The Next Best Book Club discussion

Sherry gave us our first unlucky 13 list :) And she placed Saramago in it. Im already intrigued!

Seth -- Thanks for posting some great lists! Agatha Christie...NICE!! I have not heard of a lot of your other books...are they sci-fi, thrillers?? More info please:)

Sherry's Top 13 Un-put-down-able Novels
Well I've decided to take my own advice and get over being intimidated and furthermore I fully intend to embrace my tastes in reading material with whole hearted enthusiasm and have decided to list my 13 all time favourite un-put-downable books.Yes 13, as that is a very lucky number for me(it's my birthdate so it had better be)All these books, though of different genres have one thing in common.They were so engrossing that I could not put them down.so here goes.In no particular order of preference:

The Stand by Stephen King

The Road by Cormac McCarthy

Blindness by Jose Saramago

The Music of Razors by Cameron Rogers(a heartbreakenly weird wonderful fantasy for those who may not have heard of it)

City of Angels by Ariana Franklin(great mystery set in 1920's and 30's Berlin)

Outlander by Diana Galbaldon

Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Galbaldon

JackDaws by Ken Follet- A suspenseful World War 2 story involving the French Resistence and a trained female team of spies.

The Land of the Living by Nicci French-excellent suspense story of a woman who wakes up to find herself bound and gagged.I'm sure my blood pressure spiked reading parts of this book!

Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry-I loved the whole series with Gus and Call but this was the best of them.

Lady of Hay by Barbara Erskine-Incredible story involving reincarnation that takes place in two different times but weaving together in a way that kept the reader in complete suspense.

Misery by Stephen King

Anybody Out There by Marion Keyes-Not suspenseful at all but such a good story about characters that I came to like very much and care about with an interesting twist.

Seth,that is exactly what I had in mind.Literally books that once started I could not put down.

I love thrillers as movies but confess I've not read any.Your post will definitely change that as I've marked several for my wish list.Think I'll start with The Negotiator,Liege-Killer and Killers Wedge.That should keep me busy!

Seth -- Thanks! Those sound like things I'd enjoy...and I may have to pass some suggestions along to my Dad as well because he really enjoys spy books and thrillers as well!

Great post to get out wheels spinning!!!

I do not think i can come up with 13, but here are the first few that popped into my head when I thought about the books I was unable to put down:

The Road - McCarthy
Blindness - Saramago
Odd Thomas - Koontz (the first of the series)
Gils All Fright Diner - Martinez
The Stupidest Angel - Moore
I Am Legend - Matheson
Come Closer - Gran
Darkly Dreaming Dexter - Lindsay
The Coma - Garland
Survivor - Palahniuk
Smashed.... - Carbuncle

Some are repeats from other lists Ive posted, but Ive put these here because they are all books I finished in a relatively short time (a day or two) due to my inability to put them down. I just had to keep reading....

I've got to check out the Odd Thomas series.I keep hearing so much about them.

I love thrillers, too and mysteries but I haven't had time to read any in awhile because of the book clubs I belong to but it's summer so I'm gonna check out some of these thrillers. Thanks!

The Alex Cross books/series by James Patterson.
Any book by Debbie Macomber.

by the way, I love the title of this thread--Un-put-down-able! that's too funny

Power and the Glory - Graham Greene
The Tenth Man - Graham Greene
Samedi the Deafness - Jesse Ball
Blood Meridian - Cormac McCarthy
Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
Diary of a Bad Year - J.M Coetzee
Einsteins Dreams - Alan Lightman

And if they count, Kurt Vonnegut's memoirs / social commentaries - such as Man without a Country and Armageddon in Retrospect.

You mean besides the obivous ones by JK Rowling??

Gee, for me my first time was with Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell. She was also my first adult book to read at the young age of 14 without being assigned for by class. After those I cannot seem to think of one that truely stands out. Mainly because I read most books that way. But I am trying to remember that strong feeling of passion...the closest I felt that way was with several of the spin-offs to Jane Austen's P&P and also to The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory. But the first time is always the most remembered.

Good idea for a list. Just a quick question before I get started. Leslie, I haven't read Harry Potter yet, but I would probably have to put it down, else I wouldn't be able to do anything for 3 days!!

