Most reread books...?

[justcarol67]

Andromeda wrote:
>   Last week TLC had a link to an ALA article on the most reread 
> books and it got me to wondering.  It mentioned that the books we 
> tend to reread most are usually ones we encountered as 
> children/teens, and it gave a list of some of the most popular 
> (Harry Potter & Pride and Prejudice were the ones I identified 
> with). I can only think of two book series I've gotten hooked on 
> enough to reread (and reread and reread) since becoming an adult, 
> but there were plenty in the teen years.  IN fact, just thinking 
> about what I used to read made me crave some of them again. 
> 
>  So I'm wondering, what books do my fellow HP fanatics love outside 
> of HP? I'll list a few of my favorites:
> Elizabeth Peters' Amelia Peabody mysteries 
> AS Byatt's Possession (probably a sin to admit it here in HP world, 
> but I still love the book)
> Robin MCKinley's The Blue Sword (one of my all-time favorites, still)
> Anne McCaffery's Dragon books (the original 6)
> Dorothy Sayers' Lord Peter mysteries
> L'Engle's Wrinkle in Time and Swiftly Tilting Planet (first science 
> fiction book I ever read)
> Susan Cooper's Dark is Rising series
> Douglas Adams' Dirk Gently books
> Ursula LeGuin's Earthsea books
> David Eddings' Belgariad
> Peter Beagle  "The Last Unicorn"
> Narnia, some of Andre NOrton's old Witch World books
> RA MacAvoy "Tea with the Black Dragon" (probably kind of dated now, 
> but what a neat idea for a main character)
> 
> OK, that is or was my comfort food for the soul, when I need to 
> escape to another, familiar and comfortable world.  What do you 
> folks REread aside from Harry.


Carol:
I like the way you ask the question: Not "favorite" books but the
books we reread. I don't know about anyone else, but I go on binges,
obsessing about some particular topic (Australopithecines or Richard
III, for example). When the obsession is an author, say Tolkien, I
read everything I can find by that author. As a child, I used to read
everything I could find in a particular series, for example the We
Were There books (historical fiction with child protagonists) and the
Bobbsey Twins when I was seven. I read all of the Oz books when I was
about eleven and only reread one or two ("The Patchwork Girl of Oz"
was one of them). I also read all of the Louisa May Alcott books and
reread some of them, notably "Under the Lilacs," three or four times.
The first book I reread *obsessively* was "The Robe," part of a
lifelong interest in the ancient Greeks and Romans. At fifteen, I
discovered LOTR and reread it (appendices and all) once a year for
more than twenty years (till the Richard III obsession took over).
More recent favorites include books I didn't particularly enjoy when I
first read them as a teenager but rediscovered and fell in love with
when I taught them to my students in freshman composition courses
while working on my PhD: "Jane Eyre," "Pride and Prejudice," "Moby
Dick," to a lesser degree "Huckleberry Finn." (I was also studying the
English Romantic poets, but I wasn't rereading them for *fun*!)
Another recent favorite is Sharon Kay Penman's "The Sunne in
Splendour," not necessarily great literature, but I share her view of
Richard III, the most tragic and misunderstood figure in English
history. I still love Richard, but there's nothing new to discover
about him, so for the moment at least he's been displaced by HP.

To sum up, I think my reading interests are shaped by my interest in
history and my love of all things English. In the case of LOTR, it's a
vividly realized imaginary world I can escape to. In the case of Harry
Potter, it's a particular character (the endlessly fascinating Severus
Snape) I can discuss with similarly demented, erm, obsessed adults.

Carol