5 most reread sci-fi books/authors

(this theme was borrowed from the fantasy group...but seemed potentially fun and informative)

For science fiction - it's easier to pick authors than single books...
I regularly reread:
1. Most of William Gibson
2. most Melissa Scott
3. Snowcrash
4. Kage Baker
5. Ted Chiang (only one book..sigh)

Oh yeah, good one!

1. Most of Andre Norton (sentimental reasons)

2. Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen by H. Beam Piper

3. Most of Lois McMaster Bujold, especially Ethan of Athos

4. River of Gods, all gazillion pages of it

5. The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, one of Heinlein's all-time tip-top rip-snortin' reads

In no particular order...

* Dune, Frank Herbert
* Undercover Aliens, A.E. van Vogt
* Coelestis, Paul Park
* Dahlgren, Samuel R. Delany
* The Ophiuchi Hotline, John Varley

Frank Herbert is the only author I regularly reread

Wish I had time to reread...it's hard enough getting through all the books I have yet to read ONCE.

(1) I'm rereading the complete Foundation serie Isaac Asimov in chronological order at the moment. (Now rereading Foundation Trilogie)
Besides the books of (2) Jack Vance (Durdane and Tschai), (3) The Dune Serie Frank Herbert, (4) Arthur C. Clarke (2001: A Space Odyssey), and (5) some of A.E. Van Vogt (World of Null-A).

There's only one that stands out for me, and then only if you include fantasy: The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings. I've read them at least a dozen times. They're like old friends, familiar and comfortable and just as interesting as the first time I met them.

I'm not really all that much of a re-reader in this genre. The one that I really have read several times, though, is A Canticle for Leibowitz.

Cherryh re-read frequently partly because I liek to recall a series before embarking on a new episode, but mostly because she's very good.

Brin - Earth cause it's good.

Alastair Reynolds - ditto on series and good.

haven't re-read much else recently in the way of SF.

#6 snellius - I've been thinking about rereading the Foundation series. I have so much I want to read this summer and that series is a major undertaking! I think I'll add it to my list anyway!

I've read each of these books several times:
Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke
Rendevous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke

There are many others in my list, but most are not SF.

I tried rereading the Foundation trilogy. I remember loving the books as a kid. This time round, I thought they were dreadful. You can never go back...

Malevil
Lucifer's Hammer
Earth Abides
Farnham's Freehold
Alas, Babylon

I am starting to see a pattern. Know wonder nobody ever said I have a sunny disposition.

Gene Wolfe - all the books in the "Sun" series - I've reread The Book of the New Sun and plan to carry on via The Urth of the New Sun to the "Long Sun" and "Short Sun" series, when I get (quite a lot of) time!

The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula Le Guin

The Watch Below by James White - one of my wife's SF books - she has a much bigger collection of both SF and fantasy than I do, but I haven't been able to persuade her to join LT yet

The Mars trilogy and Antarctica by Kim Stanley Robinson

Oh, this is a fun idea. Let's see if I can limit to five--not that I re-read often, but when I do re-read, it tends to be sf.

1. Anything by Sheri S. Tepper, but especially The Gate to Women's Country
2. The Dispossessed, and others by Ursula K. Le Guin
3. Dune
4. Califia's Daughters by Leigh Richardson
5. I have been thinking about re-reading Snow Crash and Diamond Age recently...
6. William Gibson, although I didn't like Spook Country at all

Wait, that's more than 5! I was just getting started, too.

I agree that it’s easier to pick authors than individual titles, and I’m not much of a re-reader, either. These would be my “Desert Island Books,” if you will. That said, here are my five science fiction titles in alphabetical order:

A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller Jr.
Creatures of Light and Darkness by Roger Zelazny
The Dispossessed by Ursula K. LeGuinn
Lucifer’s Hammer by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournell (barely edging out Footfall)
Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein

Andre Norton would be on the list of authors, but I can’t think of any of her books that I couldn’t do without.

</i>
>11 iansales: - having had the same experience, there are a number of sf books I now wouldn't attempt to re-read for that reason. I blame myself however - shouldn't have started reading outside the genre so often, it raised my standards too much.

Five worthwhile -
J. G. Ballard - The Drowned World
Keith Roberts - Pavane
Thomas Disch - On Wings of Song
Lucius Shepard - The Jaguar Hunter
Robert Silverberg - The Book of Skulls*

* although I'm still not convinced that should be published as an sf novel.

>16 Jargoneer:

The Jaguar Hunter is a wonderful story- and Lucius Shepard an underrated author (*note author, not SF author)

italics be gone!

My TRB list keeps growing and growing and growing.......

in re #14
I was VERY disappointed in Spook Country the first time i read it; to my surprise i liked it quite a bit the 2nd time...Not close to Pattern Recognition (my favorite Gibson), but certainly good enough for me to keep and not pass it on to book crossing or the library book sale.

I must try SPOOK COUNTRY again some time. I gave up after about 50 pages. I thought Gibson was trying to be overtly arty and had forgotten how to write entertaining prose and interesting characters. I liked PATTERN RECOGNITION very much but SPOOK COUNTRY just went kaput...

I don't reread too much SF, but off hand these come to mind:

1. The Martian Chronicles
2. Red Genesis by S. C. Sykes

Sometimes I think of revisiting Blish's Cities in Flight and Solaris, the later after watching the recent version of it on film. Initially I read it before having seen either film. Someday maybe Dune or Foundation trilogy.

Ooops, that's 8. There are lots of books I'm still wanting to read for the first time though.

