The 10 Novels I've Re-Read the Most!

[@douglasreynolds7903]

Of all the things you said that I enjoyed, the comment, "I am the last port of call for the battered second hand book." That image struck me. Made me think of my battered second hand books that will go no farther than me in a new light.

[@saintdonoghue]

I absolutely love the feeling of being the last happy, grateful home for some dilapidated old book! Maybe connected with the fact that I have very often been the last happy, grateful home for lots of dogs as well!

[@ellie698]

​@@saintdonoghue I'm glad I'm not the only one! Hahahaha

[@arthurodell3281]

I go through reading periods where I can only re-read. Here’s my list: 1. Dracula 2. Hobbit/Lord of the Rings 3. The Chronicles of Narnia 4. The Wind in the Willows 5. Most of Agatha Christie’s Poirot novels 6. Most of Dick Francis’ novels 7. Frankenstein 8. John Ford’s How Much for Just the Planet? (My favorite Star Trek novel) 9. Lloyd Alexander’s Prydain chronicles 10. Ursula Le Guin’s Earthsea For runners up, the stories of H P Lovecraft, Robert E. Howard, and Fritz Leiber. And too many comic books to count.

[@konstantinos-6-6-6-8]

I just recently read wind in the willows, if you don’t mind me asking what’s the appeal? Beyond some very evocative descriptions I found it meandering and plotless… did I miss something?

[@ImToastAlso]

The first five would be on my list! I would add To Kill A Mockingbird, almost anything by PG Wodehouse and Jane Eyre.

[@TheRuneguides]

I’m pretty sure I’ve read goodnight moon to my daughter north of 300 times. Think I’ve got you beat sir. lol.

[@carolynellis2788]

Hi. I'm Chris but share an email with my wife Carolyn. I'm 72 years old but like you only look 28. I've watched and loved loads of your videos but have never written before. I love to reread so couldn't resist this one. P&P and Brideshead would be in my top ten like you. So too The Long Goodbye. I wonder how familiar you'll be with my other choices. Miss Buncle's Book, Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day and What a Carve Up!. All books to lift the spirit. Then A.N.Wilson's Bottle in the Smoke, Mick Jackson's The Widow's Tale, Magnus Mills' All Quiet on the Orient Express and James Wood's The Book Against God. All very English. Runners-up might be Alison Lurie's The Last Resort, Philip Roth's The Facts and Julian Barnes' The Sense of an Ending. What a joy it has been to remind myself of these books. Oh damn, I forgot The Prime Minister and I only finished it for the nth time two days ago.

[@stretmediq]

1- The Woman in White 2- The Hound of the Baskervilles 3- The Sign of the Four 4- Goodbye Mr Chips 5- The Illiad 6- The Odyssey 7- Dracula 8- Frankenstein 9- Alice in Wonderland 10- Jane Erye 11- The Deer Slayer 12- Childhoods End 13- The Brothers Karamazov 14- War and Peace 15- Les Miserable 16- The Count of Monte Cristo 17- For Whom the Bell Tolls 18- Murder on the Orient Express 19- Bleak House 20- Huckleberry Finn Sorry I couldn't do just ten

[@MotiviqueStudio]

Good list! I just now picked Woman in White back up (I stopped reading for a bit). I'm around page 500. I read Moonstone last year. I personally enjoy Collins much more than the Sherlock Holmes I've read. Childhood's End is a future read this year.

[@MotiviqueStudio]

@OmkarDunghav- Imagine having different tastes than someone else and telling them your taste is better because you're the arbiter of what's good and bad.

[@MotiviqueStudio]

@OmkarDunghav- "I was just surprised that someone could re-read that book, because I was unable to finish it." Yeah. You stay happy.

