books you've read at least 2x

[bouquin]

Could you name the books that you've read at least twice and the reason/s why you re-read them.

[Pensive]

I don't read books twice mostly; the only books which I have read more than once are from Harry Potter series. I have read each of them about more than five times at least.

I read them so often because they are enjoyable and make me think about the clues for the next Harry Potter book which is about to arrive. :)

[SleepyWitch]

*The Picture of Dorian Gray: 3 times, because I like it
*The Catcher in the Rye: twice, I liked it and I forgot what it said, so I re-read it...
*Herzog (Saul Bellow): twice, because I had to give a presentation on it. the first time I read it, I didn't understand it but the second time round I liked it a lot.
* Julius Caesar (Shakey): 3 or 4 times, because I like it

I reread books a lot because I've got this great talent for forgetting what a book was about right after I finish reading it....
it's very annoying

[Jay]

First book I read more than twice that's coming to my mind is The Catcher In The Rye, too. I'm more than sure there's more though. I re-read books I liked. Oh, I also read Mrs Dalloway a couple of times, mostly for school purposes but I also liked it :p

[downing]

I read Gone with the Wind and The Return of the Native twice. The same goes to Harry Potter and the Globet of Fire and Wuthering Heights but the latter in different languages each time :D

[ClaesGefvenberg]

Could you name the books that you've read at least twice and the reason/s why you re-read them.Most of them, actually. I like to get back to a book and rereading it. I always find something new. I compare it to watching a film more than once.

/Claes

[Whifflingpin]

I think that any good book would be worth re-reading, just as a piece of good music is worth listening to again and again, or a good painting worth seeing more than once.

That said, answering this question has made me realise that my brain must have shut down when I was about twelve, because the authors whose books I re-read most write a great deal for older children as well as adults - Peter Dickinson, Ursula le Guin, Joan Aiken, Kipling, Anthony Hope, Masefield...

Of course, I won't admit that secret vice in public, so I'll say:
books by John Barth, Arthur Koestler, Anthony Burgess - because, apart from being enjoyable first time round, they are sufficiently complex and intellectually demanding to warrant repeated readings.

[Virgil]

I've read lots twice and some more. Like Whiff says any good book is worth re-reading. I would take it even further. Any good book requires re-reading if you really want to understand its structure and craft.

[Logos]

I've read many many books more than once, again like others say, if they're *good enough* they bear repeating :D but also because I'm a pretty slow reader I still actually miss stuff, or, take much time savoring the best parts.. off the top of my head.. as a kid I read C.S. Lewis's the Narnia series many times (and as an adult too.) The Anne of Green Gables books and Black Beauty.

Bronte's Wuthering Heights,
Henri Charrière's Papillon and Banco, fabulous history/memoirs.
The Catcher in the Rye because it's so wry and funny and 'cool',
Leonard Cohen's Beautiful Losers (because it's so complex, like poetry, every reading you see/feel something different), and
Maugham's Of Human Bondage because it's autobiographical and a classic bildungsroman coming-of-age, orphan turns success story and I love the time period, early 20th century western Europe and England.
.
.

[stlukesguild]

The Iliad
The Odyssey
The Bible
The Aeneid
The Divine Comedy
Hamlet
King Lear
A Midsummer Night's Dream
MacBeth
Othello
Don Quixote
Tristram Shandy
The Sorrows of Young Werther
Paradise Lost
Songs of Innocense and Experience
Flowers of Evil
Invisible Cities
almost everything by Kafka and J.L. Borges
A Tale of Two Cities
many more...

Why? Because they were all great. Because I loved them all. Because these works changed as I changed and were worth a second (3rd, 4th) perusal. I might also add... in many cases it was because there was a new acclaimed translation that would give me other insights into a work I was unable to read in the original.

[LeahAnn]

Redeeming Love By Francine Rivers-because it changed my life

[Niamh]

i've read all the books i've ever loved more then twice, but i've read Mary Stewarts Merlin Trilogy once or twice a year for about ten years now because i love them so much.
Also mush have read Persuasion about eight or nine times.

[B-Mental]

tolstoy, hemingway, Garcia-Marquez, Dostoevsky, dumas... I re-read books because maybe it was vague, or I liked the story so much. Sometimes a movie adaptation will come out and I will read it again. Actually if its a good story I will almost always read it again within 3 years.

