Readers, I’ve found that a good book not only holds up to repeated visits, but improves each time we return to it—which is why we included “a re-read” in our 2020 Reading Challenge. Despite the welcome thrill of opening a brand new book, I’m a fond and frequent rereader. I turn to my favorite books again and again when I’m stuck in a reading slump, when I need a dose of comfort, or when I’m in the mood to deconstruct a story to figure out how the author put it together.
I wrote an entire ode to rereading in my book I’d Rather Be Reading, a collection of essays on the delights and dilemmas of reading life. Here’s an excerpt:
When I find myself in a dreaded reading slump, nothing boosts me out of it faster than revisiting an old favorite. Old books, like old friends, are good for the soul. But they’re not just comfort reads. No, a good book is exciting to return to, because even though I’ve been there before, the landscape is always changing. I notice something new each time I read a great book. As Italo Calvino wrote, “A classic is a book that has never finished saying what it has to say.” Great books keep surprising me with new things.
To inspire your own rereading selections for this year’s Reading Challenge, I’m sharing ten of my favorite books to read again and again—books that continue to surprise me, delight me with each visit, or teach me something new about the craft of writing every single time.
10 of my favorite books to reread
This Tender Land
Beach Read
The Poet X
Rules of Civility
Americanah
Anne of Green Gables
This Must Be the Place
Heating & Cooling: 52 Micro-Memoirs
The Stationery Shop
Crossing to Safety
Are you a re-reader? I’d love to hear about your reading habits—and which books you‘ve read more than once—in the comments.
P.S. Readers have shared that I’d Rather Be Reading is the perfect comfort read for right now—or a lovely gift for the reader in your life. Find a copy at your local bookstore, Amazon, Bookshop, or place a request at your local library.
P.P.S. You can order a signed copy from my local independent bookstore Carmichael’s Bookstore. Order online or call them at 502-896-6950. Just tell them you’d like a signed copy, or put “signed copy” in the order comments.
282 comments
Gag to Rules of Civility.
But his A Gentleman in Moscow is a definite reread for me!!
I much preferred a gentleman in Moscow as well!
Agree! I loved A Gentleman in Moscow!
Me, too.
Me, too!
The Gentleman of Moscow was way better than Rules of Civility, imho.
Haven’t read Crossing to Safety but have reread The Angle of Repose a couple of times and love it.
The Secret Garden always warms my heart with each rereading.
I just reread The Secret Garden. Last time was about 50 years ago! Just as heart-warming now.
I agree about Gentleman in Moscow being the better of the two books. Definitely enjoyed it even more the second time through. Also I absolutely have loved Secret Garden all my life!
I also enjoyed Gentleman more, although my dad and grandpa both liked Rules more.
I love The Secret Garden too! I have 3 beautiful copies and it is my favorite book from childhood!
I just reread The Secret Garden as well. And I’ve read all of Jane Austen’s books at least twice each.
I had open heart surgery and my daughter insisted that I stay with her. My granddaughter and I read through The Secret Garden while I was there as bedtime stories. My daughter joined us after a couple of nights. I stayed 3 extra days so we could finish.
I’m with you all the way, Jess!
I feel the same as you, Jess. Somehow, Rules of Civility failed to grab me. But I absolutely adored A Gentleman in Moscow. I found Count Rostov and his little gang at the Metropol so much more charming and interesting than Katey Kontent. I keep feeling like I must have missed something with her. Maybe I’ll listen to the audio and see if I can catch what it is.
Hmm, I decided not read A Gentleman in Moscow because Rules of Civility was definitely not for me. I couldn’t connect with the characters and just felt so flat. But it sounds like I should give A Gentleman in Moscow a try!
I am just hopping into these comments. I loved GIM. I think the idea of where he created a home (no spoilers) was so intriguing. And, the characters. Loved it! laura
They are very different from each other. I like both but I connect more with A Gentleman in Moscow. Give it a try!
You absolutely should. I read ROC a couple of years ago, remember liking it but not much else about it. GFM will stick in my soul for life…
I was not a fan of Rules of Civility. I think I read too many books about the lost generation, rich people behaving badly in a row. I am looking forward to reading A Gentleman in Moscow, tho.
Currently reading A Gentleman In Moscow. Absolute must read, especially in this season where many of us are confined to our homes.
Anna Karenina, Tender is the Night; Sleeping Dogs Lie; And then there were none; so many others.
Same here
1. Outlander
2. Into the wilderness
3. Thorn birds
4. Mary Balogh (Bedwyn saga)
5. Christy
6. Susan Elizabeth Phillips (Chicago stars series)
7. Selection series
8. Hunger games series
9. Janette Oke series
10. Which witch?, Ramona series, Harry Potter series, Babysitter’s Club mysteries(comfort reading), and the Little House on the Prairie series. **I had to get my childhood favorites that I reread every two years in:)
I’ve never read Thorn Birds. You obviously recommend?
It’s wonderful. The short introduction about the legend of the thorn bird really sets the mood and foreshadows what happens throughout the book. I’ve read it at least fifteen times.
Colleen McCollaugh is a fabulous author. I just finished her seven volume Masters of Rome series. Fascinating. She makes her characters come alive. If you like history I can’t recommend enough! I now want to read the Thorn Birds. It’s the book that made her famous.
I re-read that one every once in awhile. Also agree on LIttle House series — very soothing when I’m stressed!
I read The Thorn Birds a long time ago and loved it.
I just picked up Thorn Birds at a little free library! I’m so excited to read it again…I think the first time was the 1970’s!
Definite yes to Christy, the Janette Oke series, and Little House series.
I just finished rereading Mary Balogh’s Westcott series (again) and have reread the Survivors Club series several times. I’ve done nothing but reread this past year, which has been difficult in so many ways.
Ha! My mom always read the Janette Oke books! Comfort reading for sure.
Most series’ books I own are re-read worthy: J.D. Robb’s In Death series; Daniel Silva’s Gabriel Allon series; any of W.E.B. Griffin are re-read worthy; Louise Penny’s, of course! I recently read A Gentleman in Moscow and I’m positive I will pick it up again. I re-read This Present Darkness every few years. Interesting that some books are so so good but I wouldn’t read them again and others aren’t really literary but I would read again.
I LOVE Daniel Silva’s Gabriel Allon series! And Louise Penny. 🙂
‘The Great Gatsby’ is surely one of those books to which Calvino’s quote applies. I’ve been re-reading this classic every few years for my entire adult life, and each time I visit it I find something new that I hadn’t noticed before. Fitzgerald’s language is enough to hold you rapt, but there is so much more to mine and savor.
I so agree with The Great Gatsby. It’s a different story for various times in my life and one of the few books I have reread.
Ginny
Clara, I too have been re-reading The Great Gatsby for the past several years. Fitzgerald’s writing is incredibly beautiful and, yes, I do find something new each time. I was trying to think of a re-read for the 2020 challenge and somehow failed to think of this one. Thank you for reminding me! (And by the way, the film adaptation with Leonardo DiCaprio is so much better than the Robert Redford version from the 70’s.)
Have you read “The Double Bind?” I read “The Double Bind” and “The Great Gatsby.”
What Alice Forgot, the Harry Potters, One True Loves, The Crucible, Fahrenheit 451, The Book Thief, The Great Gatsby….so many good ones not to come back and read them again.
The Thornbirds, The Brothers K by David James Duncan (have you read it? If not, add it to your TBR list pronto!), The Poisonwood Bible by B. Kingsolver, and Rebecca are some I can think of off the top of my head that I have read more than once. And I would reread The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh because it is an excellent story and a quick read. After I read it I had 4 or 5 people read it immediately.
Oh the Language of Flowers is one of my favorites. I totally forgot about it until you mentioned it.