Here's my un-put-down-able books in no particular order and some crossovers:

1) Lincoln Lawyer - Michael Connolly
2) Thinner - Stephen King
3) Cider House Rules - John Irving
4) Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close -Jonathan Safran Foer
5) Twilight Eyes - Dean Koontz
6) The Things They Carried - Tim O'Brien
7) End of an Affair - Graham Greene
8) The DaVinci Code - Dan Brown
9) Concrete Blonde - Michael Connolly
10) A Widow For One Year - John Irving
11) Native Son - Richard Wright
12) No Country For Old Men - Cormac McCarthy
13) Diary - Chuck Palahniuk

Jeremy.. Quick. Duck. Sharp flying objects will be hurled at you for stating that the DaVinci Code was unputdownable... Most people in this group couldnt WAIT to put it down!! haa haa (tho I am a DaVinci Code lover myself!)

Oh great! Well, it's true. I couldn't put it down. I had a few issues with the book but it certainly kept me reading. :)

lol, I loved The Da Vinci code, and I don't care what anyone else thinks! lmao

Well, it looks like a have a couple of backers anyway. Hopefully I won't get beat up too badly.

Seriously, I think "un-put-down-able" is a function of when the book is read, too. It is a lot easier to read a book cover to cover when on vacation than during a regular work week during baseball season....

Jeremy, I loved the Da Vinci Code and I also loved Angels and Demons, actually I quite like Dan Brown.

How can you not have read the Harry Potter series, I've read them all a dozen time - they are defintley un-put-down-able!!

Hayley - I intend on reading Harry Potter, but the time committment looks to be overwhelming. I figure I'll need something like an extended stay at the hospital to read them all! A dozen times. Holy. I think I might be a slow reader and thus would HAVE to put the book down or else my lawn would overtake my house and I would lose my job!! :)

I forgot one un-put-down-able for me. Runaway Jury by John Grisham is one I read cover to cover.

Seriously, I think "un-put-down-able" is a function of when the book is read, too. It is a lot easier to read a book cover to cover when on vacation than during a regular work week during baseball season....

I don't always have lots of time to read. I judge a book as unputdownable if I can't wait to pick it up again after having to put it down to do some work or whatever...

Jeremy, they are surprisingly easy reads, well the first 3 are and they get you hooked because you want to know what is going to happen. I reckon I could read all 7 while on a two week vacation. I went to Turkey for 2 weeks in May and read ten books.

Jeremy - we can arrange a stay in the Hospital ... LOL

BTW my copy of the DaVinci code has pictures of all the art pieces and places they go through so it was awesome to see how he draws his conclussions, I was fascinated by it while reading it. Its a work of fiction people ... Let it GO!

Very good point Kirsty. There are a lot of books, of course, that I couldn't wait to get back to. Over the past several years I've developed the notion that I simply have to savor some books. I would have read East of Eden cover to cover if I had the time, but instead I had to savor each time I read. Sometimes I could only sneak in a paragraph in the morning but it would be just enough to keep me going.

Lorena - Yikes. Looks like I better keep my eyes peeled for people carrying baseball bats. But just in case, I'll get my reading list lined up.

Hayley - You're right. I have to bite the bullet. Still, I'll wait until at least the fall/winter when things aren't quite as busy. You ARE a speed reader, though, right? 10 books in 2 weeks plus sight seeing I presume.

Okay, as a lit grad student, I know I shouldn't like The Da Vinci Code. All of the criticism I hear about it is absolutely dead-on. I agree with all of it-- except that I flew through the novel the way I flew through Stephen King novels when I was a teenager..LOL. I've talked to students and faculty who get sincerely angry about Brown's success. I don't know... maybe it's the perfect so-bad-it's-good novel. I simply enjoyed reading it and that's okay...right? I'm not a bad English major..I'm not a bad english major...haha.

*LOL*..I'll have to read this book just to see what all the fuss is about.I bought it long before I read all the scornful reviews and so it has languished on my TR shelf a very long time.

