I read and re-read Dave Barry all the time!  I tell you, that man’s humor has done so much good for me.  I wish I could tell him that because of him, I’ve never let the sun go down on my anger. 

I’m all about re-reading, because I can’t stand to read a book, or watch a movie for that matter, and have wasted my time on something of poor quality.  Last pregnancy I set a goal for myself to re-read all of Austen.  It didn’t take as long as I thought, bummer.  My favorite re-read is C.S. Lewis’ Til We Have Faces.  I read it annually.  Now I want to re-read Anne!

I love Anne!  I re-read this series regularly.  Most books I can read once and leave for good.  I am unable to let go of the Anne of Green Gables series.  It is like an old friend. 
I also love Jane Austen and the Harry Potter series.

My favorite re-reads are JRR Tolkein’s Lord of the Rings, Jane Austen, and the Narnia books. But my latest re-read is Louis L’Amour...highly recommended for getting a sense of American exceptionalism, of masculine heroes, basic virtues like honesty, courage and standing up for the little guy (not sure, off hand, which moral virtue that is, but it must be one of them!!). Great books for your boys to read, but also for girls to learn about what a good man is. For the uninitiated, they are good old fashioned Westerns, mostly.

Disclaimer: as westerns, they have violence. Never gratuitous, always with the proper level of seriousness.

I’ve been looking at my entire collection of L.M. Montgomery and thinking about Anne quite a bit, recently.  I will probably pick it up once I get through the Little House series.  Unfortunately, I don’t remember ever reading Laura Ingalls Wilder as a child and am enjoying them (more than?) my children.  Since I read the Chronicles of Narnia for the first time six years ago, I’ve returned to it twice.  I also wish I’d met “Heidi” earlier - I read it for the first time last year and plan on re-reading it to my girls this year.  My most worn books are “The Secret Garden” by Frances Hogdson Burnett and “Charlotte’s Web” by E. B. White (a paperback that I actually had to replace!).  I’ve been reading them over and over since I was in 2nd grade - they contain my oldest and most beloved friends.

I love re-reading!  Some of my favorite go-to books are the Chronicles of Narnia (my choice depends on where I am in my life right then), the Harry Potters, the Anne series, To Kill a Mockingbird, my Louise Erdrich books, and Gone With the Wind.  I recently re-read GWTW and it all of a sudden hit me out of the blue - Ashley Wilkes is the biggest coward in that entire book.  I used to read it and feel sorry for him; so honorable, married to one woman, but in love with another.  This last time I was just mad at him the whole book, stringing two women along all because he was unable to make himself live a truly honorable life.

My husband doesn’t get the re-reading thing either.  Fortunately, our children have inherited it from me!  Anne is one of my favorites (my oldest daughter is named for her), as well as Narnia, Miss Austen and the Little House books.  My favorite however, Middlemarch.  It is so rich in layers, that I seem to pick up something new everytime I read it!

Hi Arwen!  I LOVE re-reading.  Jane Austen, Tolkien, CS Lewis, but my favorite book to re-read is Little Women.  I love the way Alcott weaves the separate coming-of-age storylines of all the March sisters along with the way they all relate to one another.  A wonderful amalgam of joy and sorrow, the things of life.

I, too, have been re-reading the Anne books for years having first read them at 8.  I remember that during my first set of finals (in grade 9), I had to put them away, only allowing myself to read them as a reward when I had finished!  I have “Anne of the Island” on my beside table now!  It and “Rilla” have always been my favourites; I credit my strong interest in WWI to that book, the first that made me cry.  In fact, the submission copy of “Rilla”, with Maud’s hand-written notes in the margins, is in the archives of my alma mater (the University of Guelph).  Seeing it was simply incredible.

I am a chronic re-reader (something my book-loving husband is just getting in to) but my go-to books are the works of Austen, anything by Maud, and the HP series.  I am also like that with one or two TV series (like Veronica Mars).

I’m in the middle of re-reading all of the Austen books and mixed in some of the biographies of her this time too. I’ve also reread some Agatha Christie’s, which is more unusual with mysteries, but I first read them as a preteen! So I don’t remember the details.

Somehow I missed the Anne books in childhood, I guess I should pick them up at the library after all these raves! What age would you say they become self-readers? Dd is just 7 now.

I’ve been thinking it’s time to pull out Little House for her.

Elizabeth

Re-readers unite!
I grew up in seventies, when teaching grammar was out, so if I hadn’t been a voracious re-reader of such classics as CSLewis, Alcott, GWTW, Austen, Little House and James Herriott books, I wouldn’t have a clue about writing!

These wonderful authors were my grammar tutors. I could have done worse!

In our house, they are called “comfort” books and all of my children have been taught to find at least one to accompany them through life.  Mine is “Jane Eyre”, my older daughter holds onto “Anne”, Tom travels with “Lord of the Rings”, Emily loves “To Kill a Mockingbird” and my youngest son (11) has chosen the Harry Potters.  to my way of thinking, they are the comforting precisely because they are known and predictable.  When you know how to love a book, it’s easy to fall in love with other books - a bit like the way you fall in love with each succesive child you have.

My favorite re-read of all time is “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn”.  From a 14 year old to a 42 yr old mother, my perspective on life has changed dramatically over the years.  Betty Smith’s wonderful story depicts a wise mother and it’s worth reading it again if you haven’t since you were a teen.

Anne has always been my very favorite literary childhood character.  As a child, I read the Chronicles of Narnia, a series of 7 books, 7 times each.  I re-read them with my children and love to reread all the works (especially those written for children) of George MacDonald, whom CS Lewis considered as his master.

Thanks to this post, I read Anne of Ingleside yesterday.  Married 15 years, in this book she is where I am now.  I was truly blessed by the experienced of this reading, and will be linking to this post in my next post.  Thank you!

The thing I remember about the Anne books as my sister and I called them was that I never read the last book. I didn’t want the story to end.  I have gone back recently and started reading the Narnia books again. The memories it brings back! It’s almost like time traveling to the girl I was back then.