Books to read again and again

Books have always been a significant part of my life; I've spent more time reading than almost anything else. I enjoy the classics and wish more people did ... so I hope this lens will inspire some of you to read a classic you've never read before, or to read one again!

My favorites:

1. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

Don't go through life without reading "Anna Karenina." This novel is excellent on so many levels that you can read it again and again, as I have, and still thoroughly enjoy it. Tolstoy skillfully tells two different stories simultaneously, based on the same theme: How does one find true happiness? Anna makes a choice and tries to bravely see it through, trying all the while to persuade herself that she's found happiness, but you can feel the strain build as the novel nears its climax. Levin nearly drives himself insane in his mental tug-of-war over where his place in life should be, but eventually comes full circle. In their journeys, Anna and Levin cross paths, with fascinating results. I can't stress enough that this book is a must-read. Be prepared to be thoughtful, depressed, elated and emotionally drained.

2. The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton

It's an extraordinary author that can make a reader love and hate her heroine. Edith Wharton is an extraordinary author, and her heroine of The House of Mirth, Lily Bart, is a wonderfully complex heroine. This sad tale of a woman's struggle against a future prescribed for her by society is made poignant by Lily's inability -- or is it unwillingness? -- to muster the courage to turn her feet away from the path paved in gold in order to find true happiness. As financial circumstances force her to take the first step toward ruin, she not only allows herself to be blinded to the truth of her situation, but impatiently takes the blindfold and ties it on firmly herself. She then begins her inevitable, painfully slow fall, touching but not grasping the hand Lawrence Selden holds out to save her. Selden does love her and does want to help her, but he wears his own blindfold, one created by him to save him from the extremes of life, even the extreme pleasure he would find in a life with Lily Bart. In the end, the fear that has kept them apart throughout the novel brings them together in a tragic end. This is a book that's extremely difficult to put down, and one you'll want to read again and again, always somehow in the hopes of a different ending for Lily and Lawrence.

3. Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand

4. The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James

5. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

6. Madame Bovary by Gustav Flaubert

Emma Bovary, like many of us, was raised on fairy tales in which the young woman is carried off dramatically by the handsome, charming, kind prince who sees her not for what she is, but for what she may become. But Emma marries a man, not a prince, and a rather dull man at that -- and the life she believes she could have led tantalizes her to the point of madness. A tragic story of one woman's downward spiral in pursuit of the prince of her dreams, who doesn't, and will never, exist.

7. Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov

8. The Wings of the Dove by Henry James

Henry James complained that people don't pay close enough attention when reading his books. He may not have realized what he was asking. Not only does one have to read this book closely; one has to read between the lines, as well. "The Wings of the Dove" is made up of characters so subtle and so intelligent that even a careful reader will be challenged to keep up. The story follows a young man, Densher, and woman, Kate Croy, who want to be together, but in a brighter financial situation. Kate devises a plan to improve their prospects and asks Densher only to be patient. Her intelligence and moral flexibility allow her to adjust her original plan when the possibility of an even better outcome presents itself in the person of Milly Theale, "the Dove." What the process will do to Milly is of little importance to Densher and Kate at the outset. However, as the pair gets to know Milly better, Densher's conviction begins to crumble. Despite his best efforts to turn a blind eye to his own part in a terrible deception, he feels his character eroding and needs constant reassurance from Kate that it all will be worth it in the end. By the end, though, he has come face to face with what he's done and the price he, Milly and his relationship with Kate have paid. This book is a tough read, but well worth it. I suggest reading a chapter at a time and then turning it over in your mind until you grasp what's going on; only then should you proceed to the next chapter.

Books I'd read over and over if they didn't stay with me for so long:

Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

The Lord of the Flies by William Golding

A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving

A Separate Peace by John Knowles (read an essay by Knowles, see a photographic essay about the moods of the book, and more by Phillips Exeter Academy)