Books you couldn't put down

[KevinF]

List the books that once you started you couldn't put down.

I read "Wild" over the weekend; it had been a while since I had last read a book straight through.

I had to read "War & Peace" in school which I thought was going to be some sort of a torture test. Obviously too long to read "straight through" and I had my other school assignments, but I finished reading it long before we were supposed to have it finished by. Picking that up was never a chore.

"Touching the Void" is possibly the only book that I've ever truly read straight through, to the point of skipping meals.

Anybody else?

 

[tromano]

I don't know if I actually get more enjoyment from reading straight through vs. going slow and taking my time. I think the last book I read straight through was "The Blade Itself" last summer. One that I first read straight through, but then went back and re-read slower was "Tigana".

I also read the first couple books of "A song of ice and fire" straight through. Sadly the story has kind of devolved to be more of a westeros world history project, rather than a coherent narative.

 

[Jim McDonald]

Pretty much read Silence of the Lambs straight through...and when I finished it about 4am I went around double-checking every window and door lock, making sure nobody hiding in closet or under the bed, then put the biggest knife in the kitchen and my old Louisville Slugger easy-to-hand and stared at the blackness until the sun came up...

 

[Philpug]

I am not a big reader my any means. I always felt of a book is that good, they will make a movie out of it. a few books I could not put down, Og Mandino's The Twelfth Angel, a short inspirational book. The Firm, it was a great read on an airplane. Big Hair and Plastic Grass, a great read about bseball in the 1970's. The Princess Bride, the book is as good as the movie.

 

[JeffB]

Matterhorn, Karl Marlantes. Haunting. Have read it through several times. The first time was an all-nighter. Could not put it down.

East of Eden, Steinbeck. Arguably his best. Read it over a weekend, sleeping very little. If a person were to read only one Steinbeck novel, I would pick this one over the two most common titles assigned in high school and college.

Rebel Yell, Gwynn. I thought this book was very well done.

Empire of the Summer Moon, Gwynn. Same author. Similar difficult historical events in this country's past. I thought both books were captivating, well-sourced, and balanced. They don't read like the plodding, lifeless history books we were assigned in school.

Suttree, McCarthy. Not a mindless beach read. It was difficult to get through. I'd go a few pages and then realize I had no idea what the writing is about and I'd have to backtrack to figure it out. For me, though, it was worth it.

 

[Uncle-A]

Summer reading a few years back I started "One Second After" by William R. Forstchen and I could not put it down till it was done.

 

[KevinF]

Pretty much read Silence of the Lambs straight through...and when I finished it about 4am I went around double-checking every window and door lock, making sure nobody hiding in closet or under the bed, then put the biggest knife in the kitchen and my old Louisville Slugger easy-to-hand and stared at the blackness until the sun came up...

I pretty much had the same reaction after I saw the Hitchcock movie "Frenzy"... I didn't sleep for two days.

Empire of the Summer Moon, Gwynn. Same author. Similar difficult historical events in this country's past. I thought both books were captivating, well-sourced, and balanced. They don't read like the plodding, lifeless history books we were assigned in school.

I got this as a gift last year; haven't picked it up yet as so many history books are dry recitals of facts. And I like history. I'll have to move this one closer to the top of the "to read" pile.

 

[Nancy Hummel]

Matterhorn. Amazing. Likely the best book I have ever read and I read one to two books a week.

Into Thin Air and Under the Banner of Heaven.

Red Notice. Amazing book about an American who managed a hedge fund heavily invested in Russia. True but reads like a novel.

Red Sparrow.

 

[VickiK]

The Girl in the Spider's Web by Lagercrantz, David was worthy.

 

[mdf]

I had to read "War & Peace" in school which I thought was going to be some sort of a torture test. Obviously too long to read "straight through" and I had my other school assignments, but I finished reading it long before we were supposed to have it finished by. Picking that up was never a chore.

I picked up a paperback W&P back when I traveled a lot for work and kept running out of books midflight. (Pre e-reader). I remember it took about 100 pages to get into it, but then I was hooked. Didn't last nearly as long as I expected.

I took a few philosophy courses as a hobby in college and I sort of remember a discussion of whether Napoleon was a fictional character in the book. Something about the meaning vs reference distinction, probably. Makes more sense now that I have read it, or it least it would if I remembered the argument.

 

[SShore]

Helter Skelter. Read it during Christmas Break 1974, my senior year in high school, literally did not put it down once I started reading. It fascinated, horrified, sickened and scared the hell out of me all at the same time. The fact that it was true and not fiction, only highlighted the above reactions.

 

[tromano]

Into Thin Air and Under the Banner of Heaven.

Krakauer has a very efficient style that really flows well. I enjoyed the handful I have read from him.