Stephen King - The Stand
Joe Haldeman - Forever War and Mindbridge
Frederik Pohl - Gateway
Frank Herbert - Dune

Stephen King-The Stand
Philip K Dick-Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Frank Herbert-Dune
Douglas Adams-Hitchhiker's Guide to the Universe

catspaw by joan d vinge
a matter of oaths by helen s wright
memory by lois mcmaster bujold
rider at the gate by c.j.cherryh
hellspark by janet kagan

My answers:

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

I fail at re-reading, clearly. Instead I prefer to plow ever-onwards through my mounting piles of new books.

I'm not a big re reader, but when I do it is mostly sci fi. Most of Heinlein I've read at least twice (except for his later works) some of his I've lost count on (The moon is a Harsh Mistress, Double Star and Glory Road are prime examples). Some times when I don't feel like reading anything in particular I'll pick up any early Heinlein and just open to any page and start reading.
I've read Frank Herbert's Dune several times, but could never get into any of the sequels.
Alas Babylon and Mr. Adam by Pat Frank I've read a few times, along with The Foundation and The Empire Novels by Isaac Asimov.
And last but not least The forever War by Joe Haldeman.

ooo, I remember another one. Now this one won't be for everyone, but I first read it in college and it just appealed...

Thrice Upon a Time by James P. Hogan. :)

1. The entire Liaden Universe series by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller.
2. The Chanur series by C.J. Cherryh.
3. Most of the Tortall books by Tamora Pierce (especially the Trickster books).
4. The early Pern books by Anne McCaffrey.
5. Pre-1990s Andre Norton.
6. The Chrysalids by John Wyndham.

Not to mention the Planet Pirates books by McCaffrey, Elizabeth Moon and Jodie Lynn Nye. Which leads me on to Elizabeth Moon's Heris Serrano series.

Oh, and David Weber's Dahak series and Path of the Fury. Unfortunately, I have never been able to get into the Honor Harrington books so I won't include those.

I guess that is a few more than five ;-)

That would be my "comfort" books, pulled out when I'm tired and don't feel like exploring something new.

Lois McMaster Bujold-any and all
Elizabeth Moon-the first 3 of any of the series
Connie Willis-any but especially Bellwether
Sharon Lee and Steve Miller-Liaden books, any
James Schmitz-any but especially Demon Breed and Witches of Karres

and there are a few individual favorites:
The Uplift War by David Brin
Water Witch by Cynthia Felice and Willis
the Catspaw books by Joan Vinge
the Chanur series by Cherryh
Way Station by Simak
Wolfling by Dickson

I mean, why else do I keep all these books on my bookshelves? Just to look pretty. And I'm not mentioning my Andre Norton library of over 100 books. And my fantasy list would have only one crossover!

Sigh, life is good!
Rhonda

Orson Scott Card
David Brin
Roger Zelazny
Edgar Rice Burroughs
Greg Bear

At least those are the 5 off the top of my head. With the exception of some paperbacks that were never reprinted, I've read most of my library more than once.

(Edit: fixed misspelling)

I reread things, but usually it's because I read it when I was a kid, and don't remember a blessed thing about it. A lot of my recent Heinlein reading is of that nature.

There are really only 2 or 3 SFF books that I read often for return pleasure:

Out of the Silent Planet,
Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath
Son of Man

I really am overdue for another shot at Son of Man. I reread that one every five years or so.

Earlier this year I introduced my sons to the short stories of Robert Sheckley, stuff I loved in my late teens. I re-read some of the old Sheckley tales when one of my lads left CITIZEN IN SPACE hanging about and it still provoked a smile. My sons have since gone on to other Sheckley collections and there's frequently a Sheckley book in their bag during long car trips.

Robert lives on...

I have reread very few SF novels, the exception being:

1. The Handmaid's Tale.
There are just too many books out 'there' that I haven't read even once.

However, I might someday reread some of Leguin, Tepper, Charnas, Butler. . .

Great thread idea!

Here is my list, for what it is worth:

1. Dune - reread thirteen times. An amazing book, I always take away something new from it, after having learnt some things about religion, ecology, politics and a great deal of other subjects.
2. Last and First Men - reread five times. Extremely wide-ranging story about the future of humanity, and there are a lot of different human races depicted - eighteen in all. I am constantly astounded about all of the ideas expressed in this book.
3. I Am Legend - reread four times. An excellent idea - the last human alive in the world, and the life he lives, when everyone else has become vampires.
4. Gateway - reread four times. It's a simple premise - take a ride on a ship to an unknown destination, risking your life for huge rewards, and it's done extremely well, with an interesting depiction of a decaying world. And the fact that a lot of the relics found are left as a mystery works quite well.
5. The Forever War - reread three times. Brilliantly executed war novel.

1. Dhalgren
2. The Left Hand of Darkness
3. George R.R. Martin}'s Song of Ice and Fire series
4. The Man in the High Castle by Dick
5. The Female Man by Russ

>20 bobmcconnaughey: I may try Spook Country again one of these days. I don't know, though. I went right to Count Zero after attempting SC, and loved it, so it's not like I just wasn't in a Gibson mood. I do have to be in the mood for him, generally (I can only take swaggering, hyper-cool superiority at certain times), but that wasn't the problem this time. I just didn't care about the characters, and the idea was not really interesting. Maybe I missed something, though...

I have to have forgotten most of the book before I will read it again. That said, for the first time in many years, I have reread some books.

