Go-To Books?

mrscomposer

I have approximately a million books on my shelves (more or less) that I haven't read yet, because I'm a book hoarder.

However, on rainy or snowy or miserable days (or days when I don't have the brain space for something new), my favourite thing to do is curl up with something I've already read.  What are your go-to books?  These can be the ones you read every year, every couple of years, or have only read a couple times and remember with the warm fuzzies.

For me:
- the Harry Potter series
- The Chronicles of Narnia
- Dracula
- Leviathan by James Byron Huggins
- The Endless Knot Trilogy by Stephen R. Lawhead
- The Hunger Games
- Anne of Green Gables series

sophhabobopha

Howl's Moving Castle, Angry Housewives eating Bon Bons, and my 10000 Mary Higgins Clark books.

lc07

The Poisonwood Bible. I could read that book over and over and never get sick of it.

novella1186

I'm a book hoarder too! I have walls of books in my old room at my parents' house and in multiple rooms in the house I live in now with FI. Can't help myself.

The ones I tend to re-read are:
Gone with the Wind
The Floating Opera, by John Barth
horror stories by Lovecraft
The Barrybender series by McMurtry
And anything that was written by Louise Erdrich

sophhabobopha

I just 'cleaned out my books' and still have over 500. Ugh.

smalfrie19

I routinely re read the Belgariad and the Mallorean by David Eddings.

luckya23

I love buying books, so I have way more books that I have not read than any that I have actually finished.

I think the last time I read a book was when I was in bed with the stomach flu last xmas.

bethsmiles

I re-read Harry Potter every time I move (I've moved around a lot the past 5 years or so). A place never feels like home until I've read Harry Potter there.

Other books I read just because I love them - Ella Enchanted, Inkheart, The Chronicles of Narnia, The Count of Monte Cristo

larrygaga

sophhabobopha said:

Howl's Moving Castle, Angry Housewives eating Bon Bons, and my 10000 Mary Higgins Clark books.

I can't express to you how much HMC means to FI and I. For some reason, we got really attached to the movie and book. You know how lots of couples have a "song"? That's like HMC to us except times 1000

Anyway, I just get excited someone else loves it. 

Also Harry Potter, Memoirs of a Geisha, the Jacky Faber series or Like Water for Chocolate

littlemushroom

Harry Potter series, any of James Rollins stand alone books like Amazonia or Subterranean, and Swan Song by Robert McCammon. They are all so good and always entertaining.

beethery

First Wives' Club, and Switcheroo. Both by Olivia Goldsmith. Funny as HELL.

ashsmash07

Harry Potter series

Outlander series

A Song of Ice and Fire series

I probably read them once every year or so. I also have to read all the books in a series every time a new one comes out, just to make sure all the details are fresh. 

kat1114

I don't have a whole lot. Law school kind of killed my desire to read, so I sadly haven't read much in the last few years. One of my all-time favorites, that I have read several times, is Catcher in the Rye.

mrscomposer

Well, crap.  The only thing this thread did was put a whole bunch more books on my list. 

I probably should have seen that one coming.

beethery

It's reminding me that I want to re-read the Harry Potter series. It's been a LOOOONG time.

sophhabobopha

larrygaga said:

sophhabobopha said:

Howl's Moving Castle, Angry Housewives eating Bon Bons, and my 10000 Mary Higgins Clark books.

I can't express to you how much HMC means to FI and I. For some reason, we got really attached to the movie and book. You know how lots of couples have a "song"? That's like HMC to us except times 1000

Anyway, I just get excited someone else loves it. 

Also Harry Potter, Memoirs of a Geisha, the Jacky Faber series or Like Water for Chocolate

I'm getting a tattoo of the castle. I've loved it since I was little.

WinstonsGirl

Harry Potter, Outlander, Jack Ryan

More chick lit stuff is Shopaholic series, Bridget Jones, almost anything by Lousie Bagshawe

wrigleyville

The "Midnighters" trilogy by Scott Westerfeld. I read it once every year. It never gets old, and I fall in love with it again every time I pick it up.

I just re-read the Harry Potter series. I'm amazed at how much I missed the first time. I think it's because I'd get the new book and race race race to the finish so the internet wouldn't ruin it for me. I loved them the first time I read them, but I got so much more out of them when I read them at human speed. It was nice "visiting" Hogwarts again too.

"It" by Stephen King. It was the first of his that I read, and it's stayed with me. Yes, it's scary, but it's also a damn good STORY. I feel the same way about "The Shining", but I haven't re-read that one yet (probably because it's still in the freezer).

kat1114

wrigleyville said:

The "Midnighters" trilogy by Scott Westerfeld. I read it once every year. It never gets old, and I fall in love with it again every time I pick it up.

I just re-read the Harry Potter series. I'm amazed at how much I missed the first time. I think it's because I'd get the new book and race race race to the finish so the internet wouldn't ruin it for me. I loved them the first time I read them, but I got so much more out of them when I read them at human speed. It was nice "visiting" Hogwarts again too.

"It" by Stephen King. It was the first of his that I read, and it's stayed with me. Yes, it's scary, but it's also a damn good STORY. I feel the same way about "The Shining", but I haven't re-read that one yet (probably because it's still in the freezer).

Have you ever read The Long Walk by Stephen King (er, I think he actually wrote it under the name Richard Bachman). Anyways, so good! It's like the original Hunger Games.

jennyleigh16

When I'm sick or stressed or just want something fluffy, anything by Meg Cabot, Sophie Kinsella or Cassandra Clare.