Try to think of MacGuyver on a massive scavenger hunt. If that would interest you, then you'll be fine. :)

Ooh, great idea for a thread. I have read loads of books I couldn't put down but my top 13 are probably:

1) The Magus - John Fowles
2) Life of Pi - Yann Martel
3) Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
4) Behind the Scenes at the Museum - Kate Atkinson
5) The Secret History - Donna Tartt
6) Animal Farm - George Orwell
7) Water for Elephants - Sara Gruen
8) We Need to Talk About Kevin - Lionel Shriver
9) The Job - Douglas Kennedy
10) Girl with Pearl Earring - Tracy Chevalier
11) Wild Swans - Jung Chang
12) The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox - Maggie O'Farell
13) Perfume: The Story of a Murderer - Patrick Suskind

These are the ones that stick in my head as not wanting to put down for a minute but there are plenty more that I would class as unputdownable.

Hmmmm....there are so many. These are in no particular order.

1. Harry Potter & The Half Blood Prince
2. Velocity - Dean Koontz
3. Guilty Pleasures - Laurell K. Hamilton
4. Twilight - Stephenie Meyer
5. Eclipse - Stephenie Meyer
6. My Sisters Keeper - Jodi Picoult
7. The Irish Trilogy - Nora Roberts
8. Halfway to the Grave - Jeanine Frost
9. The Blind Mirror - Christopher Pike
10. Monster - Christopher Pike
11. I'll see you later - Christopher Pike
12. Blood Bound - Patricia Briggs
13. The Vampire LeStat - Ann Rice

My Sisters Keeper almost didn't make this list. I took issue with it and gave it a 2, but I still couldn't put this book down.

Curse you Twilight! They are pretty addictive, need a mention a better series? Perhaps, hmmmmmm, The Gemma Doyle Trilogy? There a whole lot more addictive, and a lot better. Jeremy, I'm with you there, I haven't read them, and I've been thinking about doing so, but there are so many other fantastic reads out there! Also, its popularity worries me. Since Twilight was such a dissapointment, and so popular, I'm afraid I'll have to read them all even if I don't like them.

I'm sure I have 13, but let's see if I can remember them all. These are in no particular order.
1. This Much I Know is True-Wally Lamb
2. The Scandalous Summer of Sissy LeBlanc-Loraine Despres
3. The DaVinci Code-Dan Brown
4. Salem Falls-Jodi Picoult
5. Black Dagger Brotherhood Series-J.R. Ward
6. Sign of Seven trilogy-Nora Roberts
7. On the Road-Jack Kerouac
8. Jemima J-Jane Green
9. Holes-Louis Sachar
10. Women's Murder Club series-James Patterson
11. Bastard Out of Carolina-Dorothy Allison
12. Drowning Ruth-Christina Schwarz
13. The Secret Life of Bees-Sue Monk Kidd

Okay, that wasn't too hard to come up with. I actually have many more that I could add.

Jeremy, I do read quite quickly, though I became quite good at it while studying at university - you need to read quick to get through the amount of books you have each term. Though whilst I was away I didn't do any sight seeing, we go to Turkey pretty regular basis so I've seen all the sights, I spent from 9.00am in the morning till about 5pm lay on a sun lounger reading.

I also find Anne Rice a very un-put-down-able author, I've read nearly all the books she's written, apart from her new one which is about Jesus - don't get me wrong I'm catholic but when one of the best authors of supernatural fiction decides to write about Jesus and Christianity I can't follow where she leads.

Hayley, that sounds like Heaven to me. 9 to 5. I envy you that!! I went to college for engineering, but I took a popular fiction class (had a sufficiency in creative writing). We had to read Dombey and Son in "installments" just like Dickens wrote it. Except it was something like an installment per night. I could not keep up! I should go back and read that now to see if I could enjoy it.

Starr, Christopher Pike actually crossed my mind when I made the list. I read well over a dozen of his books way back when and couldn't put any of them down.

Reading at college/university level is a bitch because there are so many books you have to read plus any books regarding the different theories you can see in operation in the books - I tried to take a dance elective and ended up giving it up after a couple of weeks because my reading list was so long. Jeremy, the 9-5 was while I was on holiday, I work 8.30-4.30 and on quiet days get some reading down.

No, I figured it was just during holiday. I was just commenting because those are dream days when you can just cozy up to a book without any worries.