Roger Zelazny's Lord of Light, Vernor Vinge's A Fire Upon the Deep, Neal Stephenson's Snowcrash, Tim Powers' Last Call, William Gibson's Neuromancer, and Dan Simmons' Carrion Comfort were still terrific to at least pretty good. Robert A. Heinlein's A Stranger in a Strange Land was practically unreadable. I think I could make it through The Moon is a Harsh Mistress and Glory Road, but all the rest of Heinlein I would probably stay away from.

I have reread Ursula K. LeGuin and some others from time to time, but I am still trying to keep up with all current novels.

Every time I wander past my book shelves I see books I want to reread. Except... a) the To Be Read pile is near 500 books, so it's not like I can take the time to reread; and b) rereads nearly always disappoint.

I recently reread EE 'Doc' Smith's Masters of Space, a book I loved as a kid. It was appalling. And last year I reread Asimov's Foundation trilogy, and thought it quite poor.

It seems only rereads of books I originally read no more than 10 or 15 years ago survive subsequent visits*. So, do I really want to reread Ringworld or The Tar-Aiym Krang or The Dosadi Experiment or even van Vogt's Null-A books?

(*Actually, this is not entirely true: for some reason Delany's novels survive rereads quite well.)

When I was a youth I read Clarke's The Sands of Mars, since I was about 10 or 11 and enjoyed it thoroughly I'm going to say it must have been YA Sci-Fi.

There are several reasons why I don't think it would be nearly as interesting today: I am no longer 10 or 11, we've been to Mars and know much more about it now than we did then, the central idea, civilization returns to it's home, has been done several times since then, we know that Deimos and Phobos are NOT space ships disguised as moons (or think we do). Thus, many of the basic assumptions that fifty years ago didn't seem so far fetched, now require quite a serious suspension of belief that was not anticipated and consequently not prepared for by the author in the book. All of these things render the book a "favorite" from my youth, but like viewing a dead body at a funeral, I would prefer not to reread it, I would prefer to remember it as a living, vibrant memory, rather than a corpse laid waste by time.

Gene: how do you think you'd feel re-reading Bradbury's MARTIAN CHRONICLES? None of the tales that make up the book have the slightest bearing on reality, the actual state of the Red Planet as we now see it. But the stories still have power and beauty. Don't let the real world get in the way of a great story, chum...

I thought about the Martian Chronicles while writing the above post. I read the collection about ten years after I read The Sands of Mars and considered using it in my example, but as I thought about it I felt many of the stories, while set on Mars, were more closely related to Serling's Twilight Zone stories. They relied more on irony, pathos, and empathy more than most. They use sci-fi as a technique for teaching us about ourselves, more than future investigation, or space opera, or just a fun read. This tends to make for a more mature read than most sci-fi I've read recently.

...and that's why CHRONICLES retains its power and relevance despite the scientific advances made since its creation. The "science" in science fiction is often over-emphasized, especially by those who are professional scientists and who write SF as a sideline. They get the tech crap right but have only a feeble grasp of characterization and story. But I've ranted about that before so...

>42 geneg: - I think I mentioned this in passing on another thread but I don't consider Bradbury an sf writer; to me he's a fantasist who often has a superficial sf framework. The Martian Chronicles is a good example of this - it's less an sf story than a modern western (substitute the Martians with Indians).

I've been calling the target of my two posts The Red Sands of Mars and wondered why there were not ouchstones for this. Now I know, the name of the book is The Sands of Mars. I will go back and edit my two previous posts to fix this problem.

Frankly (or should that be "genely"?), I like "Red Sands of Mars" better.

If I was Gene Eric Greathouse, you could say, generically. But I'm not, so don't.

Any interest in a thread on the history of sci-fi? I suspect because of its speculative nature and tendency to forward thinking, sci-fi would naturally develop as rousing stories for boys, rather than serious literature. I think this is the case with much of Poe, Verne, Wells, etc. But it seems somewhere in the forties or fifties it began to bifurcate from simply rousing adventures and adolescent dreams to some more cerebral stuff, Lem comes to mind here.

How, by what steps, did Sci-Fi progress (or digress, if that's your cup of tea) from Monck Mason's ballon trip across the Atlantic to the last sci fi published, whatever that may have been?

Where does SF begin? The roots and shoots...

Sounds like it would make a great thread, Gene. Give it a shot. As well, it would draw some attention to the often neglected and maligned early pioneers, like Verne, et all. Maybe have some of our resident geniuises (gene-iuses?) throwing out some obscure names for us to check out.

I say go for it...

http://www.teach12.com/ttcx/coursedesclong2.aspx?cid=2997&pc=Literature%20an...
links to "Masterpieces of the Imaginative Mind: Literature’s Most Fantastic Works" - a books on tape/cd site..unfortunately not close to being free - but this particular course was excellent.
Taught by Eric Rabkin @ the UofMich.
1. The Brothers Grimm & Fairy Tale Psychology
2. Propp, Structure, and Cultural Identity
3. Hoffmann and the Theory of the Fantastic
4. Poe—Genres and Degrees of the Fantastic
5. Lewis Carroll: Puzzles, Language, & Audience
6. H. G. Wells: We Are All Talking Animals
7. Franz Kafka—Dashed Fantasies
8. Woolf—Fantastic Feminism & Periods of Art
9. Robbe-Grillet, Experimental Fiction & Myth
10. Tolkien & Mass Production of the Fantastic
11. Children’s Literature and the Fantastic
12. Postmodernism and the Fantastic
13. Defining Science Fiction
14. Mary Shelley—Grandmother of Science Fiction
15. Hawthorne, Poe, and the Eden Complex
16. Jules Verne and the Robinsonade
17. Wells—Industrialization of the Fantastic
18. The History of Utopia
19. Science Fiction and Religion
20. Pulp Fiction, Bradbury, & the American Myth
21. Robert A. Heinlein—He Mapped the Future
22. Asimov and Clarke—Cousins in Utopia
23. Ursula K. Le Guin: Transhuman Anthropologist
24. Cyberpunk, Postmodernism, and Beyond

I agree, for science fiction - it's easier with authors

In no particular order

Andre Norton

James White (sector general)

Robert Heinlein

Elizabeth Moon

Larry Niven/Jerry Pournelle

There are several others who run close.

