I have a couple of books on my shelves that every three or four years I pick up and read - for the second, third and perhaps fourth time.

I just finished John M. Browning, American Gunmaker by John Browning and Curt Gentry. The genius of Browning is always stunning, both as an inventor and as a businessman.

Next up is The Two Ocean War by Samuel Eliot Morison. This is a short history of the United State Navy in the Second World War.

Finally is Dwight Eisenhower's Crusade in Europe (1948), This book gives an interesting insight into the logistics and politics underlying the effort to defeat Hitler.

Titus Bass series by Terry C Johnston.

Atlas Shrugged
The Count of Monte Cristo

Any Jack O'Connor stuff I have

I'm about to start my "Master and Commander" 20-volume set yet again. It's been a couple years, and so all of O'Brian's marvelous prose will be fresh for me again.

Green Hills of Africa by Hemingway

Jayber Crow by Wendell Berry

Christianity & Liberalism by J Gresham Machen

Too many to list them all, but here are a few:

The James Herriot books

The Old Man and the Boy and The Old Man's Boy Grows Older

The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson - if you haven't read this, you really owe it to yourself to do so.

The Capstick "Death" books

Horn of the Hunter

I have zero patience to read books.

I’ll read a dry, 30 page medical research study but I just can’t get into that Danielle Steele fantasy world or whatnot.

Just ain’t me dawg

Huckleberry Finn

Months of the Sun by Nyshens
Heat Thirst and Ivory by Everett also Tuskers in the Dust
Tough Trip Through Paradise by Garcia

Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, and The Hobbit.

The Word of God
One fish, Two fish, Red fish, Blue fish
Amelia Bedelia

Skeeter Skelton's two books, "Hog Legs and Hipshots" and "Good Friends, Good Guns and Good Whiskey," and all of Ben K Green's books on horse trading, cowboying and veterinary tales.

Or if you are ex-Navy, David Poyer is a master of storytelling as only a Navy man can tell it.
This kindle fire electric book is the deal. I can download any book from any library.

W. Bill

Lone Star: A History of Texas and the Texans by T. R. Fehrenbach

The Making of the Atomic Bomb by Richard Rhodes

Dark Sun: The Making of the Hydrogen Bomb by Richard Rhodes

“Then the old man got to cussing, and cussed everything and everybody he could think of, and then cussed them all over again to make sure he hadn't skipped any, and after that he polished off with a kind of a general cuss all round, including a considerable parcel of people which he didn't know the names of, and so called them what's-his-name, when he got to them, and went right along with his cussing.”

I think there might be a lot of space between medical research and Danielle Steele but to each his own...

Damn nazis here closed the library.

I used to read every night before falling asleep. Since starting CPAP and using the TV in the bedroom as a distraction to deal with wearing the mask, my reading has fallen to near zero. Anyway, when I did read, I must have read Horatio Hornblower a few times, as well as The Cruel Sea. Anything by P.G. Wodehouse or Damon Runyon is also on repeat.

Home Tanning Skins by Edward Gein is interesting

I got it.

Tried to download Libby on my phone but no luck. Its free give it a try. YouTube audio books has been my go to while working.

You’re probably right

This fits in there somewhere

Atlas Shrugged --Ayn Rand

Clear and Present Danger -- Tom Clancy

Band of Brothers -- Stephen Ambrose

Battlefield Earth -- L. Ron Hubbard

The Hobbit -- JRR Tolkein

anything Clive Cussler.

My hat is off to you sir. I do not know you, but I know you by what you read...the greatest fiction writer ever. I have read my set 3 times. Each time, I uncover another layer. He was brilliant and an astute observer of the human condition.

Oh my.

Undaunted Courage

Log of the cowboy

Anybody have the “great books” collection and working through it?

The Foxfire book series, western horseman, the man who rode midnight(awsome) the time it never rained(awsomer) atas shrugged,the dark tower series,,

Ruark, Capstick, Barsness, Aagaard, to mention just a few. I have a worn-out copy of the Finn Aagaard articles he wrote for American Hunter which I re-read. Some of those articles were reprinted in a hardbound book about ten years ago, but not all. Hunter, by J.A. Hunter, and his other works as well. In the detective genre, I like all the stuff by Michael Connelly.