My re-reads:
1. Rebecca
2. All Jane Austen
3. Jane Eyre
4.Stepping Heavenward Elizabeth Prentiss
5. All Anne of Green Gables series
6. Little Women
7. At Christmas time The Christmas Pearl on audio book
And all of the Richard Paul Evans Christmas books on audio while wrapping presents or doing Christmas baking. I look forward to this so much!
Jane Eyre and Little Women would be on my list as well.
Love your list. Never heard of The Christmas Pearl, but will check it out. Love most of your rereads.
Love this list Nicea!!! I am in the minority for sure, I loved Rules of Civility way better than Gentlman in Moscow. Secret Graden is a must re-read along with any Elizabeth Bowen! 🙂
Yes, to Jane Eyre, although it feels crazy because of how long it is, but my Mom and I probably each read Jane Eyre every year or so for a few years when we first bought a copy when I was about 8th grade. My absolute favorite. It is so long though! Little Women too, esp. after the movie that came out last year.
My Mom loves Stepping Heavenward. How fun to see it listed here!
Wow, I think we’re twins! haha I reread all of these except for Rebecca (which is on my TBR) and the Christmas Pearl which I hadn’t heard of. I would also add Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers
I loved Stepping Heavenward, too! Not many have heard of that one.:)
Love rereading contemporary romances that make me smile.
The Friend Zone
Get a Life, Chloe Brown
Take a Hint, Dani Brown
The Happy Ever After Playlist
Watership Down by Richard Adams and
To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee are two of my favorite rereads. I am excited to have discovered a new book or two from your list that I will read for the first time though!
I generally don’t enjoy re-reading a book, but I’ve made an exception for Watership Down (more than once). Something about this story always stokes my imagination and wonder. Thank you for mentioning it– I may just have to read it one more time!
I’ve read Watership Down 3 or 4 times, and it’s been on my mind again recently. I think it’s time for another re-read. It is so good!
Sissy Spacek reading TKaM on audio is fabulous. The language is jarring these days, but the story holds.
1. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
2. Oliver Twist
3. Jane Eyre
4.Little House series
5. The Secret Garden
6. Sexing the Cherry
7. A Wrinkle in Time
8. The Joy Luck Club
9. The Opposite of Fate
10. Swami and Friends
A Tree Grows In Brooklyn is a great re-read.
The Age Of Innocence by Edith Wharton …one of my favorites
As I Lay Dying- William Faulkner
My favorite re-read Love In The Time Of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
I’ve been trying not to re-read because there are so many other books I want to read! Some of my faves to revisit are Pride & Prejudice, One Hundred Years of Solitude, the Harry Potter Series, any thing by John Green or Rainbow Rowell.
As an adult, I typically don’t re-read books because there are simply too many other books I want to read. Occasionally, I’ll re-read one that I’ve really liked if we’re discussing it in my book club. Another reason I’ve re-read a book is if I really didn’t like it and others loved it. I’ve re-read the book to see if I like it better the second time a few times. I must say, though, that when I’ve done that the second reading has never made me like it any better. For the 2020 Reading Challenge Re-Read, I re-read one of my very favorite books in recent years, The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai. I had picked out a few books that I wouldn’t mind reading a second time but was happiest to read this one again when we chose it for book club.
There are very few books that I’ll reread. There are too many new ones I want to read. But if I had to pick…
Discovery of Witches
Chronicles of Narnia
Anne of Green Gables
Harry Potter
Anything by Daniel Silva
I am re-reading all the Discovery of Witches books right now for the third time. I was in a slump and decided I needed to re-enter an old familiar world and its characters.
I have to admit I haven’t been super interested in book club … but Elizabeth Acevedo might be enough to make me join. I LOVE HER. Her books are so phenomenal.
I am not a huge rereader, but I do enjoy going back to favorites, like Harry Potter, Owen Meany, Maeve Binchy books, and middle grade for some real comfort!
Anne of Green Gables (agree about the version read by Rachel McAdams)
The Westing Games
Kindred
Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe
Hamnet
The Night Circus
Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant
The Nickel Boys
The Book Thief
Know My Name
They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us
Yes to all of yours, especially the Westing Game! I’ve re-read that book at least once a year for the past thirty years.
Ugh. “Games”(typo rage)
Anyway, I read The Westing Game as an adult and loved it. I look forward to reading it with my son for the first time this year.
I love the memory of Anne Tyler’s books but haven’t reread many — but Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant and Searching for Caleb are two of my favorites.
I am not a re-reader. Especially of books that I love. I’m fearful that the magic will be shattered if I re-read it again. I did that recently for a book that I read years ago and LOVED, when it was selected for a book club choice. Oh how disappointed i was that I didn’t like it, let a lone love it, like I did the first time around.
This happened to me once. The first read of a Thousand Splendid Suns was a hugely emotional experience for me, but the reread didn’t draw out my emotions nearly as much, which i guess is why the magic didn’t seem as strong. But there are others—as in all things Austen—that captivate me all over again. That said, I rarely reread unless it’s for the purpose of experiencing a book as a read-aloud to students or as a book club selection.
I totally agree! I rarely re-read, partially because there are so many other books I want to read, but mainly because I feel like books find us at a particular time and place and that factors into our love (or not) of a particular book. I want to preserve that feeling. I did break down and re-read one of my childhood favorites, Mandy by Julie Andrews, and did find it just as wonderful 40+ years later. But will still stick to reading new over re-reading.
I love this list! Crossing to Safety is such a favorite, and Wallace Stegner feels like a warm cup of tea in front of the fireplace. Also loved The Rules of Civility, Americanah, Anne of Green Gables. I recently reread Middlemarch. It’s not a quick reread, but every page is bursting with insight.
Love reading Middlemarch!
Anne, I read your columns regularly. This one had me nodding in agreement AND exclaiming at each new discovery and now I’m rushing for a place to record your list! You are an important part of my reading life; thanks for all your hard work!
Can never get enough of Hannah Coulter (and all of her friends), Anne of Green Gables, Gentleman in Moscow.
Graham Green’s books always offer something more in a re-read. As do Marilynne Robinson’s.
Definitely the Rules of Civility and Gentleman from Moscow, Gatsby, Crossing to Safety, Gone With the Wind (a personal, guilty pleasure), John Steinbeck (so much to learn from any of his work), Little Women. So many more I can’t think of right now. I find re-reading a favorite book is kind of like connecting with an old friend, comforting, and at the same time always reveals more.
1. To Kill a Mockingbird
2. The Help
3. Percy Jackson Series
4. The Last Sin Eater
5. Redeeming Love
Redeeming Love is one of my favorites as well. I hope the movie does the book justice! All of Francine Rivers books are awesome.
I recently reread all of the Anne books because I wanted to revisit Anne as an adult. I loved every minute.
My comfort rereads are anything Jane Austen–especially Pride and Prejudice, Persuasion, and Emma. This year I reread the first two books of the Daevabad trilogy waiting for the third to come out, and I will read them again. They are so good.
I’m not a big re-reader. I am a big library user and don’t buy a lot. So it always feels like the next new great read is just waiting for me. I have reread little women, Harry Potter series, Anne of Green gables.
Rebecca
Jane Eyre
The Secret Garden
Clan of the Cave Bear series
A Confederacy of Dunces
The Secret History
The Night Circus
The End of the Road
Thank you for putting Clan of the Cave Bear. I often have reread that and last year I started in September and read all six books through January. It was the first time I read Land of the Painted Caves. There is something about this series that calls to me at different moments in my life.
I also have read “the Clan series” many times. I can almost quote passages from it. It helped my grow into the woman I wanted to be when I was a young mother figuring “IT” all out. I have to say the Mrs. Polafax books are fun and quick when I can’t sleep!
I reread Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury every summer! It’s the only book I reread so frequently.
