What is/was your best can't put down book ever?

[spikemomma]

What book keeps or has kept you reading into the night, when you're exhausted and just need to sleep! Tell me, tell me! x

The Thorn Birds - a long time ago though....

Another oldie - 'The Shinning'. I read it in one sitting on a stormy night, years ago. I was so scared that I didn't dare go upstairs to bed and spent all night shivering and shaking downstairs! I've never read a horror book since!

The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly is my most recent one. It was FAB!

i have found in the woods by tana french to be the best for that recently

Wolf Hall

Was loathe to put it down and re-enter the real world

Another Stephen King - The Dead Zone and a Harlan Coben one which I can't remember the name of at the moment. It was his first stand alone book.

Ooh MrsDanversBites have that upstairs and am waiting to read it

I couldn't put A Prayer for Owen Meany down when I first read it

Tell No One - was the Harlan Coben one.

I just finished tell no one the other day. Was supposed to be keeping it for holiday but couldnt wait and read it all in two nights! Im still tired now! It was good but i like some of his others even more!

Oh and i recently discovered karin slaughter, couldnt put those down, loved them!

Wolf Hall, Mrs Danvers? I must admit I'm struggling with it a bit, and I'm a voracious reader. My eyes keep glazing over, especially at the three-quarter page long description of Cardinal Wolsey's tapestry.

I think my favourite book ever is Rebecca (can't get away from the Mrs Danvers thing!). I raced through it in one sitting and had that rare moment when I turned the last page and... it was finished. And I genuinely hadn't seen I was at the end of the book.

I also love The Corrections. So very pertinent to those of us with aged parents.

I've just enjoyed Possession by AS Byatt; I came to it a bit late in the day but better late than never. I'm looking forward to read The Children's Room next.

Ooh Wolf Hall. I read that at the weekend - it was truly gripping I thought. And very nasty.

Last unputdownable was The Little Stranger. A terrific read.

All time favourite were Phillip Pullman's troligy His Dark Materials. I read all three in one weekend. Fabulous, and I cried and cried at the end.

Oh, and Alan Clark's Diaries (the first ones).

Have to admit to being a total Harry Potter freak until the series ended. For example: made DH queue with me at 1am at Borders in Santa Barbara on our honeymoon
I 'let' him go to some wine fair thingy the next day whilst I finished the book!

However I was also totally gripped by Vurt by Jeff Noon.

scuttles off to look up books already on this thread

Well I have just finished "Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" and I couldn't put that down.

Can't really remember a book that I enjoyed quite so much before as I rarely get a chance to read these days!.

the first time i read wuthering heights it took me all night but i finished it in one go

my ultimate favourite is gone with the wind though i've read it so many times i can just pick it up and choose a part and just read whichever bit i feel like

I read the first 3 Harry Potters in one weekend at a friend's house - I didn't own them and she did - and couldn't put them down. Wasn't quite so entranced with Pullman's His Dark Materials but still pretty good.

Karin Slaughter books make me sick - I can't read her stuff - read the first two but no more, she is a twisted lady.
Kathy Reichs is better, imo.

Can't remember a more recent unputdownable book - but having a 2yo makes it harder to read solidly!

lol @ Wolsey's tapestry gramercy. I think that served a purpose though as Sheba symbolises Cromwell's ex-love and he ends up with it. IME even Mantel's most mundane-seeming descriptions often have layers of meaning to them- she also makes me lol when I least expect it. Am of you IndiMama reading for the first time

And loved Rebecca too of course! 'Possession' is on my to read list, heard conflicting reviews on that.

TBH thinking about the best book ever it would have to be Pride & Prejudice -predictable choice I know, but true

Think i have 3.

the Celestine Prophecies
Wuthering Heights
Brick Lane.

Was gutted when i finished each of those!

Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts. Read it on holiday in India and pretty much ignored my dh!

Rebecca also a favourite, also really enjoyed the "sequels" by Susan Hill and Sally Beauman

I'm the King of the Castle (Susan Hill) is a great little book too

I have to agree about Gone with the Wind. I didn't speak to my husband while on holiday at the beach for three days because I was so enthralled. Have just picked it up for the third time.

I remember re-reading The Standing by Stephen King about 3 times before the age 17. It was the only book I read for a whole year.

Currently reading The Book of Slaves by Laurence Hill. My gawd - it is soooo good. I have never cried so much in my lif though (although it could be because I am pregnant).

All of the Harry Potters.

When I was a child my parents took me to an afternoon party during which I finished Black Beauty.