What are your comfort reads - books that you can read over and over again?

Thumbwitch, I agree about the dreadful sex scenes in the Clan of the Cave Bear books! The worst I've ever read and do you rememebr the bit where she had the mammoths shagging too? OMG!!!!!!!! Did she research that one by careful studies of elephant mating .

All Austen, especially Mansfield Park for some reason.

Colette's Claudine series.

Pursuit of Love and Love in a Cold Climate.

Willa Cather's pioneer books.

Lots of children's books (so glad I'm not alone!). I hate hate hate the Chalet school though - Joey Bettany has to be the most annoying heroine ever. Antonia Forest is my favourite for school stories. I read her books every 6 months or so.

yellow wallpaper, red room, lots of classic ghost stories

The Womens Room by Marylin French

Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold

Pride and Prejudice (not the other Austins though)

Tess of the D'Urbervilles

The Pern series by Anne McCaffrey are my main ones though ... sometimes the only thing that will do is to escape to Pern! I've discovered that these are a useful way to keep an eye on my depression ... if I crave Pern and nothing else then it's time I adjusted my meds LOL

In This House of Brede by Rumer Godden for me too. I read it when I was 16, forgot about it completely, then picked it up again when I was in my late twenties. I've read it about once a year since then. I've just seen the TV adaptation with Diana Rigg, which was very 1970s, and not too bad, but not a patch on the book, which is stunningly good.

His dark materials
Catcher in the Rye
1984
Imagica

ooh blueydragon, they're great aren't they !! I was over the moon when he brought out the Polgara / Belgarath books and I just wish he'd write some more... I don't like his later stuff who's you're favorite character...

Blimey thumbwitch that's got me thinking! I wonder if anyone has any erotic fiction recommendations! Maybe I'll start a thread when I'm feeling brave (or pissed - so maybe later!!!).

I loved the Clan of the Cave Bear, and the Valley of the Horses but by the time I got to the Mammoth Hunters I was getting a bit peed off with them; and it got to a point that whenever there was a sex scene, Jean M. Auel might just as well have saved the paper and written "see page 57-61" (or whichever pages the first tediously long description of the sex act appeared on). Spoilt it a bit for me...

Roald Dahl - kiss, kiss

Tis marvellous

Puffylovett, I thought I was the only person who'd read those David Eddings' books! I cried at the end of the Mallorean .

Also:
Riders/Rivals/Polo by Jilly Cooper
Harry Potters (except Deathly Hallows or Order of the Phoenic, which I didn't enjoy - former is a formulaic tying up of loose ends to please the public, latter is a time marker because there had to be 7 books)
Clan of the Cave Bear series (beautifully researched Mills and Boon)
Round Ireland with a Fridge by Tony Hawks (possibly the funniest travel book ever, with Notes from a Small Island by Bill Bryson a close second)
The Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy quartet (ignore the fifth book, it's not so good)
Anything by E M Forster (just to prove there's some literary side to me after all)

Thanks CHukky - I have heard of them but not got them, will add them to my wish list!

The Hungry Caterpillar- I love this book and still have my copy from when I was little but DS has his own as I dont want him to ruin my old one

Okay, I think I must be fibbing because I recognise all these titles, TW and CP. I'm going to scuttle off and sort through my brother's Wodehouse collection again, see what I can rediscover

Thumbwitch and littlewoman, the blandings castle stories are hilarious, real laugh out loud stuff, I prefer them to Jeeves and Wooster personally. Worth a look definitely!

Also read one called Leave it to Psmith which was good and quite romantic (ahh!).

littlewoman, the only non-J&W book by P.G.Wodehouse that I have is called Dr. Sally, that's pretty good too.

Any Barbara Erskine books. Fabulous.

Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K Jerome
Any of the Adrain Moles by Sue Townsend
Pride and Prejudice

P.G. Wodehouse - love him so much (the Jeeves & Wooster books, not read any others).

Pride & Prej, read it a dozen times at least.

To Kill a Mockingbird, read several times. Brilliant book. Makes me fighting mad.

The Road Less Travelled is also brilliant (but makes me feel like crud for not being a fab human being).

Crappily, the Inspector Frost books. They are very funny in places and miles better than the TV series (don't tell anyone I admitted to these books though). Actually, tell who you like. I love 'em

Another vote for Wodehouse.

And Douglas Adams

Now I've got a baby though I don't read anything!

I forgot to add The Complete Works of Saki by Hector Hugh Munro - it is the most beaten up book in my "library" as I used to keep it by the loo and must have re-read every single short story in it about 10 times!

Belgariad and Mallorean by David Eddings
The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper

more recently, Anne of Green Gables

you can see the connection with a happy childhood emerging, can't you

Pride and Prejudice
and my trashy fantasy (not sex you vipers) novels by Terry Brooks

Books I have kept to read again and again...

Steinbeck - love his writing, recently re-read Sweet Thursday.

Gabriel Garcia Marquez I am not sure they are comfort reads but they are amazing books, and can be read again and again.

Flann O'Brien's The Third Policeman

Pride and prejudice
Wuthering Heights

I want to re-read James Hogg's The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner, but it definitely isn't a comfort read!

I don't often re-read books - so much to read, so little time - so Brideshead Revisited is the only book I've read three times. Each time, I find something new there.