Books that are your "Best Friends"?
You know how we all have friends that we have special things in common with? Like the friend that you like to watch movies with because you both are in sync when to talk talk talk about the film, when to walk out not seeing the end, or to just walk in silence after.
I think there are books like that..that we return and reread kind of like like visiting with a friend.
What are yours?
Mine are:
Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger (20 plus reads)
A Prayer For Owen Meany by John Irving (10 plus reads)
Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel García Márquez (10-12 reads)
Penny Dreadful by Will Christopher Baer (5 reads)
Rules of Attraction. I read this almost every day.
The Motel Life by Willy Vlautin.
Whenever I'm feeling down I find myself going back to this book and traveling along with the Flannigan brothers.
White Noise by Don Delillo
One of my all time favorites, it somehow manages to be humorous and intense at the same time. Tackles modern society and tears it apart with a vengeance. Libra is also another powerful work by Delillo.
In fact I go back to his books more than any other author.
The Princess Bride - William Goldman
Huckleberry Finn - Mark Twain
The Giver - Lois Lowry
Flowers for Algernon - Daniel Keyes
I've read them all about 5 times, The Giver maybe more because I got into it earlier. I don't revisit more than once a year, too many books I haven't read yet!
¬ The Magician's Secret
Good Omens (7)
Neverwhere (5)
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (4)
...I'm way to busy to read a lot of stuff over and over. Most books I've read twice, maybe three times tops.
Julius Caesar (10+)
Lord of The Flies (10+)
Temple of Gold (12?)
Really, I don't read much new stuff. I usually read the same books...
Down and out in London and Paris - George Orwell (10ish)
I have move around a lot and have lived out of my car for a few weeks at a time on a few different occasions.. this book is always with me and it helps me remember I don't always need the everyday conveniences that I always take for granted.
I have to say Lord of the flies was one of the most powerful books I have read. With the scene at the end when they are found and Ralph (I think it is Ralph) collapses in tears at the officers feet, it was an odd feeling to witness him go from a political leader to a social outcast, to being just a scared innocent kid. it was nuts!! the whole time you read that book you forget that all of these characters are just kids..
anyway I'm going to go read this again it has been several years and it is a great book.
The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald
Jesus' Son - Denis Johnson
Choke, Lullaby, Haunted - Chuck Palahniuk
Gosh there are a lot more. But those are the top of the list. I reread Jesus' Son all the time. The Great Gatsby is at least once a year as well as Choke.
Honorable mentions:
The Collected Stories - Amy Hempel
The Ice At The Bottom of The World - Mark Richard
The Informers - Bret Easton Ellis
Even when I'm reading a novel - I always have a short story book that I'm reading too for when I don't feel like reading the "longer story."
I also use those books to help me with voice when I'm writing. I always read a little bit of something I absolutely love the tone of or voice of right before I write to help me "tune in." So there are always a few books I have in rotation for that.
Invisible Monsters - You Know Who
Echo - Francesca Lia Block
Flowers for Algernon - Daniel Keyes
and sadly...
Molly Moon's Incredible Book of Hypnotism - Georgia Byng
Master and Margaret - Bulgakov
Fight club certainly! 
Im going to reread Invisible Monsters and Survivor soon. Jesus' Son by Denis Johnson aswell as the Dark Tower series by Stephen King.
hemospoonz: that's just insane. i will NEVER read Lord of the Flies again. EVER.
PGoutis01: i read short stories with novels too - and if the novel is a REALLY dense read (Infinite Jest) i'll actually take breaks long enough to read short fluffier novels, let my brain come back from the edge of jelly.
but i don't really understand the reading to "tune in". i can't read novels while working on things for fear of picking up a certain tone or having descriptives or ways of phrasing get stuck in my head - fear of losing my voice, i think is what i mean. do you mean just at the beginning before you get going, like to pump yourself up, get you excited?
(i don't understand how to quote parts of comments so i'm just addressing people directly)
I don't particularly relate to this... too many books I haven't read to spend time re-reading ones I already have, esp 10+ times.
But I did have a lit teacher in middle school that re-read Pride and Prejudice every year at the same time.
"I thought I had mono once for an entire year. Turns out I was just really bored."
Wayne Campbell
But I did have a lit teacher in middle school that re-read Pride and Prejudice every year at the same time.
what an EVIL EVIL teacher. jesus, i hope she's dead now.
Mine is Ask the Dust. I love that book more and more all the time lately, every time something pops into my head about it I get a little rush. It's like having a crush.
But I did have a lit teacher in middle school that re-read Pride and Prejudice every year at the same time.
I've read One Hundred Years of Solitude 3 times. 
I read new books all the time, but I like to reread books, it's just like watching a movie more than once.
I use it to sort of "erase" what's in my head. If I was watching something and that's the last thing in my head - it'll show itself. Or if I was reading let's say The Idiot by Dostoevsky - which I just finished - that will show itself.
