While She Knits ~ In Which Gen and the Mede Ambassador Spar

[idiosyncreant.livejournal.com]

Page-Turners.

They keep you reading (sometimes despite yourself).
Is it the action? The tension? The fascinating characters?

What Books Have Kept You Frantically Reading?

It's a good thing every While She Knits post marks off getting closer to the next part of our collective favorite page-turner...

~ Old Favorites
~ Recent All-Nighters
~ What keeps you reading?

Comments

[coyul.livejournal.com]

I've just read Graceling and I absolutely couldn't put it down. I plan on re-reading it soon.

My most read book, other than QT, is Howl's Moving Castle. I can read that one twice in a row and still notice things I hadn't before. A bit like QT, really.

There is also the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich. They're good, light, hilarious reads and I can never put one down once I've started.

Recent reads (within the past week):
Evermore by Alyson Noel
The Summoning by Kelley Armstrong
Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr
Revelations by Melissa de la Cruz
I recommend all of the above. All of them had me up quite late to finish.

And of course, my usual list of favorites:
Sabriel, Lirael, and Abhorsen by Garth Nix
Waiting for the Galactic Bus and The Snake Oil Wars by Parke Godwin
Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
The Mediator series by Megan Cabot
Artemis Fowl series by Eoin Colfer
His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman

I'm sure there's more...

[mycenaeth.livejournal.com]

Recent all-nighters: Little Brother by Cory Doctorow, Boy Toy by Barry Lyga.

Currently reading Murder on the Iditarod Trail by Sue Henry, and enjoying it. Some of her other stuff I found a bit dull, but this one is great.

[mycenaeth.livejournal.com]

We are icon twins. XD

[coyul.livejournal.com]

NO, DON'T TELL EVERYONE. We have to have a conversation so everyone will be confused, wondering why someone is talking to him/herself. :D

[cleo]

A Game of Thrones, the first book in George RR Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series. I absolutely could not put it down. Unfortunately, the same is not true, for me at least, of the second book.

The Golden Compass/Northern Lights was much the same as A Game of Thrones for me, and the same goes for how I felt about the second book.

For both of these, it was honestly more the characters than the plots. The plots of both are definitely captivating, but I found myself reading mainly for a certain set of characters. That's how it goes for me in most books, and unfortunately, most of the time the characters are minor or die.

The entire Narnia series. I read it all within three days. The prose is just so simple and beautiful while conveying such complex ideas.

Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh. I cannot express how much I loved this book--the plot, the characters, the atmosphere, the writing... It's beautiful and breathtaking and heartbreaking, and those things make me turn pages.

Good writing keeps me reading--the sentences that stand out, the characters that come alive, the prose that engrosses the reader. Occasionally, I get wrapped up in the plot of things, wanting to know what happens. But it's usually more of how the characters react to everything that gets me.

[pigrescuer.livejournal.com]

Recently, I have read the first two Mortal Instruments books by Cassandra Clare (you lucky Americans already have access to the third. :P). They were very unputdownable, if that were a word.

Also The Demon's Lexicon by Sarah Rees Brennan and the Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lunch.

That last one, if you love Gen (and why are you reading this if you don't?) you will love. The second one is sitting on my floor waiting for me to get this damn coursework in.

[pigrescuer.livejournal.com]

That's Lynch, not Lunch. XD

Also, of course, the Vorkosigan Saga, which I have been recetly hooked to. They are one reason why I am behind on coursework.

[pigrescuer.livejournal.com]

I've read all of your favourites apart from Parke Godwin. Should I hunt them out?

[coyul.livejournal.com]

I definitely recommend it! His books are out of print, but they're super cheap on amazon usually. I got mine for less than a dollar each not including shipping. :D

[coyul.livejournal.com]

Also, because I forgot, Waiting for the Galactic Bus is about two aliens from an ancient race of beings who get left on Earth, drunk, during a massive party. They get bored waiting for the bus to come back, so they kick-start the evolution of an ape. A looooong time later, they're hanging out with people like John Wilkes Booth, Jesus, Judas, and some priest who is stalking Jesus.

...there's a better description at Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waiting_for_the_Galactic_Bus). XD;

[inkasrain.livejournal.com]

The second and third books of the Bartimaeus Trilogy were real page-turners for me. The first book dragged terribly, and I'm a little ambivalent about the series as a whole, but the last two books positively demanded to be finished.

[inkasrain.livejournal.com]

I loved "Lies of Locke Lamora" (and it happens to have one of the coolest titles ever) although I did think the profanity was unnecessary-- I couldn't recommend the book to a lot of people I would have otherwise because of it. I was not as great a fan of the second book, but it had it's moments, certainly. The third in the series, "Republic of Thieves" was due out in February... unfortunately Lynch is not a deadline person, apparently. He does not seem to have even turned in the manuscript yet, so heaven knows when it will get into our hands.

[beatlelove927.livejournal.com]

My feelings to a T. Except the Kitty bits in Book 2 were a little dull sometimes.

[(Anonymous)]

Old Favorites: The King of Attolia. The first time I read it, I don't really remember stopping to breathe.

Keeping me up recently: The Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry; The Accidental Duchess by Jessica Benson. Also Elske by Cynthia Voigt.

