I spent all day reading “Children of Paradise” by Camilla Grudova. As someone who has worked mimimum wage jobs in different cinemas to help pay bills at university, I recognised myself in the protagonists and could relate to the cinema worker’s perspective on film, as well as the change from dilapidated indie cinema with its bizarre regular customers to money-grubbing corporate ownership, which happens midway through the book. Basically read it front to back in the span of a few hours.
So my question is, what was the last book you devoured in one sitting and why did it grab your attention like that?
by iIavarasan
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Split Tooth by Tagaq, which is about a young Inuk woman in Nunavut and her experiences with drugs, sex, abuse, birth and culture.
It’s a blend of memoir and fiction and incorporates elements of prose, poetry, and imagery.
Although the book wasn’t amazing, it was so different from what I usually read that I was just absolutely captivated.
*The Bell Jar* by Sylvia Plath is the only book I’ve ever read in one sitting. I was in my early twenties and the book felt like it put words to something that was on the periphery of my world view. Her struggle with having the world at her finger tips but not being about the reach out and grab something to hold onto struck a chord with me, and to this day I randomly bring up her analogy of the fig tree when discussing the millennial experience (for me at least). I had a habit of reading things because I heard of the author without knowing much about the book itself, so I had no idea what I was about to read. I consumed that book and have thought about it regularly for well over a decade.
Of mice and men.
I read silent patient, I mostly indulge in contemporary romance but I thought of giving this one a try and I thank God I did!!!
I mean it was AWESOME! the plot twist at the end literally had my mind blown. I started reading it before bed, like around 9 or 10PM and completed it at 5:30 in the morning.
I remember shouting at the top of my lungs when the story took its turn.
I tried reading other psychological thrillers after that but didn’t like any as much as I loved this one.
True Grit by Charles Portis.
Most recently, it was book 2 and 3 of the Tide Child trilogy. Couldn’t put it down. Stayed up all night reading. I was late to work both days.
The Old Man and the Sea.
It’s probably been 20 years. I’m a slow reader
Yesterday, Everyone on This Train is a Suspect by Benjamin Stevenson. I had the day off, it was raining, I made a big pot of tea… Perfect day to spend with a good book!
If you’re asking with the last book was that actually made me cancel things or bent my entire schedule out of shape because I could not put it down, it was The Vaster Wilds by Lauren Groff. Damn, what a survival story! I had to find out what happened next.
Green eggs and ham by Dr. Seuss
American dirt
Only book I can ever recall doing that with was recent- “The English Understand Wool” by Helen DeWitt, because it’s about 60 pages long. It’s described in promotional stuff as an ‘amorality play’ and various other highbrow literary names which go over my head, but it is very entertaining! It’s about a stupidly rich and cosmopolitan young girl who finds out that her apparent parents are impostors, and all their money is actually just her rightful inheritance; then the media and publishing companies rush to capitalise on public interest in her story
Most recently? “The Lover” by Marguerite Duras.
Physicians of Vilnoc by Bujold I think?
The Prophet by Gibran Khalil Gibran
I’ve never been able to read that much in one sitting, after about 50ish pages my brain needs a break
Recently finished What Moves the Dead by T Kingfisher in one go.
The midnight library
Monster by Walter Dean Myers. I have a toddler now so trying to read anything in one sitting these days is nearly impossible lol.
Starter Villain.
Robinson Crusoe in 3rd grade. Stayed home sick so my mom made me read in bed all day if “I was really sick”. :/
My book club is reading The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab for our biweekly meeting. I cracked it open yesterday with just the intention of reading a chapter or two, but I ended up so engrossed in the storytelling that I finished in one sitting. I loved the authors style of writing and was SO curious with where the story was going to go. Finishing the book almost felt like losing a friend, I really didn’t want it to end and got choked up at the end. I most definitely will go back and reread it again!
*Child of God* by Cormac McCarthy; grotesque, beautiful, short
I don’t think I ever have! Which makes me kinda sad.
War & Peace. Cover to cover. I read the front and back covers. One sitting.
I’ve read the Fahreniet 451 but didn’t get theme of it at all… I’m definitely coming back
For me whether I read a book in one session is more an environmental factor (and length) versus how good the book is. A week ago I was flying home from Europe and read 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea in one shot on the second flight, didn’t find it particularly excellent but I was a literal captive audience. Before that was The Stranger and The Alchemist on a different flight. Not sure further back than that as I just can’t remember what interruptions I would have had during which books.
A Congregation of Jackals by Craig Zahler. That book just sucks me in every time I read it.