[@jshaers96]

I return to 'The Pickwick Papers' whenever I need cheering up. It's the book above all others that I would recommend anyone new to Dickens should start with, because it's the one with the least sentimentality and the most humour. It never gets old for me even though I must have read it ten times at least by now. I've also read 'Catch-22' innumerable times, because I can't get over how one man could write something so stunning while the rest of his work is so forgettable. Another one would be 'Earthly Powers' by Anthony Burgess. It's much better than 'A Clockwork Orange' and contains enough to withstand multiple re-readings and you will still get something new out of it each time.

[@joebeamish]

Well said. Harold Bloom was another re-reader of Pickwick, once per year in fact. I think I may give it a reread instead of reading Dombey and Son.

[@davidquak4398]

I have never read earthly powers.

[@Mattblaster0]

I did far more rereading as a child and teenager than I do as an adult, so my most read books are all children’s books. Boxcar Children, Roald Dahl, Animorphs. I read the ones I owned dozens of times. We didn’t have cable or the internet until I was almost 18, so all I had were the books I owned. I know I have read the first Harry Potter book at least 8 times, because each time a new book came out I would reread the series up to that point.

[@Mattblaster0]

I decided to actually use the “at least 4 times” criteria for books I’ve read since I was a child and off the top of my head I can think of To Kill a Mockingbird, 1984, Tom Sawyer, and Stephen King’s Eyes of the Dragon.

[@stretmediq]

I still have almost all the Scholastic paperbacks I read in grade school and I occasionally reread them and I'll be 65 years old in November. My favorites are The Mad Scientists Club and The Ghost of Dibble Hollow I also have all the Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators books and Brains Benton as well as all the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew I basically don't get rid of books 😉

[@charlescarpenter9000]

The book I’ve read at least seven times, although not a novel, is “Leisure the Basis of Culture.” by Josef Pieper. First published in German in 1947, and in English in 1952, in Mentor Classics. I absolutely love this book.

[@ShawnDStandfast]

Thanks for doing this. I could have added several from your list. I was hovering over Brideshead.

[@mitchelaxler7656]

My runner ups, each read three times: Melville: The Confidence Man; Han Kang: Greek Lessons; Han Kang: The Vegetarian The ten: Moby Dick (at least 8 times) Reader"s Block by David Markson at least six times) Snow County by Yasunari Kawabata Journey to the End of the Night by Louis Ferdinand Celine Death on the Installment Plan by Louis Ferdinand Celine The Rainbow by D H Lawrence The Wings of the Dove by Henry James Crime and Punishment by Dostoevsky (in at least five translations) Zone by Mathias Enard The Idiot by Dostoevsky

[@wburris2007]

I hope to get to the Tale of Genji for the first time in Aug. I might be able to read it in less than a month. So many books to read, so I seldom get around to re-reads.

[@lydiajoy1823]

Really enjoyed this video. As I was coming up with my own list, I was kind of surprised to see that I reread a lot of series. I think it’s comfort reading. Numerous rereads of the Dorothy Sayers mysteries (especially The Nine Tailors), the Mapp and Lucia books by E. F. Benson, the Inspector Rostnikov series of mysteries by Stuart Kaminsky, and I have to say that I often reread the Laura Ingalls Wilder books when I visit my parents’ home. Childhood memories! I also don’t know how many times I have read Jane Eyre, A Confederacy of Dunces, or Huckleberry Finn.

[@jimsbooksreadingandstuff]

I rarely re-read, since being on Booktube I have only reread five novels: The Great Gatsby, East of Eden, All Flesh Is Grass (Clifford D Simak), The Blind Assassin and Cards on the Table.

[@grenvillephillips6998]

I do find that re-reading a book twice with four decades in between, the most enlightening, and oh how we have changed in between!

[@JosephReadsBooks]

I only have two books that I have read more than four times. The Black Company by Glen Cook A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole You know two books that have a lot in common 😂. The first Black Company novel is just too good to read only a few times. So much happens in that first book. I just finished my fifth reading of A Confederacy of Dunces at the beginning of this month. I love that novel so much. It never gets old and it gets funnier every time I read it. I'm one of the younger readers you mentioned and I have a few prospects for fourth time readings. My "haven't read them quite four times yet" are Dune, Lord of Light, and Elantris. Great list!

