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TL;DR: Travelling for ~6 weeks and need recommendations for the very few books I can bring.

I'll be travelling (walking the Camino) through May and part of June. This is effectively a backpacking trip, so packing light is key—I'm planning to bring one book that I can trade and another that I am reasonably sure that I can reread, ad nauseam, for more than a month. (Before you ask: I do not have an e-reader and do not plan to change that. I will bring additional books for the plane that I don't mind leaving behind, but I'll only have two on the trip itself.)

Further things to think about: Current frontrunners are Jane Eyre or one of Jane Austen's books. I considered Crime and Punishment but want something a little more...cheerful. Halfheartedly considering a book of poetry (e.g., e.e. cummings). I'm thinking that the best option will be a classic work of fiction, but I'm open to other ideas.

I usually read quite a lot and quite quickly, so I'm more concerned about the re-readable book. What book or books would you recommend?

I have read and re-read Anne of Green Gables many times. It's not quite as classical, but the characters are interesting enough that it is worth reading again to understand them and their world.

Another re-read favorite of mine is Ender's Game, but it is not cheerful, either. I usually end up in tears, speculating on humanity's treatment of children and species they don't understand.

Finally, there is always a Harry Potter book. I find it interesting to look at all of the literary, cultural, historical, and linguistic connections Rowling made in her stories.

Thank you for the suggestions! Not too keen on science fiction, unfortunately (though Changing Planes is a maaaybe for its travel themes). I'm also not terribly likely to go with YA—you're right that both of those are re-readable (also, say, books like The Secret Garden), but I think an adult classic will work better (and take longer to read!) if I end up reading it multiple times over the course of a month.

You should probably go with e.e. cummings. :) That said, what a great category to try to fit! I guess it really depends on your favorite kind of book to re-read. Do you want something so narratively obtuse that re-reading is almost necessary to glean the plot? Something with brilliant insights into the human condition that never stale? Or should the characters be titillating and their romances sweeping? I'm guessing since you're leaning towards classics, you're hoping for something that's a combination of entertaining, philosophical, insightful, and 'important.' If it were me, I'd bring one of:

D.H. Lawrence's Mr Noon. Read this last year and was transported. It's got this unpolished feeling, like the author wasn't really in control of the characters so they could surprise either of us at any point. The second half is all travel in the mountains. Some breathtaking insight into relationships if you think D.H. Lawrence is insightful about relationships.


Djuna Barnes' Nightwood. Honestly this one falls into the category of it being so obscure that I feel like I need to read it again so that I can know the end from the start. This is one of those little-known-much-adored classics with sentences so thick reading is like eating a mayo-heavy white bread sandwich. Teeth gnashing.


Deborah McKay's Eve's Longing: The Infinite Possibilities in All Things is one of the most unapologetic, weird books I've ever read, so sorry to put it on this list. But this book really forces you to take it slow. I really like surrealism and I'm willing to just go with it, though, so if that's not your thing then you should ignore this suggestion.


Virginia Woolf's The Years. The Years is like what the decay chapter in To the Lighthouse captured, but a whole novel of that theme. Entertaining, thoughtful, this book kind of gives you the feeling while you're reading up being drawn up out of the top of your skull so you can look down at the page and see what's happening. It's a treat.


If you're going for Jane Austen, though, I'd pick Sense and Sensibility. I love that book. Actually, Sense and Sensibility is one of the one books I've ever re-read, so it has that going for it. :)

The perfect book for this is Middlemarch. Great plotlines, well written, great characters.

Another possibility is The Magic Mountain. It took me months to get through it. Stay away from the Lowe-Porter translation which is kind of archaic. The one I linked to is a much more readable translation.

There's always Gone with the Wind which is a great read, although 5-10 years between rereads is probably better than a few days. I'd put The Woman in White in this category too.

The Unconsoled. If you like surreal and dreamlike, this is a terrific book.

The Lord of the Rings is my go to travel read. I can pick that up and re-read in almost any setting, and get swept up in the story all over again. Sometimes I skip to my favorite parts, sometimes I actually read all the songs and everything.

