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!

I found Agent ZigZag (up for consideration for December Book club on MN) unputdownable. Not my usual sort of read - but what a story! If it had been fiction you would have complained about how far-fetched it was!

Second, third etc the Northern Lights. Love the Sarah Dunant historical novels (Birth of Venus), ditto The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory. You already know the story of the latter, but you just have to read on.

Generally enjoy Ian Rankin's Rebus series for rock solid story telling and characters. I always devour them quickly. Ditto the Minette Walters psychological/ crime novels.

Although not a read at one sitting sorts I always look out for Jojo Moyes, Sarah Waters, Victoria Clayton, Iain Banks (not the Sci-Fi ones), Adriana Trigiani.

BTW I want to read a book called "Can Any mother help me?". Sounds like an early version of MN - via letters?

Hope that the time passes quickly for you while you are on bedrest and enjoy your reading!

Where is the blog, frothykindofadrink?

thecoffeelady.blogspot.com

at the time i was reading 'The Da Vinci Code' it seemed the most gripping, incredible book of all time. lol . it's a bit like porn as in you finish the book and have this sudden realisation of what you've been doing. and then you think what a pile of wank!

and i must add that a friend of my dp's was so engrossed by Dan Brown that he read the whole thing in one day, he couldn't even bear to put it down to go to the loo, so apparently peed in the pint glasses that were lying around in his room. and the bathroom was literally next door, i might add!

I loved The Da Vinci Code. The fact that it's extremely popular automatically makes it rubbish in many people's eyes. It's a good thriller with lots of twists and is a very entertaining light read - it does exactly what it says on the tin.

Any NIcci French
fan bloody tastic

lol Yummers, same as with the Da Vinci Code - at the time of reading I knew it was utter shite, and hated the way it was written, but still couldn't put it down because I had to know what happened. What a load of crap!

Another vote for His Dark Materials trilogy (For OP's info, books are called The Northern Lights, The Subtle Knife, The Amber Spyglass). The most fascinating, gripping and intelligent books. I sobbed at the end!

I loved Vanity Fair as well, seems like a such a modern book even though it was written in the Victorian days.

i know, Lyra, it's very entertaining,it's just it breaks all the literary rules from the very first page!

'Renowned curator Jacques Saunière staggered through the vaulted archway of the museum's Grand Gallery. He lunged for the nearest painting he could see, a Caravaggio. Grabbing the gilded frame, the seventy-six-year-old man heaved the masterpiece toward himself until it tore from the wall and Saunière collapsed backward in a heap beneath the canvas.'

you don't TELL people he was renowned, you SHOW them actions and qualities which reveal him to be renowned in the eyes of the reader, Mr Brown... and that's just for starters!

I know. It doesn't deserve any literary awards. I still reckon it's perfect, untaxing beach reading material though.

Why does Dan Brown write in italics all the time to emphasise something shocking

it made me laugh - no-one ate, slept or went to the loo in his book...

but a gripping, rollarcoaster ride : read in 2 days!

He also had British policemen routinely carrying guns. Everyone know British policemen don't (usually) carry guns.

Carter beats the devil by glenn David Gold
The Magus by John Fowles
The secret history by Donna Tarte
The wasp factory by Iian Banks
Miss Smillas feeling for snow by Peter Hoeg
The woman in white by Wilkie Collins
Tales of the city by Armisted Maupin
His dark materials by Philip Pullman
The cement garden by Ian McEwan
The way I found her by Rose Tremain
.....I could go on!.....
Just one more!
Wild Swans.

You've probably got enough to be getting on with now but I just wanted to put in a word for A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth. A huge book but conveniently divided into nice small chapters! I've read it a couple of times and love it. Would also recommend the Cairo Trilogy. In fact I want to read them again but since we've moved house I can't find them anywhere .

Enjoy the rest, if you manage to get any with all the reading!

I read Ernest Shackleton's "South" on the 24-hour flight from Australia to the UK, on the bus from Heathrow to Wales, in the Burger King waiting for my pick-up, and after dinner, a shower, and tucking up on her sofa, I STILL had to finish it!

also The Red Tent by Anita Diamont

And Georgette Heyer - not literary genius, but pretty good for bed rest I think.

Tully by Paullina Simmons

I third 'The Tenderness of Wolves'.

a maidens grave by jeffery deaver in fact anything by him. Jilly cooper sad but i love her and jackie collins

a maidens grave by jeffery deaver in fact anything by him. Jilly cooper sad but i love her and jackie collins faces by martina cole or jack reacher series by lee child

I doubt tripletsandtwins has time to read now!!

Read her profile!!

congratulations btw!!

If you like things like The kite runner, then The Gift of Rain by Tan Twan Eng is very gripping and moving in a similar way.

Would also second anything by Daphne Du Maurier for the "unputdownable" factor. Am currently reading Jamaica Inn and am gripped.

Tales of the city, armistead maupin, has been mentioned a few times, its a great read, and there are amore than one in the series... well worth a look.

Also, I've just read another Emily Barr book. have now read three or four of her books. Not been able to put any of them down until finished. May not be amazing literary masterpieces or anything. However, in my opinion, any book which keeps you turning the page for more and more is a bloody good book and her books do just that. On the surface, they are lovely looking stories, then as you dig deeper, they all end up having a really dark and sometimes slightly disturbing 'climax'. Well worth a read.

One of the titles: "Cuban Heels " the story begins with a woman who buys her sister a baby monitor, and decides to try it out on her flat. She turns it on and is suddenly able to hear all the conversations in her neighbours flat, via their baby monitor......... what a great idea hey?