What book could you not put down?

Bretrick

Bretrick

Well-known Member
Location
Perth Western Australia
We have all done it. Started reading a book and before we know it 6 hours have passed. Or it has gone past 3 am and you need to rise in 3 hours.
Two books have had that effect on me.
Fyodor Dostoyevsky's House of the Dead.
Lyall Watson's Gifts of Unknown Things.

House of the Dead is a semi-autobiographical account of Dostoyevsky's time spent in a Siberian Prison. In a time when the Tsars ruled supreme. Published in the early 1860's.

Gifts of Unknown Things is a non fiction account of time spent on an Indonesian Island. It documents Watson's observations regarding mystical occurrences, magical feats, miraculous phenomena and psychic healing.

Dostoyesky was a Russian Journalist, Novelist, Aristocrat and Philosopher who died in 1881. Some of his writings being, Crime and Punishment, Brothers Karamozov, The Idiot and Notes from the Underground.

Lyall Watson was a South African Botanist, Zoologist, Biologist, Anthropologist and Ethnologist. Author of Supernature, Lifetide, The Romeo Error, Dark Nature and many more.
 

Did Watson illustrate his books himself? I may have confused with another naruralist, but i think i've read something of his a decade or so ago.
 

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Most fiction of most eras and genres, lol! I'd do better answering with the one I had to slog through which was War and Peace ...War and a Really Sappy Russian Soap Opera. Has some qreat quotes and sociological messages, but taken as a whole ...bleh. It's hard to fathom how Tolstoy felt Shakespeare was overrated.
 
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There have been so many. When i was in 9th grade James Michener's "Hawaii" came out, i was reading it every spare minute. Between classes would rush to next classroom get the textbook and notes for that class open and then read the novel till bell rang. One teacher picked the wrong day to fuss at me about it and regretted it.

When i was pregnant with my daughter i had to finish fiction thrillers before going to sleep to sleep once i got close to end, otherwise I'd dream alternate endings all night long. I preferred Koontz to King. Once sge was born that eased uo.

More recently i read Trevor Noah's autobiographical 'Born a Crime' in just a few days when not busy with chores and errands.
 
I can think of 2
"Lonesome Dove' by Larry McMurtry about a cattle drive to Montana, 943 pages he won Pultizer Prize. The mini series was faithful to the book starring Robert Duvall,Tommy Lee Jones
Pillars of the Earth' by Ken Follett,construction of a English Gothic Cathedral in 12 th century England, 983 pages I was surprised Follett had written this,something totally different from his usual spy thriller books Sue
 
Bretrick said:
We have all done it. Started reading a book and before we know it 6 hours have passed. Or it has gone past 3 am and you need to rise in 3 hours.
Two books have had that effect on me.
Fyodor Dostoyevsky's House of the Dead.
Lyall Watson's Gifts of Unknown Things.

House of the Dead is a semi-autobiographical account of Dostoyevsky's time spent in a Siberian Prison. In a time when the Tsars ruled supreme. Published in the early 1860's.

Gifts of Unknown Things is a non fiction account of time spent on an Indonesian Island. It documents Watson's observations regarding mystical occurrences, magical feats, miraculous phenomena and psychic healing.

Dostoyesky was a Russian Journalist, Novelist, Aristocrat and Philosopher who died in 1881. Some of his writings being, Crime and Punishment, Brothers Karamozov, The Idiot and Notes from the Underground.

Lyall Watson was a South African Botanist, Zoologist, Biologist, Anthropologist and Ethnologist. Author of Supernature, Lifetide, The Romeo Error, Dark Nature and many more.
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Wonderful idea! I'm always on the look out for a good book.
 
Too many to list. Most of them are thrillers and there are a couple of cozy mystery series I like that fit into that category. I wish all the books I read were like that. My books fall into three sections: can't put it down (but sometimes I have to), good (must have 4 or 5 stars on my rating system), and those I don't read past the first chapter. The ones I don't read don't go on my lists of books read, but I usually put the author's name on the list with appellation DNR (do not read more of this crap).
 
Too many to list over so many years. The first book I was passionate about, couldn't put down and would read it again and again was Gone With the Wind.

Once I found an author I liked, I'd read everything they wrote. I think it started with Dostoyevsky. The Russians are so dark & emotional, very moody. Moved on to Tolstoy, etc. Then I moved on to Kafka, I couldn't get enough of him; Sartre, and my personal favorite Simone de Beauvoir, Hermann Hesse, ETC.

Just a sample, there's actually a lot more, hard to remember off the top of my head. My first grown up book was Lady Chatterley's Lover, which opened up a whole new grown up world. I was 13 and so was now allowed to peruse the adult section at the library. The library building moved across the same street. I have had a library card with them since age 5, I think. I really loved to read and discover and learn. Gee, wish I were that way now
 
Moonfall, a SF thriller by Jack McDevitt. A movie version is coming out--maybe; they're using the same title anyway but the story's somewhat different so maybe not. The movie version doesn't sound nearly as good as the book (seems like that's the case a lot).
 
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