 Before the Mortal Instruments series, Cassandra Clare wrote The Very Secret Diaries which is a parody of the diaries kept by the Lord of the Rings characters as well as the Draco trilogy which were novel length Harry Potter fanfiction. If you're a fan of hers at all I highly recommend tracking them down. I'm currently halfway through Clockwork Angel of hers. 

briscoe1031

I always go back to reading Sherrilyn Kenyon's Dark Hunter series. I am ashamed to admit that I haven't read the Harry Potter books in a long time. Might need to rectify that in the new year. Also Nora Roberts books.

jdluvr06

Anything by Jane Austin. I re-read at least one of her books every year. Wuthering Heights. The Vampire Lestat.

Confession: I've never read the Harry Potter books

KytchynWitche

The Discworld novels. Seriously, Terry Pratchett knows my soul.

Also Stephen King's The Eyes of the Dragon, and Sheri S. Tepper's Jinian Footseer (I know it's part of a series, but I didn't know that when I first read it, aged 10 or so). Sadly I have lost my copies of both books, and now no longer lend books to anyone but mom, sis, and one bestie.

I'm also kinda addicted to Catherine Alliott, but she's not really popular or well-known here, so I have trouble getting hold of her books.

redheadbride15

FI and I are both bibliophiles. We use books as home decor.

Bookshelves = wall art.
Whatever I'm currently reading = coffee table centerpiece.
That book that I'm going to read next = dining room table centerpiece.
Newly purchased books = kitchen table centerpiece.
Stacks of books that won't fit on bookshelves = sculptures, carefully balanced on side tables and any other horizontal surface.

arrippa

jdluvr06 said:

Anything by Jane Austin. I re-read at least one of her books every year. Wuthering Heights. The Vampire Lestat. Confession: I've never read the Harry Potter books

I haven't read them either. In fact, I haven't even seen any of the movies.

My books are Little House on the prairie series (it's like comfort food) and Into Thin Air. I have read them countless times.

ashley8918

I don't have any. I NEVER re-read a book (or re-watch a movie, tv show, etc.) I have a damn near-photographic memory when it comes to this stuff (but not things like where the fuck I left my keys, or what I was supposed to buy at the grocery store, hahahaha), so the instant I read the first sentence I am already bored because I instantly remember the entire story. Like, ALL the little details and everything.

That being said, Violin by Anne Rice is my all-time favorite book and I highly recommend it. Or anything by Anne Rice, really; Except for the brief time that she converted to Christianity and wrote some really Jesus-heavy books. I can't vouch for those ones, because I never read them.

esstee33

Mmmmm, yes, @ashley8918 -- Anne Rice is wonderful. I recently reread the Mayflower Witches series, which are my favorites of hers. Well, maybe not so much Taltos, but The Witching Hour and Lasher for sure.

My go-to books are: 

The Harry Potter series

Bunny Modern by David Bowman

Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Nine Stories (particularly "For Esmé – with Love and Squalor") by J.D. Salinger

No One Belongs Here More Than You by Miranda July

ashley8918

esstee33 said:

Mmmmm, yes, @ashley8918 -- Anne Rice is wonderful. I recently reread the Mayflower Witches series, which are my favorites of hers. Well, maybe not so much Taltos, but The Witching Hour and Lasher for sure.

My go-to books are: 

The Harry Potter series

Bunny Modern by David Bowman

Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Nine Stories (particularly "For Esmé – with Love and Squalor") by J.D. Salinger

No One Belongs Here More Than You by Miranda July

Yes, those were really good too! I read the Vampire Chronicles first, and thought I wouldn't like the Mayfair Witches series. I mean, how could she right about non-vampires?! But I ended up really loving them, as I have with anything she has written. I am very hesitant to read the Christ the Lord series because, well, religious mumbo jumbo just isn't my thing.

esstee33

ashley8918 said:

esstee33 said:

Mmmmm, yes, @ashley8918 -- Anne Rice is wonderful. I recently reread the Mayflower Witches series, which are my favorites of hers. Well, maybe not so much Taltos, but The Witching Hour and Lasher for sure.

My go-to books are: 

The Harry Potter series

Bunny Modern by David Bowman

Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Nine Stories (particularly "For Esmé – with Love and Squalor") by J.D. Salinger

No One Belongs Here More Than You by Miranda July

Yes, those were really good too! I read the Vampire Chronicles first, and thought I wouldn't like the Mayfair Witches series. I mean, how could she right about non-vampires?! But I ended up really loving them, as I have with anything she has written. I am very hesitant to read the Christ the Lord series because, well, religious mumbo jumbo just isn't my thing.

Yeahhhhhh, I really love her writing style, so I want to read ALL of her books, but I'm nervous about those also. 

garnetandgold60

I have tons! I love re-reading books because I always seem to get something new out of them that I didn't discover before.

In no particular order (except HP, HP is king!)

- Harry Potter series

- The Hobbit (I love LOTR as well but that's more "dedicated" reading for me)
- Uglies, Pretties, Specials, Extras by Scott Westerfeld

- Outlander series

- Abarat by Clive Barker

- The Haunting of Alaizabel Cray by Chris Wooding (very creepy and awesome book, I highly recommend)

- A Great and Terrible Beauty series by Libba Bray

- To Kill a Mockingbird

- Alice in Wonderland

- All of Tamora Pierce's books

wandajune6

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn- I fell in love with it in 6th grade and still feel remember most of it
Anything by Isabel Allende, but her first 4 books are my favorites (House of the Spirits, Eva Luna, etc.)
Like Water for Cholate

I've never read Harry Potter or Outlander either. But I loved the HP movies and the Outlander series. Contemplating starting those.