Here are nine of Dave Petzal's favorite African hunting books: https://www.fieldandstream.com/9-best-african-hunting-books/

“Into Thin Air”

“A Walk in the Woods”

“Use Enough Gun”

Agreed. Great book.

The Climb by Anatoli Boukreev is excellent as well.

Unintended Consequences by John Ross. Never gets dull.

The Bell Curve. Now that's a good one to try to dig out of storage...

-how to win friends and influence people, best self help book I have ever read.
-never split the difference
- jim rohn has some great books too.

The Berkut
Stephen King - most, but The Dark Tower series is his best, IMO.

Alaska`s Wolf Man by Jim Rearden . Never gets old on dry

Any of the Journals of the Lewis & Clark expedition. Those of Patrick Glass in particular.

Almost any western history.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest-Ken Kesey
Sometimes a Great Notion- Same author.
Dangerous River -RM Patterson
Hell I Was There - Elmer Keith
John Sandford's Prey Series
The Muzzleloading Caplock Rifle- Ned Roberts
Far Pastures - RM Patterson.
The Travels of Jamie McPheeters - Robert Lewis Taylor
Travis McGee series - John D. MacDonald
Swagger Novels by Stephen Hunter
I have a lot of books I like enough to re-read and those are some. GD

Crow Killer

Been meaning to pick that one up for a while now but never fails, walk into a Halfprice books and forget about everything I went there for. Recently reread Counting Coup and Cutting Horses by Anthony R McGinnis. Good one. You would love the Titus Bass series I mentioned earlier in the thread.

Dang... No one even mentions Louis L'Amour. Shame,shame,shame.

Polite, but total, disagreement.

"The Forgotten Soldier" by Guy Sajer. Account of a Wehrmacht soldier fighting on the Eastern Front in WW II. My 45+ year old copy is finally falling apart. Can't tell you how many times I have read it during that time. Bought it when I was 14.

I've got it on the shelf downstairs; been a long time since I read it last. Now I have to add it to the list of stacked up books I need to get to.

A number of great books mentioned... I recommend Shogun... great book!

The Clash Of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order by Huntington seems more prescient w/ every reading.

The Revenge of Geography by R.D. Kaplan, The books he draws from will support any bibliophiles addictions.

Alaska's Wolf Man by Reardon keeps getting read about once/year.

I have the DaVinci notebooks on my phone and Ipad will probably never finish them.

You can download books for free from our county library.

I can't imagine how limited life would seem w/out books.


mike r

Re read all of Hemingway's works, He's about the only one I'll re-read. I particularly enjoy the authors of the turn of the last century, Fitzgerald, Joyce, Anderson, and Hem are some of my favorite.

almost done with 7th read of the Bible (KJ), I probably read a little from it 350-360 days per year.

I have read "The Healing Woods" by Martha Reben several times.

Also "The Silence of the North" by Olive Fredericksen.

Nice short read, :The Alaska Adventures of a Norwegian Cheechako" by Harald Eide.

Several of Jim Rearden's books, too.

Catch 22 ~ From Here To Eternity ~ Catcher In The Rye,
and a lot of stuff that I first read long ago.

Harry Bosch books!

Anything by Tom Wolf, John Steinbeck or William Faulkner. RIP

Sheep And Sheep Hunting - Jack O'Connor

drover

Death in the Long Grass - Peter Capstick
Cold Sassy Tree - Olive M Burns
A Walk In The Woods - Bill Bryson
"Harold and the Purple Crayon" Crockett Johnson
Scotland: The Story of a Nation - Magnus Magnusson
The Legend of Pierre Bottineau and the Red River Trail
- Ted Stone (Pierre was my great great great grandfather)

Agree on most that have been mentioned. I'll throw out a few others. Gordon mcquarrie, jules vern, pat McManus and mark Twain. Particularly a Connecticut in king Arthur's court. I've read that one probably 20 times. Best story ever written.

Elmer Keith, 'Hell I was There'

Louis Lamour

I've read Stephen King's "The Stand" a couple of times already. I think it's one of his better stories and it's timely right now. I might pull it off the shelves and read it again.

