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Comment by tapanjk | Hacker News Reader

> The last one is when you read the book, then think about it, then read it again, then read about it, then keep reading it over and over for the rest of your life.

Agree. Would love to see examples from people of books that fall in this category. I assume it is a short list for most people.

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Language in Thought and Action has deeply affected how I think about thinking. I've read it three times now, and there's one or two dozen other books from the same school of thought that I've read since reading it the first time.

Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail 1972 triggered in me an abiding fascination with the operation of the political process.

I'd also love to see a list of the most common books people claim to have read, but have not.

There's some obvious stuff:

  - Proust
  - Tolstoy, Dostoevsky
  - Joyce (although to be fair, how can you tell?)
  - Probably David Foster Wallace
  - Knuth :)

Bible is probably on that list for a lot of people who claim they've read it but haven't (religious or otherwise!)

I’ve always heard Umberto Eco was at the top during his heyday.

For me, I was thinking of Gene Wolfe when I wrote that. I've reread the entire "solar cycle" at least once every couple years for the last 20 years, and of course I own all the secondary material I can find on it. And I subscribe to three different podcasts where people just discuss it. And Youtube channels, and mailing lists... I don't think I'll ever really get to the bottom.

But it's not uncommon for people to do this with religious texts, too. Reading for devotion, for understanding, out of a since of obligation, whatever. Doesn't matter: it's a distinct way of interacting with books, different from reading a potboiler mystery novel.

Notes from Underground was the book that really pulled me into Dostoevsky (after initially reading C&P and disliking it - I doubtless missed quite a lot the first time through). Definitely in that category for me.

"I am a sick man... I am a spiteful man." A good hook, but I had a tough time finishing Notes. The narrator really shows that yes, he is in fact a sick and spiteful man. Not one I'd want to pick up again.

I got pulled into Dostoyevsky through Brothers K, which led me to Notes eventually.

Do you know what translation of Notes you read? I think I read P&V, and if I read it again I'd want to try something else

I've read Garnett and P&V and personally much prefer the Garnett translation!

A nice comparison: https://web.archive.org/web/20131109182920/http://comparetra...

For me it's Nietzsche's "Thus spoke Zarathustra". I'm a different person each time I get through certain sections of that book. That said, I'm sure one of the hundreds of unread books I own is equally life changing.

Mine (predictably):

1984

Stranger In A Strange Land

The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress

Time Enough For Love

Friday

The Crying Of Lot 49

Seveneves

Neuromancer

I’ve read all of these at least 4 times, with reading-about-them in between.

I usually pick one up to re-read just a part of it, then I get sucked in and before I know it I’ve re-read the whole thing.

Have you tried "The player of games"? Based on the others you have there you might like it.

I adore the Culture novels, but I read them for the first time last year.

So far I have only re-read Inversions and Excession, the two that were the most fun the first time through.

I've read eight of the Culture novels now, and "The Player of Games" was in the bottom two for me. I'm mystified that most others seem to rank this book so high. "Use of Weapons" and "Surface Detail" are my favorites so far, but they're rarely mentioned here.

I'm not sure if it's true, but QI claimed that most people who claim to have read 1984 are lying.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7y83UkvHpYk

Why would you pretend to have read a ~300 page book, just read the bloody thing.

It's a bit boring and depressing, I stopped reading midway through. But it illustrates an important point.

I see your Seveneves! For me it's Anathem. Though the fact that it's the only Stephenson book I have a hard copy of probably helps with serendipitous rereads of the kind you describe.

I read Seveneves once from the library and wouldn't mind reading it again though.

I've read The Sprawl books (trilogy?), but accidentally did it out of order and separated by years, so it took me an embarrassingly long time to make some connections. I should read them again in order this time!

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