The book I keep going back to...

Aqueda_Veronica · Tue Oct 18, 2011 4:37 pm

We all have these books we keep re-reading and loving

I've got four titles I'd like to share.

- "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" - I go back to it every Spring and owe two copies (a paperback in Polish and a hardcover in English). It's been this way for years and I can't imagine anything different.
- "The Little Prince" - I usually go back to this when I am ill, seems to speed up my recovery.
- a collection of ancient Greek myths - simply the book of my childhood...
- "The collected stories" of Edgar Allan Poe - let's face it, no horror fan can skip the Master

Again, I purchased two different editions.

What about your list?

tjamesmoss.author · Tue Oct 18, 2011 8:14 pm


	Aqueda_Veronica wrote: We all have these books we keep re-reading and loving I've got four titles I'd like to share. - "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" - I go back to it every Spring and owe two copies (a paperback in Polish and a hardcover in English). It's been this way for years and I can't imagine anything different. - "The Little Prince" - I usually go back to this when I am ill, seems to speed up my recovery. - a collection of ancient Greek myths - simply the book of my childhood... - "The collected stories" of Edgar Allan Poe - let's face it, no horror fan can skip the Master Again, I purchased two different editions. What about your list?

Edgar Allan Poe ALWAYS gets my attention, SOME HOW. "Cask of Amontillado...," "Pit and the Pendulum..."
Goodness me...

marQus3 · Fri Oct 21, 2011 12:59 pm

All fantastic choices! My tastes tend more toward fantasy, sci-fi and thrillers. There are a few titles/series I find myself rereading every few years: The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever by Stephen R. Donalsdon, The Gap Series by Donaldson as well, Just about any and all of John Grisham and Brad Meltzer's stuff just to name a few.

DamianLake · Sat Oct 22, 2011 1:03 am

Well, if the topic is which books have we read at least 5 different times, I have a few of my own:

The Serrated Edge - By Mercedes Lackey and various partner authors
All the books in this series are good, but the first, "Born to Run", is especially impressive. It was written not just to publish a new novel, but also in an effort to raise social awareness about the horrors that young runaways must live on the streets of America. Drugs and underage prostitution are strong themes, and the book came with a page of toll-free help lines any street kid could call if they happened to get hold of the book and wanted to get a little aid like the characters of the story do.

The Discworld - by Terry Pratchett
A very long series, but I have read each book in it at least three times, and some of them five or six. Pratchett is the master of satirizing our own ridiculous world. Even though the Discworld, (a huge flat planet moving through space on the backs of four galactic elephants standing on the shell of the world turtle), is a fantasy world, it is so hauntingly familiar since every foolish human aspect ends up there and magnified. Of the various story arcs within the Discworld series, my favorites are the ones featuring Sam Vimes and the city watch, most of the ones with Death (the not-so-grim-reaper), and half of the stand alone stories, (Pyramids, The Truth, Going Postal). He is the only fictional author I know who does footnotes, and often they are so anachronistic that you can't help laughing out loud.

John Dortmunder - by Donald E. Westlake
Another long series of books. Master Criminal John Dortmunder is the best in the business at putting together a plan. Robbery, frauds, scams, hijackings even. But somehow, he was born with a jinx. No matter how good the plan is, it never quite goes the way it should. The cast of accomplices Dortmunder employs are hilarious and so, so familiar. I've loved reading these criminal farce books ever since I first discovered them 13 or so years ago.

The Terrible Hours - by Peter Mass
This is a non fiction book about the sinking of the submarine USS Squalus. It happened just before the start of WWII during a training dive. The crew spent a long time trapped at the bottom of the ocean before they became the first successfully rescued men from the ocean depths. Before then, any men trapped in a submarine were lost, no matter how shallow the waters were. I keep coming back to this book because it is a kind of biography of my personal hero, Charles Momsen, a man who was inventive and resourceful and completely re-pioneered underwater actions against overwhelming negativity. It is one of the greatest sea stories in our history.