[@sherrirabinowitz4618]

My most read books are The Great Gatsby, Enchanted April, Persuasion, 5 little pigs, The Hollow, A Murder Is Announced, Gaudy Night, Busman's Honeymoon, Pride and Prejudice, Foundation. I have re-read Agatha Christie's autobiography several times as a special mention. I love The Price of the Phoenix, I went through my Star Trek Fiction to see what ones I still want that was one of the ones I kept, along with Federation where the crew switch with the actors who play them.

[@Brahmsian]

I was curious if Brideshead Revisited would make your list. I’m happy to see it did, I’ve been watching the mini series for the past couple days. Really appreciate how much it quotes the book in its narration.

[@whindermarcosleite7962]

Thanks for the video! I'm Brazilian and here, the term novel is used to refer to short stories that are longer than usual, The Death of Ivan Ilyich is a good example. Please make a list of short stories that are longer than usual among you. Once again, thanks for the video!

[@LiterateTexan]

I did not expect Price of the Phoenix on this list. I think this is hilarious. Fun video.

[@yourneighborkevin]

The Aubrey/Maturin series, LOTR, The Interpreter of Maladies, pretty sure I’ve read through Sherlock Holmes in full this many times, Dune (but mostly because it is evasive and pisses me off), and Shakespeare’s plays.

[@MriInterocitor]

Howard Waldrop! The P. Craig Russell version of The Jungle Book! Some great stuff in that stack there. Runners Up: 1. The Hellbound Hesrt, Clive Barker. A novella, not a novel. Great one, too, with some of Barker’s best prose and one of his best closing pages. 2. The Smoke Of Her Burning, James Tiptree Jr. A short story collection, not a novel. Has someone of one gender ever understood another so well? Yes, but not often. 3. The Nightmare Factory, Thomas Ligotti. Also short stories. The introduction is one of the top three or so best ever analyses of why horror works and why some of us are junkies for it, and the stories bring Lovecraft’s cosmicism and nihilism stripped of the racism, sexism, classism, nostalgia, seafood allergy, and all that. Love them so much. Unsorted Ten, as I thought of them: 1. Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien. I could probably recite significant chunks of this, given a little warm-up time. The older I get, the more I find in it. 2. The Carnival Of Destruction, Brian Stableford. The third volume of a trilogy that I think maybe five people besides me still care about. It’s got fallen angels, werewolves, the changing nature of the universe that makes memory more reliable than science, and a bunch more. All the protagonists are pulled together here and then there’s about eighty pages of epiphany where they learn what’s really been going on and the true nature of reality, which isn’t what *any* of them thought, and it’s utterly amazing. The bits in Hyperion Cantos where we find out what’s up with the AIs and the Ousters sort of compare, but I think Stableford topped Simmons I’m that regard. 3. The Time Of The Dark, Barbara Hambly. The first volume of Hambly’s first trilogy. It has what could have been a generic Earth people go to fantasy land story, but even at the start she was too good to settle. Proper historical methods are crucial to saving the day, and so many cliches get subverted. This is comfort food. 4. Elric: The Stealer Of Souls, Michael Moorcock. This is the first volume of the Del Rey series that reprinted stories in publication order, so that we open with the sack of Immyr and end with the the world getting destroyed. It’s Moorcock full of young man’s intensity and I love it. 5. A Hundred Years Of Solitude, Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Didn’t this just make my head unscrew and fly around the room when I read it in high school. Still does. So much variety in tone and style, so many subjects, a universe in one set of covers. 6. Wise Blood, Flannery O’Connor. I don’t think I’d ever really grasped what you could do with the grotesque til I read this and her short stories. Long time since I shared her faith but I still have a lot of time for the idea that through the grotesque we see truths that the smoothly ordered world conceals. 7. Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy; John Le Carre. Some more Cold War despair and existentialism? Thanks, don’t mind if I do. 8. The Adventures Of Buckaroo Banzai Across The Eighth Dimension. Pure delight for a pulp fan, denser and weirder than the movie, with footnotes about previous adventures and everything. Does not fail to lift my spirits. 9. Kushiel’s Dart, Jacqueline Carey. What a weird series, hat with the Gnostic alternative toJesus and the vivid evocation of the masochist narrator’s world. Much better than it has any right to be, with some heartbreaking abuse of her love and trust as the story unfolds. 10. Replay, Grimwood. Another forgotten jewel, about a man reliving thirty years of his ode again and again. Full of compassion and wonders and sorrows and anger and an amazing resolution.

