Absolutely Unputdownable Books

A Gathering Light by Jennifer Donnelly is excellent. Remember the days when you coud lie in bed all day reading ? This is just thet sort of book.

do you ever look at books you have rad int eh shop and wish you hadnt so you could read them again?

Oh I like this thread. I've remembered I like Howard Jacobson too.

I don't normally get the time to read much but i did find Jordans book completely addictive and had read it in 3 days.

I read 'The Secret History' on holiday (Donna Tartt), and could NOT put it down. Couldn't get into her second though.

no didnt like it
I like douglas kennedy fo unputdownable but slightly crap

yep, read that one!!! was soooo funny

Has anyone read Fat ladies club...Excellent..

thanks miaou - as its on my shelf I'll definitely give it go - once I start a book I HAVE to finish so I hope I enjoy it as much as you did!

JoolsToo, don't be put off the Little Friend...I LOVED it - it's definitely worth a try. I think you would probably know straightaway if you weren't going to enjoy it.

cp3 - thanks for that! why didn't I think of Amazon - doh! I know its a bit of a tome but comes highly recommended - may give it whirl if its that cheap!

Hawaii - James A Michener is on Amazon from £2.75, but it doesnt look like easy reading to me?

Rebecca is fab, i can lend it to you if you like. Phillapa Gregory books are great too especially The Queens fool and The other Bolyen9(sp) girl

My faves:-

Oranges are not the Only Fruit (by Jeanette Winterson)
Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh
Christ Stopped at Eboli by Carlo Levi
Death at the Dance Hall (by Tony Hillerman)
Peyton Place by Grace Sartorius
Anything by Ian Rankin/Donna Leon

I like easy reading -

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn - Betty Smith (think its out of print now, its old but its absolute magic!)
Hawaii - James A Michener (Not actually read but heard its a must but this also seems to be out of print)
Jean Plaidy - particularly Murder Most Royal
Stephen King - The Stand was excellent as was The Tommyknockers and one of his short stories The Long Walk also recommended
John Grisham his last couple haven't been as good
Bill Bryson
Ben Elton
Nicci French

Just started Middlesex and I've got The Little Friend waiting but you lot have put me off that one! so I might skip it and go straight on to Rebecca as you seem to give that the thumbs up!

Sorry, that should be IsAbel Colegate. The film, unusually, doesn't disappoint either.

'The Shooting Party' by Isobel Colegate. Wait until Autumn for maximum atmospheric impact, then read it and weep. Utterly, utterly gorgeous.

Great thread Spacemonkey, and yeah, there goes the bank balance.

Oh, YEESSS Sponge - The Magus! I just loved this book - read it some years ago now and nothing else quite compares. Was astonished you read this in one go - how on earth did you 'come down' after that? I remember I had to keep surfacing for a reality check - brilliant.

Also..
John Fowles - The Collector
F Scott Fitzgerald - The Great Gatsby
This Side of Paradise
Emile Zola - Therese Raquin
Flaubert - Madame Bovary
John Steinbeck - The Grapes of Wrath
Stephen Fry -The Liar
Aldous Huxley - Brave New World
Colette - The Claudine Novels
PG Wodehouse - Everything
William Sutcliffe - Are You Experienced? (V funny)

There must be loads more I've read but it's all been submereged under baby stuff over the last few years. Just getting back to books again - oh joy.

Kittyb - Thanks! (And Moominmama86 for bumping me)

"Pillars of the Earth" - I'd forgotten all about that book, I loved it. The trouble with these threads is it not only keeps adding new books to my must read pile, it keeps reminding me of old goodies to reread (if only I had the time!). "Jackdaws" (Ken Follett too I think) was good.
And Homebird I love "Rebecca" and "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" too.
Other top favourites:
To kill a mockingbird - Harper Lee(?_
The Commitments trilogy - Roddy Doyle
Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
Pretty much anything by Evelyn Waugh
TOP trashier stuff (IMHO):
The Outlander series - Diana Gabaldon
The Stephanie Plum series - Janet Evanovich
Anything by India Knight or Rafaella Barker
And (I'd be a big liar if I didn't admit it) I adored Jilly Cooper's Riders when I was 14 and I still do. I'm not deep
All time favourite novels:
Far From the Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
The Go Between - LP Hartley (?)

Earthly Powers - Anthony Burgess
The New Confessions - William Boyd
Most things by Ian McEwan
Anything by Martin Amis
Birdsong
Secret History
Poisonwood Bible
Margaret Attwood
Illywhacker - Peter Carey
Anyhting by Iain Banks
Jonathan Coe
and so many more.............
The only book I think I've ever actually read completely at one sitting was The Magus by John Fowles - it took a full 24 hours non-stop!

I couldn't stop reading Sleepers either until I discovered that it probably isn't a true story after all. That ruined it a bit!

His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman - brilliant! Also Captain Corelli's Mandolin.

Sleepers and Lord of the Rings The Two Towers. I couldnt put them down. The other two lotr books I find a bit hard to get into, but the second one is really good