[sam96]

Anna Karenina (the story touched me)
100 years of solitude (i didn't get it the first time)
Frenchman's creek (amazing novel!!)
those r theones i could think of right now:p

[certiorari]

All the Harry Potter books- at least 5 times each
Twilight and New Moon by Stephenie Meyer- three times each
Romeo and Juliet- three so I could understand it for a test
Night by Elie Wiesel- four
1984- twice
Fahrenheit 451- twice
Sense and Sensibility & Pride and Prejudice- three each
The Odyssey- twice
A lot of Edgar Allen Poe- at least 3 times each for the ones I read, which is just a lot to list.

I read them over and over because they just change my mood. And it's cool to see things I missed in the first or even second reading and what now makes sense. All that I listed above are also really good books and plus, for a few of them I re-read them for tests at school.

There are a few more books that I've read more then twice but those are my favorite. :)

[Adolescent09]

The Scarlet Pimpernel- Twice
Brave New World - Twice
Uncle Tom's Cabin - Twice

[Redzeppelin]

Excluding the books I teach (because I generally re-read them every year I teach them) here's a short list:

-The Sound and the Fury 4x - because it's ********* difficult! :eek:
-Mere Christianity 3x - because the subtleties of Lewis's arguments often get clearer with re-reading
-King Lear 4x - because I want to eventually teach it
-Song of Solomon 2x - because Morrison's writing is a lyrical marvel
-Lolita 3x - just to enjoy Nabokov's mastery of language
-Lord of the Rings 2x - because you can't absorb it all in one reading
-Catch-22 3x - because Heller's loopy irony and understatement is such a hoot

And yep: Virgil's right: "Any good book requires re-reading if you really want to understand its structure and craft."

[lavendar1]

1. In Our Time - Hemingway
2. Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
3. The Little Prince - Antoine de Saint Exupery
4. Middlemarch - George Eliot

...some more, too. But these are recent (like over the last couple of years) re-reads.

[bouquin]

I go through the same thing as you, I easily forget what's happened in a story not long after I've read it. I read The Picture of Dorian Gray for the first time about 10 yrs ago and then re-read it last month (for a book club discussion). Right about the only thing I had retained from my first perusal was that the picture deteriorated as time went on; I had quite forgotten all the other details!

Other books that I've read twice --
...In Cold Blood by Truman Capote. I first read this book in high school and found it really very interesting especially since it was based on a true story. And then a couple of years ago I chanced upon it again at a bookstore; bought a copy and voilà...

...The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. First read it in high school as well; re-read it last summer for a book club discussion.

... Anne Frank's diary - way back in high school again. And then 11 years ago my husband & I visited her house in Amsterdam. I purchased a copy of her diary, the updated edition.

... A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. I read it one winter a couple of years ago and thought it a good book to read for Christmas - so I did, last year.


*The Picture of Dorian Gray: 3 times, because I like it
*The Catcher in the Rye: twice, I liked it and I forgot what it said, so I re-read it...
*Herzog (Saul Bellow): twice, because I had to give a presentation on it. the first time I read it, I didn't understand it but the second time round I liked it a lot.
* Julius Caesar (Shakey): 3 or 4 times, because I like it

I reread books a lot because I've got this great talent for forgetting what a book was about right after I finish reading it....
it's very annoying

[Mad Organist]

Moonfleet - John Meade Faulkner
The Scarlet Pimpernel - Baroness Orczy
Things Fall Apart - Chinua Achebe
1984 - George Orwell

and various others which I can't be bothered to type.

[alhara]

i reread most evrything i liked from 2 or 3 years ago. So most of tolkien and shelock holmes, anne rice. reason, i read those but when i was younger, now i'm slightly older and have a deeper understanding of the world and myself, giveing each book new meaning. i have also reread the alchemist(which is rather short) like eight times in 6 months because its the onlhy english book i have other than reading on the lit net I doomed.and it gives me hope

[mtpspur]

I tend to read pulpish type books a couple of tinme or so. Off the top of the head: Reassons are for the entertainment value.

Captain Blood, Rafael Sabatini--at least five times--favorite non-fiction
The Bible--not sure but believe at least 5 times maybe six--King James version prefered
Most of C.S. Forester's Horatio Hornblower books
The first 10 Matt Helm spy novels by Donald Hamilton--usually burn out by then--I need to start with 11 and move onward
Adam Hall's Quiller series--first for fun--second time to see how all the clues lined up because I never guessed how the plot starts one way then turns on its head
Lord of the Rings (with Hobbit)--once as a teenager, once as a parent
Many of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Doc Savage and Shadow novels have been reread

To name just a few

[Bookworm Cris]

When I like a book, I read it at least twice; when I love it, I keep on reading it from time to time... The favourites (those I lost count of number of times read):
- Wuthering Heights
- East of Eden
- The Thorn Birds
- Little Women
- Harry Potter series

And the ones I read some times:
- Pride and Prejudice
- Exodus
- some Agatha Christie books
- Ordinary People
and so on...