[@MriInterocitor]

I need slots for Dickens, Effinger, and several others, and that’s before getting to the histories and graphic novels and short stories and….

[@konstantinos-6-6-6-8]

Brian Stableford almost made my list too (but his early stuff)! Barbara hambly is great indeed!

[@stevegilhool8526]

Steve, please do a non-fiction (or not-restricted-to-just-novels) version of this video!

[@saintdonoghue]

OK! But haven’t I basically done a dozen such videos?

[@stevegilhool8526]

@@saintdonoghue Fair enough, but I'd still watch it with pleasure :)

[@Emmareads15]

I read Middlemarch in March for the mammoths, my god what a book! There's nothing in life that isn't in that book. That's also my edition of Brideshead, Revisited the one I read it from, so if I see a copy over here (UK) I'll pass it on.

[@Robbo_C]

The Herman Melville novel I've reread the most is The Confidence Man. I find it endlessly fascinating.

[@saintdonoghue]

A “Confidence Man” fan! Good Lord! Not many of you in the world!

[@aiaiaaooe]

PLEASE do a garbage-only edition of this, Steve! Oh man, it would be an amazing companion to this collection

[@saintdonoghue]

One garbage-only list coming up in August!

[@tricaurelie]

Oh yes please I love trash 😂

[@laurabanken6205]

Same! Guilty pleasures preserve my sanity…

[@ellie698]

I first read I, Robot when i was about ten and it blew my mind. I loved it then and still do! Must read it again, soon!

[@ronlussier8570]

1. Graham: Wind in the Willows 2. Melville: Moby Dick 3. Most of Washington Irving novellas 4. Tolkien: The Hobbit/Lord of the Rings 5. Crowley: Little, Big 6. Dickens: Christmas Carol, Great Expectations, David Copperfield 7. Adams: Watership Down 8. Kipling: Kim 9. MacDonald: Lilith / Phantastes / At the Back of the North Wind. Runner ups: Peake: Gormenghast Trilogy Hardy: Far from the Madding Crowd Dickens: Oliver Twist

[@duffypratt]

Novels I’ve read at least four times: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (no idea how many times) Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass (same) White Fang and Call of the Wild The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings Pride and Prejudice Jane Eyre Moby Dick A Christmas Carol Far From the Madding Crowd The Stranger End Zone by Don DeLillo Red Harvest Heart of Darkness One Hundred Years of Solitude Ulysses

[@ksilkey1]

Winds of War and War and Remembrance, Pride and Prejudice, Possession, The Christmas Carol, and The Longest Day. Reading the Raj Quartet based on your recommendation and absolutely loving it. Also started The Fortune of the Rougons and liking it, too.

[@benriley6716]

Runners up ~ All the Conan novelettes (especially Beyond the Black River), Modern Scholar audiobooks ~ Upon this Rock, Behold the Mighty Dinosaur, and Stars Galaxies and the Universe. Novels ~ Dune (currently listening to the Rand McNally audio production it's fantastic with a dozen voice actors and effects), The Hobbit (read once a year).

[@saintdonoghue]

Oh my! A "Beyond the Black River" fan - how wonderful!