So there are certain books with a tone and voice I enjoy that's similar to my own I guess that I read. Just like a short story before I write. And then I'll read maybe a page of what I wrote the day before. To "tune" into my own stuff. And then I'm ready to go.
I don't know if that's clear... I know that I've heard of a lot of other writers doing this too.
I forgot to mention Drown by Junot Diaz
Beautiful prose. I love the way it's written. I've read it a bunch of times.
PGoutis01: that does make more sense - more of a head-clearing than a head-filling.
Sometimes I run out of books so a re-read of an old favourite is the best solution. I read pretty fast so I can burn through things I've read before at lighting speed.
Catch 22
A Prayer For Owen Meany - for me too Mirka, possibly my favourite Irving.
Any Vonnegut that's within reach
Les Liaisons Dangereuses
I've got quite a thing for E M Forster too
And The Romance of the 3 Kingdoms when I have a lot of time spare!
"What cha readin' fer??"
Lanark, of course.
Gravity's Rainbow, because you can't really just read it once and claim to have read it, unless you're some kind of autistic genius.
Cryptonomicon, because it's hilarious.
But I almost never reread books.
thanks for sharing.blackhawk tactical pants.
— Spambot
"I could have done worse!" exultantly cried the murderer Lebret, sentenced at Rouen to hard labor for life. — Félix Fénéon
I'm glad I was able to clarify.
Catch 22
A Prayer For Owen Meany - for me too Mirka, possibly my favourite Irving.
Any Vonnegut that's within reach
Les Liaisons Dangereuses
I've got quite a thing for E M Forster too
And The Romance of the 3 Kingdoms when I have a lot of time spare!
I should read Catch 22 again. I loved it.
Have you read Until I Find You by John Irving? It's tied as my favorite Irving, but I've only read it once. The thing about Own Meany is that I buy it for someone, read the first sentence and then I have to read it again.
I am doomed to remember a boy with a wrecked voice-not because of his voice, or because he was the smallest person I ever knew, or even because he was the instrument of my mother's death, but because he is the reason I believe in God; I am a Christian because of Owen Meany.
I should read Catch 22 again. I loved it.
Have you read Until I Find You by John Irving? It's tied as my favorite Irving, but I've only read it once. The thing about Own Meany is that I buy it for someone, read the first sentence and then I have to read it again.
I am doomed to remember a boy with a wrecked voice-not because of his voice, or because he was the smallest person I ever knew, or even because he was the instrument of my mother's death, but because he is the reason I believe in God; I am a Christian because of Owen Meany.
I think Catch 22 is one of my favourites books for quoting.
And don't tell me God works in mysterious ways," Yossarian continued [...] "There's nothing mysterious about it, He's not working at all. He's playing. Or else He's forgotten all about us. That's the kind of God you people talk about, a country bumpkin, a clumsy, bungling, brainless, conceited, uncouth hayseed. Good God, how much reverence can you have for a Supreme Being who finds it necessary to include such phenomena as phlegm and tooth decay in His divine system of Creation? What in the world was running through that warped, evil, scatological mind of His when He robbed old people of the power to control their bowel movements? Why in the world did He ever create pain?
Haha I do the same with Owen! My last copy I bought for my sister-in-law then I had to buy another one as I managed to crumple the pages. Even though I've read it before, the big reveal of why Owen does what he does is simply stunning.
Actually, like you I've only read Until I Find You the once when it came out, but I remember it being wonderful. Might have to dig it out and re-read.
You have good taste
"What cha readin' fer??"
You have great taste!
That Catch 22 quote did it, I'm going to have to read it again right away. I think that book made me laugh out loud, chuckle, guffaw and snort more than any other I've ever read. It's incredibly funny, but has depth. What was that apple cheeked guy's name again? Well, I'll read it soon enough.
That's like your Zooey quotes on the other thread
Orr!
Orr: “When I was a kid, I used to walk around all day with crab apples in my cheeks. One in each cheek.”
Yossarian: “Why?”
Orr (tittering triumphantly): “Because they’re better than horse chestnuts. When I couldn’t get crab apples, I used horse chestnuts. Horse chestnuts are about the same size as crab apples and actually have a better shape, although the shape doesn’t matter a bit.”
Yossarian: “Why did you walk around with crab apples in your cheeks? That’s what I asked.”
Orr: “Because they’ve got a better shape than horse chestnuts. I just told you that.”
Yossarian: “Why, you evil-eyed, mechanically-aptituded, disaffiliated son of a bitch, did you walk around with anything in your cheeks?”
Orr: “I didn’t walk around with anything in my cheeks. I walked around with crab apples in my cheeks. . . .”
But can you remember why Nately's whore was hitting him over the head with his shoe? I just love the characters in that book, I've read it so often they're like old friends.
"What cha readin' fer??"
But I did have a lit teacher in middle school that re-read Pride and Prejudice every year at the same time.
I've already made a vow to start doing this with Moby-Dick. I'm thinking of starting it every year the day of Christmas.
Orr!
Orr: “When I was a kid, I used to walk around all day with crab apples in my cheeks. One in each cheek.”