Me too! Dandelion Wine has been my summer tradition going on 45 years now. This year I had the added fun of listening to the audio (preferred the narration of David Aaron Baker) while I canned tomatoes. Heaven!
Me too. Every summer since I was a teenager and read it out loud with my dad.
I too, like many above, have too many books in my TBR list to spend time rereading. But over my life, I do have some favorites I have reread.
*To Kill a Mockingbird
*The Diary of Anne Frank
*Rebecca
*Jane Eyre
*The Solitaire Mystery
There is one book I read twice this year, once for me and once for my book club. It is a memoir that was impactful reading during this COVID quarantine- He Leadeth Me by Walter Ciszek, the story of an American priest who spent 23 years in Soviet prisons. So powerful and inspiring.
I have never re-read a book in my life! There are too many good ones out there to read! 😄
1. James Herriot’s books – love these!
2. Jane Austen’s books
3. Little Women
4. Anne of Green Gables
James Herriot!! Love
James Herriot’s series, yes!!
I don’t often re-read books as there are so many others out there I am waiting to read, but there are a few worthy of reading again.
-Gift of the Sea by Anne Morrow-Lindbergh. Nonfiction, she reflects on the stages of a woman’s life. So nice to read this every 5 years or so.
-No Flying in the House by Betty Brock. A childhood favourite. Touching story and beautiful pen and ink drawings. I cry at the heartwarming ending, every single time!
-To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Classic. Atticus Finch is a good man.
-The Great Gatsby by F.Scott Fitzgerald. Classic. The times, the lifestyle, all of it.
-Jane Austen. I read them all about 25 years ago, and plan to read them all again.
No Flying in the House was one of my absolutely favorite children’s books as well!! I am excited to see someone else remembers it!!
Gift from the Sea is one of my re-reads too. It amazes me how relevant that book still is so many years later.
I love this thread – Here’s my reread list:
The Shell Seekers – Rosamunde Pilcher
Rebecca – Daphne Du’Maurier
She’s come Undone – Wally Lamb
Eat, Pray, Love – Elizabeth Gilbert
Of Human Bondage – Somerset Maugham
The Good Earth – Pearl S. Buck
Love Warrior – Glennon Doyle
The Time Traveler’s Wife – Audrey Niffenager
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn – Betty Smith
I loved Wally Lamb’s I Know This Much is True when I first read it. Now after having seen the HBO series, I am excited to read it again.
The only books I read and re-read are all of Rosemunde Pilcher’s. The Shell Seekers, Coming Home, September, and Winter Solstice. They are my curl up in front of the fire comfort books.
I so agree with you. Rosemont Pilcher’s books are my favorite comfort books. I also re-read some of Maeve Binchy’s books.
Love Winter Solstice! It’s a December favorite for me.
I don’t tend to re-read books, unless it’s a series and I need to refresh my memory. But this summer I’ve re-read Boyfriend Material multiple times, often just favorite parts, but I listened on audio and then reread the whole thing in print. It’s so good 🙂 An exception: I re-read a favorite childhood book — Goodnight Mister Tom — every few years.
Thanks for reminding me of ‘Goodnight Mister Tom’. I read it twice as a child, but that was over 20 years ago and I think I’m due for a revisit.
I return to Three Pines when I want the comfort of old friends. I. So glad Louise Penny has continued the series.
I’ve been a big reader all my life, and now, approaching 60, I find it difficult to find a new author I love. So happy to have discovered Louise Penny at the onset of covid! Her books have kept me sane. As I’m nearly caught up, I may just start back over again, always having one of her books going…forever!
I can’t come up with an exhaustive list, but if you haven’t re-read the Ramona books as an adult, I highly recommend them! The audiobooks are phenomenal–Stockard Channing reads them. I think I loved them more as an adult (our younger daughter was basically Ramona in many ways) than I did as a child!
The Poisonwood Bible
The Orphan Master’s Son
The Good Earth
Middlemarch
The Song of Achilles
Circe
World Without End
The Night Tiger
Great list!!
I just finished Circe and loved it!
I love to re-read books and revisit characters. I recently began re-reading Harry Potter to my non reader 9 year old. It’s so much fun to have him talk about new things he learned in the second reading. I am going to make a reader out of him yet!!
This is the first year in YEARS that I have fallen in love with books so I feel like I am “behind” because my TBR is so long! I just want more books! I already know which books from this year I’d like to reread but don’t know when I’ll feel like I can take a break from my TBR to go back and do so. Those include: The Friend Zone, The Penderwicks (with my kids next time!), Home Fire, The Poet X, and Ready Player One. I listened to 2 of those and definitely want to read next time.
As soon as a I finished Rules of Civility I said “I’m reading that again!”
Other favorite rereads include The Wingfeather Saga, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, The Blue Castle (LM Montgomery). So many great YA and juvenile fiction books are great to revisit as each of my kids discover them, too.
I re-read books from favorite series the most because when each new book comes out, I HAVE to re-read all the others before starting the new one – such as, Harry Potter, Stephen King’s The Dark Tower series, Katherine Arden’s The Winternight trilogy. I have also re-read all my childhood favorites at least 3 times because I read them aloud with each of our kids – such as Charlie & the Chocolate Factory, Charlotte’s Web, Little House on the Prairie, Bridge to Teribithia as well as some of their requests like the Lightning Thief series, Fablehaven series, etc.
Love your list, only a couple I haven’t read. I would add:
The Distant Land of My Father by Bo Caldwell
Little Bee by Chris Cleave
The Secret History by Donna Tart t
I have always re-read books. In fact, if I read a library book I truly love, I purchase it to have it on hand for years. And I have been known to mine the used bookshops to find books no longer available in my library that I decide, belatedly, to re-read. I’ve re-read all my favorite mystery authors (in series order): Louise Penny, Archer Mayor, Elizabeth George; especially during these fraught times.
I don’t normally reread books, but ThisTender Land by William Kent Krueger begs to be enjoyed again so I can savory the beautiful, descriptive language Krueger uses throughout his writing.
This was one of my favorite summer reads!
I totally agree. That book affected me long after finishing. It will definitely be reread in the future.
To Kill a Mockingbird is one book that I have read and reread, but I always do it with a group. I am amazed by the level of depth and conversation it still creates with my seniors.
Every October I read The Night Circus. That book is like if someone boiled Autumn down into a perfect, delicious caramel narrative. And it also has an interesting storytelling structure!
Yes! I love that book! I actually read Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell every fall.
Love these lists!
Christy by Catherine Marshall
Gone with the Wind
My Grandmother asked to tell you she’s sorry
Lonesome Dove
Anne of Green Gables
Narnia Chronicles
Into the Wilderness
True Grit
Pride and Prejudice
The Great Gatsby
The Voice in the Wind
The Hiding Place
The Pillars of the Earth
To Kill a Mockingbird
Can’t resist a prompt like this one, Anne! So, for what it’s worth:
1. The Great Gatsby
2. The Age of Innocence
3. A Wrinkle in Time
4.To Kill a Mockingbird
5. Flaubert’s Parrot
6. A Doll’s House
7. The Awakening
8. Ragtime
9. Franny and Zooey
10. Any and all P. G. Wodehouse
I almost never re-read books but I’ve read A Prayer for Owen Meany four times.
Favorite books are like a warm sweater on a chilly day; comforting, soft, nostalgic. My favorite rereads include Gettysburg, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, These Is My Words, Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility.
Good Omens, Pride and Prejudice, A Prayer For Owen Meany. I recently re-read Lonesome Dove and loved it even more the second time.
Reread Discovery of Witches Trilogy by Deborah Harkness every fall.
I love Rosamunde Pilcher’s books. I’ve reread A Winter Solstice several times!
Me too! I just love that story!
