Do you have a favourite book that you will read again and again?

[stolemyusername]

I absolutely love reading but never read a book twice, a friend once said that rereading a book that she loved was like catching up with old friends but once I know what will happen I lose interest, the only exception I have to this rule is Jane Eyre, I absolutely love this book (although I did slightly ruin it for myself when I deconstructed it for an essay.)

Please tell me what book you will read again and again and why?

I have read plenty more than once but off the top of my head I return often to Poor Cow and Up the Junction by Nell Dunn. Both books are so full of minute social detail that they never fail to thrill me. Reading either is like going back in time to the 60s.

Mine is A Town like Alice by Neville Shute, I just love it! Such a classy romantic story!

Kiwi Ah that's one I've never read...is it set in Alice Springs then?

Bridehead revisited.

And the Chronicles of barsetshire.

Mine is The Mists Of Avalon... King Arthur but told from a female perspective!! I love it

I'm going to give some of these a try, I feel like I'm getting into a bit of a rut with what I'm reading!

I used to read books over and over when I was a child, but don't do it now. Time seems so precious now that I'd feel like I was missing out on discovering new books if I went back and reread stuff. Same with films, I can never watch the same one twice!

Mine is Forever by Judy Blume. I love to reminisce and believe I'm still 17 full of angst. (When really I'm thirty something a and full if angst!)

all of Jane Austen .. read them once every year.. and ive just read Middlemarch again, after reading it in my 20s... its still great..

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
The Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mitford
I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith

There are others too but those are the ones that leap to mind.

There are bits there, but it is mostly set in Malaysia, and Northern Territory Australia, it's been a while I need to dig it out again!

The only 2 I reread are 1984 and The Godfather

The only book I have read more than once as an adult is Little Children by Tom Perotta. I have too long a list of unread books to do this often!

Hmm fancy reading that again now.

Katherine by Anya Seton.

I read it first as a teenager and I've read it a few times since.

I reread all the time. Most books I like I have read at least twice, and my favourite books I have reread many times. I'm sure this means I'm missing out on a lot of wonderful books, but I do read a lot (the joys of commuting by train) so I've told myself it evens out...

IMO, you get so much out of rereading a book. Some books lend themselves really well to it, because your experience is so different when you know the ending. Like watching a film when you know the twist, you are looking out for clues. Plus I often think that sometimes I do speed read a little, and so it's nice to wallow in a book when I'm not rushing in any way to find out what has happened next.

Off the top of my head, my favourite books that I have reread 3/4+ times -
Gone With the Wind
Regeneration trilogy
Wuthering Heights
Pride & Prejudice
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell (in fact, the first time I read this book I went straight back to the first page and started again )
Stephen King's Dark Tower series
The Good Soldier
The Handmaid's Tale
Birdsong
And ALL of the Sharpe's

Some of them I've reread because I want to delve into the story again (Good Soldier, Handmaid's Tale) and other's I reread because I just love them (JS&MN, GWtW) it's like watching a favourite film, it's all the enjoyment and the distraction of the familiarity. I always feel I get something out of them. If it is a good book - either good 'clever' or good 'enjoyable' I think it should easily stand up to rereading. I honestly think I had read some of those Sharpe books nearly a dozen times. They're just fun.

One thing I've found interesting, rereading some books over the years, is how much my opinion of the books and the characters has changed with my own age and experience. Wuthering Heights, for example. I've always liked it, but the book gets darker and darker every time I read it. That such a young woman could write such a twisted story... But I know it's my life experiences, and my understanding of people, which makes me see more in the story each time I read it.

Lots. Usually I re-read for comfort, so choose books that are feel-good, or series of books with characters who I really like.

So:

Ballet Shoes
Little Women and the rest of the series
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a day
A particular Enind Blyton one, which I used to adore as a child Here
Austen's novels (these are all read at least once a year)
The Harry Potters
King's Dark Tower
The Lord of the Rings trilogy

For non-fiction, I mainly re-read Bill Bryson's books.

Thurlow - just seen that you mentioned the King too. I still haven't managed to read, 'Jonathon Strange' - should I try it again? I did exactly as you described with the last Dark Tower one and the last Potter one!

Of course you should read it, I am ace and if I like it then it means it's a good book

Seriously, though - I think it might be my all-time favourite. It does start a bit slowly though, and it is unusual because nothing much happens for 2/3rd of the book. Though it doesn't happen in a deliberate way - it is a book more about people and place and setting, rather than a fast plot.

Glad to x-post with someone else who rereads for comfort though. I'm actually rereading P&P at the moment. It's so much fun, turning to a new chapter and realising "ooh, this is the one where he proposes! yay!£

My ultimate comfort reading is Georgette Heyer, especially The Grand Sophy I can read them over and over again.

I'll give it another go.

LOVE Austen so much. I taught P&P for the first time recently and had such fun!

Woman in White - Wilkie Collins

Loads! LOTR, Hitchhikers Guide, the Foundation series, Jonathan Strange, most of Neil Gaiman"s, the Terry Pratchetts...

I read a lot, so don't feel that I miss out.

My go to comfort read is PG Wodehouse

When I was little it was Roald Dahl and My Family and Other Animals - awwww I'm all nostalgic now. Do you think it would be a mistake to reread these now? So many childhood memories

Here are some that spring to mind-

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn- Betty Smith
The Ya Ya Trilogy of books by Rebecca Wells
The early Steven King books (Shining / Pet Sematary / Carrie / Christine)
The Glass Castle
All of Bailey White's books
Swamplandia by Karen Russell
The Women's Room by Marilyn french
Divine Magnetic Lands by Tim O'Grady

Never Get to Heaven and Standing in the Rainbow by Fannie Flagg
Rush Home Road by Lori Lansens
American Ghosts by Janice Owens
Tortilla Curtain by TC Boyle
All of Barbara Kingsolvers except for Lacuna
Kathleen Jamie's Sightlines
Roger Deakin - Wildwod, Waterlog and Tales from Walnut Farm
Ronald Blythes Wormingford books