Kevin's Watch

Aside for TCTC, Mordant's Need, Neverness & The Broken God I never really reread-unless it's for a group read like Lord of Light and A Storm of Swords like we did (or at least tired to do) at The Hangar. But I just bought Dune to reread for our proposed group read there and have read the Simarillion, LOTRs, Herbert's Whipping Star, Foundation and the 1st three books of the Chrons of Amber more than once.

I've read Rendezvous With Rama several times over the last few years. I've only recently come to this book, and it's already my favorite sci-fi novel. I can see why it's a classic. There are those who say Arthur C. Clarke's writing is too lean and dry, but I think of it as clean and taut, and unerring in its aim.

I've read The Chronicles more than a few times over the years. These books are a source of inspiration and wisdom to me--in the same fashion that the Bible is to people of faith, I suppose. The Chronicles have been a friend through rough spots in my life, and I'm fairly sure they will continue to be at my side.

It really depends. I'll reread something that I'd read recently that was good, and there are one or two good enough that I reread them more....
-I've read WoT lots of times, but not for a while now.
-Only reread aSoIaF once, but I know I will do so again in the future.
-Rereading MBotF already.
-I can make a good guess that MS&T will be a one I reread now and then.
-I might eventually get back to TCTC, but I haven't really been able to reread them much before - Usually get about halfway through the first chrons then stop, for no reason I know - I just always seem to find something new to read.

I have already re-read The Gap and The Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant this year, and I re-read White Gold Wielder last week.

Other than those, I usually re-read The Silmarillion and The Lord of the Rings once a year. Also, at times I will re-read my favourite crime novels by authors such as James Patterson, Greg Iles and Tess Gerritsen, but only if I'm bored.

Sum sui generis
Vs

"Amber" and A Song of Ice and Fire are my favorite re-reads. But of course I have re-read the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant (though not for a while) and Dune is a good re-read.

Brinn recommended Gates of Fire months ago. When I finished it, I read it again without a break. I've never done that before.

I've read the 1st Chrons three times over the last 20 years, and I read Dune ever few years, if we get a real hot spell in the summer.

I re-read all my SRD, Asimov, Sturgeon, and Tolkein books every few years. I find I never re-read King, Anthony, or McCaffrey, though I've read a lot of their books once.

I have reread to Chronicles a number of times, as well as the Dark Tower series (and its ancillary supporting books). I also have fondly reread some of the books I liked as a child: specifically the John Bellairs series starring Lewis Barnevelt... which starts with "A house with a Clock in its Walls". Anyone else ever read those?

A Gunslinger wrote:I have reread to Chronicles a number of times, as well as the Dark Tower series (and its ancillary supporting books). I also have fondly reread some of the books I liked as a child: specifically the John Bellairs series starring Lewis Barnevelt... which starts with "A house with a Clock in its Walls". Anyone else ever read those?

I loved John Bellairs' stuff when I was growing up. I used to have quite a few of his books but I have no idea what happened to them.

The ones featuring Johnny Dixon were always my favorites, but the other books he wrote like House With A Clock In Its Walls and Dark Secret of Weatherend were great too. Very creepy but always a good read.

Man....talk about nostalgia. I'm going to have to look for those at a bookstore or visit the young adult section at the library to find them again.

Encryptic wrote: I loved John Bellairs' stuff when I was growing up. I used to have quite a few of his books but I have no idea what happened to them.

The ones featuring Johnny Dixon were always my favorites, but the other books he wrote like House With A Clock In Its Walls and Dark Secret of Weatherend were great too. Very creepy but always a good read.

Man....talk about nostalgia. I'm going to have to look for those at a bookstore or visit the young adult section at the library to find them again.

The Bellairs stuff was great indeed. My faves were:

House with a Clock in its Walls (Doomsday Clock, that is!) WITH PICTURES BY EDWARD GOREY no less!
A Figure in the Shadows (A cursed amulet comes to the posession of the protagonist)
The Witch the Ring and the______...I can't recall the full title.

Anyway, Bellairs had a way of creeping ya out and distilling childhood insecurities.

I would say that the two series I have re-read the most over the years are Lord of the Rings, and Mordant's Need.

