Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler Question for the avid readers here

I've got the cleaning bug in me today, and while going through boxes I've come across stacks of old books. Some I remember vividly and others I'm not sure I've even read. Some, like our favorite movies, are worth visiting again. I'm curious if you guys have reread books over the years?

Oh, yes. The Princess Bride by William Goldman is probably my most recurrent read. I've also reread I Was a Teen-Age Dwarf by Max Shulman a lot, Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card, and the first two Red Dwarf novels. Those are the ones I've gone back to the most.

Oh, but I'm not avid. I really need to read more.

Tons. From The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy to Balzac, I tend to read anything really good more than once.

Oh, yeah, I forgot about The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I've read that and a few of its sequels a few times.

What a coincidence, I came across "Hitchhiker's Guide. . ." this morning and was surprised I had a copy.

I remember Douglas Adams came to my University and gave a speech. In retrospect, I'm sorry I missed him because a month later he died. Very sad.

I dont think I would have the patience to read a book after I already knew what was going to happen.

Books dont really entertain me the same way as say, Episodes of Top Gear that I have seen 400 times already or, music.

What about Choose Your Own Adventure books? You don't necessarily know what's going to happen in those the second time through.

Oh man, that takes me back. I wonder how many pages the true stories turned out to be?

Every once in awhile I'll go back and read some of the books I really enjoyed, usually classics or a series like Lord of the Rings. I've been reading a couple hours every night until I fall asleep for around 45 years now, so there are times I'll get into a novel then realize I've already read it. Now I try to stick with current bestsellers or books with a recent copyright so I know I haven't read it before, or try books from a genre I don't usually read.

When I was younger, I'd read every night before going to sleep. Now, I only get a couple of pages and I'm out. It's amazing what one can do in the afternoon when you don't turn the TV on.

Michael, like you, I've been reading for years and years, and just recently I've come to realize there are books I don't remember reading. It can sometimes be confusing at the bookstore.

A lot of them. If it's a long series, I've probably read the earlier books at least 3 times.

RIP, Robert Jordan.

Speaking of interactive fiction, I have 10 of the Super Endless Quest Adventure Gamebooks, but I've never read them. Some guy did some work on one of my websites a long time ago, and he said that if I wanted to pay him, I should send him some of those. Well, I found them at a second-hand store, I believe, but lost contact with him, so they've been sitting on my shelf ever since. I still feel bad I never got to send him his books.

Hear, hear. People badmouth him a lot, but I still admire what he was able to do. The staggering level of detail and the sheer size of his world, owing to almost every mythology there is. I thought he brought it all together very well. That being said, he did get off track after book 6, and I haven't even read the last two published books. However, I will reread the series when the final book is finally published, as I have to find out how it ends. I've read the first 6 books probably three times, but it's been a long time, and it's easy to forget so much of what's gone on.

Wow, I did not know he passed. His series is what I had foremost in my mind when I started this thread, as I've read it twice, up to book six, like Charles. I definitely see myself going over it again and finishing up the rest of the books.

Me too. Still read in bed every night. Sometimes I can only get through a few pages before turning out the light. Sometimes, if I find the book riveting, I'll do one of my favorite things in life.......read until sunrise.

Reading is one of the great joys in my life. I spend more time than I'd like waiting in doctor's offices, airports, and elsewhere. As long as I have my book, I'm never bored.


I hate it when I pick up a book, and after the first chapter or so, realize I've already read it. At my age that, unfortunately, happens all too often.

I do, sometimes, reread books I've read and enjoyed years ago. Though I've not read them in years and years, I've read the entire Sherlock Holmes series at least 3 times. Hmmm? Might have to do that again soon.

There are those rare books that are so totally captivating they make you forgo things like sleeping, eating, working, etc. I love those kind of books. "I'll just read one more chapter, then I'll go to sleep." Yup, before you know it, here comes the sun.

I have The Annotated Sherlock Holmes, which is pretty cool, but I only made it a third of the way through. I should try again, as there was some really good stuff in there.

Jack, I'll do the same thing, with certain novels it's like an adrenaline rush and I can't stop until I'm done, then I can't fall asleep once I'm finished. Then I get the ones that are enjoyable but will put me out like a light after 30 minutes

Now you're typing faster than me

LOL! I have this particular set. It's tough to go through these because every paragraph there is an annotation to read about what the weather was like on that particular day, or what some building mentioned in the story actually looks like. Interesting stuff, but it sure slows down the pace of the story.

