The Multiples

          I like to do a lot of reading – primarily non-fiction these days.  Actually, probably more than half the books I “read” are books I listen to while I’m driving.  I almost always have a book that I’m listening to while I’m driving.  For the past couple of years I have been tracking how many books I get through in a year, and it is about 25-30.  I’m not sure I’ll get through that many this year as I’ve been reading through Roger Penrose’s “Shadow of the Mind” and that is proving to be a very slow read!

          I don’t like to read the same book twice (in general).  I don’t generally watch movies more than once.  I like to venture into something new – something I’ve never experienced before.  I remember that in college I once had a roommate who would put a 45 on the record-player, put it on repeat, put on the headphones, and sit there and listen to the same song over and over.  Yes, I know that dates me!  But I thought it was bordering on the pathological – how could anyone sit and listen to the same thing over and over again?  Well lots of people do.  I usually get too bored.

          The odd thing is, I have a very bad memory.  So, you’d think that I might want to re-read books.  I just think that generally I feel that I’m missing out on something out there that might be in a book I haven’t read. 

          Given all that, I thought it would be interesting to present the list of books and movies that I have read/listened to/watched more than once.  At some point I’ll present my personal list of top books and movies, but today it is just the “multiples.”  There aren’t that many.  I mean, I haven’t even read my own book <*here*> more than once!

          First, let’s start with the movies.  I don’t watch that many and, as far as I can recall, I’ve never watch a movie more than once at a movie theater.  So, these are movies I watched once at the movie theater and then again at home.  Also, I’m only listing the movies I voluntarily watched more than once because I wanted to see them.  That means I excluded the million times I watched Dumbo with my kids when they were little!  It also means I didn’t include the various Hallmark Christmas movies I have watched with my wife!  Sorry Ed Asner – you won’t make my list.

          So, with those caveats, here is the list of movies I’ve watched more than once, in order of most times to fewest times (according to my best recollection):

1.  Monty Python and the Holy Grail

2.  Star Wars (the original three)

3.  Lord of the Rings (but never all at once yet)

4.  Apollo 13

          I think that’s it.  Maybe I need to get out more…

          As far as books go, it’s a little trickier to remember.  Also, how do I count the Bible?  As one book or many?  I think I’ve read through the Bible from Genesis to Revelation about half a dozen times, but I’ve read each book more than that, just not in order.  I’ve read through the book of Philippians at least a thousand times.  Someday, just for fun, I’ll list my favorite and least-favorite books of the Bible.  Anyway, let’s get on with it.  Here are the books I’ve read more than once, in order of most times to least times:

1.  The Bible

2.  Lord of the Rings (Tolkien)

3.  Narnia Tales (CS Lewis)

4.  Miracles (CS Lewis)

5.  The Three Musketeers (Dumas)

6.  Around the World in Eighty Days (Verne)

7.  The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County (Twain)

          Well, there it is.  Not sure what it all means exactly except that I’ve surely forgotten a lot of what I have read!