Books you COULD NOT PUT DOWN!!! Which books and why?

Warday by Whitley Streiber and James Kunetka. I read it back in 1984 and was blown away by the fact that the authors were the main characters. They painted a vivid picture of a post nuclear war America that still gives me the creeps to this day.

I Know This Much Is True: A Novel (P.S.) by Wally Lamb
I read it all day, into the night, all night, over breakfast, into lunch and so on.

The Pilo Family Circus - Will Elliot - Amazing imagination and awesome characters.

Norwegian Wood - Haruki Murakami - Beautiful Prose and a character I could engage with.

Fight Club - Chuck Palahniuk - Strong and snarky voice.

The White Tiger - Aravind Adiga - Strong character and voice.

The voice is really the major thing that keeps me reading. It usually has to be strong and to the point, so flowery prose makes me impatient. Murakami being the exception.

Recently?

Lamb, The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal, by Christopher Moore.

Man, too many to name...I know I couldn't put The Shining down.

Like Delhomeboy, there are so many books that have grabbed me in that way. But, a quick list:


All of Stephen King's books
I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman
Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin
Bram Stoker's Dracula

Nothing since Jurassic Park. There have been a few over the years, but it's really just a few. With most books I can even break fifty pages from the end and sleep well. Puma

A Prayer for Owen Meany - I had to know how it ended.

The Shining - to this day, I think the Kubrick movie pales in comparison to the book.

"Stalingrad" by Theodore Plevier.

Why? It's a horrific description of war and combat seen through the eyes of an ordinary soldier. It's an early version of "Platoon" (not with the same ending). I read and re-read this book. If anyone ever picks up a copy, read it only in winter, at night while the wind blows.

Currently I'm trying to read Dawkin's The God Delusion cover to cover without putting it down, but my friend keeps grabbing it and losing my page marker. So rude, and here I went and bought her The Count of Monte Cristo, which she had to have, plus The Shadow of the Wind, and all she wants is MY book.

The last book I read in one night was John Grisham's Bleachers. I'm not really sure why I did, however. The characters were a bit flat and the plot was very predictable. All that aside, it was an easy and quick read though.

I couldn't put Sphere down until I finished it. I just HAD to know what the thing really was. Each time you thought you had it figured out--"Oh, it really is an alien spaceship, oh, wait, no it's not, okay, so it really is a supercomputer from the future, oh, wait, no..."--there would be another twist.

Recently, I read Blood Red Horse in about a day and almost got physically ill when I realized that no local bookstore had the last book in the series, Blaze of Silver, in stock, so I'd have to order it. I tried to milk the second book, Green Jasper, for as long as possible, but sadly, the third one hasn't yet made it to me and I'm long done. I HAVE to know how it turns out! I can't stand that feeling!

Well, I mean, I love that feeling, actually, but you know what I mean.

--Q

I absolutly loved Tuesdays with Morrie. I also enjoyed The Five People you Meet in Heaven. Very good books with great lessons.

The Pact by Jodi Picoult.
I picked it up because I thought my daughter was reading it and I was curious what it was about, and I started to read it and I couldn't stop. Then it turned out my daughter wasn't reading it, and I had bought it for myself, but that's another story. Anyway, it was a great read.

Jurassic Park. Fascinating subject matter, vivid characters. I finished it within 24 hours. It was certainly an addiction.

I read Atonement with painful slowness because I didn't want it to end, and whenever it wasn't splayed open in my hands, I was turning it over in my thoughts. That book was just symphonic. I maintain it's one of the most stunning pieces of fiction I've ever encountered.

I found Monsters of Templeton to have an addictive narrative and engrossing world--there was an adorable quirk to the prose, and a delightful quiltwork of elements and characters that just worked, even though I could feel it getting stale at the end (and the mom annoyed me more than a little.)

Right now, I'm addicted to I'm Looking Through You: Growing Up Haunted, by Jenny F. Boylan. The prose is quite unusual--edgy, enlightening, quick-witted and somehow effortless, poignant and ultimately gorgeous--the subject matter is again fascinating. The structure is dynamic, and the characterization is captivating and sympathetic. A mind-blowing memoir thusfar.

ok there are several, some for silly reasons others not so much.

One is Twilight. This was because i wanted to get to tne exciting climax. lol. The book itself was cute and sweet but a lot of it wasn't really plot driving so i wanted to get to the climax, hehe.

Another one is Harry Potter DH. This one is a silly reason but it's coz my friend said he could finish it before me coz i'm a fast reader. I finished it before him by ages. lol.
Actually it was pretty much a similar story with all the HP books but it wasn't for a race. lol.

When I was younger there was Deltora Quest. I used to love those books, it was my favourite series, next to HP, hehe. They're kinda short so it doesn't take very long to read them, lol. But they were so exciting to read and quite well-written. There was always stuff happening to keep you hooked

Oh and Inkheart when i read that the first time. I was a bit hesitant to read it at first coz it was a christmas present from someone who wasn't really into the same genre as me but i dutifully read it anyway and discovered that i loved it. lol.

If a book doesn't "grab" me, I usually won't finish it. As far as books I just can't stop reading - Jodi Picoult's books usually hold me hostage for a couple of days. And Jen Lancaster's Bitter is the New Black was so funny I took it to work and read a little during every cigarette break. In fact, I'd read it aloud to anyone who happened to be sitting next to me!

The Elements of Style.

1984. Read it in one sitting, then went out and rented the movie.

Why...I'm not sure.

bsolah said:

The White Tiger - Aravind Adiga - Strong character and voice.

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Same for me. That book kept me up reading late into the night. Also, The Absolutely True Story of a Part Time Indian, which is a YA book and I rarely read YA. I'm not even sure why I picked it up. But it was great.

I'll read anything by David Sedaris. Love.

lovesaphira said:

When I was younger there was Deltora Quest. I used to love those books, it was my favourite series, next to HP, hehe. They're kinda short so it doesn't take very long to read them, lol. But they were so exciting to read and quite well-written. There was always stuff happening to keep you hooked

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Really? I'm reading these with my 9-year-old, and neither of us can believe quite how badly written they are. And it's not even that they're written AT age level, it's that they're not very well done.

When your 9-year-old is rolling his eyes and muttering things like "Really? Come on!" over the writing style (and that's putting aside the issues of excessive reliance on deus ex machina and coincidence), you know there are problems...