Awhile back I came across a list online of 11 books that you can’t
put down – supposedly. For a while I kept a tab open in my browser so I’d have
no trouble finding it when I wanted to read the books. I finally just ordered
them all from the library. Thankfully, they weren’t all available at once. I’m
a fairly quick reader, but even I have limits as to how much I can read in two
weeks. The great thing about this list is that most of the books were genres
and books I probably wouldn’t have read without something like this list
prompting me.
#1 Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
I know there’s a TV series based on this book, but I’ve
never seen it and have no desire to see it. Having said that, I loved this
book. I read it first thinking it wouldn’t be one I’d really enjoy. Boy, was I
surprised. The heroine, Claire accidently travels back in time 200 years in
Scotland. As a result she’s forced to marry a man she’s just met, despite being
married to another man in her own time. She can’t tell anyone where she’s
really from, yet her medical knowledge is more advanced because of having
served as a nurse during a world war, which gives her a certain importance in
the clan she’s become part of through her new marriage. As soon as I have time,
I plan to read the rest of the series.
#2 The Mare by Mary Gaitskill
I thought at first that this book would be a boring girl
meets horse. I was wrong. Velvet is an inner city girl who gets accepted into a
two week program for children like her. The children who get accepted into the
program are hosted by families in another part of the state. The story starts
with Velvet’s point of view, switches to her host, Claire’s point of view, then
back to Velvet’s. One of the great things about this is that by the time I’d
finished, I’d seen things through not only Velvet and Claire’s point of view,
but also through Velvet’s mom’s eyes and Claire’s husband, Paul’s. This could
not have been easy to write, but it made for a more thorough understanding of
the main character, not to mention “why” things happened.
#3 The Road by Cormac McCarthy
This book is a post-apocalyptic look at a father and son’s
journey to the west coast. I didn’t get past the third or fourth page. The big
reason was that when either character spoke, there were no quotation marks to
differentiate what they said from the rest of the story. I ended up re-reading
passages because I wasn’t sure what was happening.
#4 The Luckiest Girl Alive by Jessica Knoll
The main character in this book is a young woman who gets
everything she wants; or at least think she wants. The voice is world weary, at
times bordering on sarcasm. It almost felt like staring at a train wreck. I
want to look away but I can’t.
#5 Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
One of the great things about reading is that you can put
your book, magazine, or newspaper down, walk away, come back later, and pick up
right where you left off. However, every once in a while you come across a book
that holds your attention hostage to the story. I can only think of two stories
that have truly done this to me, before now.
“Justice Denied” by J. A. Jance
And
“50 Years in the Church of Rome” by Charles Chiniquy
I must now add to that short list, “Ready Player One” by
Ernest Cline.
This is a book about a video game that also serves as a
public school for young people. If you have money or credits, you can explore
several virtual worlds on a private space ship, but if you don’t, you’re stuck
on the world where your school is.
The owner/creator dies without any heirs, but he leaves a
will. In his will he specifies that there are three keys. Each key can be found
by solving a riddle. The person who solves all three riddles first will inherit
the company. What happens next is a race to see who gains control of the
company. Most players are single players who love what the game has to offer, with
one notable exception. There’s a corporation in the race that is willing to do
anything and everything to gain control, including murder.
The story kept me up later than I intended more than once. I
truly did not want to put it down once I started.
#6 The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion
An autistic man decides to seek the perfect wife. To that
end he makes a 16 page survey to winnow out potential candidates. Of course in
matters of the heart things don’t always go as planned. I don’t read a lot of
romantic comedies, but this one really tickled my funny bone.
#7 Mycroft Holmes by Kareem Abdul Jabbar and Anna Waterhouse
I wrote notes about all the books I read, or so I thought. I
know better than to trust my memory, but apparently I forgot to write notes
about this one.
I do remember that it was a mystery based on the idea that
Sherlock Holmes had a brother named, Mycroft. I love mysteries, so I really
looked forward to this one. I wasn’t disappointed. In fact, this made me think
that I should look into reading the original Sherlock Holmes series.
#8 The Secret Chord by Geraldine Brooks
This was supposed to be a historical fiction about King
David. Ordinarily I enjoy this kind of thing, but this one bored me so bad, I
didn’t get past the first few pages.
#9 The Life We Bury by Alleen Eskins
A college student interviews a Vietnam veteran who’s also a
convicted murderer for a college paper. In doing so, he discovers there’s more
to the man than anyone realizes. Part of what I liked about this book is that
it’s a reminder that people aren’t always what you see on the surface.
#10 The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George
In this book, a man who owns a bookshop on a boat, decides
to go on a voyage of self-discovery after finally reading a letter from a
former lover. So, he unties his boat and starts floating down the river. Along
the way, he makes new friends and has a few adventures. Very enjoyable read.
#11 A Dirty Job by Christopher Moore
This was the last book to come in and I didn’t get past the
first 5 pages. The main character’s constant worrying drove me nuts.
Plus One – Schools on Trial: How Freedom and Creativity Can
Fix Our Educational Malpractice
This is about our education system and what’s wrong with it.
The author also makes suggestions about how to repair the system, including
allowing children to choose what they learn.
This book was not
part of the list of “11 Books You Can’t Put Down,” but after reading it, I
thought it was worth mentioning here.
For anyone who might be interested, this is the link to the
website where I found the original list of books. If you can’t click on it,
then copy and paste it into you browser’s address bar:
https://www.romper.com/p/11-books-you-cant-put-down-no-matter-how-hard-you-try-1171
