What books do you re-read regularly?

[Snorerephron]

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

@Therewerelionsonce I've read a bit of Pratchett, Love Monstrous Regiment and anything with Sam Vimes. My DD has every single book and I can borrow off her at any time. So much to read at the moment though

RF Delderfield is fantastic. I have the wonderful TV adaptation of To Serve Them All My Days on dvd. I'm still recovering from the fact that John Duttine isn't Welsh.

Every summer I read Simon Clark’s Judas Tree. It is so dreamy and evocative of Greek islands but also with a ting of mystery. I’m not sure it’s even published now but I love it.

Austen!

I expect I'll re-read Austen as long as I live.

Do you "pass on" the second-hand books because you don't want to own anything used?

The way the book biz works, it becomes harder to find past new hardcovers.

I love reading. This certainly isn't on my top 5 list however, I always go back to it, particularly when I need to return to myself. It's strange as it's very rare for me to read the same book twice.
Anyway, it's called The Yamas and Niyamas by Deborah Adele.
Its roots are in yoga but the practice is hardly mentioned. It's sort of the spirituality, morality and ethics around it.

Absolutely love Starbridge and St Benet!

Loved Luard's Family Life (and her cookbooks)

I regularly re-read my Barbara Pym collection (apart from one which I hate(.

They're my go to comfort reads, usually when I've tried, and failed, with some new author.

What an amazing thread idea. I’m so grateful for so many interesting ideas. I’m a secondary school English teacher who loves reading (obviously… you hope) but I admit to having a real block in my brain for re-reading books. I want new always….
Not helped, on the surface, by teaching Romeo and Juliet, an inspector calls and a Christmas carol every year for the last ten years… but I (and I cab literally [and I mean that word literally so don’t tear me apart] can honestly say that each of those texts evokes such a different reaction (don’t get me started on reading of mice and men in a south London SEN school!!) from every year group.
anyway very long story short to say you have made this 15 year English teacher re think her entire perspective on re-reading books.

No! I don't mind owning second hand things at all. Most of my clothes are from vinted etc

It's just that we have four children so much as I would love to fill the entire house with books ,I do need to begrudgingly allow a bit of space for their stuff.

I have about 6 big bookcases stuffed full of books and I think I also have quite a few boxes of books in the attic

So I am trying to pass on books once I have read them if they are "only going to read once" books so my bookcases are books I haven't read yet plus books I am likely to or will definitely re-read

@Snorerephron are they following in your footsteps with the books? I think books make up at least 25% of our total family belongings. Have just had to redo my oldests closet to install more book storage, and the next step is to steal some space from the stairs to create the same for one of the other bedrooms ! We each read a lot on kindles too, I can only imagine what the house would look like if we didn't 😂

yes I read a lot on my kindle too!
One child is, and despite having a large bedroom it is covered in books. One child is dyslexic and finds books very stressful (which is part of the reason I try and be mindful about not filling every wall with them) and the other two just read intermittently when they find a book that really grips their attention.

I pass on about 20% of our books as well. I try to pass on closer to half, but I just can't manage it.

Aas a family of five, all of whom are readers, our house quickly becomes swamped with books despite having bookshelves in every room except the bathroom.

DH likes his kindle. Unfortunately, the rest of us don't, so the physical book storage is always a struggle.

Anna Karenina
Vanity Fair and
Testament of Youth
are my old friends. Probably read them every year (or listen to the first two on BBC sounds while driving)

I have the TV adaptation too but I don't like some of the changes they made. However, it was made up for by the fact that it had John Duttine as Davy Powlett-Jones!

I had to buy another copy of the book because I read it so many times the pages started to fall out. Pity I couldn't afford hardbacks at the time

I try to read and pass on as much as possible
We have a really good Little Library in the next street that I swap in and out of.
As I'm getting older though (65), I find I'm leaning more and more towards my Kindle,.as much for the font size as anything else. I look at some of my smaller print books with despair now.

I have the TV adaptation too but I don't like some of the changes they made. However, it was made up for by the fact that it had John Duttine as Davy Powlett-Jones!

Frank Middlemass as Algy and Alan MacNaughtan as Howarth were also excellent.

It was perfect timing by the bbc, doing it when all those actors were available and the right ages for the parts.

It also had a very young Nicholas Lyndhurst as Dobson, Boyer's sidekick.

Oh I have just remembered somebody else I regularly re-read, Laurie Graham. I think I have read just about everything she has written but my favourite ones, the ones I re-read, are:

• The Future Homemakers of America (many times)
• At Sea (also many times)
• Dress Circle
• Mr Starlight
• The Importance of Being Kennedy
• Gone With the Windsors