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

Fallen Madonna - love Lord Peter Wimsey and in fact any 'old English' type mystery books eg Agatha Christie, Ngaio Marsh etc. Not high brow but hey?

Bleak House

FallenMadonna - I love those books so much I contemplated naming myself LadyPeterWimsey when I first started on MN. Although oddly enough in RL he would not be my type at all.

Jane Eyre for some reason. And I love the Woman in White and also David Copperfield, Oliver and Great Expectations.

My top comfort reads are also Love in a Cold Climate and the Lord Peter Wimsey stories, especially Gaudy Night and Busman's Honeymoon, which just make me swoon.

Rumer Godden.

I often read the following books:

• The Little House of the Prairie Series (it reminds me of my Mum reading to me as a child).
• Gone With the Wind (I like to read it when ill).
• Wuthering Heights (I grew-up on a moor and have a real affinity with this book).
• The Grass in Singing by Dorris Lessing (a very bleak book that helps me remember how much I have).

the time traveller's wife was considered trashy was it? how interesting - i thought it was a fascinating concept but haven't re-read it yet.

I tend to go in 3 year cycles for most re-reads - that is about the length of time for me to forget enough of it.

My DH can't understand why I still have all my books (except for the ones I will never read again that get sent to charity shops) as he has an excellent memory so never bothers to re-read anything (not that he reads much anyway).

I have just re-read Fried Green Tomatoes and am trying to find Daisy Fay and the MIracle Man (both by Fannie Flagg) in my collection - I know it's there somewhere!!

I put mine in a box for the charity shop and then took them back out again and started reading them . Will now save them for dd (no antique heirlooms here !)

Jean Plaidy! Ha...I remember those. I used to buy them by the bucket load. Gave them away to the church jumble sale when I was about 17 - I clearly remember seeing them sold and feeling a little bit choked.

To Kill a Mockingbird

Recently passed a box of books from my teen years and have rediscovered my Jean Plaidy books

Green Dolphin Country by Elizabeth Goudge.

Bleak House
Villette
LOTR
Woman on the edge of time
Azimov's Foundation series
Brian Aldiss Heliconia books.
Terry Pratchett.

Another vote for Riders, Rivals and Polo, and also Jilly Cooper's Class, written in the 70's and very funny.

Also Pride and Prejudice.

And Silas Marner by George Eliot, read that a couple of times a year.

Absolute favourites are diaries, so comfort reading faves are Pepys and Alan Clark.

any garcia marquez, and borges and e a poe short stories.

I loved the Chalet school series when I was younger. I think I reread them SO many times. Then I went to a real life boarding school and things were different My DM forced encouraged me to give them away to charity when I was about 15. So I'll never know if they're good to reread as an adult.

My rereads are:
A time traveller's wife (yes, I know it's been trashed on here, but I like trash sometimes ok?!)

Pride and Prejudice

Anything by Anne Tyler (the woman's a genius writer)

Annie Proulx - Brokeback Mountain (and I read this WAY before the film )

Pride and Prejudice, IMO is such a perfect book for re-reading. Beautifully written, gossipy, and so much more to it than you get on your first read.

My attidude has changed to the characters over time. When I last read it (a couple of months ago) I actually found myself identifing with the over anxious, pushy mother, Mrs Bennett!!! How scary is that?

Terry Pratchett here too, especially if Sam Vines is in it!
These is My Words The Diary of Sarah Agnes Prine, 1881-1901 - Nancy E Turner, some of it makes me cry though

Anne McCaffrey Pern series, especially the ones based in the Harper Hall

I have a running convo with DH about this - he is trying to introduce me to the concept of re-reading a book and comfort reading etc. I think - there are so many books out there that I haven't read that I think of re-reading as wasting time iyswim. I am I think better at remembering endings than him, and I can't bear being in the middle of a book once I've remembered the end.

Anyway, his are: Just William, Ian Fleming (James Bond), Billy Bunter (Magnet books, from eons ago), Stephen King, C.S. Lewis and some Dennis Lehane and Harlan Coben. And he is SOOOO ASHAMED, but Jeffrey Archer too. HEE.

Also forgot Susan Cooper the Dark is Rising series

All of Gerogette Heyer - I have the full set of period romances and the detective stuff too (except Penhallow - hated it)

Pride and Prejudice

All Terry Pratchett Discworld stuff except Jingo - bit of a trial; Good Omens definitely; and the Johnny series.

Anne of Green Gables series every few years

P.G. Wodehouse - Jeeves and Wooster

Harry Potter

Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials

Marian Keyes, especially Rachel's Holiday (it might not be the best feel good one but it's a powerfully moving story)

Calvin & Hobbs cartoon books

Maureen Lipman's autobiographical books

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