Everything New is Old Again

[#1]

Loretta Chase, Anna Campbell, Joanna Bourne, Lisa Kleypas and a whole lot of other historicals are on my keeper shelf. Also Kristan Higgins, Shana Abe, Jennifer Crusie, Anne Stuart, Lani Diane Rich, Kresley Cole, Nalini Singh, Toni Blake, Melissa Nathan, Linda Howard, Roxanne St. Claire, Karen Rose -- really, the list just goes on and on. When my TBR pile wasn't so big, I used to re-read all the time.

[#2]

I have a lot of keeper authors as well and you've finally met a romance reader who doesn't re-read books. ;-)

The last keeper I read was Hunt Her Down by Roxanne St. Clair, I know when the book is a keeper if I love the characters right away and I can't put the book down.

Deb

[#3]

Hey, Bellas! It's awesome to post again, hehe.

Well, the surefire way that it's definately a keeper is that I simply can't put the book down. Like, you have to pee and you just then realize that you've been sitting there reading for 4 hours, hehe. Yeah, Kresly Cole and Nalini Singh are definately two that do that for me, hehe. Not to mention keepers such as Tara Janzen, Suzanne Brockmann, Janet Evanovich, Jane Austin and Judith McNaught!

Which, by the way, can't wait for Kresley Cole's new one. Tuesday, Tuesday!

[#4]

I know, sometimes it's hard to reread what with the TBRs staring you in the face, calling to you from the bookshelf. But, hey, sometimes the series or book itself just calls to you. Like Kresley Cole's IAD series, especally AHLNO! I think I've reread that one at lease three times this year alone. And probably will be doing so again. Like, tomorrow! Love it!

[#5]

Hi All!    Yes, it definitely is a keeper when you've been sitting that long and your body finally reacts!  Love that Princess Bumblebee!  I've had it happen to me too!  As to what makes it a keeper for me depends on the storyline, the characters, the setting and if it grabs me from the beginning.  Also, when I can't put it down and the bedside clock says 2 o'clock a.m. and I just glance at it and keep right on reading!  Oh, yeah!!!

Some of the books I've read more than once are Ashes in the Wind (Kathleen E. Woodiwiss),  The Touch of Fire (Linda Howard), The Darkest Heart (Brenda Joyce), Clandara (Evelyn Anthony), Private Treaty  (Kathleen Eagle), The Outlaw Hearts (Rebecca Brandewyne), The Eagle's Song (Marylyle Rogers),  Lightning That Lingers (Sharon & Tom Curtis), Sweet Anger (Sandra Brown), Wild Midnight (Maggie Davis) and Lover Eternal (J.R. Ward ) just to name a few.  Newer authors I have on my keeper shelf and I will definitely re-read are Kresley Cole, Gena Showalter, J.R. Ward, Lara Adrian, Karen Marie Moning and Toni Blake.

 I have four books that I call my seasonal favorites that I've read so many times I can't count.  They are A Treasure Worth Seeking (Sandra Brown-Summer), Heatwave (Barbara Delinsky-Summer), Gambler's Love (Amii Lorin-Winter) and Moment to Moment (Barbara Delinsky-Winter). 

Not the last book I read, but the one that I knew would become a comfort re-read is Lover Eternal.  I love the scenes when the hero questions the heroine in the hall about her voice, tthe TGI Friday's dinner date, the ice cream/cooking breakfast, the doctor's office visit where he acknowledges he's her mate and where he goes to the Scribe Virgin to plead his case for the heroine's life.  That scene with the Scribe Virgin just rings the strings of my heart!!!

I don't loan my favorites anymore.  Once I loaned one out and never got it back.  I had to go searching to find it again.  So I tend to be like a hoarder where their concerned.