I don't typically re-read much. So, the only things I have or plan to re-read would have to be:

1. The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson
There have undoubtedly been many nano-tech books written by other authors, but Stephenson always has a lot of good lines and good characters. Plus, I like the different settings described.

2. Neuromancer by William Gibson
The world it describes is obsolete now. That's usually a bad thing in SF, but the characters are just so cool that I enjoy re-reading it.

3. Diaspora by Greg Egan
Egan writes very hard SF. This one's a mind-bender.

I reread books quite a lot. I'm not in a position, economically, to buy many new books -- so I am quite dependent on my public library system -- which, quite frankly, is not all that great. So although I usually read one or two new books a week, they are usually mysteries, since that is what the Sarasota county library's new books are skewed to.

But I have crammed bookshelves full of tried and true favorites. I reread many of my books every year -- it's like visiting with old and beloved friends.

Here are some of my favorite s/f/fantasy rereads (I get to these every year):
1) Cetaganda, Ethan of Athos, Shards of Honor, Barrayar, A Civil Campaign, and Memory by Lois McMaster Bujold
2) Gate of Ivory by Doris Egan
3) Citizen of the Galaxy, Stranger in a Strange Land, Friday, Farnham's Freehold, Door into Summer, Tunnel in the Sky, Double Star by Robert A. Heinlein
4) Sword of Winter by Marta Randall
5) Catseye by Andre Norton
6) Grass and The Fresco by Sheri S. Tepper
and a slew of others, depending on my mood. I read very quickly, so it is not difficult for me to read one or two new books a week (two or more if they're fiction, one if it is a serious nonfiction book) as well as two or three old favorites.

Great idea for a thread, by the way! It was fun reading everybody else's lists.

There are some SF books that I'd like to reread when I get around to it. Five that come to mind are

Excession by Iain M. Banks, Hunter of Worlds by C. J. Cherryh, The Midwich Cuckoos by John Wyndham, The Naked Sun by Isaac Asimov, and Kemlo and the Martian Ghosts by E. C. Elliott.

I used to read several authors works every two years:

Larry Niven's Known Space books
James White's Sector 12 General Hospital books
The Commonwealth books by Alan Dean Foster.

Now, not so much. Although I have a hankering to read some Hal Clement.

Some Andre Norton (The Time Traders series with special empasis on Galactic Derelict, The first three few World books, The Janus books, The Solar Queen series)
Murray Leinster - The Monster From Earth's End, The Wailing Asteroid.
Robert Moore Williams - The Day they H-Bombed Los Angeles.
The Insect Warriors by...Rex Dean Levie.
The James White Hospital Station series.
I'm also very fond of some novelizations, variously, by Murray Leinster and Keith Laumer of the "Time Tunnel", "The Invaders", and "Land of the Giants" TV series'.
Oh, and I have an equally inexplicable attachment to the old novel by Dave Van Arnam and Ron Archer, based on "Lost in Space".

The only science fiction novels that I've read more than twice are Dune and Ringworld. I've read lots of short stories multiple times (especially Theodore Sturgeon and Cordwainer Smith).

Re Msg 39:

I can generally handle rereading Isaac Asimov's works and the original five books of Roger Zelazny's Amber series. However, the time I reread the Merlin of Amber books, I basically bounced, which was a pity - I quite like Ghostwheel if no other of the murderous bunch of the Courts or Amber...

I used to reread the Lord of the Rings series quite ofte, but I haven't tooched them since the films came out.

The latest books I have reread was actually Harry Turtledove's The Disunited States of America, which was an easy read, and S.M. Stirling's Conquistador which went quite well.

The last time I tried reading Asimov's Foundation I found them quite dry and boring. When I originally read them they got me hooked on sf I liked them so much.

SF/F that I re-read mainly:

Zelazny
Cherryh
Bujold
Harry Potter except for the last one
LeGuin
Rite of Passage (Alexei Panshin)
To Say Nothing of the Dog (Connie Willis)

For me its

R A Heinlein
Clifford Simak
Asimov
James Blish

to which I can now add Bujold - a joyous discovery!

The Stars My Destination AKA "Tiger,Tiger" by Alfred Bester. I re-read this approximately every 2 years and always enjoy it.

My SciFi/Fantasy rereads are (how can anyone pick only 5?):

Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny
Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny
More Than Human by Theodore Sturgeon
Slaughterhouse Five and Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut

And many more!

I also have to watch myself when I'm flicking through any of Lois Bujold's books as I tend to find myself rereading rather than flicking...

By author:

Lois McMaster Bujold
Roger Zelazny
C.J. Cherryh
Ray Bradbury
David Brin

Some fantasy rereads:
Robin Hobb
George R.R. Martin

I would have to say 1984 (for some reason I enjoy being depressed), Greybeard, Ender's Game, and A Wrinkle in Time.

