the books I've reread most are Lord of the Flies and Animal Farm.. both short and easy to read

Re-read books: Catch-22 maybe a dozen times; most Iain Banks (SF or mainstream); any PJ O'Rourke; Carl Hiaasen for a rainy day or long-haul flight.
But the one author whose books I've re-read more than any other is Len Deighton, probably the most underrated writer of all time. Try 'Winter' if you don't believe me

All sorts of children's lit - the ultimate comfort read when the world seems big and bad... For instance: The Railway Children, any Susan Cooper book from "The Dark is Rising" series

I'm definitely with the people who prefer children's books to adult trash in times of stress. I have read both Goodnight Mister Tom and Back Home by Michelle Magorium countless times, Thomas Kempe was a cracker, and we loved 'Book of the Banshee' by Anne Fine in our house, I re-read that every time I visit my parents. However, my ultimate comfort book (and I'm not ashamed of it!) is 1066 and All That. I can practically quote it cover to cover but I still read it every few months or so

The only thing I reread now is Nabokov short stories

have read Great Gatsby 9 times and counting: was my favourite book at 18 and still is. The Hobbit I've read at least 5 times

The Godfather by Mario Puzo has also been worn out over twenty times and I still get shocked by what happens at the end

I have read John Meade Falkner's novel The Nebuly Coat (1903) a dozen times, and shall do so again. No shame in this. Everybody who chances upon it does the same. For all its country-town, nineteenth-century setting it is not exactly a "comfort read" but unsettling in the most congenial way. He is best known for Moonfleet but I'd say this is his best (but do look out for his other novel, The Lost Stradivarius).

I suppose my single most repeated read must be Gregory Benford's 'Timescape'

The Lord of the Rings books. I have read them at least once a year since I was 11

I read Emotionally Weird by Kate Atkinson every year without fail, I love its humour and incredibly long words - thanks for expanding my vocabulary, Kate

Different comfort reads for different decades: all at least once a year at the time. Teens and twenties: Jane Austen; thirties: Stevie Smith's three novels, especially "Novel on Yellow Paper"; forties: Margery Allingham except for her first few novels which are unpleasantly snobbish in that pre-war way, she got better as she got older

there are many many true comfort books that I do re-read for their nourishing value: The Life of Pi by Yann Martel (have given away this book to people several times as well as having re-read it many times); A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth (Love the fact that I could re-start the book at any point and be transported right into the story); The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera (The margins of this book has been scrawled with so many of my philosophical musings that I won't let anyone go near my own copy); and yes, Bridget Jones, High Fidelity and The Girls' Guide to Fishing and Hunting are my slightly embarrassing comfort books for when I'm in the throes of love....
Basically I discover I am a die-hard book re-reader. I loathe giving away books and it's the really dire ones that I gave the boot

Tristram Shandy, Gravity's Rainbow, and of course Ulysses are wonderful for such browsing. And you can always limit it to favorite passages with page marks left in

Does anyone else have a 're-read' bookcase? Mine contains about 300 books including Terry Pratchett; Agatha Christie; Raymond Chandler; James Herriott; pre-1970s camp classic sci-fi; and many others.

My all time favourite rereads: I, Claudius and Claudius the God

The Crow Road by Iain Banks, lovely main character who reminds me of being a student and how complicated I thought life was then, and how simple I now realise it really was. And of course LOTR, about 20 times. But for embarrassing, it has to be the Jean M Auel books, trashy but fun and incredibly long if you read the entire thing
Kerouac is the male equivalent of chick-lit

I re-read Mary Webb, Jane Austen, Walter Scott (Ivanhoe) ... and in a more modern vein - Dan Rhodes. His book Anthropology is small and perfectly formed, and what's more you can read out the stories to adults and have them gently dissolving all over the place

I also reread Pratchett a lot for the laughs and Phillipa Gregory's Tudor trilogy for the sex, intrigue and general girl trashiness of it all

I've read Susan Cooper's The Grey King more times than is strictly healthy. I always liked the other books in the Dark Is Rising series too (even the anticlimactic last one) but something just clicks with Volume 4 - it just fits like a snug jersey
the books I've re-read most of all aren't too excruciating - Fire and Hemlock, A Room With a View and The Rachel Papers have all made annual appearances since I was about 12

I re-read Jane Eyre about once every six months. It's been my favourite book for about 15 years

The Diary of a Provincial Lady, Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day, Forever Amber, The Mists of Avalon and The Diary of a Nobody - all re-read and re-read on a regular basis

Another vote for Jane Eyre and the Crow Road here, also Possession by AS Byatt and the Secret History by Donna Tartt - these 2 I've read so often the spines are irretrievably ruined.

Top childrens book which I read every year without fail is the Box of Delights by John Masefield, which just about beats everything else

Rebecca is my other eternal favourite. The Audible.com recording by Anna Massey is brilliant for all iPod owners and I was recently introduced to Lolita read by Jeremy Irons in the same manner. PS I don't understand why people are embarrassed by reading children's books. They are so well written compared to most adult books. 95% of my reading is children's literature

I do very little re-reading but "Out of Africa" is a book I have read several times and have always felt the same magic