I have only rarely re-read books as an adult. As a child, I often re-read my beloved Trixie Belden series books, as well as Victoria Holt. I’ve re-read a few Harry Potter books, and Life After Life by Kate Atkinson. I finished that one and simply HAD to go back and restart it.
Which Victoria Holt do you recommend?
I reread A Place for Us and Maybe You Should Talk to Someone both this summer and loved them even more the second time through.
I totally forgot Lad: A dog on my list. I have read it three times! First time as a child in grade school. Love his books
Memoirs of a Geisha – I always find new things in that beautiful world the author creates. I used to get to the end and pick it right back up to the beginning and start again. I recently reread after several years and it was just as enjoyable to revisit and discover anew.
Little Women 🙂
The Choice
Leaving North Haven
The Last Lecture
The Treasure Principle
I’d Rather Be Reading
I’m not much of a rereader, although Anne has inspired me to become more of one. The Night Circus was just as good the second time. The funny thing is, I was much more of a rereader as a child. I have read The Secret Garden probably 30 times, and I was obsessed with a random book called The Only Alien on the Planet in middle school and reread it over and over.
While waiting for a new book to come out by Amy Tan, I re-read all of her books. Absolutely love her writing style. Joy Luck Club is on my list of top 5 favorite books I have ever read.
I re-read the classics frequently with Don Quixote, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, 100 Years of Solitude, Life on the Mississippi, My Antonia and The Good Earth top on my list.
Love Rules of Civility and Gentleman in Moscow. First got them from the library but purchased as I knew these would be read again.
I also love to re-read A Prayer for Owen Meany.
Nice list. Some of these are new to me, so look forward to picking them up.
I love rereading. Every Christmas I reread at least The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and sometimes the entire Chronicles of Narnia series. Every year or so I also like to reread Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston and The Yearling by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings
Love this list, Anne! Here are my top ten:
A Gentleman in Moscow – Amor Towles
The Goldfinch – Donna Tartt
Little Women – Louisa May Alcott
Rebecca – Daphne DuMaurier
Louise Penny’s Inspector Gamache series
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society – Barrows and Shaffer
Brooklyn – Colm Toibin
If We Were Villains – M.L. Rio
The Snow Child – Eowyn Ivey
Skellig – David Almond
All of Jane Austen (have read them countless times)
Harry Potter (read and listen)
Recently reread The Shell Seekers, Coming Home , and September by Rosamond Pilcher. Great comfort reading.
The best books of my childhood—The Secret Garden, for one.
When I need an escape to a gentler time I reread The Mitford series by Jan Karon…..needless to say I have done it this year… thanks
I have reread all of Jan Karon’s books multiple times but Shepherd’s Abiding is my Christmas read many years!
Other favorite rereads are
Julie by Catherine Marshall
Kindred By Octavia Butler
Maybe You Should Talk To Someone by Lori Gottlieb (I haven’t yet but know I will reread)
Sophie’s Heart by Lori Wick (and several others but this one is my favorite)
And my childhood favorite-The Little Princess
My rereads are mostly comfort reads. Little Women, Jane Eyre, Harry Potter, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Lonesome Dove, Elizabeth Enright’s Melendy Family series (a childhood favorite), and I am just finishing a re-read of At Home in Mitford. I thought I would re-read the Mitford series, one a year, but I’m not sure I can wait that long.
You should also read Elizabeth Enright’s Gone-Away Lake and sequel Return to Gone-Away (did you know she was niece of architect Frank Lloyd Wright?) Most comments here seem by “younger” readers as their re-reads are recent. I worked in libraries & bookstores, where we joked some books were a “waste of a dead tree” to print, when we had to strip covers off unsold paperbacks to get credit from publishers for unsold stock (thank goodness for more ecological e-books). Faced with millions of titles out there, you realize not all are worth reading. Oscar Wilde said “If one cannot enjoy reading a book over and over again, there is no use in reading it at all”. Famous librarian Nancy Pearl says to forget about keeping up with the reading Joneses. Her concept of 4 reading doorways is enlightening https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/columns-and-blogs/nancy-pearl/article/51109-check-it-out-with-nancy-pearl-finding-that-next-good-book.html Maybe some don’t like re-reading because they prefer reading for plot, but “Doorways” of place (description) and language appeal to me most. Books I own to re-read include Edward Eager, Rosemary Sutcliff, Maud Hart Lovelace, Harry Potter, Jane Austen (I do re-read other adult classics using critical studies to help me appreciate these better), Georgette Heyer, lesser known Alcott (such as Eight Cousins, Jack & Jill, Jo’s Boys), Tomas Takes Charge (aka Children in Hiding). My mother listened to Miss Read’s Fairacre & Thrush Green series over & over (these inspired Jan Karon’s Mitford series). Many of my faves appeal to both young and older readers–great to try now when families are spending more time together!
I hardly ever reread a favorite book. I have a large collection that I will not part with but there are so many books out there that I have in my TBR notebook and time is fleeting. For comfort, I have all of the Chet and Bernie series from Spencer Quinn and I love each and every one of them. Chet the Jet forever!
Chet and Bernie series is one of my all-time favorite! I re-read Dog On It listening to the audiobook narrated by Jim Franzione.
As many readers said, I’m not a big re-reader now, too many recommendations (thanks a lot, WSIRN!) But I noticed in reviewing my book journals going back to teenagerhood, that I used to re-read a lot. All the Dick Francis novels over and over and over. The Narnian Chronicles. Jane Austen. The 30s Williamsburg series by Elswyth Thane (favorite of my mother and grandmother). The My Friend Flicka series. Although I did read A Man Called Ove 3 times in one year more recently. Oh, and The Guernsey Literary Society!
I agree with Dick Francis! Why do those books comfort me so?
Oh, good, a fellow fan! He’s rarely mentioned on these blogs. Anyway, my theory is that it’s the “hero” in every book. The characters in the books always feel safe with him. They feel calm with him. He’s capable. He’s trustworthy. He’s smart. He makes us feel good.
A Prayer for Owen Meany
Watership Down
Angle of Repose
The Good Earth
Ethan Frome
Pride and Prejudice
Euphoria
The Painted Veil
Life of Pi
I was thinking of listening to A Prayer for Owen Meaney as my reread
Stones for Ibarra by Harriet Doerr and The Outsiders by SE Hinton are two books I’ve read and reread. I’ve been struggling with this category for the 2020 challenge. I’d almost settled on Into Thin Air by Krakauer but now think I might reread A Country Year by Sue Hubbell. I’m also like the idea of revisiting an audio book! Hated then narrator for Widows of Malabar Hill but I think I might love the book in print!
I re-read The Outsiders and That was Then, This is now too many times to count when I was a teenager.
Into Thin Air – phenomenal read! Thank you for the reminder.
I re-read Into Thin Air just last month. It was great – just as compelling as the first time around.
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn –
I need to reread it every few years. It never gets stale.
Okay for Now! I’m always so happy when it is on sale so that I can recommend it to someone else!
I was very surprised to see new releases (2020) on the list!!
I wonder how many times Anne has re-read them :O With so many books to read I don’t know if I would read again something I finished recently, but for sure 2 books are now on my list!!
Just about everything I reread is from my childhood and adolescence. Those books are like a cozy blanket I can wrap up in, comforting and familiar. I LOVE a good reread!
Anne of Green Gables. Always.
I lost count of how many times read it in my teens and 20s, along with Little Women.
I have not been a re-reader for a couple of decades now (unless I have to re-read a book club book so I won’t get in trouble-ha), since I want to read all the new books I can. However, I intend to re-read A Gentleman in Moscow and This Tender Land this fall, the former because I want to be there with the gentleman again, and the latter because I read it on Audible and felt my fingers itching to highlight, highlight, highlight throughout- so I need a physical copy.
