Old Faves Revisited

I've been revisiting novels stored in the loft for aeons, specifically favourites I first read in my teens and have never got round to reading again: Andre Gide (though not 'Strait is the Gate' or 'Isabelle', which I read often), Camus (not 'The Outsider, which again I like a lot and reread frequently), Gunter Grass... So far, the books are even more enjoyable than when I encountered them the first time, tumpty years ago. Looking forward to a few by Patrick White I've neglected...

Which books have you read in the past and keep meaning to go back to.

http:/www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjYUOL3jKUg

I have a couple of books that I like to revisit at least once every other year. To some extent, pretty much every novel I ever read I measure up against these.

From my childhood:
From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L'Engle

All-time Favorites
The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
Atonement by Ian McEwan

On my to be re-read list:

The Poisonwood Bible
The Handmaid's Tale
Great Expectations
Song of Solomon
My Antonia

Even though it's only been a couple of years since I read Master and Margarita, I'd like to give it another go. I think I sped through it too quickly and didn't fully appreciate it

I went really far back last year and reread Johnny Tremain and The Kid from Tomkinsville. Loved 'em both, then and now.

And I began this year with a re-read of Heart of Darkness (for about the 10th time). It fills me with awe every time.

Earlier this year I led a discussion of The Eyre Affair at my library. Re-reading that was fun, but even better was re-reading Jane Eyre to be sure I was picking up on all the parallels and similarities. I had been thinking about looking back at Jane anyway after reading The Thirteenth Tale. Now I'm thinking that I'd like to find time to go back to Villette.

I find that Gene Wolfe rewards re-reading. I'm thinking about another go at The Book of the Short Sun this fall; I don't think I've "gotten" that quite as well as his others. But of course there are so many new books waiting to be read too!

Anne Bishop's Black Jewels Trilogy is usually the first thing I turn to when I want to re-read something. Those books can always draws me into that world, and I usually read them a couple times per year when I need a break. Since I read quickly I can even get away with slipping something in between my readings during the semester :)

My classic favorite is Wuthering Heights, which now that I think about it I may have to get into before Fall semester swamps me.

Ther's nothing like what I call a comfort read. Pride andPrejudice Stella Gibbons Cold Comfort FarmandLois McMasters Bujold's A CIvil Campaigncome to mind.

Hmmm, I've reread Ender's Game, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Brave New World, and some the Pern series quite a few times. . . mostly sf, interesting.

Ones reread several times in middle school or earlier: Harry Potter (the ones that were out anyway), Running Out of Time, Freckle Juice, and a ridiculous amount of Dr. Seuss, Disney, and Calvin and Hobbes books.

I've been thinking about rereading Cat and Mouse and Crime and Punishment lately. And Mortal Instruments trilogy for the prequel that comes out at the end of the month.

I was quite taken with Milton's Paradise Lost when I was twenty (I'm now fifty-two). Recently, I watched a BBC4 documentary in which Simon Schama sang the praises of the poem and made me want to read it again. So far, however, I haven't.

I keep going back to my favourite mystery author Agatha Christie’s books again and again. The Miss Marple ones are on my frequently re-read list especially the short story collection The Thirteen Problems. Among her Poirot ones I think I’ve read Cards on the Table the most frequently.

This year I’ve been on a mission to re-read more of my favourites. So far I’ve re-read The Great Gatsby, Far from the Madding Crowd, A Tale of Two Cities, Death of a Salesman and Wuthering Heights.

I intend to re-read some Charles Dickens, Oscar Wilde and Richard Brinsley Sheridan soon.

I am re-reading the Bob Skinner series by Quintin Jardine, a great Scottish writer. I have finished the first 2 of the 19, Skinner's Rules and Skinner's Festival and have started Skinner's Trail. Skinner is a senior police inspector in Edinburgh.

I was telling my fiance how pleased I was to have found a copy of The Phoenix and the Carpet by E. Nesbit in my local charity shop, and it turned out that he somehow managed to go through childhood without ever reading these books. Needless to say, he was sent away with Five Children and It so that he could begin to rectify this terrible oversight, but now I'm itching for him to give it back so that I can re-read them all.

