The Scarlet Pimpernel- Twice
Brave New World - Twice
Uncle Tom's Cabin - Twice
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The Scarlet Pimpernel- Twice
Brave New World - Twice
Uncle Tom's Cabin - Twice
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."
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.
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 voilą...
...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.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SleepyWitch
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.
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 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
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.
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.
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 Brontė - Jane Eyre
-The Holy Bible
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.
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.
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.
Quote:
Originally Posted by alhara
I've also read some of Sherlock Holmes more than once.
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 ^_^