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Underground > Books, Criticism & Writing >

Re-Read

23:25 / 25.03.03

Which books, if at all, do you keep going back to i seem to re-read a huge amount, this might be due too a really poor memory or bad skimming habit i have when the text bores me.

my top 5 are

Nuromancer- William Gibson. ive read this more times than i can remember
One Flew Over The Cukoos Nest- Ken Kesey. and i cry every single bloody time dammit
Red Dragon- Thomas Harris. found it shortly after silence of the lambs still exciting
The Godfather- Mario Puzo. if you liked the film you will love the book, that said even if you hated the film you still might love the book
The Ultimate rush- Joe Quirk. an action thriller that has rollerblading and hacking in it

so thats it folks if its good enough for you to re-read then it might be worth others checking it out.

The Return Of Rothkoid

00:51 / 26.03.03

Oscar And Lucinda by Peter Carey. Just 'cos. There's something comfortable about Carey's style, and I've liked this book for a while.

Zorba The Greek by Nikos Kazantzakis: A fantastically light read, and one that never fails to make me grin. It's just... wonderful.

Cloudstreet by Tim Winton. Same thing as the Carey. Aussie-ness and moments of pure beauty.

The Shining by Stephen King. Probably because it's immensely pulpy, and is possibly the best thing he's done - written when there was more identification with his characters, perhaps?

Ulysses by James Joyce. Because, in a truly pomowank way, it does get better with each iteration. Same is true of Georges Perec's Life, A User's Manual.

Tryphena Absent

01:30 / 26.03.03

Synners- Pat Cadigan. It's the insulin pump and the sunglasses, does it for me everytime.

Fire and Hemlock- Diana Wynne Jones. I get ill, I read a book by this author, I feel better and I lost my DWJ virginity to this one so invariably I come back to it over again.

Learning To Swim- Clare Chambers. An easy read with an ambiguous ending and it's, oh, so romantic.

The Grey King- Susan Cooper. Part of The Dark is Rising sequence and my favourite because I love the Welsh mythology tied in to it. I just wish it was longer!

The Sailor From Gibraltar- Marguerite Duras. I often find that I love translated stories better then those originally written in English. They often have a beautifully detached tone, my copy of this book is no different, the story is enchanting.

16:44 / 26.03.03

Snow Crash, Neal Stevenson I was a latecomer to this book, only reading it a couple of years ago but its cuberpunk perfect, Funny, Informative, Near future and a headtrip.

High Hunt, David Eddings. I can't stand any of his fantasy stuff and The Loosers leaved me unimpressed but HIgh Hunt is a fantastic book, now bittersweet bt the fact its was written nearly 30 years ago and the characters in it all beling to a recognisable but diffrent era. Plus the hunting scenes are very well written.

The Day of the Triffids. Sci Fi at its best, John Wyndams finest hour.

Head On/Reposessed. Julian Cope at his maddest most genius, Better than some of his music.

The Weirdstone of Brisingamen. Alan Garners first and finest book, a Lord of the Rings in 200 pages.

18:24 / 26.03.03

I've re-read Generation X by Douglas Coupland at least 8 or 9 times now, I think. I always feel like reading it again when spring and summer come.

Anthony Burgess's Inside Mr.Enderby and Enderby Outside as well, just because they're such great books. A sad middle aged poet and his horribly embarassing adventures...

I've been able to find a lot of new authors in the last year, which I guess has kept me from re-reading as much as I used to. I guess there will always be 5 or 6 books I'll always feel like going over again every year or so.

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

10:22 / 27.03.03

Every time I leave (or, more commonly, am unceremoniously ejected from) a relationship I head straight for Martin Millar's "Ruby and the Stone Age Diet". It works.

I do "Dune" every two or three years, too, always with the intention of going on to do them all. Never got past "...Messiah" yet, cos I always start "Children of..." and think "hmm, I should probably go back to the beginning. I can't really remember who everyone is."