[#6]

Hi Everyone - AnneB here - I agree with all of you about when you just KNOW it's a keeper. There are usually series of books that I just can't part with, and to reread them is like sitting down with an old friend and talking about anything and everything ! I agree with 1love - there are some of my keepers that I do not loan out anymore - I guess I just can't part with an old friend - there are several that I have had to replace several times (I think that it says more about how good the book was and not how bad the borrower was !) Michelle - it's interesting that this whole topic makes me feel good, because it is causing me to remember how good the books made me feel....Thanks

Anne

[#7]

A Keeper for me happens at different points sometimes it's when I close the book, and I'm devastated that I can't read more that I don't get to see more of the characters. Sometimes it's when I fall in love with a character so much that by the middle of the read I know this book will hold a special place in my heart.

I just finished Michelle Moran's Cleopatra Daughter, and like all her books this was a phenom read, but this one just sucked me in unlike any recent book in memory. Maybe it was the way I kept hoping the book would turn out, but just wasn't sure it would happened. It kept me turning the pages. With limited time I had to read this book in sections, but the fact that I could actually remembered what had happened in the book after picking it up after not touching it for more than a week at a time, or the fact that I kept thinking about it, wanting to read when I couldn't that defines a GREAT book. A book I won't give out to anyone. I'll buy them a copy, but I won't loan it out. Unless it's to Baby, who isn't allowed to take it out of the house. *grin*

While Cleo Daughter is historical fiction, the romance is there too, which made it a great read for me.

[#8]

My name is PJ and I am a re-reader.  My comfort reads are books that I visit time and time again and each read is like a hug from a good friend.  Sometimes, I know almost immediately that a book will become a treasured favorite.  It may be the beautiful language, characters with whom I immediately "click", situations that make me laugh out loud or endings that leave me sighing and wanting to start all over again at page one.   A few of my favorite comfort reads are Saving Grace (Julie Garwood), Trust Me (Jayne Ann Krentz), Virgin River (Robyn Carr) and The Magic of You (Johanna Lindsey). 

The last comfort read I discovered was Goddess of the Hunt by Tessa Dare.  I knew almost immediately that I was immersed in a story of which I would never tire, written by an author with a rare, and remarkable, talent. 

I loan books but not my keepers.  I made that mistake once and got the book back looking like it had taken a swim in the lake.  Since I live on a lake, for all I know it may have done just that! 

~PJ

[#9]

Hi, everyone! Just checking in after a weekend spent reading and relaxing!  No rereading, but some good new and upcoming stuff and, yeah, there may be a re-read in the bunch, one I'm in the middle of now, "Pieces of Sky," a wextern by Kaki Warner.  I'm never sure: is it western with a cap W?

Anyway, PJ, recognizing your addiction is the first step, etc.   Your description of a "hug from a friend" probably is apt for a lot of romance readers, cause so many of us go to the re-reads/keepers when we're needing a lift.  I've found the key to not loaning out books is having to move fairly often for a job, etc. It seems to keep down the amount of romance-reading friends one can make at any time.  It's all about the stats, I guess.  I have a special place for the Dares, too.  You just could tell they were special from the first read, could tell she was going to be a cut above, no?

hi, Mon!  I've seen you talk about Cleo's Daughter several times now, and it must have made a huge impression on you. I know you're a discerning reader becasue you spend so much time writing, you don't get to read a lot.  It doesn't surprize me that you're finding a not-completely romance book impactful. I find some that have the same place w/me aren't romance.  Anita Diamant is in Center Stage this week and her "Red Tent" is one of the books I've read that still flashes in images for me at many times in life.  Byatt's "Possession," as well.  You're generous in allowing your Baby access.  I've learned to loan few things to my children I would mind never seeing again.

[#10]

1AnneB, good to see you!  I'm glad our discussion brings up good stuff for you.  To me, that's always the best part about talking romance with other fans -- especially those who've read longer than me, perhaps -- everyone not only wants to tell you about their faves and why they like 'em, but what the book remind them of, when they first read them, who introduced them to the books, what their friends think of them.  The love of the genre can connect us, but the understanding of the 're-read rush,' if you will, almost is intrinsic to the romance reader -- at least once one has become a romance reader.  And, yeah, isn't collecting the whole series a joy!  And then, taking a weekend or a period of time to work through it again is really comforting or fun or, whatever we're looking for it to be.

