Today, the guys in the Goodreads Top 5 Wednesday group have an interesting topic this week: BOOKS I WANT TO RE-READ! Even though it seems like we are all constantly chasing the next upcoming release, let’s take a trip down memory lane and talk about some books that we’d like to re-visit.

There are a handful of books/series that I generally return to or intend to get around to re-reading.  Stories I crave to experience again and again.  I might not always find the time, but I always intend to do so.  And here are my top five picks from that list.

5. WHEEL OF TIME

Yeah, yeah, I always say every year I am going to re-read this series.  My fear of the enormity of this endeavor always keeps me from doing it though.  Sad thing about the whole situation is that I really want to re-read those first few books which I found among the best epic fantasy ever when I first experienced them years ago.  Plus, I’d like to know how it actually ends, since I have refused up to this point to read the latter volumes.  Maybe, 2017 will be the year I finally do it.

4. DUNE 

My favorite scifi series every is one I will read every so often.  Naturally, my favorite novels are the first two, but I don’t hate the later stories either.  Certainly, they are not to every reader’s taste, which is only to be expected.  Last time I did a complete read through of the series was 2009, so it is definitely time to take a look at dusting off the old hard covers and opening them up again in the near future.

3. THE CHRONICLES OF THE BLACK COMPANY

Comes as no surprise to anyone who follows me here or on Goodreads that I am a huge fan of Glen Cook’s Black Company books.  Love them all.   And I return to re-read them all every so often; the last time was in 2012.  And the great thing is I never get tired of following along behind these guys, which amazes me more than a little, since I’ve been reading these stories for most of my adult life.  Guess somethings you just never grow out of.

2. DARWATH

Another of favorite series of mine.  One I’ve been re-read every few years since I was a teenager back in the 1980s.  Certainly, my perception of the narrative has changed over the years: my focus less on the daring-do now and more on the subtle characterization and mysterious elements.  But no matter what I’m most interested in, Darwath never fails to entertain me and recapture the wonder I had when I first read it so many years ago. For those who are keeping track, my last re-read was Christmas 2013.

1. THE LORD OF THE RINGS

Tolkien’s classic fantasy trilogy is probably the book series which most inspired my love of the genre and kept me returning to its familiar embrace the most often — until the movies that is.  Since the movie trilogy ended in 2003, I’ve found myself turning to them whenever I need a hit of LoTR, which is sad because it has kept me from re-reading this magical adventure for over a decade now.  So, yes, it is time to schedule these books in for a read sometime in 2017, because 13 years is too long to go without a return to Middle-Earth.

So there is my top five.  What books/series do you want to re-read or find yourself consistently returning to over the years?