Thanks for the further suggestions! Middlemarch seems like a possibility (with the added bonus of it being my mother's favourite book), if I can find a small enough copy (seems a little beside the point to limit the number of books and then bring a massive tome!).

Not sure what feel I'm going for. I love Jane Eyre because of Jane's agency—couldn't care less about the romance. Probably not going for something 'so narratively obtuse that re-reading is almost necessary to glean the plot' (though I love that description), just something that I can pull new ideas or thoughts out of with every read.

The following books are classics that are short, funny, and quite re-readable: Cold Comfort Farm, by Stella Gibbons Cold Comfort Farm, Three Men in a Boat, by Jerome K. Jerome, Three Men in a Boat, and The Wonderful O, by James Thurber The Wonderful O

My Jane Austen pick would be Pride and Prejudice. Other books that I think stand up well to repeated reads: Forever Amber (basically Gone with the Wind set in Restoration England), The Beekeeper's Apprentice (first in the Holmes/Russell series), The Secret History, All Creatures Great and Small, Watership Down (would be nice on a walking tour since the landscape is an important part of the book), Washington Square (like Austen, a classic), Magister Ludi (though it might be a bit heavy for a vacation read!), The Count of Monte Cristo.

And I love your idea of a book of poetry -- cummings would be perfect, his poems are so rich!

I'll second Middlemarch, and add in Dickens to the mix. Our Mutual Friend or David Copperfield would be my top two recs of his.

The Master and Margarita, by Mikhail Bulgakov is good. Weird, but should bear up to rereads.

What about a collection of short stories? Maybe something by Flannery O'Connor. One of the smaller originally published collections could avoid the thickness problem. Everything That Rises Must Converge: Stories, for instance.

P.G. Wodehouse for sheer humor.

A Shakespeare play would have plenty of depth to bear up to multiple rereads, as well as covering the poetry aspect.

If you want a cheerful classic, there's nothing better, in my opinion, than The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman.

For a pre-Austen work, Evelina was a fun read. It can't quite hold a candle to Middlemarch, but still highly enjoyable.

Just for fun, since so many classics were recommended, The Stand (unabridged). It's about 1000 pages, but with a lot going on. Definitely could reread it.

Valerie wrote: "Just for fun, since so many classics were recommended, The Stand (unabridged). It's about 1000 pages, but with a lot going on. Definitely could reread it."

Oooh yes. That's one I can finish, and then turn right around and start again :)

Oh gosh. The Stand might have too much of an eek factor. Also, kind of unrelated, but the first time I flew on a plane I brought Flight #116 Is Down!, which in retrospect should have been a terrible choice.

Since you're on a walking tour, how about Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail?

While I haven't done a month long walk, I have done extensive travelling and found it relativlaly easy to swap books at hostels and with random other travellers. I think reading the same book over and over would drive me batty. I know its not in the genre that you requested, but have you thought of bringing a choose your own adventure book? Then it would be different each time!

Michele wrote: "Since you're on a walking tour, how about Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail?"

Oh, that would make good walking-travel reading, wouldn't it? Not sure about it as something to potentially read multiple times in a short time span (both because it's memoir and because I found it to be a pretty speedy read), but maybe as the second, plan-to-swap book.

Kathryn wrote: "I think reading the same book over and over would drive me batty. I know its not in the genre that you requested, but have you thought of bringing a choose your own adventure book? Then it would be different each time!"

Hah -- and then I could tie in the classics thread by taking Lost in Austen: Create Your Own Jane Austen Adventure!

Definitely, definitely planning on swapping books as I go (hence bringing a second, tradable book; if swapping is super easy, I'll probably trade both books). I'm just also aware of how much and how fast I typically read, and (while I rather hope I'll be reading less next month!) there's a high likelihood that rereading will happen.

What type of places will you be staying in? Most hostels are very social and you likly to meet really interesting people from all over the place. Perhaps you won't even need a second book.

I'm quite jealous, have fun!

All hostels, I hope. I would love to not need the second book (both for the sake of weight and because that would mean I was being sociable), but if that turns out to be the case I can always leave one behind.