Celebrating The Joy of Rereading a Favorite Book

I reread the Lord of The Rings trilogy every year. This year will be the 14th year in a row. It's like my own personal vacation to Middle-Earth every summer.

Just finished rereading Louise Penny's A Great Reckoning, her latest book. It was quantitatively more wonderful in the reread. My first time through, I followed the plot, missing many of the very insightful commentaries and discussions on personal traits, life in general. Louise is always good; this book is well beyond "good."

Other books I reread, when I can find a gap in the current crop of ToBeREads, , are Dorothy Dunnett's wonderful history series... most often Francis Crawford's adventures around the known world.

Also just read, for a book group, Dorothy Gilman's The Amazing Mrs. Pollifax. Didn't mind rereading this in the least! Every bit as entertaining as it was the first time

Margaret wrote: "Other books I reread, when I can find a gap in the current crop of ToBeREads, , are Dorothy Dunnett's wonderful history series... most often Francis Crawford's adventures around the known world.

..."I have not yet re-read Dorothy Dunnett's wonderful Lymond Chronicles and The House of Niccolo, but I am looking forward to doing that some day. I almost wept when I read the last page of the last book, knowing I could never read it for the first time again.

Every few years I have to re-read Dracula, and also Stephen Hunter's Point of Impact.

Out of all the books pictured, the ones I've read most are: Lord of the Rings, The Hunger Games, and Harry Potter.

She's Come Undone - Wally Lamb

Undoubtedly, the book I've reread the most is Giovanni Boccaccio's Decameron. I first bought it when I was 15 in the Oxford World's Classics edition translated by Guido Waldman, and that copy was reread so often that it fell to pieces. Then I purchased a replacement copy of the same translation which also became tattered and grubby, so the third time around I bought the Signet Classics edition translated by Mark Musa and Peter Bondanella and read it. Then, on my most recent rereading, I went back to the Waldman translation because it's still a readable copy, even if it looks ugly now. Next up, I'll probably read the translation by Wayne Rebhorn, about which I've heard many good things. There are evidently some Americanisms, but these are no more necessarily inauthentic than Waldman's Britishisms. Every translator must take into account not only his source text, but his audience as well.

I've also bought multiple copies of Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose and Foucault's Pendulum for the same reason. The latest copy of The Name of the Rose looked pristine, but closer examination showed that the final few pages had been burned away at one corner (but not enough to reach the text, only the margins). That made me love it more, given what happens at the end of the book. I can only assume the previous owner put the book down too close to a burning cigarette.

I've bought multiple copies of Jaroslav Hašek's The Good Soldier Švejk because they got destroyed by use, and I've also recently purchased a replacement print copy of Patrick O'Brian's Master and Commander, as I gave my original copy to a friend. However, I also own the audiobook on cassette read by Patrick Tull and can access, through my local library, the MP3 audiobook read by Simon Vance. Thus I've reread that book many times across a variety of formats. I've read almost all the books in the series now, only barring the 20th complete novel, Blue at the Mizzen, and 21: The Final Unfinished Voyage of Jack Aubrey. There's a part of me that keeps from reading these books because I don't want to admit it's over, even though obviously no more Aubrey-Maturin books will be forthcoming since their author is now dead.

I'll probably be re-reading Catcher, Gatsby, TKaM, 1984 & Animal Farm this summer as all of them are on a potential read list for my son's English class.

It's funny how much I disliked all of them when I was "forced" to read them myself but can appreciate them much more a third and fourth go-round!! (Especially Orwell's books.)

I love re-reading Pride and Prejudice, and Much Ado about Nothing (both full of wit and sarcasm).

I have re-read The Descent by Jeff Long more times than I can count. There is just something about the Hadal world that draws me in (or should I say under).

Rereading Harry Potter series and I'm currently on the Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix at the moment.

Well, that's a nice added feature, but for myself I have not enough time to read all the new books I want and even few to reread. But I reread some once in a while. Specially poetry and wisdom books.
By the way there is a feature I would like to sugest for improvement of the site: I would like to be able to skip suggestions of books. I like the sugestions don't get me wrong. But I usually get the same suggestions over and over even the ones I don't want, where I could be able to see other books which interest me. A skip book button or option would be a nice adition to the overall nice work. Thank you.

I have been lucky over the past two years, library reservations have enabled me to read recently published books.I do have three books which I reread every year 1984 George Orwell , Great Expectations Charles Dickens, and The Handmaids Tale Margaret Atwood.The Orwell and Dickens were books I was made to read at secondary school, and these books made me want to read their other novels. Also these authors made me the reader I am today
The handmaids tale was picked up to while a way a train journey.Each time I read it, I find something in the news that links with the themes in the novel.

The Lord of the Rings. And Howl's Moving Castle -- I'm on my 5th reading at the moment. :)

Amanda wrote: "I reread the Lord of The Rings trilogy every year. This year will be the 14th year in a row. It's like my own personal vacation to Middle-Earth every summer."