Interesting books. Actually, this just put the bug to read them stories in me!

Yup! Most contemporary fiction novels can keep me awake awhile, but many biographies and WWII histories can put out my light in 10 to 30 minutes. It's not that they aren't interesting, it's just that they're a little dry, lacking page turning excitement. At the moment, I'm reading a highly acclaimed, 541 page, history of the WWII African campaign entitled An Army At Dawn - The War in North Africa, 1942-1943 by Rick Atkinson (Operation Torch). Again, it's interesting, but I sometimes can't make it more than a page or two before turning out the light. I'm only up to page 109.

I have some good ol' action/mystery thrillers on order at my local library (Robert B. Parker; Ken Follet; Richard North Patterson; David Baldacci) which should begin arriving any day. Things should get a lot more exciting soon . Can someone explain why, when one orders books from the library weeks or months apart, they all arrive at the same time, giving one only a few weeks to read 4 or 5 books?

Reading for knowledge is rewarding but, mostly, I read for enjoyment.

Ian really loves the movie "The Great Escape" so I bought him the book - amazingly the movie didn't dramatize a thing! If anything, the movie was even less dramatic than the book! That's pretty rare. Anyway, a WWII book that won't put you to sleep, guaranteed!

Thanks Amie. I've seen the movie, oh.....only about a hundred times. But, since I love to read, I'll definitely put it on my list.

It's very rare that a movie does justice to the original novel, I just read the Harry Potter series for the first time then watched the movies, Imho terrible adaptaion. The Lord of the Rings did a good job in the translation, but didn't give me the chills like the books did when I was younger.

Jack,

Well, if you're willing to indulge a little fantasy/sci-fi, I recommend Harry Turtledove's books. He mostly writes alternative history. Guns of the South is probably one of his best, and is a stand alone novel if you don't want to get into one of his 8-12 novel series. That one's a civil war alternative history.

His WWII/alien invasion series is excellent, and his current Civil War through WWII America-split-into-two-countries is amazing.


For all of you who stopped reading Wheel of Time at book 6, you've missed some good stuff. Granted, Book 7 wasn't fantastic, but it was necessary to move the plot along. Book 8 picked it back up, 9 was great, at the end of 10 I thought he was going to end it then and there, and 11 was also quite good. I hope that 12 gets published at some point, although he certainly wasn't done with it.

Re: Wheel of Time

I read until the beginning of book 10. I have all of the books. I just haven't forced myself to read the rest of 10 and 11, mainly because it's been so long that I'd want to read the whole series again, and we know how daunting that is.

Yeah, he wasn't done with 12, but I don't think there's any way it won't get published, as he supposedly tried to get as many notes as possible down, and when he was sicker, he recorded himself explaining what was supposed to happen. I imagine it will take a little while, though. I'm sure his wife, who was also his editor, will make sure it gets the proper treatment.

He had the ending in mind the whole time he was writing, so I want to see what that was. Hopefully it's not a big anticlimax.

I was getting set to re-read the entire series next year, in preparation for book 12. Sigh.

My usual MO with those books was to read the previous one prior to reading the new one.

Probably need to start doing that with the Turtledoves, too...

For rereadableness:

-- Cmdr. Richard Marcinko USN, Ret. - the Rogue Warrior series and "The Real Team"

-- Roy Boehm - First SEAL

Realistically the only set of books I've read in the past 10 years (save two Tommy Douglas biographies)

Bren R.

CV and kcarlile;

Did you read Eragon? I really liked the book and the sequel, but the movie got terrible reviews so I didn't watch it. I was really charmed by the story of the author one day when I saw it on CNN and rushed out to get the book.

Did anyone else read the Dragonlance books as teens?

Nope, never read it.

I'm afraid that Dragonlance was foisted on me by a friend. After reading the first 3 books (yeah, yeah), I realized it just wasn't for me. A tad formulaic...

Yes! One fateful day I saw a huge volume on the front counter of the comic shop I frequented and bought it. It was the first three novels in one set. Wow, I complete forgot about that series.

At the time, I was in Junior High and had no idea what that meant. Now, I have trouble finding a fantasy novel that doesn't fall into "stable boy grows into a man and saves the world" type stories. Not that Dragonlance was like that, mind you, but it definitely had the story-by-numbers feel to it. I still loved it, though. So there.