[#11]

omg, 1la, 'seasonal faves!'  I want to pay attn now to see whether I've got those, and if anyone else does.  I'll be that's the case.  And those scenes from LA really bring the book back and make me want to reread it. Only thing is, I may have given mine to a producer a while back and never replaced it...

principessa, you've made a good call on the 'denying the physical needs' thing, like sleep and bathroom, etc.  And sometimes, do you stay up late reading then realize it was great, but you can't remember why, so you have to read everything again the next day and just don't care?  That's a great book.  Just one more day for you and the Cole/Showalter! 

debbie, now there's the phenomenon: The keeper shelf that's not re-read.  What is that about? Cause I definitely have books I loved but haven't read again. But I like to look at them sometime, maybe pat them, smile over them... Hey, that's not creepy, is it?

Didn't you once say you had Keeper Rooms, becke?

[#12]

When I go to the keeper shelf for a book, I'm needing a guaranteed good time.  Sometimes you feel adventurous, sometimes you don't or in my case, can't process anything new so visiting old friends is a welcomed diversion.

I am going to reverse the feminist movement 75 years but most often when I go for a comfort read I'm looking for a big arrogant alpha of a hero who comes in and takes care of business, polical correctness be damned. 

Sometimes it's a light funny sweetness I'm looking for, other times it's a take no prisoners story.  It all depends on what catches my eye when I stand in front of the bookcase.

[#13]

Hi Everyone! 

Michelle, I thought I was the only person that did that!  Creepy?  Not at all!  I like to just look at them sometime.  Just to know their there gives me comfort somehow.  I think that's because if I need that comfort sometime, they'll be there.  Those scenes make me want to re-read LE again too!  That restaurant scene is like a little revenge for all of us who knows what it was like to feel like Mary did sitting there.  To read that scene on a bad day, I think will make me laugh to no end.  Is that weird?   Did you know here's another Pieces of Sky?  It's by Marianne Willman.  It's one of my keepers.  I'll have to check yours out!  It sounds good!  I love that title!

JulieOh you hit the nail on the head!  I agree with you about those "Arrogant Alphas"!  Oh, Lord there's nothing like them!  I've been reading about so many lately.  It's like an addiction that has to be fed!  Right now for me, it's Kresley Cole's Bowe from Wicked Deeds on a Winter's Night.  I just love to get to the parts where he speaks.  That Scottish brogue just entwines around my heart so sweetly.  It's like hearing Sean Connery.  He's Scottish too!  Listening to him speak just enthralls me! 

Hey, I agree!  Nothing else matters when you need that "romance fix" that only those Alphas can deliver!

[#14]

That's what my keeper shelf is all about, it's like the pictures of your favorite vacation that you have to just look at occasionally. And even though I don't re-read them doesn't mean I don't page through some of my favorite uhem parts of them. ;-)

Donchaknow!

[#15]

I'm sorry to be the arse in this thread, but I seldom re-read a book unless I'm bored out of my skull and the library is closed.  That said, I will happily re-read anything Terry Pratchett has ever written, and I was delighted to re-read Diana Wynne Jones' stuff after reading it for the first time in my teens. 

The one exception was The Wolf and the Dove by Kathleen Woodiwiss.  That book I read again and again until the ink wore out under my repeated readings.  But it's a very, very rare occurrence in my life.

[#16]

Anida, I'm still laughing over your comment.  I had to check to see whether my husband, Male Perspective Guy, commented today, because he'd fight you to the death for the honored  "arse in the thread" title.  I think a lot of book lovers feel as you do, that rereading's counterproductive, which makes sense when there're so many terrif new books to explore.  And, oh, ,TWADD is a marvelous reread.  I'm going to look for the authors you've mentioned because they had such an impact on you as a non-rereader.  Thanks for those!

Ah, debbie, so you're kind of a book magpie? Definitely makes sense.  Do you ever go through and cull the herd? Ah, so it's not re-reading if you just take a  gander at the naughty bits...

[#17]

Michelle, see I knew you'd get it without having to myself have all my dirty little secrets out there flapping on my laundry line.;-)