Lois McMaster Bujold
David Weber
Anne McCaffrey
Marion Zimmer Bradely
Eric Flint

Honor Harrington series - David Weber
Miles Vorkosigan series - LMB
Any of the original Star Trek novels - an SF version of Harlequin romances
Phule's Company - Robert Asprin
Pern Novels - McCaffrey

by author

Zelazny
Sturgeon
Norton
Burroughs
Willis

Not by any means the only ones, but the most often reread.

68> arrr, is your Burroughs Edgar Rice or William S.? (I consider both to be sf writers, and your other authors could point either way!)

William S. He's one of those fabled SF-porn authors we hear so much about in another thread?

It's hard for me to think of William S. Burroughs' writing as pornographic, though there are explicit homoerotic passages sprinkled throughout. But that's probably because I'm hetro, and the writing itself is often experimental, more non-linear prose-poems than traditional narrative, at least during his "cut-up" period.

I don't do a lot of re-reading, but the two that I have read several times were Starship Troopers and Lord of the Rings. I recently re-read Forward the Foundation and The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, but didn't find them as enjoyable the second time around.

I have to say I reread Ender's Game quite a bit. (My copy has tattered edges.) Though I've not reread any in the last year due to an extensive to be read list that I want to finish before 2012. Problem is I shrink it by two books, it grows by six.

Lois McMaster Bujold, especially Falling Free
Robert Heinlein
Sherri Tepper, especially The Fresco
Spider Robinson, especially Callahan's Key
S. L. Viehl

EFT

Most reread sci-fi:

Isaac Asimov - Robot books
Orson Scott Card - Ender Quartet, Treason, Wyrms
Stephen R. Donaldson - Gap Cycle
Frank Herbert - Dune Chronicles
Matthew Woodring Stover - Acts of Caine

Most reread fantasy:

Richard Adams - Shardik, Maia
Stephen R. Donaldson - Mordant's Need
Steven Erikson - Malazan Book of the Fallen

My most re-read include:

Wyndham - all
Bujold - all
Asimov - the Foundation series
Card - only Ender, Pastwatch and Enchantment (although I guess Enchantment would count as Fantasy)
And Artemis Fowl if that counts as Sci-Fi

Favorite sf rereads:

1. David Brin's early works: Sundiver, Startide Rising, The Practice Effect, and The Uplift War.
2. S.Andrew Swann's series Forests of the Night, Specters of the Dawn, and Emperors of the Twilight
2. Any Star Trek book by L.A.Graf, like Firestorm, Death Count
3. Barbara Hambly's Star Trek books like Ishmael and Crossroad.
4. Classic H.G.Wells stuff like War of the Worlds
5. Sax Rohmer's Fu books, like President Fu Manchu

1. Most of C. J. Cherryh
2. Some of Elizabeth Moon
3. Vorkosigan series by Lois McMaster Bujold
4. Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
5. Cadwal Chronicles by Jack Vance

Dhalgren, The Female Man, The Left Hand of Darkness, Riddley Walker, Stars in My Pocket Like Grains of Sand, The Man in the High Castle.

Roger Zelazny

Amber, specifically.

Don't do too much rerading, but the following I've read more than once.

Neuromancer and Count Zero - Wm Gibson
Hyperion/Fall of Hyperion - Dan Simmons
Enders Game - Brother Orson
Foundation Trilogy - Isaac Asimov
Dune - Frank Herbert

81> Jose, you must be a literary soulmate--those are some of my favorite books & authors. I'll have to try Riddley Walker some time, which is the only one I'm unfamiliar with.

Just five is hard, but here goes:

1. Lois McMaster Bujold: Vorkosigan series
2. David Weber: Honor Harrington series, Mutineer's Moon series, Path of the Fury
3. Orson Scott Card: Ender's Game
4. Jerry Pournelle: King David's Spaceship, Janissaries series
5. David Feintuch: Hope series

Honorable mention:
Iain M. Banks: Excession; I'm currently reading Matter

I find myself forever re-reading the Foundation series, used to do the same for the Stainless Steel Rats (grew out of them, I think) and used to get the Riverworld series repeatedly from the library.

I find Herbert's 'galactography' and prose too dense for frequent re-immersions but I've read "Dune" a number of times.

1.) Heinlein (all of it)
2.) Orson Scott Card - Ender's Game, Homecoming Series (I re-read the others too but not as often)
3.) Neal Stephenson - Snow Crash, The Diamond Age, Cryptonomicon
4.) Kim Stanley Robinson - Red Mars, Green Mars, Blue Mars
5.) Isaac Asimov - Foundation Series (and others but not all)

I re-read a LOT - these are the ones off of the top of my head that I re-read annually. I'd estimate that about 1/2 of my SF gets re-read every 3-4 years.

The only fantasy books that get re-read annually are Hobbit/LOTR and OSC's Alvin Maker series.

This is probably my top 5 re-read's:

The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Heinlein
Dune by Frank Herbert
Friday by Heinlein
Chung Kuo by David Wingrove
Pern series by Anne McCaffrey

When I was a kid I reread the original Star Wars novelization about a down times. Since then, the only (SF) stories I've reread have been short stories. Bradbury's "There Will Come Soft Rains" and "I, Rocket" being favorites for several decades, leftovers from reading the EC Comics adaptations.

the Crystal Singer books
The Stand
2001 series
Alas, Babylon

91 I ran out of self-promoters to call out.

After a lot of thought, I suppose what I go back to most often is a short story by Joe Haldeman, 'A !tangled web' (collected in Dealing in futures). It's set in his Confederacion universe, and involves a race of rather wonderful low-tech but savvy aliens with a love of word-play, seven sexes, odd body chemistry and a clever mercantile sense. They also have a nice habit of evading difficult questions by digressing into an elaborate death-related metaphor which always ends with the words "All die. O, the embarrassment."