"The Year-Long Day" by A.E. Maxwell and Ivar Ruud. It tells of Ruud's adventures living in The Arctic. His experiences with Polar Bears will make your hair fall out.

James Clavell has. Number of good reads, I’d add Taipan and King Rat to this list.

I reread DUNE every ten years or so.

The Walking Drum by L’amour

Hell I was there by Keith
And just about any Capstick book

I'm almost 100% positive most guys on the 24HCF can't read.

The Fountainhead
Alas,Babylon

Lots of good books listed above, I have read many. I will add one

Patton: A Genius for War by Carlo D'Este.

I like all of D'Este's books, but this is his best.

Most all of Elmer Keltons books
A good many of Don Pendleton's Mack Bolan
All of Richard Marcinko's books that
I've read
Jerry Ahern's Survivalist (the first ones)
All of William Johnstone's that I've read
( the later Ashes books were too far fetched
for me- just like the later Survivalist books)
The Foxfires
Most any that isn't too far out and
far fetched

life on the Mississippi

heart of darkness

any Raymond chandler

For sure a good portion are very poor spellers.

As a kid I read My Side of the Mountain, Where the Red Fern Grows, and Island of the Blue Dolphins numerous times

Hatcher's Notebook.

Best book I have read about the end of WWII in Europe, "The Last 100 Days" by John Toland. 610 pages, and I just finished reading it for the second time. Many prominent military figures were still living at the time it was written (1964), and the author interviewed them.

Terry C Johnston’s Titus Bass series, like a super long extended version of Jeremiah Johnson but better. Good mountain man stories

^ ^ ^ ^ ^

I've worn out 3 of the carry the wind
and 2 buffalo palace paperbacks

Few repeat reads of God is my Co pilot and Marine Sniper.

My problem is, if a book is halfway decent, I'll finish it in one run.........makes for some rough next days.

Old Scratch......great books👍

I reread all by,
Michael Connoly

John Sanford

Wilbur Smith

Robert Ruark,and books about him

John Grisham

Bill O Reilly

and more,,, bear guiding is tough work!!

Miss Lynn, if you are familiar with Bryson, you must read The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid.

Hilbert/Courant by Constance Reid

Littlewood's Miscellany edited by Bela Bollobas

I just picked up Open Season by C.J. Box , two chapters in. This is great!

Used to read a lot, last book read was "What does this button do?"
Kid got me a copy signed by the author.
Enjoyable but light.

I'd rather print tabs, watch music videos and try to play along w amp cranked.
Kinda hard to do with people in my house.

Had half of Live After Death memorized.

Put away a lot of booze doing that too. Good times.

1) Duel in the snow,by hans meissner.
2) 100 best true stories of ww2.
Can be found on e bay or amazon,well worth a re read.

The Bible.
It's more valuable than any other single object on earth, IMHO.
Every time that I read it I learn something new. .. lots of new principles. Especially that it is a written record of what God requires for everlasting life in heaven.


"He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son. And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.". I John 5:10-12

Lord of the Rings, Tolkien
First Law series, Joe Abercrombie
Broken Empire trilogy, Mark Lawrence

Black Elk Speaks - John G. Neihardt
Undaunted Courage - Stephen E. Ambrose
Northwest Passage - Kenneth Roberts
Several other books related to and about the Lewis and Clark Expedition

Last stand of the tin can sailors, James Hornfischer
Strong men armed, Robert Mackie
Bloody Ridge and beyond, Marlin Groft
I'm into ww2 history
I also enjoyed Rocky's book Mike five eight