I was in high school at the time, so...

You have a point about fantasty novels. About the only ones I read these days are Robert Jordan (which does fall into that formula...) and Terry Pratchett (he's played with that formula a bit)

Eragon and Eldest were very engaging books...looking forward to the next in the series...and to think Eragon was originally written by a 15 year Old Christopher Paolini...

The book deserved a better adaptation into a movie...the movie was "Ehhhhhh". Like most books adapted for screenplays, there was SOOOOOO MUCH that they left out which was vital for the story...that's what happens when you rush a product sheerly to make money with it...Could have been so good.

They have released a date for the third book in the "Inheritance" series...waiting for details...

My wife keeps wanting me to clean out my "library" to make room...

HEY! Here's an idea...give books away similar to what CV is doing with CD's and such...

Things that make you go HMMMMMMMM....

WhatFUrrer

My wife is the (book) reader of the medic8r household. Usually I stick to magazines, newspapers, medical journals, comic books - anything that gets along well with my short attention span.

I have reread the ("increasingly inaccurately named") Hitchhiker's Guide trilogy. I also played the HGttG Infocom computer game in the early 80s in high school. Anybody else remember that one?

I am considering rereading Kurt Vonnegut's books, or in some cases, reading them for the first time. So it goes.

I really like Guy Gavriel Kay's trilogy "The Fionavar Tapestry", which starts at the University of Toronto and travels to a world where figures from Camelot play a part. Sounds bizarre but if you aren't put off by something 'a little different' it's a good read. Kay is a Canadian and I believe worked on J.R.R. Tolkien's estate as an editor. (memory a little dim).

Ah, the great book giveaway! Ian tolerates it as long as he can, and then he too demands that 'something must go'! I'm bad at parting with books too. Fortunately, the Dwight Library has an amazing used book room - in the summer they make $200 a day in used books! - so we have a good option locally. The giveaway would be fun, though!

Like any good, young geek... I played it... back then my reasoning skills were still in the works, so I got frustrated with it.

Bren R.

I haven't read Eragon. I also haven't read any Dragonlance. I'm really not that well-read. I still have books by authors I love that I haven't made time for, which is insane, since I have tons of free time.

Excellent thread. Thank you for the wonderful recommendations.

Mrs. Tuttle and I both read quite a bit, but mostly modern mystery fiction. With both books and TV, I am conscious and unapologetic that I mostly seek escape and whimsy rather than weight. Having long ago rejected academia as vocation, I read for pleasure rather than work.

Since it had been so long for me, I went back and re-read the Rex Stout (Nero Wolfe) and John D. MacDonald (Travis McGee) books. Loved 'em again.

I thought Eragon was a truly horrible movie.

Like Jack, I long ago learned that - as long as I have a book - I can be content practically anywhere with or without other people. As is attributed to Groucho Marx - "Outside a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside a dog, it's too dark to read."

Amen, to that Tom. Give me a good story, with easily recognizable good guys and bad guys, and a happy ending every time. I've got enough "reality" in my daily life. Sports aside, my entertainment choices are firmly, and unabashedly rooted in escapism.

As one who, in his misguided youth, used.....ahem.... other substances to escape reality , I would say to any who might consider that path, a good book will do a better job, and is much less harmful.


I cannot bear that John D. MacDonald is gone and there will be no more Travis McGee books. I enjoy Robert B. Parker's books (he is the absolute master of witty dialog), but Spencer, as much as I appreciate him, will never replace McGhee in my heart.


LOL! Grouch was one smart fella and, speaking of masters, was the master of the non sequitur .

Yeah, but I've seen colors come out of speakers..... never out of books!

I guess you've never been to a good old-fashioned book burning.

I played that infocom game, too, but my typos kept starting interstallar wars.

I didn’t even see this thread….

I tend to read quite a bit. There’s usually two or thee books open that I’m reading. I have so many that I want to read that I get into one book, find another and start reading it and so on. I don’t usually re-read books, but I am currently re-reading one and that’s “the Flanders Panel” by Arturo Perez. Excellent book. I read that one about ten years ago and saw it at a friends house the other night, so I borrowed it and started reading it again. A very clever murder mystery that spans five hundred years that is based on Chess. It’s rich with history too. It’s just too clever and unique to give much of a description. http://www.perez-reverte.com/FlandersPanel/description.asp

Two other books I liked enough to re-read are “Shogun” and “The Stand”. I also like to read Poe’s short stories. Don’t much care for his poems, but his stories are great reads when I’m in a dark mood.