100 Years of Solitude I read only once, it was hard to finish; but I intend to read it again, maybe now I´m in the right mood for it.

[Tasartir]

I re-read books if I read them a long time ago and suddenly they are assigned as "to-do" reading in one of my university classes, I do that so that if I don't remember a part it's refreshed in my mind when the day of the exam comes along. I also re-read if I feel like my mind has evolved a little since I last read a specific book, so if I read it again I might have a different perception of it when I finish it.

Henry Miller's Tropic of Cancer is one of my favorite re-reads, along with Catch-22 and Mrs.Dalloway.

[Annamariah]

Usually I don't buy a book unless I know I'm going to read it more than once. I think almost every 5th book I read is one that I've read at least once before. Re-reading a good book is like meeting an old friend again.

Here is a of some books I've read and re-read many times, sometimes even more than ten times.
-C.S. Lewis - The Chronicles of Narnia (all seven books)
-L.M. Montgomery - Anne of Green Gables -series (and many more of her books)
-L.M. Alcott - Little Women (and it's sequels), Eight Cousins
-J.K. Rowling - Harry Potter series (many times in Finnish, a couple of times in English and four of them in Swedish)
-F.H. Burnett - Little Princess
-Richard Adams - Watership Down
-Laura Ingalls Wilder's books
-Nevil Shute - A Town Like Alice
-Anya Seton - Katherine
-Charlotte Brontë - Jane Eyre
-The Holy Bible

[Leon]

I've read and re-read bits of Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man more times than i can remember. More often than not because i simply have to in order to really feel what joyce is driving at.

A book i've really read quite a bit though is Lord of The Rings. I'm by no means a rabid tolkien fan - i only have a hazy understanding of events prior to the war of the ring, but for some reason, this book just keeps getting read and reread. I first picked it up when i was 9. I grinded through the books, understanding very little. But looking back, i realise that certain bits have stuck with me since then, eerily enough, the drums in moria "doom-doom-doom" is something i can remember from all the way back then.

As i grew older, i picked up the book again at 12, and read through them again. And again at 16. Just when the moveis were annouced, i read it once more, and this time i really fell into the book. And of course, when the movies did come out, i took it as an excuse to read somemore.

Right now, i haven't read it for some time actually, so this seems like a great excuse to pick it up again. So yes - whilst i have reread many books, i think none to the extent of Lord of the Rings.

[Matilda]

I almost always read the books I love more than once. I've read Harry Potter and the Lord of the Rings countless times. Other favourites are 1984, Fahrenheit 451, The Giver by Lois Lowry ( it's great!), The Handmaid's Tale the language is so wonderful, you discover new things each time), and many others.

[Rampant]

Hmm, I have read several much more than twice.

Jorney to the Center of the Earth- My favorite novel as an adolescent, I read it countless times.
Lolita-Such a good book, Nabokov's style impresses me every time I read it.
House of Leaves-My favorite book ever, I love Danielewski for this book, it has intrigued me and I always pick up something new each go around.

Those are just the most prominent that I can recall.

[bouquin]

i reread most evrything i liked from 2 or 3 years ago. So most of tolkien and shelock holmes, anne rice. reason, i read those but when i was younger, now i'm slightly older and have a deeper understanding of the world and myself, giveing each book new meaning. i have also reread the alchemist(which is rather short) like eight times in 6 months because its the onlhy english book i have other than reading on the lit net I doomed.and it gives me hope


I've also read some of Sherlock Holmes more than once.

[brainstrain]

Any of my favorite books i've read at least twice, most more than that. I've read the Foundation series twice (which is hard, those are some high-level books!), The Harry Potter series about 6 times (I average about once per year =P)...

Oh, and Inkheart, my favoritest book ever, i've read four times. Also the Bartimeaus Trilogy, you have to read that twice to catch all that wonderful detail.

It can be hard for me to find books I like, so I've read most of the books I own at least twice ^_^

[brainstrain]

I tend to read pulpish type books a couple of tinme or so. Off the top of the head:

Most of C.S. Forester's Horatio Hornblowr books


That was a book series??? I've seen the movies, they are really good, the books should be even better ^_^

[Adudaewen]

I usually read books until they fall apart. I have like 6 bookshelves in my house, just to give you a hint. I have re-read the following at least 5 times; The Lord of the Rings, Dracula, 1984, The Hobbit, Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Predjudice, Braveheart, Jurassic Park, the Harry Potter series. I really could go on and on.