And, plug of the week: JACKAROO, by Cynthia Voigt. If you have not read it, you should...if you like the Queen's Thief books I think you would enjoy it.

~Feir Dearig

[9mil.livejournal.com]

Snicket's entire Series of Unfortunate Events I could not put down ever and I would always be sad having to get out of bed to retrieve the next one.

And Susan Kay's Legacy which if you find you get a cookie cause the only time I've ever seen it was when I bought it at a garage sale. It's all about Queen Elizabeth I and how awesome she was and also how crazy she was.

Also most anything by Chuck Palahniuk.

[ladymoon-kora.livejournal.com]

Someone on this community recommended The Name of the Wind a while ago, and I finally read it recently. I could NOT put it down! I finished it like a week ago and I'm still hyped-up about it. Crown Duel-also recommended by someone here, I believe-is also very good. I agree with fayriedance about Graceling as well, it was a great read.

[philia-fan.livejournal.com]

Recent page-turners:

Echoes of War by Robert Westall. Absolutely anything by Robert Westall is a page-turner for me. The man was a genius.

Unwind by Neal Shusterman. A creepy, dystopian coming-of-age story. I think this one kept me going because it is really well structured.

Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale. I never doubted a happy ending, but I still kept turning pages to see how she would make it happen.

[readsintrees.livejournal.com]

Ahhh!! I'm reading Graceling RIGHT NOW!

[coyul.livejournal.com]

IT'S IT AMAZING???

[checkers65477.livejournal.com]

Me, too!

[checkers65477.livejournal.com]

Page turners I've read over the past year or so: The Hunger Games, Twilight and most recently The Truth Trap.

[readsintrees.livejournal.com]

First, everyone here has me feverishly searching Amazon for all of the above mentioned titles to add to my "To Read" wishlist. That list is three pages long, and you guys are NOT helping!

As for the reasons why a certain book keeps me up...it varies. Sometimes it's an action packed plot that makes me feel that if I put the book down, I'll miss something. Sometimes it's a burning mystery that I keep hoping to be solved on the next page. Sometimes it's a new world or concept that is just to enveloping that you don't want to leave it even for a minute...Sometimes it's as shallow as a romantic connection between two characters that I can see developing but they don't seem to notice, and gods damn it why don't they just kiss already?!! Some books, like all of my retold fairy tales....I already know how they end (the slipper fits) but I'm just so intrigued by the way we get there that I have to keep reading.

The Queen's Thief aside, books that kept me up all night include:

-Harry Potter (those midnight releases combined with a feverish need to read led to some night completely devoid of sleep). Combination of plot, mystery, and silly teen romance.

-Sabriel (and sequels). Plot and the concept of a fantasy outside of the dragons-and-wizards world.

-The Golden Compass (and sequels). Plot, characters, new fantasy.

-The Goose Girl (by Shannon Hale). Plot, action, characters, romance...

-A Countess Below Stairs (by Eva Ibbotson). This was, plain and simple, about the delicate romance.

Mr. Was (by Paul Hautman). Twisty little mysteries.

The Constant Princess (by Phillipa Gregory). This book made me realize that tedious court manipulations are somehow engrossing, and that a low-action plot can still be very absorbing.

Ella Enchanted (by Gail Carson Levine). One of my favorite books ever! Prince Char was my first experience with an honest-to-gods crush on a fictional character.

Stardust (by Neil Gaiman) The combination of new story plus familiar fairy tale phrasing and devices was charming.

A Curse Dark as Gold (by Elizabeth C. Bunce) What made this one great was that I didn't realize it was a retelling until I was already into the story anyway, so I had one of those "Holy cow!" moments when I realized what I was reading...and then I had to devour it.

The Decoy Princess, and Princess at Sea (both by Dawn Cook). The only way to describe these books is to say that they are almost cheap in how easily they make you want to read them. Simple guilty pleasures.

Currently I am reading Graceling, and I'm not finding it easy to get to sleep on time. I think mostly it's that I've been so frustrated at the romantic side of things.


Now, for books that seemed to drag on and on? Sunshine, by Robin McKinley. I love the author, but for some reason it took me almost two weeks to finish this book. But I was bound and determined to finish it (it was my second try) before picking up a new book. I mean, it was alright, but I just couldn't keep interested.

[readsintrees.livejournal.com]

Oh, I forgot to add:

Winter of Fire (by Sherryl Jordan). Hard to find, but worth it.

The Scarlet Pimpernel, which was recommended by Harriet the Spy. I don't normally enjoy "classics" but this one had me reading non-stop once I got past the first few pages.

[inkasrain.livejournal.com]

True, though I loved Kitty's character in general; I was very impressed that Stroud managed to make her so angst-ridden, and yet not whiny. As for the dullness, I think in the second book Stroud was still dealing with his inexplicable tendency to sloooooow doooooown his narrative right when he hit the really interesting bits and a lot of those took place around Kitty.

[thelasteddis.livejournal.com]

THAT IS SUCH A GOOD BOOK!

AND I LOVE PO!!!

(although, if these were real people I'd probably go for the prince - what was his name?)