Fiction, there’s a few. Chesapeake, Centennial, Texas, Alaska, all by Michener. Where the Red Fern Grows, but since I hunt with dogs, it plays hell with my allergies.
History, there’s probably dozens. Bruce Catton, Shelby Foote, Stephen Ambrose easily at the top. I know I’ve read Foote’s Civil War triumvirate 5 times, same for Catton’s 3 about the Army of the Potomac. Ambrose’s books about WW2 were gifts for Dad, but now they’ got a permanent home in my library.
Blood of Heroes, and a couple others about Texas history and The Alamo. Son of The Morning Star, Terrible Glory, The Last Stand, all about Custer and LBH.
Candy Bombers, about the Berlin Airlift, probably several I’m forgetting, all at least 3 times, and some many more.
In Grade school I was taught to take care of books. Back then a school textbook was used over for several years. I guess it rubbed off on me because nearly all mine are like new, even though they’ been read several times.
Actually this brings up another thing I’ve been mulling over in my mind. Dad had dozens of books when he died. A whole damn tableful went for a dollar. It broke my heart.
I’ve got probably a couple hundred, setting and gathering dust. I’m thinking of selling them here to interested parties for a few $ and shipping, provided the buyer agrees to retain it or pass it on to another patriotic history buff.
Thoughts?
7mm

A couple of short non-fiction paperbacks: The Tracker by Tom Brown Jr and Samuel Morris Story by Taylor University

Samuel Morris is set in about 1860 or so. A black kid held by one tribe as collateral for another somehow escapes and get to America on a pirate ship.

I did just that with a shelf of shooting books, 7mm. About 3/4 of them had articles of mine in them, and since neither my kids nor I had any use for them any longer, I bundled them up at random in Flat Rate Priority boxes and offered them here on the fire for the cost of shipping. The guys who got them were appreciative, I have a whole empty shelf for other things, and I don't miss any of them.

Then I did the same with my complete series of Brad Thor novels, but offered them online for a pittance. Mere dust collectors good for one reading only.


Aside: Thanks for the kind words, flintlocke and Nykki.

Here’s a good one for WWII history buffs. “Alone on Guadalcanal” A Coastwatchers Story. By Martin Clemens

This remarkable memoir tells the compelling story of the near-mythic British district officer who helped shape the first great Allied counteroffensive. Scottish-born and Cambridge-educated, Martin Clemens managed to survive months behind Japanese lines in one of the most unfriendly climates and terrains in the world. After countless partisan and spy missions, in 1942 he emerged from the jungle and integrated his Melanesian commando force into the heart of the 1st Marine Division's operations, earning the unfettered admiration of such legendary Marine officers as Vandegrift, Thomas, Twining, Edson, and Pate.
This book is based on a journal Clemens kept during the war and might well be the last critical source of analysis of the Solomon's campaign. His eyewitness accounts of harrowing long-distance patrols and life on the run from shadowy Japanese intelligence operatives and treacherous islanders are unmatched in the literature of the Pacific war. First published in 1998, the story, with an introduction by Allan R. Millett, is essential and enjoyable reading.

I somehow ended up with two copies in case someone wants to read it, I’d mail it to you.

Looks like this thread got off track a little, the OP asked about books we enjoy RE-reading, not for good books to read, two very different things. There are a lot of great books I have enjoyed but do not feel the need to read again, that is a special category.

For me, the books I re-read every so many years are Lonesome Dove, Atlas Shrugged, Hell I was There, and Fighting Smarter by Tom Givens.

Not a huge fan of "police procedural" novels, but I recently re-read the entire Donald Harstad collection, and found that he had also released a new novel after all these years.
He's still got it...

Also recently re-read a couple of the early "Doc Ford" books by Randy Wayne White. Seems the later books got repetitive and stale. Early Doc Ford was good stuff...

There have been rare occasions, although I can't really recall any specific ones, when a thread here at the 'fire has briefly wandered from its original path.

^^^This^^^

Chesapeake. James Michener

Any of my Havilah Babcock books, especially "I Don't Want To Shoot An Elephant." What I wouldn't give to go back in time and quail hunt with that gentleman.

Tag

I don't know why but I've probably read " into thin air" atleast 4 times

Reread alot of the cs Lewis books. Also remember rereading the killer angels a few times

Read the catcher in the rye about once a year. And crow killer is in my reread rotation

The Bleeding of the Stone as per my sig line.

Has desert, hunting, greed, morals, etc.

No sex that I can remember though, sorry.

The Walking Drum by L’Amour is a good read that gets done every couple of years.

I have an 1895 vintage edition of Robinson Crusoe, which covers not only his time on the island, but how he came to be there, how he was rescued, and his life after the rescue. It is in pretty bad shape these days, have had it I since I was a kid.