This post has inspired me- I think my next re-read will be one that I read almost 30 years ago- Christy, by Catherine Marshall. I can’t believe I only read it once.
So that will be three on my reading challenge this year!!!!
PS I have re-read a couple of books accidentally. No lie. I am getting on in years and have read so many books and am not a great record-keeper… so I keep reading, thinking, “this is familiar….” Then I continue so that I can see what happened, or skip to the end without guilt bc I’ve read it before. 😉 An Accidental Re-Reader…. is that a thing?
Here’s a few of my favorite rereads….
Light a Penny Candle-by Maeve Binchy in the 1980s, I think I’ve read it four times over the years
The Red Tent
Grapes of Wrath by Steinbeck
The Worst Hard Times by Timothy Egan
Sarah’s Key
Harry Potter series-reread in its entirety after retiring
Little House on the Prairie series-I pull these books out to read when the power goes out by lamp light
All Quiet on the Western Front-a 1929 novel I first had to read in high school and have read twice since. Very moving.
The Grapes of Wrath is a favorite, as is East of Eden, although neither is a comfort – read. Now I have The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah from the same period. I recommend The Worst Hard Time often — I swear I could taste the dust. I lived in the central San Joaquin Valley for a year, where Steinbeck started writing Grapes of Wrath. A friend said she and her family were “road ditch Okies”, sleeping in the ditch beside the road because the camps were full.
I read The Worst Hard Time. My dad, who just turned ninety, lived in the Texas Panhandle as a small boy. He told me he remembers the big dust storm blowing in.
Two books that are on my “reread” list are “Confederacy of Dunces” and “Outlander.”
I’m not generally a rereader, but I’ve decided to make an exception for Connie Willis: The Doomsday Book and Blackout/All Clear are fantastic the first time around, and even better on reread. I’m on the lookout for them every time I go to the thrift store – I rarely buy books, but there are a choice few I want to return to, and those are definitely at the top of the list.
Doomsday Book is my favorite—I read it first when suffering pneumonia. It made a huge impact! 🙂 also adored To Say Nothing of the Dog and Blackout/All Clear.
Responding to this months and months later, but I truly love Connie Willis and don’t understand why she isn’t more popular. I’ve probably read To Say Nothing of the Dog twenty times!
My grandfather introduced me to Wallace Stegner through CROSSING TO SAFETY when I was in college. I’m trying to convince my “only dead authors” book club to read it next year. Have you read THE DEARLY BELOVED? It brought CROSSING TO SAFETY to mind so many times for me.
My favorite Wallace Stegner books are “Angle of Repose” and “Big Rock Candy Mountain.” I will still have flashes of certain scenes from both books, and it makes me want to reread them.
The People of the Book – Geraldine Brooks
anything by Peter Mayle (especially Hotel Pastis)
anything by Charlie Lovett
Travels with Charley – John Steinbeck
Take Big Bites – Linda Ellerbee
anything by Ruth Reichl
A Big Storm Knocked it Over – Laurie Colwin
anything by Mary Oliver
Kitchen Confidential – Anthony Bourdain
Oh, I forgot about Peter Mayle! Definitely one of my re-reads!
Jane Eyre
Have just a few that come right off the top of my head:
A Severe Mercy, Sheldon Vanauken
The Stranger, Albert Camus
The Death of Ivan Illyich, Leo Tolstoy
The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wild
The Selfish Gene, Richard Dawkins
…and I read Hemingway’s Hills Like White Elephants every couple of months.
Knowing God by JI Packer makes the list every January.
And for whatever weird reason, I dip frequently in the poetry of Wilfred Owen and Pablo Neruda.
Cheers!
I am so happy to see Rebecca and Jane Eyre so many times in the comments! I have read both several times and they actually have some very similar themes. I have re-read Aunt Dimity’s Death many many times as well.
Every November, I read Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell. I read it for the first time when I was studying abroad in France while in between classes, sitting in front of a fire. It is my happy place. Now I need to go back to A Gentleman in Moscow and the Night Circus again!
NOT a re-reader! But I have lately been wanting to re-read “I’d Rather Be Reading” by our beloved Anne for the comfort factor. Some great books listed here but many are so long! Also interesting to see a lot of classics. Added to my TBR for sure and maybe I will made a “re-read” shelf 🙂
Count me among those who rarely re-read books (I seldom even read more than two books by any one author, even if I like them, because I’m wanting to sample ALL the authors)!
However, in the past couple years, after listening to a great book, I urged my husband to also listen, so ended up reading (and enjoying) a few twice:
–Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand
–Ready Player One
–A Man Called Ove
–Britt Marie Was Here
–Call of the Wild
For the MMD 2020 reading challenge, I reread Pride & Prejudice 25 years after reading it in college, and it was entirely new to me, so now I can better imagine myself re-reading some long-ago favorites.
Oh! And Jim Dale’s reading of the HP series has been on during dinner prep in our house for nearly 2 decades now… We’ve listened countless times, can quote long, obscure passages, and *still* hear new phrases & descriptions when listening!
those are my go to sleep audiobooks! Works like a charm and I dream of being a witch.
(“Works like a charm” <—I see what you did there! 😉 )
I love Fredrick Backman, my favorite is My Grandmother asked me to tell you she is Sorry. I have read it twice!
I reread The Count of Monte Cristo every couple of years, but it has to be the complete unabridged version (all 1400ish pages!). I love the story, how it pulls you in and makes you feel like anything can happen.
I remember when I read this book, I thought, there is no way I am going to finish this, but I loved it, and I couldn’t STOP reading it! I’m not sure I could reread it though 🙂
I love the author, Amor Towles. He writes so beautifully. Being a born and bred New Yorker from Manhattan, I read RULES OF CIVILITY 3 times. Each time, the book got better and better. A GENTLEMAN IN MOSCOW, was my favorite. Towles’ words and descriptions were even more meaningful in this novel. I read it slowly the second and third time just to “meditate” upon his words and descriptions. The main characters gained more depth upon each reading. Some of the ladies in my book group read these two novels with great appreciation: they started re-reading GIM right away upon finishing the first time.
I rarely reread novels but I do reread books with essays, especially self help and lifestyle books. I did reread The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton for a book club and was so surprised at how much I had forgotten! I feel like the clock is ticking and there are so many new books I want to read. Even with that said, I think rereading a book deepens one’s reading experience.
Entwined by Heather Dixon is one of my very favorite books. It’s a retelling of the twelve dancing princesses, but with the addition of magic, more legitimate romance, and an exploration of loss as experienced by parents and children. It is truly amazing, and I reread it at least every two years.
I have some of your rereads on my TBR List. I read Marjorie Morningstar years ago. Just remember at the Time that I thought I would like to reread. I also would like to reread The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto and The Extraordinary Life of San Hell. So many others but have so many on my TBR since listening to your podcasts and joining book club. Recently retired so looking forward to some good leisurely time spent reading.
I started a project last year where I am reading the journals of L.M.Montgomery and then rereading all of the Anne of Green Gables books. That’s been really fun!
On Audible, I have been rereading some of my favorite books from childhood (Little House and Ramona series) as well as classics that I read in college but didn’t always “get.” But now, there are so many great “readers” of audiobooks that it actually makes some of these long books, like Middlemarch, easier to stick with, and I learn so much more. I also reread all of the books I assign to my students for the same reason.
Other than that, though, I tend not to reread just because, as so many of you have already said, my TBR is HUGE, and there just isn’t time!
I am 48 yrs old, an avid reader my whole life – I LOVE reading – and have NEVER re-read a book. And the funny thing is: it has never occurred to me to re-read a book – lol! Once and done – love the story or hate it – doesn’t matter. I am so intrigued by all of the comments of re-readers…but I have no plans to start re-reading. My TBR List is so long that I can’t even think of a book that I would want to re-read 🙂
I too have to add that I am not able to reread as there are too many new books to read.