tjamesmoss.author · Sun Oct 23, 2011 1:31 am


	DamianLake wrote: Well, if the topic is which books have we read at least 5 different times, I have a few of my own: The Serrated Edge - By Mercedes Lackey and various partner authors All the books in this series are good, but the first, "Born to Run", is especially impressive. It was written not just to publish a new novel, but also in an effort to raise social awareness about the horrors that young runaways must live on the streets of America. Drugs and underage prostitution are strong themes, and the book came with a page of toll-free help lines any street kid could call if they happened to get hold of the book and wanted to get a little aid like the characters of the story do. The Discworld - by Terry Pratchett A very long series, but I have read each book in it at least three times, and some of them five or six. Pratchett is the master of satirizing our own ridiculous world. Even though the Discworld, (a huge flat planet moving through space on the backs of four galactic elephants standing on the shell of the world turtle), is a fantasy world, it is so hauntingly familiar since every foolish human aspect ends up there and magnified. Of the various story arcs within the Discworld series, my favorites are the ones featuring Sam Vimes and the city watch, most of the ones with Death (the not-so-grim-reaper), and half of the stand alone stories, (Pyramids, The Truth, Going Postal). He is the only fictional author I know who does footnotes, and often they are so anachronistic that you can't help laughing out loud. John Dortmunder - by Donald E. Westlake Another long series of books. Master Criminal John Dortmunder is the best in the business at putting together a plan. Robbery, frauds, scams, hijackings even. But somehow, he was born with a jinx. No matter how good the plan is, it never quite goes the way it should. The cast of accomplices Dortmunder employs are hilarious and so, so familiar. I've loved reading these criminal farce books ever since I first discovered them 13 or so years ago. The Terrible Hours - by Peter Mass This is a non fiction book about the sinking of the submarine USS Squalus. It happened just before the start of WWII during a training dive. The crew spent a long time trapped at the bottom of the ocean before they became the first successfully rescued men from the ocean depths. Before then, any men trapped in a submarine were lost, no matter how shallow the waters were. I keep coming back to this book because it is a kind of biography of my personal hero, Charles Momsen, a man who was inventive and resourceful and completely re-pioneered underwater actions against overwhelming negativity. It is one of the greatest sea stories in our history.

I think I've just been convinced to read The Terrible Hours. Good job!

[bookworm] · Fri Oct 28, 2011 1:42 am

My absolute favourite book that I ALWAYS go back to is 'Where Rainbows End' by Cecilia Ahern. Everything about it just makes me love it more each time I read it. The adorable story line, the wonderful way it's written in notes and emails and letters, and the characters that I've come to love so much.

Sal_McCoy · Fri Oct 28, 2011 2:30 am

Anything by Kerouac.

Whether it's letters, journals or novels. His exuberance and amazment with life is inspiring and reminds me to enjoy every minute of mine.

R. LeBeaux · Sun Oct 30, 2011 10:33 am

Categorically speaking (add “anything by” to these):

For literary inspiration: John Irving and Paul Theroux

For literary rule-breaking: Phillip Roth

For poignant humor: Nick Hornby

For political satire: Christopher Buckley, Kurt Vonnegut

For bizarre prose: Tom Robbins

For courtroom drama: John Grisham

For philosophy: Robert M. Pirsig, Fritjof Capra

For SF: Douglas Adams, Isaac Asimov, Theodore Sturgeon

For quotes: Elbert Hubbard (no, not L. Ron)

For grammatical reference: Strunk & White

DamianLake · Sun Oct 30, 2011 10:55 pm


	R. LeBeaux wrote: For courtroom drama: John Grisham For SF: Douglas Adams, Isaac Asimov, Theodore Sturgeon

I admit to developing a taste for Grisham in high school, but I haven't read the last few since his approach changed. I loved his early courtroom brawls in Rainmaker and Time to Kill and the sheer black cynicism of Runaway Jury, but since novels like Street Lawyer and King of Torts, I haven't been able to get real excited.

I really recommend the Discworld books to you, though. Anyone who connects to the distinctly British sense of humor in Hitchhiker's Guide would love Terry Pratchett's works, whether you are a fantasy reader or not. Lots of non-sci fi fans love Douglas Adams' work, after all. You don't need to read them exactly in order of publication, so I always recommend new readers start with Guards! Guards!, or Reaper Man. They do a great job of introducing you to the Disc and some of the main continuing characters.