[@Caliban_80]

Guilty of Dracula as well. The more I read the more I understand it's not great art but it doesn't stop me from enjoying it.

[@ThatReadingGuy28]

Sounds like a read along (read aloud?) of Middlemarch is in the cards for the near future.

[@saintdonoghue]

A read-aloud of “Middlemarch”!!!! Do I dare?

[@ThatReadingGuy28]

@@saintdonoghue absolutely!!

[@Marg_reads]

Yes please😊

[@susanalfieri4487]

I can't believe people have read BLEAK HOUSE more that once. It's one of (I believe) only two novels I never finished. The other was A CONFEDERACY OF DUNCES, which I think I just picked up at the wrong moment in my life. I am definitely a re-reader though. I love to revisit novels at different stages in my personal development/adulthood. I peruse my bookshelves, and some volumes just call to me. I do tend to read the same versions I own over again though, not new editions or new translations (which I can see might be alluring but also way more expensive). Sometimes I feel guilty for re-reading certain titles, as there are so many books I've yet to read in the world. However, you love what you love. And also, sometimes you're poor and you read what you have. Because not reading at all is NOT an option--and libraries are not always convenient to one's work schedule.

[@konstantinos-6-6-6-8]

Now this is fascinating! Ok here’s my list, fair warning, some of these books are really, really not good: Legion of Space - Jack Williamson Homeland - RA Salvatore Assassin’s Apprentice & Royal Assassin - Robin Hobb Dune - Frank Herbert Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien Time out of joint - PK Dick Necroscope - Brian Lumley Bug Jack Barron - Norman Spinrad The Deep - John Crowley Looooot’s of runner-ups, but I think the writers I’ve re-read the most is Michael Moorcock, all the Elric stuff up until Rose, CAS, HPL, REH. Can’t think of any classics I’ve read more than twice…the three musketeers, maybe.

[@TheNutmegStitcher]

Little House on the Prairie series. Over and over, every few years. Brideshead Revisited, Jane Eyre, Gaskell's North and South, Pride and Prejudice, Emma.

[@michaelldennis]

Dune by Frank Herbert- read 16 times since I started tracking books on Goodreads. Probably 30 times altogether Other Dune books - probably 10 times each Mapp and Lucia books by EF Benson 6-8 times each depending on the specific book The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien probably 15 times. Silmarillion 8? LOTR 5 or 6 Belgariad novels by David Eddings - 6-7 times Birthright: The Book of Man by Mike Resnick 6 times Portuguese Irregular Verbs by Alexander McCall Smith 5 times Mr Midshipman Hornblower by CS Forrester 4 times The Six Wives of Henry VIII by Alison Weir 4 times

[@JackStrange]

Catching up with you Steve. Interesting to hear about what you’ve read more than once, and why!

[@Diritday]

I’ve never re-read….hmmm going to need to revisit. Lonesome Dove given Count of Monte given Have to put more thought into

[@Diritday]

Undaunted Courage Song of Ice and Fire Series I guess?

[@awizardintraining]

The most times I've ever read a book is 3 times: The first four Wheel of Time books, the first three A Song of Ice and Fire books, and Fellowship of the Ring

[@monaedoyle3631]

Hello Steve. I’m back from my trip to California. I have reread the Harry Potter books several times. I have also reread the Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer half a dozen times.

[@brenboothjones]

Hi Steve, please do more videos of your top rereads but in all your favourite genres. Frieda yoga included where possible!

[@StevenEverett7]

Interesting list! One series of books that I have re-read more times than I can remember is The Lensman series by Doc Smith. I started reading them in the 60s and have read them at least once a year. Andre Norton... oh my, I think I have read almost all of her novels at least 4 times. Isaac Asimov, the same. Robert Heinlein's novel Time Enough for Love I've read too many times to count. I just love re-reading my favorite stories.