 

[tromano]

East of Eden, Steinbeck. Arguably his best. Read it over a weekend, sleeping very little. If a person were to read only one Steinbeck novel, I would pick this one over the two most common titles assigned in high school and college.

I very much enjoyed this book as well. I thought the story and characters made so much sense. Grapes of Wrath was good until the second half where it turned a bit too polemical.

 

[Don in Morrison]

The Hobbit, Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion.

Larry Niven's Ringworld

Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.

One particular novella that I couldn't put down was Fritz Lieber's Ill Met in Lankhmar, a sword and sorcery tale. Well before I got to the end, it started really creeping me out, but I had to find out how it ended, so I stuck it out and finished it. By that time I was so wigged out I resolved not to touch any of the other stories in the series. I don't remember anything about the story now, except that it was creepy.

 

[Jerez]

Shameless promotion of my own book....

It is a biography of my father who was a career diplomat involved in most of the major events of the Cold War and a history of that period. He grew up in wild west of the early 20th century, along the Santa Fe Trail in southern Colorado and New Mexico, and ended up in the halls of the White House and behind the walls of the Kremlin.

He served six US presidents of both parties, was Ambassador at Large and Special Advisor to the President on Soviet Affairs under both Kennedy and Johnson, was an important voice on the Ex-Comm of the Cuban Missile Crisis, and was instrumental in beginning the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT) process, among other things.



The Kremlinologist:
Llewellyn E Thompson, America’s Man in Cold War Moscow

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Johns Hopkins University Press
Wall Street Journal Review

 

[Carolinacub]

The Hobbit, Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion.

Larry Niven's Ringworld

Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.

One particular novella that I couldn't put down was Fritz Lieber's Ill Met in Lankhmar, a sword and sorcery tale. Well before I got to the end, it started really creeping me out, but I had to find out how it ended, so I stuck it out and finished it. By that time I was so wigged out I resolved not to touch any of the other stories in the series. I don't remember anything about the story now, except that it was creepy.

Hey that's my list.....

 

[surfsnowgirl]

i used to read so much more. Not into romance novels, fantasy or sci fi. I love true crime, mysteries, mob stories and autobiographies. A few awesome books I couldn't put down were The Girl on the Train, Her Husband's Secret, We are Water, Deadly Secrets, Because you loved me, Marilyn Manson's autobiography, Boy George's autobiography (both of them), Paul Stanley's autobiography, Gaspipe, Mob Killer, the Ice Man, the butcher.

The most fascinating book was called A Dangerous Liaison: One woman's journey into a world of aristocracy, depravity and obsession. Written by Baroness Sheri de Borchgraves. Amazing story. This one would make a phenomenal movie.

https://www.amazon.com/Dangerous-Liaison-Aristocracy-Depravity-Obsession/dp/0525936378Dangerous L

I was forced to read call of the wild in junior high which was good. A book in junior high called When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit has stayed with me and I'd love to read it again sometime. I thankfully somehow managed to escape any of the classic required books in high school.

 

[cantunamunch]

On my (very high number here) reread of Walter Alvarez' T-Rex and the Crater of Doom
More cogent, more on point, more coherent than Krakauer, but just as gripping. No bombastic language, no out-of-sequence episodic background material, nothing emoted, just science but wow. Krakauer, Junger, Kurlansky wish they had this tight a work.

Talking of Fritz Leiber, I find his Conjure Wife (the movie sucked, don't even bother) one of the most compelling urban fantasies ever written, in a slight horror and massive mystery fan mode. By contrast, Our Lady of Darkness is very much a mood and ambiance piece.

Echoing off a particular dynamic within War and Peace , have any of you looked at Tom De Haan's A Mirror for Princes? Completely fictional, no Napoleonic familiarity of either sort needed, intensely modern in aspect and emotional fabric, and the sentences are nothing short of beautiful. Not in a Tolkien way, either.

 

[mdf]

Shameless promotion of my own book....

It is a biography of my father who was a career diplomat involved in most of the major events of the Cold War and a history of that period. He grew up in wild west of the early 20th century, along the Santa Fe Trail in southern Colorado and New Mexico, and ended up in the halls of the White House and behind the walls of the Kremlin.

He served six US presidents of both parties, was Ambassador at Large and Special Advisor to the President on Soviet Affairs under both Kennedy and Johnson, was an important voice on the Ex-Comm of the Cuban Missile Crisis, and was instrumental in beginning the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT) process, among other things.



The Kremlinologist:
Llewellyn E Thompson, America’s Man in Cold War Moscow

Facebook & Twitter
Johns Hopkins University Press
Wall Street Journal Review

I went to the website. One pleasant surprise that I didn't expect from a University Press was all the formats that are available... hardback, paperback, and three varieties of e-book.

I'm on the fence. I like history, but usually find biography a little too detailed.

 

[cantunamunch]

I
a little too detailed.

One could point to that as true realism, in an anti-Chekhov way?