Books You've Read More Than Once

An offshoot of the Books thread, which seems (rightly) to be more about current releases than your older favorites. And I figure if you've read a book more than once, that makes for a pretty solid recommendation. And frankly, I need to read more.

For me, I have a few standbys to knock me out of slumps or to inspire better work:

1) In Cold Blood, Truman Capote -- For the reporting, for the detail, for the turning of non-fiction into poetry.

2) A Sense of Where You Are, John McPhee -- He was so young when he wrote it, and it's a quick read, but I think it's a good lesson in simple language. Whenever I feel like I'm getting too showy or verbose, I can read this in a night and be reminded of the beauty of clear, uncomplicated English.

3) Into the Wild, Jon Krakauer -- Better than Into Thin Air, I think. Another quick read. An example of a work that goes down many paths without making them seem like tangents. It's a lesson in structure for me, especially if I'm dealing with a tricky story, something that hangs on a bunch of threads. It's a book with a spine, in the architectural sense.

I read each of these at least once a year... But now I need some more.

And apologies if this seems like it might dilute the Books thread. Not my intention, but if that's the feeling, this one can be deleted or merged.

In the meantime, please help me build the book stack on my nightstand as tall as the pile of beat-off Kleenex.

 

The first book I ever read repeatedly was Tales Of A Fourth Grade Nothing. Four times in third grade alone.

Alas, that won't do much to bolster your book stack, Jones. It's a fairly thin book.

 

Kingdom of Fear -- Hunter S. Thompson

The Norton Unabridged Shakespeare (though as plays, these may not count)

Homicide -- David Simon

EDIT: Guilty pleasure readings: The Stand -- Stephen King and Cardinal of the Kremlin -- Tom Clancy

 

I have a hard enough time reading a book once. I honestly can't think of a book I've read twice. If I'm gonna read a book, might as well be something new. But that's just me.

EDIT: I read Tales of a Fourth-Grade Nothing, but only once.

 

I've read almost all books I really like more than once, but here are the books I 've read more than twice.

The Things They Carried

A Moveable Feast

The Son Also Rises

Ball Four

Semi-Tough

On The Road

Guilty pleasure division:

All the old Robert B. Parker Spenser books.

I can read them over and again...

 

Catcher in the Rye
For Whom the Bell Tolls
All the President's Men
Pond Scum and Vultures
Rum Punch
In Cold Blood

Anything by Tom Perotta, Bret Easton Ellis, Jay McInerey...

 

Pretty much every Hemingway and Vonnegut Jr. book, plus:

East of Eden - Steinbeck
Grapes of Wrath - Steinbeck
Light in August - Faulkner
As I lay Dying - Faulkner
Lonesome Dove - McMurtry
In the Time of Butterflies - Julia Alvarez

 

I tend to read a lot of books more than once...hell, I've read a couple of the Harry Potter books three or four times...but here are a few that stand out.

"Catcher in the Rye" -- J.D. Salinger
"Cannery Row" -- John Steinbeck
"Women" -- Charles Bukowski
"Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" HST
"Swag" -- Elmore Leonard

 

I try to read almost all of the collections of great writing... Charles Pierce's collection has been in my computer bag for the last month... Absolutely brilliant...

As someone else mentioned, nothing gets you more pumped about your job than reading someone who is truly great...

 

"Ender's Game"

When I was a kid, I read this crappy Civil War book called 'Rifles for Waite' about 26 times. It launched an insane Civil War craze for me that lasted through college.

 

Most Hemingway books, both by and about him, especially "Hemingway on Writing."

Dharma Bums and Desolation Angels - Kerouac
Walden - Thoreau

 

A Confederacy of Dunces
Mike Royko collections
All the President's Men
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
The Breaks of the Game