Gee... Can't you people stay on subject???

I am tired of ignoring threads that could contain great information about BOOKS!!!! (Not personal agendas)

My top rereads as of today are:

Dune by Frank Herbert
Pawn of Prophecy by David Eddings
(and the rest of the series)
Eon by Greg Bear
Dry Water by Eric S. Nylund
Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson
Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin
Now about Game of thrones, I keep rereading because I keep hearing rumors that another book is coming out, so I reread the series in anticipation....
Yea, fool me once......

I'll jump in, but I will break it into series and singletons:

1. C.J. Cherryh's books, most recently the Foreigner series
2. David Brin's Uplift series
3. the Mageworlds books by Debra Doyle and James D. MacDonald
4. Jo Clayton's Skeen trilogy
5. the Sector General series by James White, but not the newer books

1. Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank
2. Dreamsnake by Vonda McIntyre
3. Catspaw by Joan D. Vinge
4. Serpent's Reach by C.J. Cherryh
5. Khi to Freedom by Ardath Mayhar

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Best,
Tim Spalding
Founder, LibraryThing

1. I've read most of Gene Wolfe's novels at least a couple of times, some many more. I'm still working my way through some of the more recent short story collections.
2. Bester, both TSMD and The Demolished Man.
3. LeGuin, particularly The Left Hand of Darkness.
4. Patricia McKillip, better known for her fantasy, wrote one SF novel that I've seen, called Fool's Run. For some reason I read it every so often.
5. A favorite from many years ago, Walter Miller's A Canticle for Leibowitz.

I re-read the short stories of C.L. Moore on a periodic basis, which you can find in The Best of C.L. Moore. I also have an on-going fondness for re-reading Ursula K. Leguin, both fiction and non-fiction, although I think I've probably read The Language of the Night the most frequently. Dune stands up to multiple readings. I also like the works of Suzette Haden Elgin, specifically Native Tongue and the rest of that trilogy. I'm stuck for a fifth though.

Quick follow-up to above. I just thought of the fifth author that I re-read. C.S. Lewis -- his space trilogy has stuck with me for decades. Even though it's not accurate in its science, he used the form for purposes of exploring an idea using archetypes in a modern form.

Out of the Silent Planet
Perelandra
That Hideous Strength

(1.) Dune by Frank Herbert
Every once in a while, I reread Dune and --- it's not that i suddenly discover something new. it's more like my, i dunmo, perspective changed and i see the book in a different light. i doubt i'm the only one.

(2.) Conqueror's Pride, Conqueror's Heritage & conqueror's Legacy by Timothy Zahn
I just love Zahn's portrayals of the aliens. i hope no one minds my counting these 3 as one; my rationalization is, it tells the same story from the viewpoints of both the humans and aliens

(3.) The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide by Douglas Adams
i know i'm cheating here, since The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide is a collection of several books that were originally published separately but . . . if i had to choose, i'd take this with me to a desert island because every time i read it, i've never failed to enjoy it even though i already know the plot. and at least the laughter will get to me before the thirst or heatstroke.

(4.) Star Hatchling by Margaret Bechard
the book that got me hooked on sci fi, thus changing my life. i read it every now and then, and it's yet to lose its charm.

(5.) The Light of Other Days by Arthur C. Clarke & Stephen Baxter
because sometimes i need something to believe in.

#105

Wait until the yellow construction ships show up in our sky and tell us the Earth has been scheduled for removal, because it's on a designated route for travel through the galaxy.

Only the mice will be able to save us.

1. Pattern Recognition, William Gibson
2. Iron Sunrise, Charles Stross
3. Player of Games, Iain M. Banks
4. Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson
5. Child of Fortune, Norman Spinrad

All of the Frank Herbert Dune books

The Man Who Folded Himself

Larry Niven's Known Space stories--I periodically reread many of these stories when Niven comes out with a new Known Space/Ringworld book.

#108

All of the dune series? How recently have you read them all?

I'm going to cheat and including two separate lists. . . I just couldn't stop at five :)

top reread authors of those I first read when I was a kid:
Andre Norton
Marion Zimmer Bradley
Isaac Asimov
Arthur C. Clarke
Robert A. Heinlein

and authors I found more recently:
Elizabeth Moon
Lois McMaster Bujold
James Alan Gardner
James White
Kristine Smith

108: The six Dune books by Frank Herbert, not the new ones by Brian Herbert and Kevin Anderson.

I read the six originals about 4 or 5 years ago (shortly after Children of Dune was on the Sci Fi channel).

Looking back, I've read or reread them once through in the 70s(well just the first three); 80s(first four before reading Heretics and ChapterHouse); 90s (late 90s in anticipation of the first Brian Herbert book).

I was inspired to read them again after seeing the Children movie and reading a few of the BH/KA books. The reread of Dune helped wipe out the bad taste left by the ersatz ones.

I agree with "darrow" (read message 61) - Alfred Bester is the best - I read his book "The Stars My Destination" every year or so. It is a fasicinating and 'colourful' book.

Great to see so many Alfred Bester fans; I agree re Stars My Destination.

