Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Books Worth Losing Sleep Over

Yeah, yeah. Another post about books. Get over it. Anyway, a friend put out a plea on Facebook for "a fantastic, can't put down, grabs you at the start, book to read." Well, we all plod through our share of so-so reading material, but after a string of the "meh" books, one feels one deserves a rip-roaring page-turner.  So I started thinking: What three recently-read books kept me reading 'way past my bedtime? Here's what I came up with:
  • The Book Thief by Markes Zusak. Hey, who can resist a book narrated by Death?
  • Blackbird by Jennifer Lauck. Sort of like The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls - another page-turner, by the way, but stands on its own right. Couldn't put it down.
  • Ghostwalk by Rebecca Stott. All the elements of a good thriller: alchemy, murder, Sir Isaac Newton, Cambridge (though I prefer Oxford).
What are your three most ripping good reads of late? Do share.

3 comments:

Nancy Davidge said...

Looking over the books I've read in the past few years, these three have stayed with me:

"Bridge of Sighs" by Richard Russo
"Cloud Atlas" by David Mitchell
"Broken for You" by Stephanie Kalios

"Cloud Atlas" is one of the most interesting books I have ever read.

MaryB said...

Nancy - I loved Bridge of Sighs (but anything by Russo is great reading). Will definitely add Cloud Atlas and Broken for You to my list. Thanks for the suggestions!

Liz Hinds said...

Oh, yes, The Book Thief was great.

The Kite Runner - if you can bear - won't let you go.

Have you read the Starbridge books of Susan Howatch and the three sort of sequels including The Heartbreaker? Oh, The Heartbreaker is amazing.