Yossarian: “Why?”
Orr (tittering triumphantly): “Because they’re better than horse chestnuts. When I couldn’t get crab apples, I used horse chestnuts. Horse chestnuts are about the same size as crab apples and actually have a better shape, although the shape doesn’t matter a bit.”
Yossarian: “Why did you walk around with crab apples in your cheeks? That’s what I asked.”
Orr: “Because they’ve got a better shape than horse chestnuts. I just told you that.”
Yossarian: “Why, you evil-eyed, mechanically-aptituded, disaffiliated son of a bitch, did you walk around with anything in your cheeks?”
Orr: “I didn’t walk around with anything in my cheeks. I walked around with crab apples in my cheeks. . . .”
But can you remember why Nately's whore was hitting him over the head with his shoe? I just love the characters in that book, I've read it so often they're like old friends.
Yossarian: “Why, you evil-eyed, mechanically-aptituded, disaffiliated son of a bitch, did you walk around with anything in your cheeks?”
hahaaahhaa, YES!
I do remember the whore. God, that was a great book.
And yes, that first quote was very Zooey-ish. I love religious rants and themes for some reason.
Huckleberry Finn - Mark Twain
The Giver - Lois Lowry
Flowers for Algernon - Daniel Keyes
I've read them all about 5 times, The Giver maybe more because I got into it earlier. I don't revisit more than once a year, too many books I haven't read yet!
I love The Giver! I've read it a few times and given it as a gift several times.
what's annoying is that the only book i've read more than twice are the potter books and some of anne rice's books, like blackwood farm, interview, and memnoch.
read all chuck's books twice but that's about it. i rarely read books more than three times.
But I did have a lit teacher in middle school that re-read Pride and Prejudice every year at the same time.
what an EVIL EVIL teacher. jesus, i hope she's dead now.
that's not very nice... I hope she's not dead. She was actually very cool.
"I thought I had mono once for an entire year. Turns out I was just really bored."
Wayne Campbell
I don't really have a lot of time to reread books. I have read Haunted three times though. That's about it.
Huckleberry Finn by Twain
Once A Runner by John L. Parker
The Catcher in the Rye by Salinger
Huckleberry I read often but usually have large gaps between each read, maybe a few months between each time I read it.
Once A Runner I read everyday but not in it's entirety, just specific chapters.
Same with The Catcher in the Rye.
Maybe if I just drink half, I'll be half buzzed for half of the time
Who's the mastermind behind that little line?
With that kind of rationale man I got half a mind
To have another half a glass of wine
Fight Club, Lullaby and Invisible Monsters
Catcher In The Rye
Howls Moving Castle - personally, I think it's one of the best books ever.
thin does not equal beauty does not equal happiness
I don't think I will ever get any books into the double digits of having read them, but I think I have double digits number of books i've read three or more times:
(3) The Illuminatus! Trilogy : Wilson/Shea
(4) American Gods : Gaiman
(5) Snow Crash : Stephenson
(4) The Entire Sandman Series : Gaiman
(5) Labrynths : Borges
(6 or more) Lost in the Funhouse : Barth
(3) In the Name of the Rose : Eco
(3) Dune : Herbert
(3) City of Glass : Auster
(4) Legend : Gemmell
(4) Messiah : Vidal
(3) Speaker for the Dead/Xenocide/Children of the Mind : Card
Not including books already mentioned here like Good Omens, Catch-22, Cryptonomicon...
And then there's those books I had to read several times in school for various classes, like Wuthering Heights, Frankenstien, and Beowulf; who are less like friends than slight aquaintances that I have nothing to say to, but we still spend an obligatory five minutes pretending to catch up when we meet unexpectedly on the street.
"...human speech is like a cracked tin kettle, on which we hammer out tunes to make bears dance when we long to move the stars."
I never read books more than once, but Lunar Park by Bret Easton Ellis and The Secret History by Donna Tartt are two books that are extremely personal to me and hold a lot of significance, almost like a "best friend."
First - both great books.
That said - Lunar Park is so different than any other Bret Easton Ellis novel. He said it was an homage to Stephen King type books. That's not the first choice of his to read more than once. In fact any other book of his - except Glamarama - I would read again and have. (although I really liked Glamarama too)
Fargo Rock City by Chuck Klosterman
The Dirt - Motley Crue
Really? I hated Glamorama... couldn't get through it because I hated the characters so much. Why did you like it?
"I thought I had mono once for an entire year. Turns out I was just really bored."
Wayne Campbell
I don't know. Hated a Bret Easton Ellis character is sometimes the point. lol. His characters in that book were all walking cliches. I remember that I hated pushing through the book and then somewhere I started liking it and towards the end I really liked the book.
It's been so long since I read it - I can't really come up with a satisfying answer... sorry.
giovanni's room
everything is illuminated
Me and Revolutionary Road are best friends right now.
Slapstick by Vonnegut (10+)
Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller (at least 4 straight through, constantly returning for random and not-so-random sections)
Skinny Legs and All by Tom Robbins (8+)