[Eagleheart]

1.Niezsche's "Thus said Zarathustra" required a second reading; without neglecting the fact that I first tried to read it at the age of 15, I was particularly impeded in understanding some points in the philosophy itself. Its technical brilliance was absorbing and not quite assisting my efforts to understand the work...
2.Crime and punishment - 3x...this was a mania
3.The Golden Bowl-2x- after all I am a foreigner...This work of Henry James was just my Cerberus in my study process for the SAT, not to mention how it caused me a depression for a week, for I had to read every sentence twice...

[Bii]

I've read most of Angela Carter's novels more than once, The Magic Toyshop is my favourite and I can read and re-read it as it has a kind of timeless quality to it. Captain Correlli's Mandolin because it has a bit of everything, drama, love, comedy, death and war; The Time Travellers Wife which is a top-notch albeit slightly obscure love story and makes me cry more each time I read it; Mr Golightly's Holiday, because it is so gentle and timeless.

I find that I re-read things less now than I did when I was a child, perhaps because there are more books available to me as an adult. I definitely read and re-read all the Chronicles of Narnia books until they became dog-eared when I was younger. Now I like more variety but that being said there are some stories which are as profound and touching every time you read them.

[Laindessiel]

Like Whiff says any good book is worth re-reading. I would take it even further. Any good book requires re-reading if you really want to understand its structure and craft.

Strongly agrees.

Well, I've read all the Harry Potter series innumerable times already.
Goosebumps too, 3 years ago.

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte - twice
Smoke and Mirrors by Neil Gaiman - twice
The Picture of Dorian Gray Oscar Wilde - twice

I've got to read LOTR again. (I just read the whole series once because they were just borrowed.) It takes a rereading for you to be able to comprehend and memorize the characters. Man, they are confusing! I once assumed Celebrant was Elven. Idril told me it was a darn river. :eek:

I've still got to go through lots of books but there are still more new ones waiting on my (and Toni's) shelves.

[Laindessiel]

I would love to read the book by Elie Wiesel (it's one of Oprah's favorite) and John Steinbeck's too. Also that ever-famous 1984. I feel like I don't belong because I still hadn't read this.

[Wintermute]

Dharma Bums - Jack Kerouac - It always makes me feel so good
Neuromancer - William Gibson - Each read is a new experience
Guns of Navarone - Allistair Maclean - I've reread this every 5 years or so since I was about 15

Am I only supposed to name works by folks featured on this site? If Jules Verne is here I can put several of his books in this category. Oh, and The Nick Adams Stories by Hemingway--close to perfect imo.

[dramasnot6]

Maybe im the only one on the forum who has never re-read a book :eek:

[malwethien]

I usually don't re-read books because I find that the feeling you get when reading it for the first time is gone the second time around. I think the only books I have read more than once is Pride and Prejudice and The Catcher in the Rye.

Pride and Prejudice because I love it and Catcher in the Rye because I feel that I have to read that book every so often at different stages of my life...I might learn something new from it...

[mtpspur]

To Brainstrain--I was going to PM you but the computer would not allow so here's the lowdown on Hornblower by C.S. Forester:

Chronological order:

1. Mr. Midshipman Hornblower Published 1950
2. Lieutenant Hornblower 1952
3. Hornblower and the Hotspur 1962
4. Hornblower and the Atropos 1953
5. Beat to Quarters (USA title) 1937
6. Ship of the Line 1938
7. Flying Colors 1938
8. Commodore Hornblower 1945
9. Lord Hornblower 1946
10 . Admiral Hornblower in the West Indies 1958
11. Hornblower During the Crisis (unfinished due to Forester's death) and also contains 2 short stories: Hornblower's Temptation and The Last Encounter (which is the last Hornblower story in chronological order and a fitting epilogue to the series 1966/67


I discovered Hornblower by way of the Gregory Peck movie and (on TV) as a pre-teen and devoured the series. I currently own the books in the Pinnacle editions (paperbacks from the 70s with superb covers, Bantam did some great ones too)

Forester also published the Hornblower Companion giving insights to his writing/creation of the characters--excellent reference for would be writers to study for writing tips alone but the creative process. Publsihed 1964.