Old favourites I have managed to reread-
1.To kill a mockingbird
2.Rebecca
3.A suitable boy
4.All Jane Austens
5.The Book Thief
The book I have re-read most often as an adult is probably C.S. Lewis’s That Hideous Strength. It’s an odd one: a blend of Sci-fi, fantasy, horror, social satire and theology. I love the strangeness of the story, and somehow find it very comforting. Other favorite re-reads:
– The Great Gatsby
– The Wind in the Willows
– A Christmas Carol
– Bird by Bird
– Home Cooking, by Laurie Colwin
– everything by Madeleine L’Engle
I’ll be honest, I hated Beach Read with a passion. But some of my favourite rereads involve Pride and Prejudice, the Hobbit, LoTR, anything by Agatha Christie or CS Lewis.
Stephanie, I really didn’t care for the Beach Read either!!!!!
Oh no! I just got it from the library!
I was so surprised to find Beach Read on this list. I just finished listening to it and didn’t love it. There was too much explicit sex in it for my taste. There’s another book, also narrated by Julia Whelan, called Evvie Drake Starts Over and while it does have some sex in it, it isn’t graphic like Beach Read. When I finished Evvie Drake, I literally started right back at the beginning and listened to it again. I loved it!
Definitely Anne of Green Gables, The Secret Garden, Louise Penney, The Thornbirds.
I have read many books 2 or 3 times, but there are some that I return to over and over again. Some of my favorite re-reads are:
The Mitford series
Anne of Green Gables series (really anything by LM Montgomery)
Little Women
EF Benson’s LUCIA books…an “every five year” reread. Delightful English farce.
And…every five years….from my teen years…the PENNY PARRISH series by Janice Lambert.
Several suggestions if you have the time as some are a time commitment.
Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry
The Weight of Ink by Rachel Kadish
A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
A Constellation of Vital Phenomena by Anthony Marra
I want one of those anchor-shaped things to hold open a book. What is it called and where can I buy one? Thanks.
Found it! “Page Anchor” on Amazon
I want to be more of a rereader, but there are not many that I’ve reread recently. However, one of them is Bittersweet, a memoir by Shauna Niequist. One of the ones I want to reread is Everything I Never Told You, by Celeste Ng. Fall seems like a good time to do this.
Watership Down and The Hobbit – read many many many times times…
Being a bit “older”, I think back to the books I’ve read and loved over my life, and have found myself re-reading many of Rosamunde Pilcher, Maeve Binchy, and Belva Plain books. 🙂
I love Maeve Binchy’s books, Rosamund Pilcher is one of my absolute favorites. I read and reread Come September and Winter Solstice. They’re comforting. Has anyone read The Charm School by Nelson DeMille? I’m also older, and fascinated with the cold war period. Charm School is set in Russia and gives me chills every time I read it. I feel the fear that runs as an undercurrent in every chapter.
Jane Eyre
North and South
Pride and Prejudice
Wives and Daughters
Rebecca
The Blue Castle
The Sun Also Rises
Anna Karenina
Five Little Pigs
The Mill on the Floss
Gowk Storm
Evelina
To Kill a Mockingbird
Anything by Tracy Chevalier-especially The Virgin Blue and The Girl with the Pearl Earring. Hilary Mantel’s Cromwell trilogy.
Yes!
1. The Language of Flowers’s by Vanessa Diffenbaugh
2. Jane Austen-all
3.Take Good Care of the Garden & the Dogs by Heather Lende
4. Gift from the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh-revisit every Summer
5. Screwtape Letters by CS Lewis
6. The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Society by Mary Ann Barrows
7. Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien
8. Little Women by Laura Ingalls Wilder
9. Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolvet
10. Where the Crawdads Sing
When Crickets Cry by Charles Martin, or anything by Charles Martin!
Oh, do I ever love to re-read the classics! For the past five years, I have read the novels listed below., and I can’t tell you how excited I get for the month of my re-read to begin. During Covid, I’ve re-read Middlemarch, The Count of Monte Cristo, Wuthering Heights and Rebecca, loving them all even more the second time around.
October – Dracula (the Audible narration by Alan Cumming and Tim Curry is incredible)
November – Jane Eyre (oh my heart, the best, the very best)(Audible narration by Thandie Newton is breathtaking and impressive…my favorite audiobook narration ever!)
December – Mr. Dickens and His Carol (3 years in a row…)(This will move your heart in ways you could never imagine, a true gem and deserves to be called a classic)
Happy reading!
Oh, isn’t Thandie Newton’s reading of Jane Eyre absolutely exquisite? One of my time faves as well. I’m constantly recommending it to people.
The Red Tent by Anita Diamant! It’s a women’s story about genuine sisterhood and the value of the sacred feminine. I read it every summer
I really liked Rules of Civility.
Let the Great World Spin
Gift of the Sea
A Confederacy of Dunces
The Elegance of the Hedgehog
Frederick (children’s book
I was a huge re-reader as a child and re-read the Nancy Drew and Trixie Belden series more times than I can count. As an adult, I don’t do it as often but still re-read some:
Harry Potter series
Virgin River series by Robyn Carr (new book FINALLY coming out next month in support of the Netflix series, which I also love!)
The Happiness Project, Happier at Home, and Better than Before by Gretchen Rubin
The books I have re-read that come to mind are:
The Screwtape Letters
To Kill a Mockingbird
Caddie Woodlawn
Any of Betty Smith’s books
Any of Jan Karon’s books
And a book I’ve had that was my mother got when she belonged to a book club in the 50’s – Invitation to Tea by Monica Lang. When I first read it I thought it was a wonderful novel but I discovered it was not fiction and I loved it even more. It’s seems exotic being set on a tea plantation in India. I re-read it every few years.
I am so glad you put Rules of Civility on the list. Unlike many other commenters, I preferred Rules of Civility to A Gentleman in Moscow, though I did like that novel.
Alan Paton’s “Cry, the Beloved Country” is a beautifully written novel that incorporates universal themes and characters that the author threads together with exquisite poetic language. The book’s profound insights into adversity, and its triumphs over fear that feeds injustice, and the hope for change that it offers at the end is worth the yearly visit I make among the pages of this masterpiece.
The Light We Cannot See – Anthony Doerr
Sherlock Holmes – Vol 1 & 2 – Arthur Conan Doyle
The Tenth Gift – Jane Johnson
The Eight – Katherine Neville (read it again this week!)
Possession – A.S. Byatt
The Pillars of the Earth series – Ken Follett
The Great Shame – Thomas Keneally
All Books – P.D. James
The Crimson Petal and the White – Michael Faber
The Shadow of the Wind – Carlos Ruiz Zafon
The Narnia Chronicles
A Wrinkle in Time
Team of Rivals – Doris Kerns Goodwin
The Firebird – Susanna Kearsley
The Historian – Elizabeth Kostova
Jonathan Strange and & Mr. Norrell – Susanna Clarke
The list goes on and on….
Excellent choices of books!
I’m not really a re-reader. I’m a FT book buyer and seller at an indie store so I’ve just got too much to choose from. However, a recent exception is Rules For Visiting. I’ve read it 3 times!!!
I loved Rules for Visiting, and I need to re-read it!! Thanks for the reminder.
What is that anchor holding your book pages open?!
I’m not a re-reader! But….
The Thorn Birds, I have read three times!
