What books have you read 3+ times?

I’m always looking for new books, and the best recommendations are the books that people come back to year after year, or in different seasons of their lives. So, what books have you read over and over, and why?

Here’s my list (and reasons):

1. Bird by Bird, Ann Lamott: simply the best book on creating or writing. Memorable advice and wry humor. I read it once a year to help reset some great work habits. For the audio-inclined, author narrates it and she’s fantastic.
2. Born to Run, Christopher McDougall: I know the barefoot running craze is outdated, but I love this book’s combination of history, personal triumph, and science, all done with great storytelling. You don’t even have to like running to love it.
3. The Boys in the Boat, Daniel James Brown: people who are extraordinary at what they do, competing to be the best? I’m here for it. And this book cleverly tells two of those stories at once: that of the 1936 Olympic rowing team, and that of the man who handcrafted their boats. I get something new out of this book with each read.
4. Harry Potter (entire series!), JK Rowling: You’ve got to respect the strategy: every few years they re-release those books in a new way: Brit & US English, audio (US and Brit), illustrated. I can’t help it- I’ve bought and read the entire thing about 5 times. (It helps that I have 3 kids.)
5. My Antonia, Willa Cather: There is poetry in the immigrant stories of rural Nebraska and Cather tells them so beautifully. This book is a connection to Nebraska, so re-reading it feels like coming home.

I’m ready to learn and grow and read the stories you keep coming back to. All the recs and all the reasons. Go!