Happy reading --most libraries should have the series. Bernard Cornwell is reputed to have created Richard Sharpe to help fill the loss of good historical adventure novels.

One final note I have read somewhere that a Naval expert read the series with the idea of checking for naval inaccuracies in the ship/sea battles and could find none.

Rich

[Anthony Furze]

I once re read A Passage to India 9X.

These days, as a teacher of literature i have to read more than once.The most rewarding books to do this with have been:

Wuthering Heights
The Grass is Singing
Tess of the D'Urbevilles
Animal Farm

[Vedrana]

Like others have said before me, I read books twice because I enjoyed them. It's always a good experience to pick up new things that you didn't really notice before, or think about it in a different light.

Other times I read books twice because the first time I didn't really pay attention, and the books failed to grab me. An example of this would be the time I read 'Northanger Abbey' and enjoyed it 50 times more than the first time. Other times I don't even finish the book and later decide to try it again.

[blackbird_9]

If I read a book twice or more, it's usually for one of these two reasons.
1. pure enjoyment
2. necessity
The Harry Potter books are so effortlessly entertaining that I could read them over and over. I've read the lot about 3 times and found them just as page-turning the 3rd time as I did the first.
As for necessity, an example might be the Anthony Burgess book I'm currently weeding through a second time. There are certain authors I like to reread for both clearity and nit-picking all the 'below the surface' ideas I missed.

[aXis]

Let's see:

Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Brave New World - for school
Romeo and Juliet - for school
Antarctica - Journey to the South Pole (at least 3 times for fun)
Second part of Antarctica
The Stranger - for understanding
Notes from Underground - for understanding
Macbeth - once again for school
Run (Eric Walters)
Soldier X
To Kill a Mockingbird
1984

and some more I can't re-call at the moment.

[Moandor]

The Count of Monte Christo by Dumas - three times
The Lord of the Rings by Tolkien - three times
Around the world in 80 days by Verne - twice

[JaneEyre1986]

Jane Eyre-A couple times
Little Women series-Too many to Count
Harry Potter-A few, always read the book to refresh my memory before the movie
Princess Trilogies-A few times
Pride & Prejudice-A couple times
Catcher in the Rye-Three times
The Giver-About three times?

That's all I can think of, off the top of my head.

[Madhuri]

I have read my English text books some hundred times :D When I was in school I was so fond of the stories in these books that I used to hide these in other text books pretending to read that subject, but I was actually reading the stories :D

Other than that I dont remember reading any novel more than once.

[Schokokeks]

Maybe im the only one on the forum who has never re-read a book :eek:
No, you aren't. I also haven't.
I think the only book I read twice was The Lord of the Rings, though only the last book. I read it for the first time quite a while before the whole mania that culminated in the movies about it started. Then I watched the movies, and then I though "mmmh, this seems somehow familiar...", :D then I went to my bookshelf and found the books there, and decided to read the last part to compare with the movie.

But hey, maybe we'll start re-reading all our books once we're retired, eh, Drama ? :p


When I was in school I was so fond of the stories in these books that I used to hide these in other text books pretending to read that subject, but I was actually reading the stories :D
You're so cute, Madhuri !! :D

[andave_ya]

Sherlock Holmes (The man is unbeatable!)
The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (How I do love that book!)
And, most importantly, the Lord Peter Wimsey books by Dorothy L. Sayers. Come to think of it, in nearly every post I've done I've said something about him. But the reason I love those books is because...(let me see if I can make sense)

First off, DLS had a wonderfully thorough education, and it really shows in her works. The books are chock-full of references to classical literature, especially Homer. As I read more literature then go back to DLS, something new always hits me. Therefore, she is always fresh and new. I first started reading them a couple of years ago; so all of the deep stuff went way over my head. Thankfully, they're good for entertainment too. Now I'm getting older and understanding more, and there is always something new in DLS. WOW!

[Ryduce]

I've read many of Kurt Vonnegut's books multiple times.I believe I read The Sirens of Titan 4 times in 2006 alone.

They're such fun reads you can almost finish one during a single class period.

[Boogie]

I've reread all the Harry Potter books more times than I can count, but have read Alice's aventures in wonderland more times than all of them combined, it can't be beat.
I've also read Stephen King/Peter Straub's The Talisman lots of times too.

[Madhuri]

You're so cute, Madhuri !! :D

:lol:

'cute' It seems everybody thinks I am cute....:lol: I heard this somewhere else too. :)

I actually had to do it, as my mother wanted me to always study science / maths, and I hated studying these :D So, the need to hide and read stories and novels. :D

[lit_lover]

Ive read the Harry Potter series more than once, also The Catcher in The Rye twice.