[@supernova1969]

Hello Steve! My list includes The Time Machine, The First Men in the Moon , by Herbert George Wells, Almost all of Hermann Hesse, All Franz Kafka, Hazarski Řêčnik by Milorad Pavić " The Dictionary of the Khazars'' Jorge Luis Borges ALEPH , The Arabian Nights, Desperation by Stephen King, The Lost World by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Wives and Daughters by Mrs Gaskell, Hard Times by Charles Dickens, The Way of All Flesh by Samuel Butler, The Epic of Gilgamesh, Adam Bede & Silas Marner by George Eliot, A passage to India by E.M. Forster, the Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner, plus many others. I'm sixty --two years old by the way. I am from Iraq and can read also in Arabic and Kurdish. I am not telling you about how often I read and reread books written by Naguib Mahfouz, Ghaib Toma Farman, Mustapha Mahmoud, as well as the Iraqi authors writing in Arabic or Kurdish. I'm not counting Elizabethan, Jacobean, and Restoration Plays, because that is part of the syllabus in my university. Sorry for the prolonged answer. A very big thank you from Iraq

[@ancabanca4228]

My list: In search of lost time by Proust (vol1), Barchester Towers, Persuasion by Austen. I could not bring miself, untill recent, to reread because there are so many things I have on my TBR. I started rereading the novels I loved in secondary school and finished rereading David Copperfield.

[@TheBookedEscapePlan]

"Stop-Time" is one of my favorite books. I do love memoir, and "Stop-Time" is part of the story as to why.

[@saintdonoghue]

Well, I’m not exactly neutral, but even so, I agree: “Stop-Time” is a great memoir.

[@EdwinPutman-io1dl]

Following are 10 Of the 12 books I can immediately recall re-reading. I’m not much of a re-reader. But my final three will be books I most definitely want to read again. Catch 22 (Heller) Ragtime (E L Doctorow) Black Rain (Ibuse Masuji) The Milagro Beanfield War (John Nichols) Ethan Frome (Wharton) Little Big Man (Tom Berger) The Sound and the Fury (Faulkner) Ironweed (William Kennedy) The Master of Go (Kawabata Yasunari) Deadwood (Pete Dexter) And the other two? Here they are: Norwegian Wood (Murakami Haruki) Welcome to Hard Times (E L Doctorow) And now come three I plan to read again: Blood Meridian (McCarthy) The Fan Man (William Kotzwinkle) The Makioka Sisters (Tanizaki Junichiro) Finally, a note about all the Japanese titles on this list. I’m not a specialist or even an enthusiast, but I’ve lived here most of my life. I’m invested in the culture. So I read the books. And these books are extremely good. More people need to read Black Rain, for example. Lots more people. This should be a world classic. In many ways it is my favorite novel. And, btw, this Black Rain has nothing to do with the imbecilic movie of the same name. The novel is about Hiroshima. It’s by far the best book I’ve ever read about that. And, quite naturally, I’ve read a few.

[@Lu.G.]

It looks like they put Queen Victoria and Prince Albert on that edition of Pride and Prejudice! 😂 What a fun video! 📚 My most re-read books are: Frankenstein, And Then There Were None (along with many other works of Dame Christie - she's so re-readable), Pride and Prejudice, Persuasion, To Kill A Mockingbird, The Importance of Being Earnest, The Hound of the Baskervilles, A Christmas Carol.

[@susanalfieri4487]

Have re-read many Agatha Christie novels (some many decades apart, some not). Totally agree with you there.

[@sgtearache5303]

I'm not a very committed re-reader. The only things I've come close to reading four or more times would be maybe various of REH's Conan tales, several of HPL's big numbers, and of course The Stand by Sir Stephen King (lol) . I doubt I could get through the second half of The Stand again.

