With my TBR pile somewhat out of control, and the number of wallbangers and bad books I've read lately, I almost want to take a break and go read my keeper shelf again.  I'm just wondering - how often do YOU re-read your keepers?

I re-read my keepers when I find myself in a slump. Lotr is one of my keepers that I re-read at least every year, it's like comfort food, I know what to expect and I will not be dissapointed

Because my TBR pile is so huge (and keeps getting bigger, no matter how hard I try not to add to it, sigh), I find that I don't reread whole books too often. But I frequently reread certain passages or conversations or endings...sometimes something will trigger a memory and I want to go back and reread just a bit of a book. Or sometimes I know that a certain part of a book just made me feel good and I want to get that feeling again.

I re-read Lord of Scoundrels just a few weeks ago.   And Marsha Canham's pirate series just a few weeks before that.  I'm like Monika; it's comfort food when you've just run through a string of boring letdowns.  Or somebody will be reading an old favorite & I get the itch from the things they say about it.  When we were doing the guess the book threads, I had a tendency to read them more often - like if somebody posted an excerpt from one, or I pulled an excerpt to post myself.  I could never just stop there:P

I tend to re read when I'm sick.  I want a comfort book if I have a cold or flu.  But then I got in trouble when I was reading the Smart Bitches' book.  Kept running to my bookcase.  Now only half way through Beyond Heaving Bosoms as I kept stopping to read oldies.

I do from time to time - like Emily said, a comfort book.  What I've surprised myself by doing lately is re-reading a couple of non-keepers that were on my shelf.  I had two books ordered a week apart, that I just couldn't recall anything about.  I reread each of them (under a day each) and still made my 2 day "mail by" date!

I re-read w hen I need a comfort and just can't handle an unknown..and often I'll read just passages from them or skim parts as someone mentioned above. I re-read mostly Jayne Ann Krentz (Uneasy Alliance, Midnight Jewels, Silver Linings, Wildest  Hearts)and Linda Howard's MacKenzies series(mostly Pleasure, Magic, and Game of Chance and skim those)

eta: sometimes I've gone a few years and other times I've pulled them out more often it seems like or, weird as I am, I'll see them on the shelf and just 'think' about them.

I'm like the others - re-reads are my mac n cheese of reading - I don't have a specific schedule, but when I'm in the mood for a particular book, I gotta go find it and read it again! Right now I haven't yet unpacked my books (2nd move this year!) and I'm feeling the need to do that soon.

A few books I read once a year - Lord of Scoundrels, The Last Hellion, Mr. Perfect, Arabella, and Duncan's Bride.

Other keepers I just like having in my collection, some authors I just have to have all their books but will probably never reread them. Once I'm finished with my summer theme months I'm thinking of rereading 1-2 keepers a month to see if they're worth holding on to. It's like comparing apples and oranges, Susan Phillips to Diana Palmer, or Balogh to Hailey North? Carla Kelly to the Blackbird Sisters books? I want them all.

Also my taste has changed through the years, I read far more contemporaries than I did 5-10 years ago; historicals not so much lately; but does that knock a keeper historical down a few notches just because I'm more into contemporaries these days? Will a particular book stand the test of time?

It's such a responsibility, this whole keeper thing. I wish I could kick the habit.

Gail

I always want those keeper books in the middle of the night.  A book where you know the ending is much less likely to keep me up late.  Which is just what I need when in pain.  Ah, books, my drug of choice.  And for some odd reason the library just isn't open at that time.

I must say that PBS has really helped skim down my keeper shelf.  Knowing that those OOP books are finding good homes helps let them go.  But it is really playing havoc with my TBR pile.

I keep them handy for whenever I hit a run of mundane or annoying books and need to reset my brain to a good read.  That's usually one reread a month, sometimes more - but I do have a big pool of 'keepers'.  I've been rereading Loretta Chase lately. :-)  Lord Perfect and Mr Impossible and next up is The Hellion.  I also reread Here Kitty, Kitty and have Agnes and the Hitman in progress for my 'go to sleep' book.

I reread from my keeper shelves 1) after I've hit a patch of lousy books, 2) when I'm tired and just don't want to start something new, 3) when I just want that specific "feel" that certain keepers provide, 4) and yes, as the book equivalent of comfort food after a bad day. How often I reread keepers varies, a lot, I'll go for a couple of months without rereading anything then spend a week or so reading keepers almost exclusively.

my rereads are rather random. I don't plan on it but upon occasion  will go to get a book to read and may end up grabbing an oldie but goodie :)

Like others, when I need comfort (less calories than comfort eating ;)

 I know what to expect and I will not be dissapointed

I re-read some books more frequently than others because I really enjoyed them (i.e., BDB, Warriors of Poseidon, a lot of Cindy Holbrook's hist romances as well as Katie MacAlister), and like others, I find myself turning to the "tried and true" keepers when I just can't seem to find a book amongst the 500+ here still waiting TBR that appeals to me at that moment. 

Thanks!  That's kind of how I feel too - comfort reads or when I'm stuck in a rut of bad books.

I don't re-read.  Therefore, no need for keepers.   :) 

I am constantly reading something.  Usually I pick out the new stuff on my TBR pile, but I occasionally  throw in something that I have read before.  I have a handful of books that I tend to re-read every so often - either when I need some comfort or when I am just not feeling up to anything new or when the author is coming out with something new, but I feel like re-reading the book or two before the new one.  I think that there is something about knowing what is going to happen in a book, when life keeps throwing out the unknown at you that helps me cope.

Right now, I'm reading My Dearest Enemy by Connie Brockway again.  This is another one of the books where she used her classic shtick with only getting the H&H in the sack once, which at the time I first read it, wasn't steamy enough for me:P  I've read enough garbage with lots more sex since then however, so I'm full of appreciation for something by Brockway that's unique & full of hilarious situations - the maids fainting all over the place so the hero will carry them around is keeping me rolling:P

I have read a lot of my books twice (the ones I keep--which is probably about 200) And I bet about ten of my big favorites I have read ten or more times each. I am a big re-reader

To be honest I have not re-read in a long time. My favorite books are in Storage and I do not want to buy them all over again. Once I'm able to get them out of storage I'll probably re read them.  I can re read Bertrice Small because it was my first romance author. I am also a big fan of Johanna Lindsey. But now I have gotten into paranormal and I find that I just don't want to re read but read them in order. Although the Mona Lisa series I might re read. I've read the first two and might read them again. I really like that author.

not as often as i'd like.  with trying to keep the TBR pile under control, i'm a lot less likely than i used to be to pull out something to re-read.  since i have several floor to ceiling bookcases of keepers, that's kind of a shame.  for my very favorite series, i usually manage to squeeze in a re-read of at least the prior book in the series when a new one comes out.  knowing this, *and* running out of room, i'm also being more selective of what i do keep.

every couple of years.  Usually after the winter holidays, my husband will begin carrying in storage box after storage box of my keepers.  I will sort thru them and keep out some to read.  It's like visiting with old friends.

Not very often which is why I don't keep very many books.  I have a few books that I let go and then reacquired after feelign sorry that I let them go-and haven't reread any of them. Some I reacquired over a year ago and haven't so much as looked at them.  Everytime I think of rereading a book I look at my TBR pile and end up reading something new instead.