Robert Stone's "Dog Soldiers", just because it's one of the greatest novels I've ever read for so many reasons- Hicks' internal dialogues in the last section being largely among them, also the line about how Converse finds the word "missionaries" always makes him think of "being eaten"... the dumbass writer who wants to try smack "for the experience" and for whom Hicks has zero time... the way the whole book is so about Vietnam, but only the first chapter actually occurs there... the Timothy Leary "acid test"-ness of it all... added to which the fact that it was the book that introduced me to Stone (and which I first heard of in a Wm Gibson interview... the influences on "Neuromancer" are obvious).

Whisky Priestess

14:16 / 27.03.03

I do re-read, because it's fun and reassuring and certain books do improve every time you read them. I have a bunch of books which I call "comfort reading" (like co=mfort eating but less fattening), like the Sherlock Holmes stories, Molesworth, PG Wodehouse, some Gold Age sci-fi etc.- these are the ones where you know what you're goign to get and yu know you're going to love it.

Two of the ones I re-read because there's always something new are Mervyn Peake's Titus Groan and Gormenghast - they're really long and involving, too, which is great if you want to lose yourself in literature.

16:53 / 27.03.03

I seem to re-read most of every book i read, due to the fact i forget about it, stop reading for a month and then go back to it, having forgotten most of it.

However, i re-read other books, like whisky priestess, as comfort reading:
Matilda and The Witches by Roald dahl (big kid? who, me?)
and the Adrian Mole diaries. I think theyr great

17:25 / 27.03.03

I re-read Catch 22 alot. I would also add Franny and Zooey to the list, and anything by Robin Jarvis, I've reread IT a couple of times too, hmmmmmm, can't think of much else.

20:12 / 27.03.03

Oh yes. Because you forget. Because there's no other books like it. Because sometimes you feel like you've read all the good books.

Infinite Jest - After 6 readings I finally think there's something really funny about re-re-reading a book named after an instantly addictive DVD...as if the book itself is addictive. I also finally think that we really are left guessing what happened to some of the major players - which has been the main reason for re-reads.

Collected Fictions (J.L. Borges) - Because he didn't write enough fiction.

The Third Policeman (Flann O'Brien), Dance, Dance, Dance (Haruki Murakami), Journey to the End of the Night (Celine), Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Already Dead (Denis Johnson) - Because they're all so good.

Basically any book I really like will get re-read (particularly if I own it) just because I read so much. A third and fourth, etc. time if the mood strikes me.

20:46 / 27.03.03

Got a few faves that get reread regularly for different reasons -

1984 - not so much since I gave my copy away.

Neuomancer - and in fact anything and everything by ibson. Last time I read neuromancer i felt likeI understood the plot.

Wizard of Earthsea y Ursula Le Guin. So cosy and comfortable a fantasy, every time I pick it up, i'm not happy until I've finished it again.

I'm ure there's more that I can't tink of - bits only, of Gravity's Rainbow - cos it's so good but I can't find the time to commit to the whole thing again.

There's also books - mostly Magickal stuff with me that serve as a constant prop to my thinking bu this is probably a different thread...

Tryphena Absent

21:23 / 27.03.03

I've got a bit of a thing for Matilda as well and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep because... they're great!

21:55 / 27.03.03

I second 'Catch-22'! I've found that like 'Illuminatus!', I can just open it to any part, start reading, and die laughing.

22:25 / 27.03.03

I have a real aversion to re-reading books because I'm always thinking of the new books I could be reading.

Having said that I've re-read Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett's "Good Omens", Neal Stephenson's "Snow Crash", "Gulliver's Travels", "Alice in Wonderland" and some of the Sherlock Holmes stories.

I'm also gearing up for a re-read of Infinite Jest as soon as I run out of books.

lord nuneaton savage

11:43 / 28.03.03

I'm gearing up for READING Infinite Jest as soon as I run out of books...(Sorry couldn't resist).