For the people who were reading Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series, here's a press release on the final book:

* * *

Tor Books announced today that novelist Brandon Sanderson has been chosen to finish writing the final novel in Robert Jordan's bestselling Wheel of Time fantasy series. Jordan--described by some as Tolkien's heir--died Sept. 16 from a rare blood disease. The new novel, A Memory of Light, will be the 12th and final book in the fantasy series which has sold more than 14 million copies in North America and more than 30 million copies worldwide. The last four books in the series were all #1 New York Times bestsellers.

Harriet Popham Rigney, Jordan's widow and editor, chose Sanderson to complete A Memory of Light--which Jordan worked on almost daily for the last few months of his life--and will edit it. Rigney said some scenes from the book were completed by Jordan before his death, and some exist in draft form. "He left copious notes and hours of audio recordings," she said. He also revealed details about the end of the series to close members of his family.

Sanderson, who acknowledged Jordan as an inspiration to him as a writer, has established a loyal fan base as the author of three fantasy novels: Elantris, Mistborn and The Well of Ascension (Tor), as well as a YA novel, Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians (Scholastic Press). Sanderson said, "I'm both extremely excited and daunted by this opportunity. There is only one man who could have done this book the way it deserved to be written, and we lost him in September. However, I promise to do my very best to remain true to Mr. Jordan's vision and produce the book we have all been waiting to read."

http://www.brandonsanderson.com/blog/585/Brandon-to-Finish-Wheel-of-Time

A Memory of Light is scheduled for publication in fall 2009.

* * *

I was just thinking about that series this morning. Thanks for the news, Charles!

Yeah, there was a little reaction blurb from the author of the best sci-fi comic serial out there (http://www.schlockmercenary.com . He indicated that he thought the new writer was a very good choice for the job.

I haven't read anything by Sanderson. I'll check him out next time I'm at the bookstore.

Yeah, I'll have to try a book out, too, even if his name is Brandon Sanderson.

Not like Robert Jordan's name was really Robert Jordan...

No, that's what I'm saying. Why would this guy want his pen name to be Brandon Sanderson? He actually CHOSE that?

But yeah, my friend who got me started on the Wheel of Time had the middle name of Oliver, and his brother's first name was James, so I had to pretend it meant something when I found out Robert Jordan's real name was James Oliver Rigney, Jr.

I never read the Wheel of Time series. For some reason, I kept mentally associating it with Conan the Barbarian style writing. (Hey, I read many a Conan tale in my teen years but just wasn't looking for more of the same.) This was unfair as it comes from mistaking Robert Jordan's name with Robert Howard. I guess, I now have a lot of books to buy. Might be a library project so I don't go bankrupt on books.

I was glad to see you mention Guy Gavriel Kay's trilogy "The Fionavar Tapestry", Amie. I have read a lot of fantasy and this was my favorite series ever. To think, I almost closed the first book after a few chapters because I personally dislike any fantasy that includes modern themes. I'm glad I kept going though. Once you get into it, present day becomes totally forgotten.

For something way off the norm of high fantasy, my most recent favorite was "Druids" by Morgan Llywellyn . A mostly historically accurate guess at what the culture of the Ancient Gaul society was like just prior to it being conquered by the Romans. A young druid grows up to become the mystical leader of his society and and eventually goes to war against Caesar.

Accidentally came across the sequal which I didn't even know existed called "A Greener Shore" where a handful of Gauls escape Caesars rule by sailing to what can only be assumed is Greenland. Not done yet, but definitely another favorite already.

If you like these, She did a similar novel based around Celtic Society called Bard
Also very good although strikingly similar in nature. A young Bard (a cast of the Druidic society) grows up to a position of power and tried to lead his people to a better life.

Llywellyn has a very vivid writing style that you would probably enjoy even if you don't normally find 'semi-historical backgrounds' appealing.

Well, Robert Jordan did write several Conan books. He was definitely more long-winded than Howard, but I liked them. But yeah, the Wheel of Time is altogether another beast.