Other books or series that I have re-read: Mary Stewart's Merlin series, Marion Zimmer Bradley's series about Arthurian times, Jane Eyre, How Green Was My Valley, Orson Scott Card's Ender Game series. There are others, but those are the ones that I can think of right off the bat.

Mary,
Alice Borchardt, Anne Rice's sister, has a series of werewolf books, beginning with The Silver Wolf. I've praised them in various threads.

She also had two books centered around Guenivere, The Dragon Queen and The Raven Warrior. I haven't gotten to these yet, but I now that at least one of the werewolves is in them. I suspect they're VERY cool!

I rarely re-read, for two reasons:

The real old stuff, like Barsoom or the Lensmen series, will come across as lame and I won't ever have that wonderful feeling I had as a kid reading them. I'd rather have my fond, if misguided, memories of these classics as great literature.

And two, there's just too much out there that I haven't gotten to even once. And I ain't getting any younger.

Having said that, over the years I've re-read the first Covenant trilogy, The Sword of Shannara, LotR numerous times, the early Gor novels, Joy Chant's Red Moon and Black Mountain, and recently, the Dark Tower series.

And I will probably have to re-read Song of Ice and Fire if A Feast for Crows ever gets published, and I'm still alive on that misty day in the far future.

I'm a compulsive re-reader, if I like a book I read it again, even detective stories (I conveniently tend to forget who the murderer was )
I often find new things in a book the second (or in some cases the 51th ) time I re-read it. That either that says something about the books I read, or something about my sloppy way of reading them I'm not sure wich

Ermingard wrote:I'm a compulsive re-reader, if I like a book I read it again, even detective stories (I conveniently tend to forget who the murderer was )

Hey, I watch every episode of Columbo every chance I can! I even taped them all off of A&E. Musta seen all of them several times by now.


Roland, you talking about John Carter, Warlord of Mars?? Man, it's been YEEEAAARS, but I loved that stuff!! But yeah, probably better off with my vague memories than rereading them. heh

Never thought I would, but I've decided to re-read the first three books in Martin's Song of Ice and Fire series. Really enjoying Feast for Crows, despite my initial reaction. Plus, a lot of finer details in the story are becoming fuzzy to me, so it sounds like a re-read is in order. Personally, I'm amazed at how Martin juggles such a convoluted story.

I let someone borrow my Clash of Kings, and it never got returned. Additionally, my copies of Game of Thrones and Storm of Swords are pretty ratty (I carried them in my backpack during high school). I think I'm going to buy the large 14$ paperback format. The smaller paperbacks are just too unwieldy. All three for 14$ will be a hefty price, though, so I think I'm just gonna wait till Feb. 16, my birthday. I've got tons to read around the house, anyway.

As far as past re-reads: I've re-read The Catcher in the Rye, the First Chrons, and Wounded Land. I'm in the process of re-reading One Tree. Ironically, I haven never gotten to finishing WGW once. I'm on my way, though!

I've only recently started looking up my favourite books on the net, but something that has really struck me is that no-one else has seemed to enjoy Julian May's "Galactic Milieau" trilogy as much as I did.

I can't find any fan-sites or anything.

I'll be re-reading those for years.

Anything Pern related for me.

I'm normally not into re-reading, but when I found out about the new Covenant series, I realized that I'd better re-read the first two trilogies if I wanted to be able to enjoy the new one. I'm really glad I did. It's been 20+ years since I went through the first 6 books. I was amazed to find that I remembered next to nothing of the first two trilogies, other than the fact that Covenant was a leper. I didn't even remember the rape in "Lord Foul's Bane." I was happy to find that I still really enjoyed these books, and re-reading them has given me the idea to go back and check out other books I liked when I was growing up. I don't read that much fantasy or sci-fi anymore, and it's always hard to find anything good. So it's nice to know that I can just go back and read the stuff I like.

I guess the books at the top of my list are the Deryni books by Katherine Kurtz. I really liked them as a teenager, and it will be interesting to see how they stand up for me. I may also re-read the Mordant books. I really liked both of them, and can't remember at all what they're about. I may give the Gap series another shot. I read the first two right after they came out, but wasn't very fond of them, so I gave up on the series.