[Jetxa]

I rarely read a book twice as I read for two reasons, to be entertained or to study and learn. I highlight text and dog ear the pages of almost every book I read. Needless so say I purchase most of my books instead of checking them out of the library.

I am on a current re-read of Practical Solitary Magic by Nancy B. Watson, a guide to developing a balanced psyche, which is my current study and interest in hopes of a more empowered existance.

[baddad]

...........

I am on a current re-read of Solitary Practical Magic by Nancy B. Watson, a guide to developing a balanced psyche, which is my current study and interest in hopes of a more empowered existance.

.......a sweet, sweet perception.................enlightenment takes a little brilliance.........................brilliance to realize an enlightenment exists.... and this is the catalyst taking us away from our former smaller selves....

i have read many, many books multiple times, with usually an intervening period of several years between each perusal......
...................... and yet the one that stands out in my mind is titled, The Monkey Wrench Gang, a silly tale of frivilous ecoterrorism. Concerning itself with a few particularly bizarre terrorists in particular, it is a tale of futility and friendship and all else falling between life and death. be prepared to laugh and cry.....................................

*wonders if a book report was the threads purpose...*

[baddad]

P.S.

Jetxa: .........love the quote by Cousins.......

[Jetxa]

P.S. Jetxa: .........love the quote by Cousins.......

Thank you. Not to complain, and I know this is not a chatty forum, but I have lived all my life in fear. A recent brush wih possible cancer (false alarm) has turned the tables for me and I am determined to find the joy I have long denied myself. Along that line . . .

"Don't be afraid your life will end; be afraid that it will never begin." ~ Grace Hansen

We are so accustomed to disguise ourselves to others that in the end we become disguised to ourselves.
~ Francois de La Rochefoucauld

[kathycf]

It would take me pages to list all the books I have re-read over the years. I am a fast reader with good comprehension overall, but I tend to miss things sometimes and thus can find something fresh each time I read something for the second (or third) time. I just finished re-reading My Man Jeeves, The Hobbit and The Bitterbynde trilogy.


Thank you. Not to complain, and I know this is not a chatty forum, but I have lived all my life in fear. A recent brush wih possible cancer (false alarm) has turned the tables for me and I am determined to find the joy I have long denied myself.
Welcome to the forums. Your quest for empowerment is something many of us can share in. I have had a similiar feeling of fear all my life, and am tired of feeling like that...time to shake things up.

(Yes, the forum can be chatty, it depends which area you are posting in. Most folks here are very pleasant company and I hope you will enjoy yourself .)

[Jorrit]

I've also read several books more than once
Old Shatterhand and Winnetou :P until part 20 or something I read them all at least 6 /7 times.. some parts even more
The Lord of the Rings... 3 times
1984 2 times


I've also read some other books more than once but I forgot about them :)

[F.Emerald]

I've never actually read a book twice. I've tried, but I've found it dare I say, impossible to re-enjoy a book, even if it was magnificent. I've also found it rather pointless, since there are so many new and different books out there to discover.

[zanna]

I've read Black Beauty two or three times, but it's usually after I haven't read it for several years, and can only dimly remember what's happening next. And, since I read it the first time when I was pretty young, I don't think I got all of it, so it was still nice the second time around. Can't think of any others right now.

[geewiz]

Tom Sawyer, this one I can remember reading atleast three times. By far my favorite novel character of all time. I've also read Great Expectations twice. Once when I was in 8th grade and then again two months ago. Enjoyed it much more this time around as I didn't have to keep referring to the dictionary as much.

Also I have read all the Harry Potter except Chamber of Secets twice.

[Janine]

Many times I read a book over after seeing it's film adaptation; like to compare, as Claes said. Also, I read many over that I originally read in high school. I re-read "Tale of Two Cities" and probably some other classics such as "Wuthering Heights", "Jane Eyre". I re-read Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein" within a few year period, just because it fascinated me. I often re-read short stories or parts of novels. Of course, I have read, more than twice, the same poems or books of poems. I probably re-read many Shakespeare plays, since I had a course in college (many years ago) and read the main ones within the last few years, so that would be a repeat performance. "Hamlet" - I am sure I have read at least twice, if not more, but also I have seen so many productions of it on film, listened to audio versions many times over; I can nearly recite lines from my memory by now. As with films, if I really like the book, it calls for two readings. As Claes said, you always see something new, the second time around; same with movies. Many films I have watched 3 and 4 times, even up to 10 on really well loved ones. I read slow also, Logos, so I know what you mean. But it is a bit of a problem trying to fit in so much reading, with so many good books out there waiting for me to read them. But sometimes familiar ones are like old friends and you just have to read them again, and sometimes again....even again....