I’m not a huge re-reader, but I agree that when you’re in a slump returning to an old favorite is the best way to get out. My favorite re-reads are Pride and Prejudice, Outlander series, Discovery of Witches books, Anne of Green Gables, Harry Potter series, and Jane Eyre. I also end up re-reading occasionally with my teen boys. My favorites with them have been The Book Thief and Poisonwood Bible. It was fun revisiting those books while they were experiencing them for the first time. Although I loved both books when I first read them, I don’t think I would have re-read them if my sons weren’t reading them. However, I think I loved them even more the second time around!Makes me think I should re-read more books than just my old favs.
I enjoyed this list very much–there are several books here that I have not yet read. I love to re-read books and there are many books on my list, but I’ll share my absolute favorite as I haven’t seen it in a comment up to this point. 84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff. It’s short, smart, funny, and heartbreaking. Pretty close to the perfect book, in my opinion.
I reread all the time but some of my favorites are all of Jane Austen, Jane Eyre, and The Secret Garden.
Lord of the Rings!
I am a massive re-reader, so I’m trying to keep this to books I’ve read three or more times. In no particular order:
1. Pride and Prejudice
2. The Blue Castle and A Tangled Web by l.m.Montgomery
3. Moving on, and Simple Abundance, and Romancing the Ordinary, all three by Sarah Ban Breathnach
4. How to be a Normal Person by TJ Klune (has written many books I have and will re-read)
5. A Son of His Father by Harold Bell Wright
6. The Raven Cycle series by Maggie Steifvater
7. Julie and Kirsti both by Helen Markley Miller
8. Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
9. The Mrs. Pollifax series by Dorothy Gilman
10. The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by AVI
I suppoooose I’ll keep it to a nice even ten.
1. The Hobbit & The Lord of the Rings
2. The Narnia Series
3. Pride & Prejudice
4. Watership Down
5. Something Wicked this Way Comes
I found Happy Ever After Playlist by Abby Jimenez on your summer read list. I finished it in 2 days and then re-read it immediately. I’m so thankful for your recommendations!
I used to be almost entirely a rereader, but not as much since summer 2016 (I graduated law school that summer-during law school I had no brain space for new books so I reread a lot, because I did still want to read!). There are a few books I have read multiple times-
Harry Potter. I’ve read the whole series….I don’t know. Maybe 10 times? More? Listening to them on audio for the first time in 2018/2019 was incredible.
Molokai by Alan Brennert. All time favorite book- also loved it on audio after many reads in paper/on kindle.
Hunger Games. Also audio for the first time, most recently.
The Fault in Our Stars.
The Little House books. Favorite is The Long Winter.
Station Eleven.
The Martian.
Millennium series.
All the Light We Cannot See.
I kee meaning to reread A Gentleman in Moscow, Where the Crawdads Sing, Me Before You, and some others on my favorites shelf but there are so many new, amazing books to read.
I LOVE this topic! I’m a big mood reader, and if I want something comforting, I tend to reach for a book from my childhood.
I’ve got a Reread shelf on Goodreads, and crunching the numbers tells me that I’ve reread 3 per cent of books I’ve read. Some, like ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’, I’ve read three times, and will continue to return to for the rest of my life. Actually, browsing through my Reread shelf, I’m thinking, “Yup, I need to reread that book again. And that one. And that one too!”.
I think classics stand up very well to rereading, particularly because the first time many of us encounter them is at high school, when the mind, heart and soul are perhaps not as receptive as they will be later in life.
Can’t Wait To Get To Heaven by Fannie FLagg/I’ve read at least 3 times/just love her quirky characters and just nice people in her books
Cutting for Stone (Abraham Verghese). The Poisonwood Bible (my queen Barabara Kingsolver), and Pride & Prejudice.
Favorites from my childhood are some I reread every year or so, including:
Lord of the Rings
Pride and Prejudice
Jane Eyre
But I have a favorite reread that is newer, The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold. Am rereading it now.
I don’t often reread. I have reread the Harry Potter series a ridiculous amount of times. Recently I reread The Summer that Melted Everything and I was so happy I did. Some books need to be reread.
My most treasured re-read book, is Mrs Mike by Benedict & Nancy Freedman. (1947) My mom loved it and passed it on to me. I love to read it every winter.
I am a rereader all the way! Maeve Binchy, Rosamunde Pilcher, Patrick Taylor, Bill Bryson all get read again and again. And that’s not all! I have favorite books in all genres by random authors that I read again 🥰
Aaaand I have reread ‘I’d Rather be Reading’!!! It’s a favorite of mine!
My book club just read Rules of Civility and it was a re-read for me. Love it! We also read Gentleman in Moscow.
A Prayer for Owen Meany is also a great repeat.
Crossing to Safety is so good too!
Pat Conroy – especially The Prince of Tides, probably because it’s his first that I read – Chronicles of Narnia, People of the Book, and Interpreter of Maladies.
I read very little fiction, and reread almost nothing (other than children’s picture books I read to my granddaughter teehee). But 2 books I’ve listened to the authors read and then sought them out in print to reread. They are “For the Love” by Jen Hatmaker, and “Soulful Simplicity” by Courtney Carver. Even now, I’d reread Soulful Simplicity if I had a copy nearby. Also, I read “Interrupted” by Jen Hatmaker and would like to someday read it again. At the time, I was going through similar circumstances, now I’d like to have a post-experience view. 😀
Please try an overlooked new “classic,” The Cheerleader by Ruth Doan Macdougall, a coming-of-age novel set in 1950’s New England. Ruth’s depictions of teenage angst and revelation are spot on. There are also several sequels to the original book that continue the stories of her beloved characters. All of these books are constant comfort rereads for me.
Does it count that I just finished reading through my Bible again for at least the 25th year, I keep the bookmarks and journals of what I read each day. But I love many other books to reread, for example Sophie’s Heart, All the Light We Cannot See, The whole Little House Series, Anything by Dallas Willard or Richard Foster. But I love to come here and see what other people are reading, it keeps me on top of what is out there that is new to read! I rarely read fiction, so when I do, I want it to be worth my time. You all help me with those choices.
I somewhat recently realized I’m a rereader. I have read and listened to Anne of Green Gables nearly half a dozen times and never tire of it! But I just read Beach Read on audio for the first time last week and immediately started it over again. I’ve never done that before, and it’s even better the second time. I’m delighted to know it made it on this list!
But my other recent favorite is the audio of The Flatshare by Beth O’Leary. The dual narrators portray the characters so well and it’s full of witty British humor while plumbing the depths of genuine relationships.
I didn’t love Beach Read, but Julia Whelan also narrated Evvie Drake Starts Over and I did the same thing as you with that one. As soon as I finished listening to it, I started right back at the beginning and listened to it again. Enjoyed it thoroughly that time too!
I read a great article about Darcy! https://amp.smh.com.au/lifestyle/life-and-relationships/twenty-five-years-on-we-re-all-still-looking-for-mr-darcy-20200917-p55wih.html
I would’ve said I am not a “rereader” until I read everyone’s comments and recognized so many titles that I have reread! Thank you everyone for your lists. Some of my rereads:
Mere Christianity
A Wrinkle in Time
My Antonia
Into Thin Air
The Great Gatsby
To Kill a Mockingbird
Charles Dickens’ books
Jane Austen’s books
P. G. Wodehouse’s books
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Jane Eyre
Gone With the Wind
A Christmas Memory
I haven’t read any of these. Though I did watch Green Gables growing up and recently discovered Anne with an E on Netflix and equally loved that as well.
This post prompted me to reread the book I claim to be my favorite, Rebecca. I have not read it in a long time. I look forward to seeing if it still my favorite. I also claim that I loved Light A Penny Candle by Maeve Binchy when I read that. Will have to reread that as well.
For me, rereading is saved for books I love but I usually need a significant amount of time between readings. I typically reread books from my childhood (The Secret Garden, The Witch of Blackbird Pond, The Blue Castle, all of Austen’s books) or books that make me laugh and aren’t too long (Austenland, The Unhoneymooners). I do have a few books on my bookshelf that I love and plan to reread (Watership Down, The Three Musketeers, Ivanhoe) and currently I am rereading the first in the Amelia Peabody series, Crocodile on the Sandbank.