That is also my go to read since it is my favorite series of all-time. I cry every time I get to the end. They are my dear, dear friends.

Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day by Winifred Watson. This is the perfect escapism. I particularly love the audio book version read by Frances McDormand. She played Miss Pettigrew in the film version so that was already the voice I had in my head - and the book has a better ending.

I often look for inspiration in my manga, but the instant I open the book, I end up rereading it instead of drawing. I've reread every volume I own at least three times. I guess that means my bookshelf is begging for more.

Amanda wrote: "I reread the Lord of The Rings trilogy every year. This year will be the 14th year in a row. It's like my own personal vacation to Middle-Earth every summer."<

That is impressive Amanda. I have only managed to read this twice and I enjoyed it just as much the second time.
I have so many books to read now that I can scarcely read them all,never mind re reading any.Which is a shame as there are a number of books I would like to read again.
If only there where more hours in the day!!

I try to reread either the full Church of England (Starbridge) series by Susan Howatch or the spin off St. Benet's trilogy every year as I gain something every time. Underrated and under-read, but oh so insightful.

Now that there is a re-read button, it's time for this AND Harry Potter again...it's been too long for Harry!

The Queen's Thief series. All of them, once a year. I alternate between listening to the audiobooks and going through my well-worn paperbacks. I'm quite looking forward to adding the newest book in the series to the roster this year.

Also, when I was a teen I reread Alice Hoffman's Practical Magic ad nauseam. I still know parts of the book by heart.

I just read my manga all the time, I've been stuck loving the same manga for 3 years already! :3 (K-On! and Lucky Star) I looove K-On! College!!! And all of Lucky Star!!!

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K.Rowling

omg, there are so many. It's easier to list authors than titles since I often reread an entire series whenever a new installment is published. Anne Bishop's Others series since book 5 is due on Tuesday. Her Black Jewels series is a must reread as well. Diana Gabaldon's Outlander and Lord John Gray books, Mercedes Lackey's Valdemar and Serrated Edges series, Patricia Briggs, Jacqueline Carrey, Robert Heinlein, Laurell K. Hamilton, Tanya Huff, Rita Mae Brown, Charlaine Harris, Jane Lindskold, those are just the ones that leap to mind.

Excellent news! I'm rereading "7 habits" now.
Happy that you implemented this feature, I've been looking forward to it. Now I can read the beloved classics again (like Oscar Wilde by the way) without worrying it'd ruin my progress. Great job!

I love rereading the Delirium series by Lauren Oliver. I plan on rereading The Chemical Gardens series by Lauren DeStefano sometime this year.

ive read To Kill A Mockingbird 8 times. it never gets old.

I just reread The House of the Spirits! One of my favorite books.

I rereaded The Alchemist more than three times in each time with a different language , it's an amazing book *-*. I also rereaded some arabic novels such as في قلبي أنثى عبرية and الزمن القادم . I'd like to reread The Fault in Our Stars in this year .

I reread the Harry Potter series EVERY year!! It's just amazing. I'm on book 5 (again). <3

I have re-read all of the Outlander books about 4 times each and Anne Rice's Vampire Diaries at least 3 times each.

I've reread the Harry Potter series so many times!

I tend to reread all books I enjoyed,often because the next part of a series is coming out soon, and I want to make sure I remember everthing (which I do anyway but still...). So most of the books on my shelf I have read more than 1 time. The third book of the Merlin Saga by T.A.Barron I read like 50 times, but that book isn't so big. Still amazed that I haven't reread the Harry Potter serie in over a year, but sonce i read them 4 times in 2015 it's okay ^^ still going to reread them this year though :D

I love Pearl by Tabitha King, I don't even know how many times I've read it. I have also reread Harry Potter and am going on to a third time! I have also reread Karen Slaughters books and Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child's Pendergast series.

The Little Prince

I re-read completely St Exupery's The Little Prince at least once every year, or even twice. I read a passage of it every now and then. To be honest, it's one of the books I always have in my bag. Never go anywhere without it.

I have quite a few awesome books
They heal and certainly make me want to read every time I am lost.
Potter. All the Potters.
Hobbit
All the books by Robert Fulghum
Alice Hoffman's books- practical magic and the probable future;
Jodi Picoult's- Second glance; House rules; My sister's keeper, the lone Woolf, the leaving time, The story teller; Between the lines; Off the page
Chanda Hann's Unenchanted - the entire series
Time traveller's wife; Her fearful symmetry;
Peter pan;
Open
I have so many more. But these are always my favorites.

Lucy Maud Montgomery-her Anne of Green Gables Series, her Emily series, and a stand-alone-the Blue Castle. I've read and reread them many times. And I usually read Wuthering Heights at least once a year and have done for many years. Hmm, just about time again, I think. Harry Potter a couple of times, a few Dickens' titles a couple of times, and Agatha Christie-even though I know who the killer is since I've already read and reread so many of hers I still enjoy reading them yet again, and watching how she managed to fool people.

LOVE rereading. XD ive reread so many books its impossible to keep track.

