtually dictate the dialogue in some of them.

I've just re-read one of my favourites and I now have a different view about one of the subplots than on the many, many, many times I've read them before. I think you read things through a lens relating to your personal experiences which changes as you re-read them.

ElizabethVonArnim · 02/05/2026 15:00

@ShackletonSailingSouth Whose Body? is the first one. Agree with @HelenaWilsonthat you should read in order. I think when I read them for the first time I read Strong Poison first because that was my mum’s favourite, but I would begin at the beginning. Gaudy Night is my favourite, and I think The Nine Tailors is possibly the best written - really atmospheric.