I actually took an online class several years ago, something about paganism vs. Christianity in literature. I was keeping up with the reading for awhile but something happened while I was reading the Decline and Fall of Rome - which I actually found quite interesting - and it was all down hill from there.

I know, I wish I had that amount of time to read everyday - I'll just have to marry rich and that way I'll never have to work and invest all my 'house keeping' money on a great big library lol

Big dreams Hayley.. haa haa.

Now there is an idea!

I like to dream big, it gets me through a slow work day lol

Here are some of mine that I never wanted to put down and when I did put them down, couldn't wait to pick them back up!

1. Harry Potter (all)
2. Life of Pi
3. Shantaram
4. Kite Runner
5. A Thousand Splendid Suns
6. The Road
7. To Kill a Mockingbird
8. Angels and Demons
9. Da Vinci Code
10. The Alchemist
11. The Other Boleyn Girl
12. The Devil Wears Prada
13. Mystic River

Jeremy, you know I have to say that I picked up Christopher Pike again because of Good Reads. Some of his YA books aren't as good as I remember, but the ones I mentioned on my list are still good today, like "See You Later." THere are so many layers to that book and I love his anti-hero heros!

Alright my top 13...

1) All 7 Harry Potter's (especially the last 3)
2) Angels & Demons
3) The DaVinci Code
4) Second Glance-Jodi Picoult
5) Perfect Match-Jodi Picoult
6) The Catcher in the Rye
7) The Great Gatsby
8) A Field of Darkness-Cornelia Read
9) Mercy-Jodi Picoult
10) Goodnight Nobody-Jennifer Weiner
11) The Myth of You and Me-Leah Stewart
12) Diary-Chuck Palahniuk
13) The Picture of Dorian Gray-Oscar Wilde

That's interesting Starr. Maybe I'll pick up a book or two and see how it appeals to me this day. It seemed most of the characters were teens doing teen type things, but now that I think about it I remember a pretty wacked out murder scene...

Other YA novels that I am going to re-read are the Dark is Rising series by Susan Cooper and Cynthia Voight books.

Jessica, wasnt Diary creepy? The ending was crazy....

I absolutely LOVE The Dark is Rising series!!! I re-read it every few years. Now I'm going to put it in my TBR pile!!

Lori, Diary was creepy! I read it about 4 years ago and want to go back and read it again!

Atlas Shrugged
A Fine Balance
Fall on Your Knees
The Way the Crow Flies
The Good Earth
The Poisonwood Bible
The Handmaid's Tale
Wicked
I Know This Much is True
Middlesex
White Oleander
The Glass Castle

...and I have to agree with the Davinci Code, even though I thought that overall the writing was crap. If you could get past the unrealistic characters, cheesey dialogue, etc., the book did offer some massive suspense!

DaVinci Code - Brown
Tell No Lies - Julie Compton
True Evil - Greg Iles
The Story of Edgar Sawtelle - David Wroblewski
Change of Heart - Jodi Picoult
Charley's Web - Joy Fielding
The Black Cross - Greg Iles
The Last Jihad - Joel Rosenberg
Down River - John Hart
Gone But Not Forgotten - Margolin
Suite Francaise - Irene Nemirovsky
Dreamcatcher - Stephen King
Blindness - Saramago

Thanks, Seth! I'm adding Acrobat and Killer's Wedge to my list. Killer's Wedge definitly sounds un-put-downable.

In no particular order and just off the top of my head. I'm sure there are more...

- Twilight by Stephenie Meyer (YA-Vampire) I actually love this whole series and have it in audio as well as hard cover. I just keep re-listening to it in my car.

- My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult (A-Drama)

- Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz (A-Paranormal)

- Heartsick and Sweatheart by Chelsea Cain (A-Thriller/Seriel Killer)

- Such a Pretty Girl by Laura Wiess (YA-Drama)

- Can You Keep a Secret by Sophie Kinsella (A-Chicklit)

- Love Walked In by Marisa de los Santos (A-Drama)

- Three by Ted Dekker (A-Thriller, Contemporary-Christian)

- House by Ted Dekker and Frank Peretti (A-Thriller, Contemporary-Christian)

- The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver (YA-Drama)