I've read lord of the rings 3 times.

Harry Potter probably 5 or 6.

Twilight 3 or 4.

And my favorite middle grade series "the books of elsewhere" twice. It's my 3rd reread right now, but I know I've read book 1 at least 5 times. :D my happy series. Anytime I'm feeling down or in a reading slump, I can read this series and it still just as magical as the day I first picked it up.

"The skinjackers" trilogy and "unwind" are a fav reread of min too

& I've read "the devouring" every year for Halloween for 4 or 5 years now.

There's something just terribly comforting about returning to a favorite book or series. It feels calm and happy to go on that adventure all over again, to know what going to happen but still discovering something new. :)

So glad goodreads fixed the rereading thing!

I have read KILLER ANGELS by Michael Shaara many times. It's a great book about a terrible time in US history.

I'm actually rereading "Harry potter" "the books of elsewhere" and "black butler" right now. Later this year, I'm going to reread "twilight saga"

I'm also looking forward to reading several books so I can finish some series.
-vampirates
-brotherband chronicles
-gone series
-shiver
-game of thrones
-shadowdance.

Ugh! So many books! Never enough time!

There are so many I have reread in my life...:)
When I was a teenager, it was Ann of Green Gables - the whole set, of course; then, in high school, I read The Lord of the Rings trilogy and that became my book to read every year - I still read it like every for or five years.
There are also fantastic books by Polish writers (I'm a Pole:)), especially The Witcher series by Sapkowski (I've read it at least 10 times) and a Polish classic "The Plague" by Sienkiewicz (I first read it at 13 and have read it probably over twenty times so far, not mentioning the movie based on it, which I watch every year - it's always on TV at either Christmas or Easter:))
But there are so many more... just to mention a few: the Valdemar series by Mercedes Lackey, the Witch World series by Andre Norton, Dune by Frank Herbert, the whole Disc World series by Terry Pratchett, also all the books by Agatha Christie, some suspence thrillers by Clive Custler, Jeffrey Deaver or Dean Koontz and yes, Harry Potter, too... Really, it's easier to list the ones on my bookshelves that I read only once than mention all those I regularly reread:)
Generally, I like coming back to books I loved - it's like meeting old friends and having fun with them all over again...:)

I reread the Harry Potter books every 3 or 4 years. The Hobbit every year. Also, Alice in Wonderland (1 and 2)every year.

Andrea K. Höst's Medair and The Touchstone Trilogy, along with Elfhome top the list of the most rereads at 8x each. I think The Fellowship of the Ring, Anna Karenina, and The Forgotten Beasts of Eld would be up there as well, if I'd kept track better.
Then there are the books I've been limiting myself on rereading, in order to savor the anticipation of doing so - the Ile-Rien books by Martha Wells, Michelle West's Essalieyan series, The Best of All Possible Worlds (Karen Lord), and The Goblin Emperor (Katherine Addison). - Although I'm having a bit of trouble with the last one, considering I reread it twice last year.
The problem is, once I finish rereading these books, I immediately want to start them over again. Loop reading. Usually the combination of new releases, Life, & my evergrowing to-read pile stop me.

Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte), The Thorn Birds (Colleen McCullough) and A Woman of Substance (Barbara Taylor Bradford) all read at least three times each.

It's true! Only the wonderful books are worth reading again

I try to fit in Little Women, and Eight cousins every year. They send me back to the Sherbrooke library in the basement where the librarian grew and orange tree. I was fascinated by the fact that she had started it from an orange pip. It was silent and warm and smelled of old books. What a great place it was. I wonder if it is still there??

I'm thinking about to re-read The mists of Avalon. But I will finish my challenge first...

I have personally never reread a book ever. I don't know why though. When I really love a book I don't reread it because I already know what is going to happen. Can somebody help me on over coming that?

I continuously reread (audiobook version) the Harry Potter books while I knit. I believe I have listened to the complete series (American version narrate by Jim Dale) at least 3 or 4 times in the last few years.

This year I accidentally stumbled upon the British version, narrated by Stephen Frye, which are also very, very good. I never get tired of them.

The other books I reread endlessly are John Mortimer's RUMPOLE OF THE BAILEY Omnibus volumes 1=3.

Then there are all the Agatha Christie MISS MARPLE books as well as Dorothy L. Sayers' LORD PETER WIMSEY mysteries.

LIZ, to respond to your question, rereading a favorite book is like having your best friend come over to hang out. Once is never enough. You know you will enjoy yourself, plus at the same time, you never know exactly what will happen, but you know you will like it.

With the books, it's like listening to your favorite Beatle album (or whoever your all time favorite is); it never gets old. And if it does, you give it a rest for a few months and are reunited, just like old times.

That's my best crack at answering your question.

Silvio111 wrote: "I continuously reread (audiobook version) the Harry Potter books while I knit. I believe I have listened to the complete series (American version narrate by Jim Dale) at least 3 or 4 times in the l..."

Thank you! I really appreciate it!