So many good book here! I’ll add three more I didn’t see listed.
1. Unbroken by Erin Hillenbrand
2. Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
3. The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson (I just recently finished this one and I know I will be rereading it!)
Every year I make time to re-read The Golden Gate by Vikram Seth. Have you read it, Anne? If not, PLEASE do. I think you will love it. It’s a novel in verse and centres around the lives and loves of 4 characters in 1980’s Silicon Valley.
Favorite rereads: Surprised by Joy – C.S. Lewis, any of Miss Read’s books on the village school, A Christmas Carol – Dickens, Gaudy Night by Dorothy Sayers
Milkman by Anna Burns. Never get enough of it.
I have re-read many times over the years:
All of Jane Austen
Little Women (too many times to count)
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
The Secret Garden
Anne of Green Gables (but only the first book)
The Great Gatsby
Rebecca
Thorn Birds
Lonesome Dove
Poisonwood Bible
Grapes of Wrath
Diary of Ann Frank
Loved, loved, loved “Gentleman in Moscow” and will re-read
Books I want to reread:
1. The Secret Garden (read when 12)
2. The Bright Empires series
3. The Secret Life of Souls
I just finished Hannah Coulter and I loved it! I also loved Crossing to Safety and Angle of Repose.
I loved A Gentleman in Moscow!
I loved Rules of Civility, even though it’s so different than A.G. in M. I’m DYING to read Eve in Hollywood, which tells about Eve’s adventures once she gets to Hollywood (I guess that’s obvious), but I can’t find it in print anywhere!
I just re-read The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd and I am so glad that I did. I loved A Gentleman in Moscow. Beach Read was just so-so for me. I think it was so hyped up on Booktube that I expected a lot more out of than I got.
James Herriot’s series All Creatures Great and Small, etc.
I love re-reading, and I have done a fair amount of it in 2020. Something about the weird uncertainty we’re slogging through makes me want to return to my old book-friends. Lately I’ve been going through all of Dorothy Sayers again. Her books are just delightful. Some of my other favorite re-reads:
-All of Jane Austen (many times each)
-All of L.M. Montgomery
-North and South, by Elizabeth Gaskell
-Anything by Georgette Heyer
-Harry Potter
-To Kill a Mockingbird
-I Capture the Castle, by Dodie Smith (I LOVE this book)
-Little Women
-Mrs. Mike, by Benedict and Nancy Freedman
-Timothy Zahn’s Star Wars novels (weirdly inconsistent with my other picks, I realize)
Re-reading just makes me so happy.
I totally agree with Anne of Green Gables. Any of L.M. Montgomery’s books transport me back to a time where things were ReAL and SIMPLE. Love was pure. I absolutely LOVE Elizabeth Acevedo but she’s a new author for me so I haven’t re-read anything by her yet. The other books in your series are new to me so now my TBR just increased by 7 more books 🙂
I usually reread my favorite old, leather bound hardbacks in my library: Native Son – Richard Wright, Sidhartha – Hesse, any Jane Austen book, and any Pearl S. Buck book.
A Gentleman in Moscow is my favorite reread! I love coming back to the characters and their sweet relationships.
Retreading anything by Barbara Pym gives me comfort. It’s like coming home.
I reread Little Women, The Bell Jar, and Because of Winn Dixie over and over again. Each one has a season for me – Winn Dixie, when I am feeling lonely or a little isolated; The Bell Jar when I am feeling low, and I just want to endure the period; Little Women when I am feeling nostalgic. They are all so different, but they all have strong female leads that I can see a different side of myself in.
Cyteen – C J Cherryh
Any Jane Austen
David Coppersmith
Christmas Carol
Oliver Twist
The Foundation – Asimov
Any/all Agatha Christie
Any Earl Stanley Gardener
Any W E B Griffin
The Belgariad – David Edding
Owls in the Family by Farley Mowat. The room where I teach is adjacent to a third grade teacher who was reading it aloud to her class. I had to get my copy out and reread it.
Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis and Jane Eyre are probably my most rereads.
Thanks for new books to add to my must read list. Rebecca, Gatsby, Pride and Prejudice, Still Life (Louise Penny) and Gone with the Wind are some of my top choices.
I go back over and over again to the solitary journeys in Charles Frazier’s Cold Mountain, James Dickey’s To the White Sea, Wendell Berry’s Jaber Crow, and A.B Guthrie Jr’s The Big Sky. They are dark and perilous, and connect me to the deepest angst of loneliness, with characters that ponder the depths of longing and survival.
Many of the above, and Cold Comfort Farm – always a joy.
“The Poisonwood Bible” by Barbara Kingsolver is an amazing novel I re-read regularly. Every time I am thrilled anew by the way she wrings the most out of each word, creates phrases that stay in your mind forever after. “The sound of snake belly on branch” is just one of many evocative images she creates with her genius use of language. I’ve been an avid reader since the age of four, and this is the most meticulously crafted novel I’ve read. Sheer brilliance.
I read the Poisonwood Bible years and years ago. I recently listened to the audio version and was amazed at what I missed the first time around. What an amazing book!
love in the time of cholera. heartbreaking and lovely.
I re-read Moby Dick every three or four years. I buy a new copy each time and when I finish marking it up, I compare what I have with my other copies. As all of you have commented, it is amazing what you might have missed the first few times around. I commented to a fellow reader one time that it is a very funny book. Melville really did have a sense of humor. He challenged me to prove that it is funny and I bought another copy and just traced the humor. He humbly apologized for doubting me!
A book that I just love and haven’t seen mentioned here is The Education of Little Tree by Forrest Carter. It’s one that I’ve read several times.
Always a go to for me is The Unicorn Chronicles series by Bruce Coville! Began reading these in 7th grade (1997)
I Love I’d Rather be Reading!,I borrowed it from the library and hunted down my own copy.
We have a number of re-reads in common but Amor Towles “Gentleman from Moscow” is one of mine (not his “Rules of Civility”). I re-read Jane Austen (“Pride & Prejudice, Sense & Sensibility) annually as well as “Little Women” by Louisa Mae Alcott, “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn” by Betty Smith and of course, both “Secret Garden” and “Anne of Green Gables”. I know the last several are “children’s books” but I find something new and delightful in them each time I re-read. I also love, love, love and re-read “When All is Said” by Ann Griffin.
Rosamunde Pilcher books are my comfort books for reading time and again. Shellseekers, Coming Home, September, and Winter Solstice.
I have read and reread Possession by A.S.Byatt so many times, each time it reveals itself differently. A River Runs Through It. And Crossing to Safety for sure.
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Here’s to all the “kindred spirits” out there!
The Mitford Series by Jan Karon
Louise Penny’s Three Pines/Inspector Gamache books
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
And, though I have only read them all one time through as of yet, I will be re-reading the Vanderbeekers series.
I agree with a lot of titles on this list. I would add Evvie Drake States Over by Linda Holmes
Crossing to Safety is wonderful!! Also loved Angle of Repose.
I love reading the comments on this blog almost as much as the content! Thanks for the suggestions. I have seen titles I read long ago that I had forgotten about. Not a big rereader because I have so much I want to read but Harry Potter is my go to every couple of years and The Witching Hour, both in the fall. When younger my favorite to read again was the Little House series.
I’m almost 50 and I have read A Tree Grows in Brooklyn every summer since I was 13- and read Little Women almost every Christmas (and watch the Winona Ryder version). Lately I re-read more than read new books. Favorites are Poisonous Bible, the Red Tent, I know why the caged bird sings, Like Water for Elephants and the Little House books.
*Poisonwood*