R. LeBeaux · Mon Oct 31, 2011 12:12 pm


	DamianLake wrote: I really recommend the Discworld books to you

I’ve seen these books mentioned now several times here on Booktalk, and with your description (and reference to Adams’ humorous prose style), I think it’s probably time I looked them up. For the most part, I gave up on SF many years ago, mainly because all the stories seemed to have been told and most of the new stuff just played on old themes with a lot of elaborate and complex alien and technological gimmicks to make them seem different. I started reading SF in the 1950s, and voraciously devoured all the old pulps, along with everything else I could get my hands on. But by the late ‘70s, I started to see a lot of thematic repetition, and I backed off. Until that is, Adams came along. I do read SF from time to time now, and I occasionally read fantasy as well, the last one being The Time Traveller’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger, which I enjoyed. I have always particularly liked time-travel stories and the way different authors deal with the paradox problems. Anyway, I appreciate the recommendation, and will put Pratchett's novels on my list of things to read. By the way, though you are probably aware of them, I wanted to mention Adams' Dirk Gently novels and recommend them in case you aren't familiar. I've posted this little image I put together on the site before, but I'll add it here again.

DamianLake · Tue Nov 01, 2011 11:05 pm


	R. LeBeaux wrote: By the way, though you are probably aware of them, I wanted to mention Adams' Dirk Gently novels and recommend them in case you aren't familiar.

Ah, yes!

Poor Dirk never seems to get the recognition he deserves. I love both those books, and actually have them on audio as well as in paper, and read by Douglas Adams himself no less. He certainly adds something to Dirk's conversation about Schrodinger's Cat, and his theory on how a man can behead himself using a record player, (but only if it is Japanese), is certainly mind bending. I actually spent some time trying to figure out exactly how that could happen.

As for Discworld, I too put off reading it for many years. Then when I finally did, I was upset I had cheated myself for so long. Each has its own appeal depending on personal taste, but those two I recommended are usually popular. In "Guards! Guards", the broken down and sad remnants of the city watch are tasked with dealing with a marauding dragon terrorizing their city. It sounds simple enough, but only Pratchett could have written a story with a secret society filled with disgruntled simpletons, a nearly seven-foot dwarf and million-to-one chances that crop up nine times out of ten.

With "Reaper Man", Death, (the Grim Reaper), is forced into retirement. He's given a cheap gold watch and pushed out the door. Now with no one doing Death's job, the dead of the Disc are started to really get testy as they discover that the afterlife is, in fact, this one, since no one is taking them away following their demises. And if there is a surefire way to make a tricky situation even worse, it is to get the wizards of Unseen University mixed up in the whole mess.

R. LeBeaux · Wed Nov 02, 2011 9:12 am

Thanks Damian, for the additional info. I was thinking I should start at the beginning with the Discworld series, but after checking out Pratchett's website, I realized this is probably not necessary, so will try the two you recommend first. And you're right about Gently never seeming to get the recognition he deserves. It amazes me how many Adams fans I talk to who have never heard of these two novels. Whenever I feel the need for a little mind-bending humor, I read them again, and the only thing that disappoints me is that Adams went to his grave without finishing the third novel in the series, "The Salmon Of Doubt." I read the posthumously released version, and it was interesting, but I would have much preferred a complete Dirk Gently novel.

LS Burton · Mon Nov 07, 2011 2:26 pm

Every so often I have to read something by Steinbeck, or Kerouac. Every xmas when I go home to visit my parents and get my old room with my old bookshelf, I tend to go on a bit of a Terry Pratchett reading spree.

Past couple years however, I've found I've been rereading a lot of Charles Stross' books (not the fantasy, his speculative fiction books), as they satisfy some sort of itch for books usually outside my purvue.

deathscythe210 · Wed Jan 11, 2012 2:19 pm

i've ended up re-reading "White Oleander" by Janet Fitch quite a lot. I can't explain why, but Astrid's journey through her different foster homes and how she grows as an independent woman out of her mother's shadow while still retaining the lessons she's learned keeps me addicted to it every time i read it.

javaduke95 · Wed Jan 11, 2012 2:58 pm

The Great Gatsby by Fitzgerald. Read it in high school and felt that the plot was flat and characters uninspiring. Read it again about a decade later, and took away from it an entirely different set of thoughts. The degree by which the rich/poor divide, the sense of isolatio, the pain of lost opportunities, discussed by that book remain relevant today.

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro is another favourite that explores a lot of the same themes and feels different each time I read it.

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