[Irene Wilde]

I'm not a big re-reader, not enough time as it is, but there are books I like to keep close at hand and perhaps go back to a passage or chapter here and there when the mood strikes, these would include:

Ulysses -- the language is so fluid that it is comforting to crawl inside when I need a break from things. Not really reading for comprehension or to find out what happens, but reading as more like listening to the sound of the waves breaking on the shore.

Cosmicomics -- a great one for re-reading because it is broken down in small segments, easily picked up and put down. It's whimsical without over-reaching into a cloying sentimentality and makes me smile.

Tropic of Cancer -- Loud, brash, embracer-of-life Henry Miller being a big, brilliant failure all over Paris and loving every minute of it. Miller reminds me life is for the living (so does Noel Coward, but that's a different story).

And the newest one I find I pick up and skim through is The Portable Dorothy Parker. She seems to have a phrase for every occasion and she's never boring company. And again, between the verse and short stories, it's easy to pick up, read a few pages, and then get back to whatever needs doing next.