Top 5 - Books I Re-Read

Almost every year for longer than I've had this blog, on or around June 30th I pick up and re-read Michael Shaara's great book The Killer Angels. The book is a retelling of the Battle of Gettysburg. Every year I marvel at the courage of Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain and I wonder why such a supposed great military mind like General Lee did not take the solid advice of General Longstreet.

And every year I'm grateful for circumstances placing Chamberlain on the scene at Little Round Top. And that the back of the Confederacy was basically broken on the heroic yet futile Pickett's Charge the final day of the battle.

Every year!

Re-reading it this year got me thinking of other books I've re-read numerous times. So here are the books (in no particular order) that I've read and re-read at least 10-times each over the years:

- Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien.  First read this in college as part of an English class and was hooked.

- Cannery Row by John Steinbeck. Fun book and for years this was my go to beach book. The movie was awful though.

- The Razor's Edge by W. Somerset Maugham. First read this as a senior in high school and I love to go back and re-read it every once in a while. As much as I enjoy Maugham's writing I have never read what is acclaimed as his masterpiece Of Human Bondage. Same is true of Steinbeck's masterpiece The Grapes of Wrath. Over the years I've bought several copies of each but I think the more I'm urged to read something the more I resist the task. Just one of my foibles I guess.

- A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway. My favorite book by Hemingway.

- A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. My own personal Christmas tradition is to re-read A Christmas Carol on Christmas Eve. If you're not into reading the book you can watch the Patrick Stewart version of the tale - it's almost word-for-word from the book. Plus you get to see McNulty as Scrooge's nephew Fred.

EDIT: How could I forget Kim by Rudyard Kipling. This is another of my favorites. Now I just need to find my copy of the book.

The Harry Potter series of books are getting close to being on the list but I haven't re-read all of the books 10 times (yet).

Honorable mention:

- Man on Fire by AJ Quinnell fun revenge book that's even better than the Denzel movie version.
- Noble House by James Clavell.
- The Kingkiller Chronicles by Patrick Rothfuss will end up on the list above (once he finishes the damn third book!)