[@stretmediq]

I try to follow Mortimer Adler's advice and read books in his recommended three stages in order to understand it better (that doesn't mean you have to read it three times but I usually do if it's an important book) especially nonfiction

[@tricaurelie]

Oh I'm loving this! Got a few contenders, but here's my list (plays are allowed, right?) : Henry V by the Bard Richard III by the same ❤️ Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand Chasse à Mort (Watchers) by Dean Koontz L'armoire magique (The Lion the witch and the wardrobe) by CS Lewis Le petit prince by Antoine de Saint Exupéry The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien Jonathan Livingston le goéland by Richard Bach Zoya by Danielle Steel Notre-Dame de Paris by Victor Hugo I need more room for Molière, Racine, Flaubert, Jules Verne and Camus 😭

[@tricaurelie]

Aaaand of course I screwed up since plays are ruled out 😅 Soooo, here are 3 novels instead of the Bard and Cyrano : La Peste (the Plague) by Albert Camus Voyage au centre de la terre (journey to the center of the earth?) by Jules Verne Le roman de la momie (The mummy's tale?) by Théophile Gautier Sorry, the French are in a majority here 😂🐓🇫🇷

[@frannysfault]

Great video ! I’d love to see a non-fiction version as well.

[@backawayfromthedonkey]

Really interesting list, composing mine as you speak.

[@DejanOfRadic]

You are a pleasure to watch.

[@hughminor9369]

The Sun Also Rises The Mysterious Island, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, the Call of Cthulhu, Doc Savege Man of Bronze.

[@Decrepit_Productions]

Up until a few years ago, I did more re-reading than new reading (except early on, of course). I've read a good many books four or more times, most if not all in the fantasy genre. I suspect the books with the most reads are David Eddings' Belgariad and Mallorean series. Book 1 in The Belgariad, Pawn of Prophecy, has been read ten times. Its initial read concluded at 1900 on 18 Dec 1988. Its most recent read ended at 0312 on 29 May 2018. I did not check later series entries, but know they have been read as often, or nearly so. These are my "comfort reads". I can nit-pick them to death, Mallorean more so than Belgariad. But what's the point? I adore them, flaws and all. Another book comes to mind; Hart's Hope by Orson Scott Card. I've read it seven times, first in early 1988, most recently early last year (2023). I'm not otherwise sold on Card's output, but think very highly of Hart's Hope. To me, it shatters the oft-expressed opinion that second-person narrative doesn't work, and is an engrossing read to boot! More books with seven reads: Stephen Donaldson's first two Thomas Covenant chronicles. These are the novels that hooked me on fantasy, a genre I'd not paid much attention to before, despite having read and enjoyed Lord of the Rings some ten years prior. (I considered it a one-off.) For what it's worth, I despise the much later written "Final" Chronicles, and have never been able to make it through that series' last book, despite at least three attempts.

[@barbaraboethling596]

I rarely reread anything, so I have little to offer;however, I have probably reread Hamlet 15 or 20 times, as well as Seamus Heaney's Beowulf.I know those aren't novels though. As far as novels go, I have reread Pride & Prejudice and Steven Pressfield's Gates of Fire more than once.

[@LouiseReader]

I'm a rather rare rereader. Obviously my most reread title would be P&P. To my never ending shame I haven't read Middlemarch even the once. That is of course on my list of things to do. I'm participating in the Les Mis readalong this month, and if I ever get that finished then maybe Middlemarch can be my next mammoth to hunt.

[@SamManso]

I read a lot of your list and i'd love to read The Ugly Chickens but I counted 9 books on your list. what was the mysterious, unmentionable number 10?

[@nopenope7654]

I've read Pynchon's V four times and I'm already itching to read it again. It's also the ONLY Pynchon I've read...I really should move on 😆

[@MriInterocitor]

Sometimes just one book (album, etc) from a particular creator hits the spot, at least for me. I used to worry about this, but have given that up.

[@robertnicolay8327]

You should read them all.

[@nopenope7654]

@@robertnicolay8327 I intend to. Mason & Dixon is calling to me from my shelf

[@Rickybobby1130]

The Hobbit and Catcher In the Rye.

