'Go To' Books you return to time and time again

The Last Unicorn.

Anything by Tanith Lee.

The Lord of the Rings and the Chronicles of Narnia.

Anything by Johanna Lindsey and Rosanne Bittner.

Most recently, Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal, by Christopher Moore. Hands down one of the funniest books ever written. I've read it several times and literally cry laugh every time. And cry at the end even though I know what's coming.

The Goblin Emperor
Daughter of Mystery
Diana Wynne Jones
T. Kingfisher--especially her Anekut City books.

I’ve never been big into re-reading books I already read. That said, there is this book I always want to read again, but have it somehow be for the first time? I don’t know if that makes sense. It’s called “The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake” by Aimee Bender. And often when I search for a new book to read I’m really just looking for that story, but not... It leads to inevitable disappointment. I don’t know if anyone else has ever gotten stuck on a book like that?

I am planning on re-reading it, though, because I had this novel idea that was similar in genre to “The Particular Sadness,” so maybe that will satiate my need?

Everything by Tolkien and H.P. Lovecraft. A few other books I've read more than once: The Stand, The Chronicles of Narnia, Dracula, Frankenstein, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Jurassic Park, the works of H.G. Wells and Jules Verne, Edgar Allan Poe

Adam said:

Terry Pratchett. No particular book.

Click to expand...

Same! Or at least the Discworld books.

I often go back to the Newsflesh series by Mira Grant, which might be my favorite series ever. Also I have recently been re-reading On the Come-Up by Angie Thomas like a fiend. I loved The Hate U Give (also by Angie Thomas, of course), but that book is such a grind because it's so damn sad. On the Come-Up is more re-readable to me, maybe because the main character's financial struggles are so relatable.

The Wind on Fire Trilogy by William Nicholson. It's sort of creepy but has an interesting and unique tone/world that I keep on wanting to come back to! I also reread Harry Potter, and The Chronicles of Ancient Darkness by Michelle Paver fairly regularly.

Other than these fantasy novels, I love, love, love anything by Jane Austen. My copy of Pride and Prejudice has traveled with me to so many places that it's spine is inches away from falling apart! I even wrote my dissertation on her work.

K-PAX is a quick and easy read. The later books in the trilogy turn prot (that's how his name is written in the book) into a Mary Sue but K-PAX retains it's charm and is slightly more believable in terms of how the psychiatrist (named for the author, Gene Brewer) deals with his patients.

Hunger Games is another one I like to go back to. Both books are an example of how it's possible to write a first person narrative and not sacrifice the development of other characters in the series.

Of Neil Gaiman's work, I like re-reading The Case of Death and Honey, which probably has more to do with my fascination with beekeeping than any other story (I'm not a beekeeper but I do love the subject). I also enjoy his better known story, A Study in Emerald, which is basically Sherlock Holmes meets HP Lovecraft.

I keep rereading the first two books of the Kingkiller series by Patrick Rothfuss. I never tire of Michael Crichton's Timeline or Jurassic Park, or Beauty by Robin McKinley.

For non-fiction I have a series of books about the Tudors by Alison Weir (from the Wars of the Roses through the reign of Elizabeth I, but I also read her book about Margaret Douglas) that I've read many times. The Wars of the Roses actually inspired the political intrigue in my historical fantasy.

ETA: included the author's name

I used to read Stephen King's It once a year, every year. I read two whole copies of it to shreds. The Talisman, too, was a frequent re-read for a long while. The first Chronicles of Elantra book by Michelle West, the Valdemar novels by Mercedes Lackey, The Great and Secret Show by Clive Barker, and House of Leaves have all been frequent comfort reads for me. Some because they're so easy to slip into, others because every time I go back to them, I see something new that I didn't see before.

I have the Chronicles of Narnia in a single volume, that I purchased as an adult. That's a world I can get buried in for HOURS.

Anything by Terry Pratchet or Robin Hobb.

I do love a bit of Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell's Beyond the Deepwoods, even as an adult - it's so comforting... I owe that guy so many things and it inspired me to create a world that followed a fantasy 'family' through the generations. I've always said if I ever make decent money or get anywhere with my books, I'd love him to illustrate them.

Thanks @TheGrimmRetails for resurrecting this interesting zombie thread.

I read Salems Lot every few years, 61 Hours, everything by Donald Westlake (including the Stark pen name crime novels). Barbara Michael's Vicky Bliss series is a fave. I re-read Silence of the Lambs a few times until I taught a whole writing fiction class with it as the only textbook, and that sort of cured me, looking at it that analytically and line by line...but it's a damned good thriller.

For 20+ years of my life I re-read LOTR every Christmas through New Year's Day, which is when I first read them, but the movies ruined them for me, and I really wish I'd never seen them.

I have a number of books I like to reread, and a larger number I mean to reread.

In the first corner are:

Anything by Donald Westlake, Phillip Pullman, Terry Pratchett, and Jonathan Howard (I fervently hope he starts writing again), Tim Powers, and Tom Holt. The collected Sherlock Holmes. Any number of stories and novels by Fritz Leiber and Theodore Sturgeon, T. H. White, Jodi Taylor, Carl Hiassen, and Connie Willis. On a more literary note, Le Morte d’Arthur ( Middle English, please!). The Alice books!

On a less literary note are some works in the junk food category which honesty compels me to ‘fess up. For some reason I have reread the rancid fairytale of The Millennium Trilogy more than once. Despite its flaws, the portrayal of the profoundly damaged Lisbeth draws me back. The portrayal by Noomi Rapace in the original film may have something to do with that. Despite occasionally erratc writing, the Oddjobs Lovecraftian farce by Goody and Grant appeals for its imagination and strong , always flawed, characters.

Returning after a deplorable unmaskable interrupt: Among the books I intend to reread are a couple by Don DeLillo, in particular Underworld, several more by Connie Willis, and (my blushes) Peskin and Schroeder’s Introduction to Quantum Field Theory, and Steven Weinberg’s Quantum Field Theory, at least the good bits, and most of Volume three.

Currently, "Boyfriend Material" by Alexis Hall is my comfort read. It honestly fills me with such joy, which has been what I've needed over the past few years! It's a light, hilarious, and romantic book. I'm not someone who is typically drawn to romance novels but this one has some kind of hold on me.

Can think of two books that I read without putting them down. both all night reads. "in Cold Blood" by Truman Capote (fascinated by Capote's delving into criminal mind). 2nd book is "All quiet on the Western Front by Erich Marie Remarque (First world war story from German point of view). Both books have been made into movies

Kjbartolotta said:

The Last Unicorn.

Click to expand...

Been too long since I've read that one- just ordered it online. Thanks for the idea!

I don't reread much anymore - the TBR pile is too deep, and growing deeper by the day - but I have reread Tailchaser's Song and the Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn trilogy by Tad Williams multiple times.

The books I turn to for comfort, though, when things are bad, are Gary Paulsen's Hatchet and Brian's Winter. Quick reads and good reminders to keep going through hard times, and that self-pity never works in a survival situation...

Love Guy Gavriel Kay, especially:
Ysabel
Sailing to Sarantium
Lord of Emperors
Tigana

Also, Sunshine by Robin McKinley, Deerskin by same

And please don't hate on me, but the Harry Potter series on audiobook is comfort food for when life is too much.