What is the most gripping, incredible book you have ever read that you just couldn't put down?

[tripletsandtwins]

I desperately need an incredible book! I'm on bedrest and I'm suddenly finding myself with time to actually read, but no good books!

Currently, I'm reading Harry Potter 7, but I'm nearly finished!

Help!

Agree anything by Rose Tremain - engrossing but with a lovely touch of humour - Restoration my favourite

Also love Tulip Fever by Deborah Moggach, Atonement by Ian McEwan, When We Were Orphans by Kazuo Ishaguro

Forever Amber - set in the court of Charles 2nd it's a thrilling historical romance with some pretty good history stuff. Found it genuinely unputdownable and I've read it 3 times in the last few years.

It's strange, I read at least 2/3 books a week and I'm still recommending this book years later.

Don't know if anyone's said this already but...

any of Patricia Cornwell Dr Scarpetta series (The Body Farm for eg). Sometimes I would be reading with one eye open and one eye closed because I was so darned tired but they are IMPOSSIBLE to put down, I warn you!

Oh and anything by Ruth Rendell or P D James. Dan Brown (da vinci code and others) is very good for making you want to read the next chapter too.

Garth Nix's Lireal trilogy - better than Harry Potter although not quite as good as Northern Lights. Still excellent though.

I have been on a chick lit rampage recently!

I LOVE Marshmallows for Breakfast and My Best Friend's Girl. Kept me reading WAY past bed time!

Also, Jacqui Picoult is good; Plain Truth is very good as is My Sister's Keeper and Keeping Faith.

Can't believe I am admitting to this but
'The Stand' by Stephen King gripped me like nowt else.

Two that are disturbing in parts but utterly gripping are Memoirs of a Geisha (much better than the crap film!) and A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry.
I echo The Secret History, I've reread that one so many times!
Also for a fun read Little Children is good.

Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

Any book from the Darkover series be Marion Zimmer Bradley if you at all like fantasy

Empress Orchid by Anchee Min

I'm sure I'll think of more later

Rebecca, by Daphne Du Maurier. Can still reread it and thrill from the first meeting with Maxim right to the end. Also, My Sister Rachel, same author.

Earthly Powers by Anthony Burgess, a rich tapestry of trilingual jokes and amazing happenings intertwined with real historical events.

A book I read years ago but has always stuck in my mind for being so moving that tears were rolling down my cheeks. Lynda la Plante - Entwined. Must read it again!

CAn I lower the tone? Rivals, by Jilly Cooper. None of her others, just Rivals. I think it's brilliant - the best really long "light"read ever!

Jane Auster is a good "bed rest" choice. Very good for the bllod pressure - like listening to Bach!

AusteN, I mean. Although I'm sure Jane Auster is very good too!

The Earth Children books by Jean Auel.

They are:

Clan of the Cave Bear
Valley of the Horses
The Mammoth Hunters
The Plains of Passage
The Stone Shelters

Brilliant Books.

More votes for The Secret History, Between Two Eternities and TO Kill a Mocking Bird

Gone With The Wind kept be enthralled but I was only about 10 at the time!

Pompeii by Robert Harris
Wild Swans - can't remember the author though

Moondog that's my favourite book too

Also Lost Boys by Orson Scott Card- chilling book

I think some of these choices are drifting away from the OP's question. Dickens and Dostoevsky are great, but you couldn't call them unputdownable (except, maybe A Tale of Two Cities). One of my favourits books is The Pickwick Papers, but it took me about a month to read, so I obviously put it down many times.

Some of the most unputdownable novels I've read are ones I wouldn't rate that highly in terms of overall quality. I was dragged along at quite a pace by The Lord of the Rings (1200 pages IIRC), but I've never had any desire to read it a second time. Same applies with Day of the Jackal. Two unputdownables I would read again (and have) are Le Carre's Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, And Eric Ambler's The Mask of Dimitrios.

Generally, I think manhunts are great page-turners.

Bird Song by Seb. Faulks -life changing

Memoirs of a geysher by ?-stayed on my shelf for ages, as a book I would have no interest in, picked it up in despiration and thought I would give it 3 pages. Didnt sleep till finished it!

Tales of the city by A Maupin - hilarious and sad and lots of them in the series.

A fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry -desperately sad, no upside, but everyone should be made to read it.

Shadow of the wind by ? one of those books you keep reading so you might get to understand it then you do, then its over and you feel you should start right back at the beginning!
sorry for all sps but have flu and can hardly lift my head. Thank go for neurofen cold and flu..

The Alexander Trilogy by Mary Renault, especially The Persian Boy.

Any book by Robertson Davies, my favourite is The Deptford Trilogy.

Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China by Jung Chang

Letters from a Lost Generation: First World War Letters of Vera Brttain and Four Friends by Alan Bishop and Mark Bostridge. It's not a novel, but it totally changed how a felt about soldiers. Sobbed my eyes out half way through.

I found The Hellfire Club by Peter Straub incredibly gripping. I haven't liked any of his other books as much though, and I haven't tried any of his horror books because I don't like horror.

Jennifer Crusie is a great light read, especially Welcome to Temptation.

The Book People have the first 10 Agatha Raisin novels for £9.99. They're not unputdownable but they are an easy and fairly amusing read.

If you have someone who can go to the post office for you then you could list some of your old books on Read It Swap It and save a bit of money.

A Place of Execution.
It really does depend what kind of books you like, but for a crime thriller you'd struggle to beat this, or any of the Lincoln Rhyme series by Jeffery Deaver.

And an odd book that I'm slightly hesitant to recommend even though I've re-read it loads of times is A Place of my Own by Michael Pollan. It's not fiction, it's about a man building a home office (shed) in his garden. It's beautifully written and soothing.

Four books that I would challenge anyone not to find unputdownable:

Stone Junction

The Master & Margarita

Catch-22

A Confederacy Of Dunces

Also you can't go wrong with the Northern Lights trilogy.