my most read book might be Catcher in the Rye and I'm not sure how to feel about that

I read it for the first time in 8th grade and I would re-read it at the same time every year until I graduated high school, it was kind of like an end-of-the-school-year ritual for me. A few years into college I realized I was trans and I haven't read it since. Maybe I'll give it one last shot to see how I feel about it all these years later

My reading has declined as I've aged, generally, and the number of books I want to read is expanding exponentially with each passing day (and the rate at which I buy books that pile up unread is a within striking distance of being a problem. I'm a pack-rat by nature and always have been however it's becoming a bit much but also I'll never be able to resell or give away a book I bought and then didn't read. What if I get around to reading i some day? For instance I subscribed to a fiction magazine in 2018, read two of the issues. The rest are sandwiched in the middle of a pile of books which I also haven't read and have been sitting on the corner of my desk since at least 2018) so most of my re-reading was something I did as a teenager.

I also established a habit in those years that continues to this day. As a teenager I loved Harry Potter. I probably read all the physical books twice. But I owned all the audiobooks (at that time on cassette) narrated by Jim Dale and I listened to those many times. I have no idea how many. I might've listened to the whole series ten times (except Deathly Hollows, which I never owned as a physical audiobook, and I think I read it once at release and then listened to it on audible a few years later). The only other books I can remember re-reading during this time was Brian Jacques (of Redwall fame) Castaways of the Flying Dutchman trilogy, and Nancy Farmer's YA Norse mythology-inspired Fantasy series Sea of Trolls. I guess I read and re-read some of R.A Salvatore's Forgotten Realms novels. Probably a few others along the same line that I'm forgetting now.

In my 20s my favorite books were still fantasy, but now they were Glen Cook's The Black Company then-nine-book series (now ten books) of '80s-'90s trippy dark military fantasy and Joe Abercrombie's then-six-book The First Law series of '00s cynical dark heroic fantasy (now ten books). I've only actually read each of these once. But I like the audiobook narrators for each series, so I've listened to each at least three times.

The one outlier is ASOIAF. I'd read most of the books as a teenager (A Dance With Dragons wasn't out yet). Then after the show ended I re-read the books. It probably helps that I can't stand the narrator of those books, the late Roy Dotrice. Though Harry Lloyd, who played Daenerys's brother Viserys in season one of GOT, read Martin's A Knight of the Seven Kingdom novella series, and he's very good. I guess I've re-read that one too, in that I've read it and listened to the audiobook.

I've probably read Catch-22 twelve times. Each new time I read it I rediscover a line that I accidentally stole that became part of my main phrasebook. Like calling people "shameful unscrupulous opportunists."

In recent years Thomas Bernhard is my most frequent reread. The Loser, Woodcutters, Old Masters, Concrete, Wittgenstein's Nephew. I need to get my shit together and actually read him in German.

The serieseses I've reread the most are Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Raymond Chandler's novels.

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72 used to be frequent rereads, but now I only tend to go back to parts of them. '72 used to be a quadrennial tradition.

I'm always rereading the Greeks, which is helped by the ease of finding pocket-sized editions.

I used to read so much as a kid that I definitely reread some things that much but nothing sticks out in my now-addled brain. Probably LOTR, Dune, some harry potter, etc. But I was never much for rereading past twice.... OH and in high school I read most of John Green's books several times. Some are better than others

more recently, I know I read Psychopolitics by Byung-Chul Han at least twice to make sure it wasn't going over my head but it's short. And I'll probably have to revisit some parenti/losurdo books more than once I suspect. OH also The Gentrification of the Mind by Sarah Schulman and Trans Liberation by got rereads for this site

I've found over the years that save for a few rarities I have zero desire to reread or rewatch something, I see it the first time and afterwards I don't find as much enjoyment retreading old steps. I absolutely love to discuss stuff and will go back to reread parts as part of a discussion, but going from cover to cover more than once is rather rare.

I think there's a variety of books on the Titanic I read a few dozen times as a kid until I was the most obnoxious 12 year old reciting weird obscure knowledge and then promptly forgot most of it by 20.

To continue on the series of "I forget" while I was locked on a psych ward with nothing to do other than study anatomy and physiology or read my English textbook/collection of short stories, I read that book cover to cover a fair few times since I had literally nothing left. While I don't particularly remember much of the contents at this point, I found far more satisfaction in the read than I ever anticipated after developing a deep hatred of reading literature through high school and the countless "this is the best book ever class, so you better like it and write pages upon pages plastering praise upon it." (Or having to read 13 Reasons Why shortly before this hospitalization) It was a chance for me to sorta rekindle an appreciation for stuff, I wasn't "forced" to read it and by just going through it, I found some stuff I surprisingly liked. While this didn't fundamentally change my relationship with reading, it did help me overcome some of that baggage from high school.

Finally there's The Hobbit, never reread LOTR, rewatched the movies a ton as a kid, but the Hobbit was just a really fun book to read as a kid. It was accessible, the story was exciting, and the only somewhat good adaptation was the Rankin Bass TV movie which while nostalgia bait for me now, really doesn't hold a candle to just how much more vibrant the book is. The first time through it was interesting seeing a far wider setting and deeper story from the movie. After that it was more just a quick run through a story I just enjoyed. Rereading it never added much to the experience for me. Nowadays I'll usually just throw on the movie in the background since the music is fun and sticks in your head far too well and I'm pretty sure my attention span has been thoroughly burned out over the years.