My five:

1. Lois McMaster Bujold (Miles!)
2. Sharon Lee and Steve Miller (Liaden)
3. Roger Zelazny (esp. Amber)
4. William Gibson (esp. Virtual Light, Idoru)
5. Alfred Bester

I also re-read Neil Gaiman, but can't classify him as science fiction.

I re-read these books:

1. Medea: Harlan's World edited by Harlan Ellison, Various authors
2. Time Enough For Love by Heinlein
3. Neuromancer by Gibson
4. Dangerous Visions edited by Harlan Ellison
5. Hyperion by Dan Simmons

Authors:
Harlan Ellison
Theodore Sturgeon
Roger Zelazny
Neal Stephenson
A. E. Van Vogt

If I thought my copy wouldn't fall apart in my hands, I'd probably be re-reading, shamelessly, The Number of the Beast.

I wanted to include Hal Clement simply because he seemed so underrepresented in this thread, but I don't myself commonly pick up his books to re-read.

I used to reread Foundation trilogy every other year, when I was much younger than I am now. One joyous weekend in 1987, I reread the entire series from friday to sunday (only stopping for short periodes of sleep). Like some other posters, I found that it did not please me later in life, at it had, when I was young.

That no one else has mentioned Julian May is a big surprise to me. I must have read The Saga of the Exiles series, Intervention and Galactic Milieu Trilogy at least five times. And I always take away something new and awarding.

I adore The Legacy of Herot by Larry Niven et al. That will soon be up for another reread.

Off-topic (or off-genre as it were) I have reread most of Terry Pratchetts Diskworld series. Twice I have reread one of his books directly after reading it the first time (going from the last page back to the first). They were Going Postal and Making Money.

Not in prioritized order...

* A Civil Campaign and quite a few other books by Lois McMaster Bujold
* The Liaden-universe books by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller
* Alfred Bester's The Stars My Destination and The Demolished Man
* The Chanur-series by CJ Cherryh
* Quite a few science ficition books by L. E. Modesitt, Jr.
* Kristine Smith's Jani Kilian-books, but I don't know if they'll get as worn as the others in this list.

More interesting however are the books that cannot be reread. All the books I have by Guy Gavriel Kay are like that: having read them once, I remember too much to reread them so all I have to do is glance at the first page and it all comes back.

For Sci-fi, my comfort reads are:

Lois McMaster Bujold (anything published)
Robert J. Sawyer (everything I've bought)
James Alan Gardener (league of peoples)
Dennis Danvers - The Watch: A novel

There are a few other authors from fantasy and other genres but my 'to be read' stacks are too high to spend a lot of time re-reading.

Ha ha, my copy of Ender's Game also has tattered edges!
My other most read scifi book is Prelude to Foundation which is my favorite Asimov story.

I'm going with the first five that popped into my head...

1. Star Rangers aka The Last Planet by Andre Norton
2. Armor by John Steakley
3. The Weapon Shops of Ishir by A. E. Van Vogt
4. Agent of Change by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller
5. On Basilisk Station by David Weber

...but wishing I'd remembered The Long Run by Daniel Keys Moran sooner.

I have to say my favorite SciFi book has to be 20,000 Leagues under the sea. I love the way Verne depicts Arronax's journeys on the Abraham Lincoln and the Nautilus.

Go-to sci-fi, when nothing else looks interesting:

Cherryh, particularly her Foreigner series, Cyteen, and Regenesis.

Frank Herbert's Dune books

Malevil (just got a new hb copy from Canada.)

Anything Ender

And, actually fantasy
LOTR (except Book 2)

Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay

My re-read books

Heinlein - Farmer in the sky
Adams - Hitchhikers Guide...
Simak - Mastadonia, Time and Again
Niven - world out of time, Mote in Gods Eye, Footfall
Almost anything by Heinlein - Stranger in a Strange Land, Door into summer, Tunnel in the sky, Glory Road.

Re-read authors

Heinlein
Arthur C Clark
Asimov
Herbert
Douglas Adams
Niven

Julian May's Pliocene Exile Saga
Lord of Light - Roger Zelazny
Great Book of Amber Zelazny

Books:
Roger Zelazny - Chronicles of Amber
Richard Cooper - Knights of God

Authors:
H. Beam Piper
Douglas Adams
Lester Del Rey

Roger Zelazny, especially The Chronicles of Amber
Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan series

Snowcrash
Protector
A World Out of Time
Darwinia
Chasm City
Dune
Esbae
Walker of Worlds, Chronicles of the Kings Tramp Book 1 and the rest of the Kings Tramp trilogy. Hard to find, but worth the effort.

There are more, but these are off the top of my head.

On average, I read about 5 books/week.

My reread authors in no particular order

Robert Asprin
Spider Robinson
Alan Dean Foster
Robert Heinlein
Christopher Stasheff

When nothing looks good, pretty much anything by these guys will work for me.

Dan

I'm generally one never to re-read a book, no matter how much I liked it. I usually only unintentionally re-read one. And then about twenty pages into it I realize I vaguely remember how it turns out (this happened most recently with The Ringworld Throne). I generally don't like it because without the mystery I feel most sci-fi loses something.

And I have far, far too many unread books that I'm eager to crack open.

The two books I have re-read the most are probably Dark is the sun and midworld. Not to surprisingly enough, they're also two of the earliest sci-fi books I can remember reading. I think the nostalgia has a lot to do with it.

I've also re-read The Drawing of the Three. But that's just a damn good book.

