By Siri A.
There are good books and there great books—and then there are the books that you simply can’t put down. Work, friends, sleep—it doesn’t matter. Everything else fades away and all you can think about is finishing that book. This is my favorite thing about reading, and it’s what I hope will happen every time I start a new book. Here are five that kept me so hooked that there was just no time for sleep.
Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton
The movie Jurassic Park is one of my guilty pleasures, but the book, while different in many ways from the movie, is simply amazing. It’s fast-paced, action-packed and is written with such suspense that I found it impossible to tear myself away from its pages. Few books get me so caught up in their story that I want to yell to the characters to warn them of their impending doom.
Geek Love by Katherine Dunn
I’ve never read a book quite like Geek Love, and I don’t think I ever will. This book is strange—more than strange—but it’s also wonderful. It tells the twisted story of a couple who runs a traveling carnival and decides to start their own freak show by having “freak” children of their own. The story then follows the extraordinary lives of the family members as these children grow up. Its unique characters and bizarre plot pulled me into a world I’d never imagined and wouldn’t let me go until I had finished.
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
A few pages into this psychological thriller and I was hooked. The book begins with the disappearance of Nick’s beautiful wife on their five year anniversary, leaving behind a scene that makes many suspect that Nick was a part of it. But was he? Due to an unreliable narrator, this book is full of twists and turns that keep you guessing until the end.
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
Imagine a future where all power has been transferred to men and women no longer have control of their own bodies. This is the world that Offred finds herself living in after the U.S. government is overthrown. Offred, who once lived a normal life with her husband, has now been placed into a class called Handmaids where her main purpose is to help members of the ruling class reproduce. Will she ever live a normal life again? This book was terrifying, powerful and impossible to put down.
Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer
In this engrossing non-fiction book, Jon Krakauer gives an eye-witness account of the tragic climb up Mount Everest in May 1966 that led to the death of eight climbers. Krakauer describes what it felt like to be on the mountain that day with so much detail that I felt like I was there. He also dissects the obsession that so many people have for Mount Everest, attempting to explain what led everyone—including himself—to risk their lives that day.
Shelf Talk 