I think the only books I’ve read three times is unironically Harry Potter

a lifelong bookworm I have read a lot of books but the most reread ones are embarrassing like the Narnia series by C.S. Lewis (the christian allegory stuff flew over my head as a child), the Xanth series by Piers Anthony (the misogyny flew over my head as a child) and Stranger in a Strange Land by Heinlein (this guy, don't get me started). I can't say I recommend these even though they really formed some of my core identity. I like to think i took the good and left the bad.

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Pirsig qualifies though as well as Siddhartha by Herman Hesse. Those I do recommend, two of the few books i retain physical copies of!

Very cool comm delighted to be a part of it and see what you all like!

The Lord of the Rings. It is part of the reason I talk strangely in English

Patrick O'Brian - Aubrey-Maturin Series (beginning with Master and Commander)

Stefan Zweig - The World of Yesterday

Kurt Vonnegut - Slaughterhouse 5

Gore Vidal - Burr (honorable mention: Lincoln)

Michael Parenti - Blackshirts and Reds

Tim O'Brien - The Things They Carried (honorable mention: Going After Cacciato)

Victor Hugo - Les Miserables (OK, I've only read this one twice)

Joseph Heller - Catch-22 (the best catch there is)

This is going to be very rambly.

It’s been a long time since I’ve read a book multiple times. I just have so many books I want to read that I find it hard to justify rereading something even if I loved it.

So I have to go back quite a while to find something like that but I do have it: the last book in the original Percy Jackson series, The Last Olympian.

It was the culmination of the five book series and it was epic. It was my first time reading an urban fantasy/mythology anything (and I was never much into HP anyways). I loved the first person narrative. I absolutely loved the romance.

I wanted to put The Lightning Thief here but it felt more appropriate to put TLO because it’s the ending. And what’s sticks with me is the PercaBeth stuff, I’ll be honest. “For once I never looked back” vs “it was the best underwater kiss of all time”. It’s been a decade since I read either book and I’m sure I’ve messed the wording up but it’s still stuck with me and hey, that says something.

I did read the Heroes of Olympus series that was the sequel but it never grabbed me the same way - primarily because it wasn’t a first person pov. And after that, I grew out of it, so never got around to the rest.

But on PLO. I loved the writing. I loved Percy’s sarcasm and his wit. I loved his way of fighting. I loved all the other characters. Obviously, I loved the romance. But I loved the adventures throughout the books and the way it all built up the final one and how it paid off there.

I don’t know what else to say. It’s a great series. Give it a read if you want.

I haven’t read it since I was a teenager. I tried reading the first one again, it was very fun and nostalgic. But it was also, clearly for kids. Not to say I didn’t enjoy my time with it and I could have continued reading, but well, I didn’t. As I said earlier, there are a lot of books I want to read and I find it hard to justify rereading something.

Curse of growing old, I guess.

The holy quran audiobook.

First time entirely in arabic recitation

Second time the english translation.

Third time with the arabic recitations first followed by the english translation

Books you have read at least 3 times

The Red Rising trilogy. Sci-fi setting with a colonized solar system and a genetically engineered caste system. The protagonist is a member of a low-born caste who joins a revolt against the high caste and eventually leads the rebellion against the entire system. Protagonist is super-competent but there are also times where he fucks up badly and pays dearly for it, series has some compelling worldbuilding and interesting future slang, the ground and space battles are tense, exciting, and brutal. The series is still finding its feet with the first book, and said book also handles a couple of sensitive subjects poorly, so while there's still plenty to like, I wouldn't blame anyone for skipping it. I can recommend the 2nd and 3rd wholeheartedly, though.

There's a sequel series that isn't complete yet (still one book to go), but it's also good. It takes place after the rebellion has won, and it does a great job of dealing with the difficulties of the post-revolution. Strategic allies start working against the protagonist when their goals begin to diverge, and the necessity of continued war against the reactionaries (who have only been kicked off a few planets and still own most of the solar system) strains both the fabric of the post-revolution society and the protagonist's relationship with his family.

Never feeling more like the normie of the site than reading these answers. You guys re-read some incredibly dense and/or challenging books on the reg.

Mine is a simple pleasurable book by Kevin Murphy of MST3K fame (he voiced Tom Servo from season 2-10). A Year at the Movies. His goal was no matter what he was doing, where he was, what day it was, he had to see a film. Film, as in celluloid, once a day for a year. This involved doing things like sneaking a Thanksgiving turkey into a film theater and taking a small film projector with him hiking. The book is a diary of sorts of him taking on this self-imposed challenge and each chapter covers roughly a week. Repeats are allowed, so he ends up seeing some films that no one should have to see more than once many times, but given his "day job", this isn't much of a problem for him.

It's a very silly book, which is why it's so easy to pick up and just re-read. Murphy is a delightful life-long midwesterner and genuinely, deeply, loves movies.

The long walk by Stephen King.

First reading I'll admit, I liked it for more reactionary reasons, was bullied growing up and reading about athletic kids getting domed was cathartic, voyeur at the roman colosseum.

Read it a few years later with my new media literacy goggles and enjoyed all the personalities of the people running, how friendships formed by trauma and how quick that gets snuffed out. The ending feels like watching a rabid dog sputter and collapse in front of you.

The dichotomy of the drafted going through hell while the the non drafters make bets and cheer on their favorites. Valorization of the worse possible moments of your life. Being caught up in this shit especially if your not politically minded must feel like a whirlwind of confusing feelings. Terrified, Proud, Lucky, Unlucky. Shows how fucking cruel and random a draft can feel like, especially for a cause that has no point and is just for spectacle/pointless violence.