[Granny5]

George Orwell's Animal Farm and 1984
Stephen King's The Stand
The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit by Tolkien
The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka
Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry
Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee by Dee Brown

I read and re-read these books often because they all teach me something about myself or other people. Good can overcome evil and even good people can be tempted by evil. Also, history is important to me and I enjoy reading about it.

[papayahed]

I haven't gotten through Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee once yet, it made me so mad I'd have to put it down..

Books I've read more then twice:
Dear Enemy by ?
The Lord of the Rings by Tolkien
It and The Stand by Stephen King
Jurassic Park by Chrichton

[LadyWentworth]

Well, let's see...I don't really keep track of the numbers after #3!

1. Wuthering Heights (read it the second time for school - that was an easy 'A'!)
2. Jane Eyre (countless times)
3. Persuasion (probably the same amount of times as Jane Eyre - ALOT!!)
4. Maurice (E.M. Forster novel - a few times)
5. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
6. The Phantom of the Opera
7. Pride and Prejudice
8. all of Oscar Wilde's plays (numerous times)
9. Edgar Allan Poe's writings (numerous times)
10. Shakespeare's works (bunch of times)
11. The "Little House" series (Laura Ingalls Wilder)
12. A Tale of Two Cities
13. A Christmas Carol
14. Agnes Grey (Anne Bronte)

That is all I can think of right now. I've been thinking about reading Gone With The Wind and The Mystery of Edwin Drood again. I was planning on reading Pride and Prejudice and Little Women again, anyway. So, I will need to get through those first.

[bazarov]

Brothers Karamazov, Crime and Punishment, Animal Farm, Fathers and Sons and numerous of children books which probably no one here ever heard of.

[bazarov]

"Don't be afraid your life will end; be afraid that it will never begin." ~ Grace Hansen



Hugo said something similar: ''It's not bad to die, it's worser not to live.''

[amalia1985]

There are so many...As LadyWentworth said, though, "Wuthering Heights" is the "A"! I must have reas it at least 6 times!

[grace86]

Harry Potter series
Chronicles of Narnia
Precious Bane

There are a lot more I should read again, hehe like Anna Karenina or Crime and Punishment, but I don't have time to reread when I have such a long list.

Maybe one day the list will be longer.

[LadyWentworth]

There are so many...As LadyWentworth said, though, "Wuthering Heights" is the "A"! I must have reas it at least 6 times!

We'll have to discuss this one this weekend! :)

[Etienne]

I tend not to read the same book twice as there's so many books I want to read but I always tell myself that as soon as I read most of my to-read pile, there's a few books I want to re-read. The problem is that my to-read pile just keeps getting bigger, and I don't know why! But I've read Candide several times, I also read the first and second books of Gargantua and Pantagruel twice.

[Ana Lovejoy]

Poe's Tales, Candide, 1984, The Picture of Dorian Gray and Dom Casmurro =]

[bouquin]

I've just read some of the stories in Dubliners (James Joyce) for the second time.

[caffeinecups]

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger
Different Seasons by Stephen King
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway

I'd read them all again anytime.

[Granny5]

I forgot about Hemingway!! How could that be? I read, reread Hemingway all time I was in college. I wanted to grow up and be able to write just like him. (but doesn't everyone?) Now I need to go back and read him again. I've forgotten a lot.....must be age. I love his short story, A Clean Well Lighted Place among others.

[caffeinecups]

@Granny5: I love that short story! One of the most powerful writings I've read. But then, Hemingway's works are very powerful.

Here's a link to anyone who hasn't read it:

http://www.mrbauld.com/hemclean.html

[ivette]

I've read Le petit prince by Saint-Exupery at least seven times because it impressed me so much when I was still a little girl and I just can't forget it. I'm reading it right now but in French. :)
I also read Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway and Hesse's Narcissus and Goldmund twice because they were just great and I understood them completely different the second time. And I think I will read them again.

[hellsapoppin]

George Santayana's The Last Puritan three times.

Why?

I enjoy books and movies that make me think. This book says a great deal about philosophy and the modern conscience. Because of that I have written many notes along the book's margins. Each chapter is worthy of prolonged discussions and the book leaves you with many more questions than answers.