[@papaglenford]

i like this topic. i happened to ask my buddy this the last time i saw him for me it's nonfic: Travels, by michael crichton. profound and fantastic

[@heathergregg9975]

Yay for Wodehouse. Always.

[@MriInterocitor]

Quite correct.

[@vesch5083]

My most reread books are: Sense and Sensibility My Man Jeeves The Graveyard Book Fahrenheit 451 A Christmas Carol

[@vilstef6988]

Steve, our Iowa buddy Bix Beiderbecke was also a big fan of P G Wodehouse and the Woosters.

[@tripp8833]

Tale of Genji and Middlemarch are incredible ...

[@jennisrandom42]

I couldn’t give exact numbers, but my most read books are probably Pride and Prejudice, The Vampire Chronicles(the first 6), Fluke by Christopher Moore, White Oleander by Janet Fitch and almost all of Poppy Z Brite. Some childhood favorites I used to reread are the Babysitters Club, all the Fudge books by Judy Blume and The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle. I’ve tried two Evelyn Waugh books including Brideshead, and I find his characters tiresome after a while. He sets a good scene and writes beautifully, so end up liking the setup and the language more than the book as a whole.

[@ellie698]

I haven't even read most of my books even once so justifying re reads is difficult. There's not enough time in my life to read the books that I already own 🤷🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️

[@gs547]

I have never read a book 4 times. The only one I have read 3 times is Pride & Prejudice. Usually, I only reread books when I forget what they are about. P&P is the exception.

[@davidosborn6714]

BURR and LINCOLN by Gore Vidal, THE WINDS OF WAR and WAR AND REMEMBERANCE by Herman Wouk, A PRINCESS OF MARS by Burroughs, FLASHMAN and damn near all of the Harry Flashman novels by George MacDonald Fraser, Conan Doyle's A STUDY IN SCARLET (especially for that fascinating Mormon sequence --just kidding!), DRACULA and FRANKENSTEIN, obviously; McTEAGUE by Frank Norris and for my guilty pleasure I'll probably go with either THE BASTARD by John Jakes or Louis L'Amour's THE WALKING DRUM.

[@susanalfieri4487]

Read MCTEAGUE in college. Haven't thought about it in years. Interesting how some of the literary canon seems to fade into obscurity or fall out of favor. Wrote a paper on Theodore Dreiser in high school in the 80s. I wonder how many high-schoolers today have even heard of Dreiser--and he was so popular in his time (I believe). Perhaps the pendulum will swing back to some of these titles and authors? Everything is cyclical, as they say...

[@arekkrolak6320]

I dont think I read any book 3 times, I read some two times though

[@Galdra]

Middlemarch and Pride and prejudice. ❤

[@Emmareads15]

Steve, there's no point in asking if you've read it, you've read everything, but what are your thoughts on Demon Copperhead? I'm reading it now and it's not quite as great as I expected it to be.

[@ThatReadingGuy28]

Check out his 'best of' fiction list for 2022.

[@Emmareads15]

@@ThatReadingGuy28 Thanks I'll check it out.

[@simonagree4070]

4 times? 0 books.

[@anotherbibliophilereads]

I’m not surprised that you have lost count on rereads of so many books.

[@stephenpinder9567]

I'm not youtube

[@ellie698]

Z for Zachariah Brave New World I, Robot The Idea Of Perfection Pride and Prejudice Northanger Abbey The Secret Garden Game Control Persuasion Mansfield Park

[@Tolstoy111]

That cover of Pride and Prejudice is awful! It makes the thing look like a vapid historical romance as opposed to the bitingly witty satire it is.

[@jesuisravi]

ten books I've reread: 1)Crime and Punishment 2)-10) 0 Steve...you' re either a liar or a phenomenon of a really really rare order. Either way you' re something else.

[@rozreallyreads]

15:11 totally unnecessary weird comment, so bizarre