In a similar spirit to Ygraine, I recently revisited, with a great deal of pleasure, several Erich Kästner books I hadn't looked at since I was about 11. I was struck by the way I'd almost completely forgotten the outline of the story, but remembered all sorts of odd details, like the motor-horn in Emil and the detectives or the "non-smoker" in The Flying Classroom.

Barchester Towers is another one I recently re-read after a very long gap (making me remember how much of Trollope I've yet to read for the first time...). Hardy and Patrick White are authors I spent a lot of time on when I was younger and would like to make time to re-read, but I'm also still busy working my way through Scott, an author I should have read in my youth and didn't.

>Ygraine I loved Five Children and It and The Phoenix and the Carpet, but for some reason could never get my young kids interested in them. Maybe I'll try again some time now that they're older, and revisit both myself. Great books!

>thorold Barchester Towers is the only Trollope I've ever read. I did enjoy it, and periodically think about reading some more.

I have 'comfort reads'. I have mentioned Jane Rubino's 'Jersey shore' mysteries - they are so rich and funny with such a great cast, and i love to take them to the beach whenever i can get to the shore and lie around in the sun and read them again.
I also like books from my early years as comfort reads - Little Women, The Five Little Peppers, the Anne of Green Gables books, The Moonspinners, Heidi.

Thinking about re-reading "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" since my 13 1/2 year-old grandaughter is reading it for school. When re-read it recently, I found that I understood it better than the first time I read it.
Last spring, my grandaughter read "Johnny Tremain" for school; shewas not impressed. I, on the otherhand, found "Johnny Tremain" very enjoyable and on of my favorites, when I read it years ago.

Like others on this thread, I've re-read favorite classics more than once: Little Women, Little Men, Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights among others on my bookshelves.

>16 Catgwinn:, I reread A Tree Grows in Brooklyn last year, and like you, I found I understood it better. I was probably your granddaughter's age or so when I read it the first time, and I reread it several times throughout jr. and sr. high.

I've enjoyed rereading Jane Eyre and a few Jane Austen novels lately. Since I read one of her biographies, they had a different meaning for me the second time. I'm also rereading The Book Thief (one of my all time favorite novels) for my local book club, and I'm really looking forward to that since I listened to it on audio last time. Sometimes I prefer to listen to a book the second time since I generally don't have to read as closely since I know the plot, and I also like to see how an actor interprets the language.

I love rereading Little Women, its like sitting in front of warm fire on a winter night. Such a comfort read.

#19 (dancingstarfish): Have you read March by Geraldine Brooks? I've been tempted to try it, but have heard mixed reviews. (Edited to fix spelling error.)

Yes, Little Women.
I don't know how many times I've read that one, and the sequel Good Wives.

But I love to re-read Kelley Armstrong's books as well.

Ohhh I reread like a fiend! Especially childhood favorites. A few 'comfort reads' are as follows:

The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley
A House Like a Lotus by Madeleine L'Engle
Anne of the Island and The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery
1984 by George Orwell
Squire by Tamora Pierce
The Awakening by Kate Chopin
The Once and Future King by T.H. White (an undertaking, but well worth it)

Since childhood I have consistently revisited anything by Mark Twain, Alexander Dumas, and Charles Dickens. In high school, I added To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee and Rebecca by Du Maurier. As an adult, I've added Jane Austen and Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre

I got hooked on Twain when I was in the hospital in 4th grade so that these are my oldest faves.

Since I discovered her as a teenager(thanks, Mom!) Mary Stewart is one of my favorite comfort authors. In particular, Nine Coaches Waiting but any of her books where the heroine puts on a 'frock' and doesn't just schlep around in a dress.

Also, Dick Francis because he almost always works horses and jockeys into the mystery. I really enjoy Hot Money and Decider when life seems most overwhelming. But, really, most of his books somehow make me feel like there is a well ordered universe and it probably involves horses. Again, my mother introduced me to Dick Francis.

Jane Eyre was one of my very first comfort reads. It was assigned in middle school. I was shocked that no one else seemed to identify with Jane! It was like score one for the plain girl that had no friends(just like ME in 7th grade).

It's funny about what one reader finds comforting and another finds annoying or boring isn't it? For awhile I thought the Janet Evanovich Stephanie Plum books might become comfort reading but they couldn't stand the test of being read more than three times.