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

[harpomarx]

You know, those books that you have been reading for years, have old dog-eared copies of and will pick up when there is nothing new that takes your fancy.

Mine are:

Almost anything by F. Scott Fitzgerald, but especially The Beautiful and Damned.

Betty MacDonald - The Egg and I etc

Nancy Mitford Pursuit of Love, Love in a Cold Climate etc

J. D. Salinger Catcher in the Rye

Cold Comfort Farm

Yes- Cazalet books are fab.

I enjoy re-reading Phillipa Gregor's Wideacre trilogy. Also Garth Nix's Sabriel books.

Swallows And Amazons.

anything by PG Wodehouse

The lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

Friday's Child by Goergette Heyer

Ballet Shoes

Jane Eyre

Pride and Prejudice

Any light crime fiction - for instance

DL Sayers
Agatha Christie
Wilkie Collins

Funny light books, like:

PG Wodehouse
3 men in a boat
Gerald Durrell

Classic novels that are comforting reads even if they are not comforting books, such as:

Wuthering Heights
Any Jane Austen
Any George Eliot

The more literary end of chick lit, like Mary Wesley

Have just skimmed this - has anyone mentioned Margery Allingham and the Mr. Campion series? Quite marvellous in a dashing with horn rimmed specs kind of way (and ignoring the Peter Davidson dramatisation in the late 80s)

Someone mentioned Miss Pettigrew....I saw this recently (it's already been out in Oz) I just kept thinking "I bet the book is far better...

bamama - Miss Pettigrew is available from Persephone Books (although reprinting atm), which are beautifully produced books - a real joy to hold/read.

The Magic Apple Tree - Susan Hill
Any of Ruth Park's novels
Brother of the More Famous Jack - Barbara Trapido
Anything by Howard Spring - they remind me of my yoof, sitting on the garage roof with a pile of apples and reading for hours and hours. Same goes for Mary Stewart, although not her historical/fantasy novels.

Got to be Pride and Prejudice for me!

The Flambards books by KM Peyton! Love 'em.

More votes for

Three Men in a Boat
Diary of a Nobody
Any of Wodehouse's Jeeves and Woosters

and if in more sombre mood

The End of the Affair - Greene
Brideshead or A Handful of Dust - Waugh

i grow up reading old classics, some of them were banned and destroyed as they were capitalist influenced
i love all
alexandre dumas
guy de mappassant
goerge sand
jules verne
emile zola
arthur conan doyle
robert l setvenson
theodre draiser
of course, jane austen, bronte sisters
russians
lev tolstoi
feodor dosteyvski
michail sholohov the silent don series i dont know why sholohov is not known, tihii don is great russian novel, i would love read it in english.
anyone know whos the author of white glove?
im into cjick lits these days, easy lazy reading

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.

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!

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

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

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!

Another vote for Wodehouse.

And Douglas Adams

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

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

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

Any Barbara Erskine books. Fabulous.

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

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!).

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

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

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

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)

Roald Dahl - kiss, kiss

Tis marvellous