Other books:

Orwell's 1984 (five times)

Poe's A Cask of Amontillado (thirty times - my favorite short story!)

The Bible (many times as I use it to shake up right wing liars and bigots)

Hemingway's Old Man & The Sea (3x -- a delightful tale)



When I was a youth there was a children's novel entitled Don and the Book Bus that I read many times. Don't know if it's still in print but it was a fun read.

[Sir Bartholomew]

all Jane Austen's twice (some more)
Woolf's Mrs Dalloway and To the Lighthouse; Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury; Lawrence's The Rainbow and Women in Love; some of Forster's. Read them about twice because I think I failed to understand (or at least appreciate them) and they do satisfy with every subsequent readings.

[crazefest456]

Poe's A Cask of Amontillado (thirty times - my favorite short story!)


Yay! fellow fan!

I've read most of Poe's work more than 2x (I wuv my "The Unabridged Edgar Allan Poe".. sits by my bed on the floor right now!!) But my most read are "Morella" and the "Oval Portrait"

Also Christine, Needful Things, the Shining, Misery--- Stephen King

And the Chamber, the Brethren--- John Grisham

The Cardinal of the Kremlin--- Tom Clancy

[bouquin]

I'm currently on Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis. I read it previously in October 2003.

[Veho]

I've read Jane Eyre a few times. It's my fave! Why would anyone read such perfection only once?

[Patrick_Bateman]

It's rare I'll re-read books unless a decent amount of time has passed but I read American Psycho twice in about 18 months (surprise surprise given my screen name:thumbsup:)

I recently read The Stranger (Albert Camus) I can tell you for sure that will be read again very soon

[JBI]

If I really want to understand a poem, I will read it 2-3 times a day. At one point I was reading T. S. Eliot's Four Quartets 3-4 times a day on average, which totals well over a couple hundred times. The only way to really understand a poem is to reread it nonstop, assuming there is something in there. You also need to read the anthology or book it is in several times to really get at it.

[EJMathews]

Among some of those that I've read more than once are: The Great Gatsby, Great Expectations, Of Mice and Men, Pride and Prejudice, The Cherry Orchard, Treasure Island, Lord of the Flies, and many more.

For the most part the reason is that I read them in school as assignments, so read them for purpose. I re-read them later (much later) as a reader.

I even read Moby Dick more than once to figure out why people talked so much about the book, it still escapes me, but I do not intend to read it again.

[hazelk]

My latest rereads are The Colour by Rose Tremain and Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout.

A quote that I have found --
"Tell me what you read and I'll tell you who you are" is true enough, but I'd know you better if you told me what you reread. Francois Mauriac

[Jazz_]

I re-read quite often :D

Brave New World
Hamlet
Much Ado About Nothing (not by choice)
Othello
Most of the Harry Potters - though not the last couple
Some of T.S Eliot's poems - (mostly Prufrock & Waste Land)
Pride & Prejudice (and other Austens)
The Count of Monte Cristo
The Three Musketeers
To Kill A Mockingbird
Far From the Madding Crowd
Cloudstreet
The Riders

Think I'll stop before the list gets too long :p

[JZD]

I always struggle with whether or not to re-read a book. I know I have a fairly limited understanding of many of my favorite books due to only reading them once, but I have so many hundreds of books I want to read that it makes it tough to spend my time reading ones I've already read. I read a ton of non-fiction books as well so I'm pretty overloaded.

:(

[bouquin]

Wuthering Heights - just now; first time was many, many years ago.




_______________
Currently reading: La Steppe Rouge by Joseph Kessel

[WyattGwyon]

All the novels of Dostoyevsky, Hugo, Gaddis, Tolstoy, half of Cormac McCarthy's (so far), The Lord of the Rings (as a teen) multiple times, Mieville's Perdido Street Station, and many other single works by various authors.

Why? The Lord of the Rings because I was an obsessed teen, most of the others because they are too good to read just once, the Gaddis, especially The Recognitions, because they can't be absorbed and appreciated with a single reading.

[ChicagoReader]

Read Cormacs The Road twice and plan on many more, Great Gatsby 3+

[m2vihand]

Some Tolkien works, The little prince, a large part of Crime and Punishment. I remember these.

[Aurora]

I don't necessarily re-read books entirely but two books that I always return to like certain passages are Hamlet and Lollita

[Aurora]

Oh and iv re read Jude the Obscure because I wanted to work on it in my final year of Uni as well as having wrote on it in first year. The other two I mentioned (Hamlet and Lolita) I return to because I love them and there's always more to appreciate