What Book Have You Read Multiple Times?

I was chatting to a friend about books yesterday and we discussed books that we have read multiple times. My friend has read “The Go Between” by L.P. Hartley many times, reading it from the points of view of different characters and finding lots of new points and enjoyment from the reading.

258079

The Go Between by LP Hartley – the first line is “The past is another country, they do things differently there”.  My friend first studied it for her A level course and loved it – She has revisited it four or five times since then and sympathised with different characters each time.  “It perfectly captures the carefree days of summer, the loss of innocence, the British class system, the rising temperatures and building tensions of a doomed love affair.  Read it.  It’s one of my favourites.”
22136898
My friend has also read “The Diary of a Provincial Lady” by E. M Delafield.  Screamingly funny.  Written in a diary format for a magazine originally (like Bridget Jones).  All about keeping up appearances – it is a glimpse of life for a middle class woman in the 1930s.  She has bought it for lots of friends. How about you? Have you a book that you have bought for friends because it was so good?

I’ve read the Harry Potter series numerous times and I always find something I’ve forgotten or a detail I remember enjoying.

Diagon Alley, Warner Bros. Studio Tour, London.

Diagon Alley, Warner Bros. Studio Tour, London.

Why don’t you tell me about a book or series that you have read multiple times and we will feature it here on the blog. I’ll let you take the floor and tell the readers about the book and what it is that has made you go back and re-read the book or books.

Artists drawing of Dobby at the Warner Bros Studio Tour, London.

Artists drawing of Dobby at the Warner Bros Studio Tour, London.

Fill in the form below, telling me the Title and Author of your favourite book that you’ve read multiple times and briefly explain why, add your contact details and I’ll come back to you and we can feature the book as long as it is suitable for the blog. No cheating and promoting your own books though!

This has been a great feature, I have now removed the form to reduce my spam mail, you can still contact me via the contact tab at the top of the blog if you have a book you’d like to tell us about. Or just post a comment below. Thanks.

22 thoughts on “What Book Have You Read Multiple Times?

  1. Oh dear, I have shelf upon shelf of books I periodically re-read… they are old and familiar friends if they are fiction, much loved teachers if they are not… and sometimes both.

    Tolkein, Donaldson, C.S.Lewis, Pratchett… too many to count, though if I had to pick one from the library it would be ‘Moon Magic’ by Dion Fortune.

    Like

      • Rosie! I’m pretty sure that is almost sacrilege 🙂
        It isn’t anything like The Hobbit, which is a charming children’s tale that I love dearly; Lord of the Rings is much deeper and its breadth is astonishing.
        Then, when you add in The Silmarillion as well, it just becomes mind bogglingly rich, complex and alive.

        Like

  2. I don’t really want to be featured, but I keep re-reading Great Expectations – it just seems to transport me to another place unlike any other book does. The other book is The Shining which I would have to say is in my top 5 favorite books of all time. Other than those two books, I tend to not have time to re-read books – there are too many new ones I want to read and don’t have enough time for already.

    Like

  3. I would love to become a reviewer some time in the future, Rosie, as I’ve said 🙂 As for favourite books – I do re-read the early Jilly Cooper’s from time to time. But nowadays I have such a job to keep up with reading and reviewing other writers I have little time for revisiting favourites.

    Like

  4. I have so many. For her style, I reread Anne Rice. Charles Dickens and the Bronte Sisters for classics.But seriously, Uncle Wiggly Longears in the Country is probably the most reread book in my house.

    Like

  5. Like you, I’ve re-read the Harry Potter series numerous times – hoping to make my third trip to Harry Potter World at Universal Studios sometime in the next year!

    Like

  6. Ooh, lovely, what a great question! Ditto what Lizzie said, about not having enough time to re-visit old favourites, and I’ve read Jilly Cooper’s Harriet, Prudence, Emily, Octavia, Bella and Imogen SO many times! Other over and over again ones: Cashelmara and Penmarric by Susan Howatch, The Job and The Big Picture by Douglas Kennedy, Jackie Collins’ Chances, Lovers & Gamblers and Hollywood Wives, A Handful of Dust by Evelyn Waugh, Something in Disguise by Elizabeth Jane Howard, Final Demand by Deborah Moggach, Life At The Top and Room At the Top by John Braine, and a big all time over and over again favourite is All The Days of my Life by Hilary Bailey. Oh, and Norah Lofts’ historical trilogies, and the Narnia books – I would FORCE any of those books on anyone who gave me the slightest chance, and have read them all many, many times!

    Like

  7. I loved The Dud Avocado, when I first read it, (at 17!) – and have gone back to it many, many times.
    It’s really funny, cracking dialogue – an American in Paris in the 60s.
    Loaned my first (out-of-print) copy (reluctantly!) to my fave sister-in-law for a holiday read, and it was stolen along with their car, in France.
    I bore that grudge for years!

    Like

Comments are closed.