Page turners

[Doffo]

Hey, this is my first post here, so if such a post already exists, feel free to delete this one.

Ive found a lot of helpful recomendations here before i registered, but most have been on classics or contemporary. Ive been reading a lot of classics the past few years, but I love a book i cant stop reading. I wanted to start this thread to get tips on pageturners or books that you simply cant put down, they may ofcourse be a classic or a new book.
Ill start of with
1. The Bone Collector - Deaver
2. Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy - Adams
3. Hyperion - Simmons

[Tyrion Cheddar]

Who's Paige Turner? <bow> Sorry, couldn't resist. I've always thought that would make a great name for a porn star--maybe a young female writer who couldn't make ends meet selling her work, so she decided to, uh, make ends meet. God knows she wouldn't be the first. Paige Turner, world's most literate porn star.

Meanwhile, I can attest to agree with the second two books you mentioned, haven't read the first, only seen the movie. I've actually been on a Dan Simmons kick lately. I finished Drood recently, meant to write a review of it, and am now reading Children of the Night.

[chrisvia]

Honestly, I finally set out on William Gaddis's undervalued work, The Recognitions, and I haven't been this engrossed in a book in a long time! The whole time I'm at work during the day, I dream of settling in with it at night; and when that time finally arrives, I cannot stop turning its pages, of which (thankfully, in this case) there are many to turn.

[Tyrion Cheddar]

Thanks for the tip, Chris, I just looked it up and read about it. It's on my never-ending list.

[Eiseabhal]

Almost anything by Robert Harris or John Grisham. I also find that most books I persist with become page-turners. It's the snowball effect.

[seerseenbyseein]

Honestly, I finally set out on William Gaddis's undervalued work, The Recognitions, and I haven't been this engrossed in a book in a long time! The whole time I'm at work during the day, I dream of settling in with it at night; and when that time finally arrives, I cannot stop turning its pages, of which (thankfully, in this case) there are many to turn.

Say a little more specifically what you like about this book. From what I have read about the book it sounds like one of those things where originality is being reached for rather than something growing spontaneously out of the story/stories themselves.

[seerseenbyseein]

Page turners:

More Die of Heartbreak by Saul Bellow-- Dr. Layamon is a comic classic.
The Big Slelep by Raymond Chandler--sorry, I enjoyed it.
Hadji Murad by Leo Tolstoy--the eponym is unbelievable in a way that makes his portrayal utterly convincing.

[spikepipsqueak]

I am currently in the last completed book of Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin novels.

There is one more, unfinished, and then I will feel beached for a few weeks as I have been immersed in them for so long.

Some lovely human insights, and I now know more about sailing vessels than I ever thought I would want to know.

[Calidore]

Page turners:

More Die of Heartbreak by Saul Bellow-- Dr. Layamon is a comic classic.
The Big Slelep by Raymond Chandler--sorry, I enjoyed it.
Hadji Murad by Leo Tolstoy--the eponym is unbelievable in a way that makes his portrayal utterly convincing.

Wish I knew why people feel the need to apologize for enjoying good genre fiction. It's as worthy of respect as any other writing, and Chandler is among the best.

[ajvenigalla]

Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky and The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne were both spell-binding page turners and also incredibly satisfying classics.

[chrisvia]

Say a little more specifically what you like about this book. From what I have read about the book it sounds like one of those things where originality is being reached for rather than something growing spontaneously out of the story/stories themselves.

It is actually an assault on the striving for originality and is far more lucid than some of his successors (Pynchon, et al.). My advice would be not to read too much about it but to read it--and certainly revisit your suspicions thereafter, as I believe you will enjoy a nice grin. I think you'll find that most people who talk about the book have certainly not read it.