I've re-read A Short History of Nearly Everything and The Stranger, but I think that is about it. But my mother said she's read The Hobbit four times.

I have read the fifth, sixth and seventh Harry Potter books a few times too many. And, as you may have noted from the photo of its covering falling off, Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie. I took that one to Africa with me.

I've read all Rosamunde Pilcher's books several times - I love her characters - they feel like old friends!

Have read Pride and Prejudice, Emma and To Kill a Mockingbird multiple times. They never get old.

Lord of the Rings, Dune, and Confederacy of Dunces come to mind. Anything worth reading, is worth reading twice, I say. Usually.

To Kill a Mockingbird. Note: Tonight at 8 p.m. the USA Network is airing the 1962 film of To Kill a Mockingbird in honor of its 50th anniversary.

There's a number of books that I love to re-read. I'm not sure if it's because I love the books or that I read them at a point in my life that I'd like to remember. I also read a lot of vacation, so I associate the books I read to where I was when I read them.

A book that I really like, and that takes me back to my younger years, is To Kill A Mockingbird. I love the main character, Scout, and her innocence. I also like the end of the book when she's seen injustice and yet still has compassion for others and hope. This gives me a feeling of hope for the future.

Another book that takes me back to my childhood is Catcher in the Rye. The first time I read it, I just didn't get it. I think maybe I was too young. The next time I read it I understood Holden Caulfield and the world a bit better. It was also part of a reading assignment from a High School English class and I had others to discuss it with. I always enjoy that.

These days there are a couple books that I keep coming back to. One is Three Junes by Julia Glass. It is a beautiful story about people, struggles, kindness and hope. I first read the book when I was in Positano, Italy. That doesn't have a lot to do with the story but the book reminds me of happy times spent there.

The other book I return to is Prayers for Sale by Sandra Dallas. It is set in the mountains of Colorado and Dallas weaves a strong sense of place. I first read the book when I was in Colorado, so I had a happy double-dose of mountains.

The Women's History of the World by Rosalind Miles, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver and The Shack by William P. Young. The first explains people, the second explains the earth, and the last explains God.

I always enjoy sitting down with a well-written book for the 2nd or 3rd time. Some of my favorites for re-reading are (as mentioned by many others) To Kill a Mockingbird, Memoirs of an Invisible Man by H.F. Saint, All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy, Time and Again by Jack Finney, God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy, and Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salman Rushdie. Wonderful stories and great language, satisfying just to sit down and begin reading. I'm reading The Bad Seed by William March now -- first time, but does it count that I've seen the movie multiple times? Gotta love a good child murderer.

The Man Eaters of Kumaon by Jim Corbett; you can actually feel the heat of the Indian jungle. Phenominal writing that. The Frontiersman by Allen W. Eckertt; historical "fiction" but for all intents and purposes it could be used as a text book for graduate level classes on the Northwest Territories during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. It is encyclopedic in scope, and it is book one in a series that is 9 books long if my memory serves. Each book is over 600 pages with the end notes. I am about to re-read the Harry Potter series, and I just finished The Golden Compass by Phillip Pullman. I have not read the other two in the His Dark Materials series yet, but I am making plans to re-read them all.

Chris, if your definition of a comfort book is a series of nine 600-plus page textbook style tomes, you get major bonus points. Additional points for pairing that with Harry Potter. Kudos.

I'm not a big book re-reader, at least not in the short term. If I'm going to read a book again I like to let some time pass so I have a different reaction to it, like Kara Logsden's story about her "Catcher in the Rye" reading experience.

I do look to read short things over and over again that I find moving or enlightening, such as poems, short stories, essays or even passages in novels. My favorite book of essays to revisit is Phillip Lopate's, "The Art of the Personal Essay: An Anthology from the Classical Era to the Present" since as an anthology it almost invites you to use it in this way.

Chronicles of Narnia; Lord of the Rings; Pride and Prejudice...sweeping tales that end with joy and/or good triumphing over evil

The master and margarita, The wind up bird chronicle, His dark materials trilogy.

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