Robert Heinlein (almost everything)

Neal Stephenson Snow Crash and The Diamond Age

Ann McCaffrey particularly The Petaybee Series and The Harper Hall books DragonSong Dragonsinger The Masterharper of Pern, The Crystal Singer series, and I am embarrassed to admit, the Freedom's Landing series.

Orson Scott Card, particularly the Homecoming series, and the Alvin Maker books (OK, not quite SF) and Ender's Game

C. S. Lewis space trilogy, especially Perelandra As SF, these are pretty awful, but they don't fit some other genre very well either. I think they are great books, but I remember being completely turned off by them when I read them as SF before becoming a Christian.

Arthur C. Clarke
Isaac Asimov's Robot stories and books(non Foundation)
Alan Dean Foster
Greg Bear
Larry Niven

Hm. In thinking about this, I apparently don't re-read much SF beyond The Handmaid's Tale; too many new books out there for me.

All of the Pern series
The Number of the Beast (I named my son after Zeb and Jacob)
The Stand
Shannara series
Avalon series (I am currently reading and re-reading these)

Double dip:

Frank Herbert: a lot
Isaac Asimov: at this moment
Joe Haldeman: on occasion
Ursula Le Guin: recently reread Earthsea series
Harry Harrison: recently reread Stainless Steel Rat series

and I have read Tolkien over and over again.

I re-read the Harry Potter books and the Lord of the Rings because of the movies. HP I read before the movies came out. LOTR I read after I saw the movie.

I listened via cassette tape to Mars by Ben Bova while commuting to work. I read the book a few years later.

Those are the only situations I have re-read.

Oh jeez, Double Star is my least favorite Heinlein novel so far. Farmer in the Sky was much better.

If you're re-reading the Foundation series, you will probably enjoy reading "Psychohistorical Crisis", a novel set in the same universe as the Foundation books but by a different author. Just thought I'd mention it since this is a favorite series of mine.

I don't re-read science fiction very much. Iain M Banks gets revisited, or at least his early novels do. The later stuff will probably just gather dust on the self.

I have a few that are perennial favourites that I re-read on a regular basis
Cities in Flight by Blish
The Dosadi Experiment by Herbert (his best I think)
The Web of the Chozen by Chalker (a weird book but I like the ending)
The Silkie by van vogt (I have gone through 3 or 4 copies of this one)
The War against the Chtorr series by Gerrold

These I would re-read even if I just finished them. There are probably another 50 or 60 that I really enjoyed and re-read maybe once every 3 years.
It makes it hard to advance when there is already so much goodness out there.

the god's themselves
macroscope
ivory resnick
hyperion
destination universe

Short stories

The cold equations
seven views of Olduvai Gorge
The last answer
Monsters (aka. resurrection)

Damm, this thead grew overnight I'm sure.
Just rereading the altered carbon plus books based on "Kovack".
Richard K. Morgan 's books need rereading just 'cos I forget the names.
Well resleaving does that to a person.

Same here. Richard Morgan's Kovacs series is regularly re-read by me.
And the Night's Dawn Trilogy by Hamilton.
And of course Childhood's End by Arthur C Clarke, and City by Clifford Simak, and all Cordwainer Smith stories...

Ah Yes, the "Cordwainer Smith" series.
Only a twinge of Aussie content, but I must reread them.
City leaves me a bit "cold" but I'll give it another go.
Hey, I liked it when I was 12 but...

Yes, Cordwainer Smith holds up extremely well with revisiting.
I agree, at age 12, City was great. I suppose that's the main reason its on my re-read list - that was so many years ago, and one needs to periodically confirm the loftiness of the impression it made on me.
Also, Zelazny's Lord of Light is a must re-read (or first read).

Bolo by Laumer

Little Fuzzy by Piper

Citizen of the Galaxy by Heinlein

1632 by Eric Flint

Callahan's Crosstime Saloon by Spider Robinson

These are like a favorite dessert to me, but I re-read Stirling/Turtledove/Heinlein/Brin/Piper a lot, as well as the 1632 universe books

I don't reread much SF, but a few books that do come to mind:

1. The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury (it was the first SF that really grabbed me)
2. Dune by Frank Herbert (just the first book)
3 The Foundation Trilogy by Asimov (yeah yeah, I know)
4 Red Genesis by S.C. Sykes (this was part of a next wave series of new authors picked by Asimove, I'm a sucker for good Mars stories)
5. Thrice Upon a Time by James P. Hogan (satisfies the SF and romantic urge in me all in one)

I'm sure there are others...by I went with the first 5 that I reread that come to mind.

If I was making a generic list, I'd certainly include the first three. I might add Ringworld, which I intend to reread on of these days soon.

Ray Bradbury's "Silver locusts"/"Martian Chronicles",(tho' Kim Stanley Robinson is taking over as a reread),
Canticle for Leibowitz,
Ringworld,
Zenna Henderson's "The People" series
and yes, Cordwainer Smith

Have reread on semi-regular basis and would do so again in a heartbeat:

1) Ubik by Philip K. Dick
2) The Time Machine by H.G. Wells
3) Stars my Destination by Alfred Bester
4) Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
5) The Sheep Look Up by John Brunner

Yes, Yes , Yes .

Zelaznys Lord of the Light is a must reread.

G.

M.A. Foster - The Gameplayers of Zan
C.J. Cherryh
Larry Niven
Isaac Asimov
Lois McMaster Bujold
Marion Zimmer Bradley - Darkover series

I can't believe nobody has mentioned M.A. Foster and I had forgotten all about him too!