what book or books have you read that were so good that you didn’t want to put it down?

here are a few of my favorites

Susanna Clark

• Piranesi
• The ladies of Grace Adieu and other stories

Vonnegut

• Cat's cradle
• Slaughterhouse Five

Douglas Adams

• literally anything he ever wrote

Mark Haddon

• The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

Margaret Atwood

Oryx and Crake

Ursula K. Le Guin

The Lathe of Heaven

The expanse. I'm on book 8 right now and it's been going fast. The world building is so good. It makes you wish you were there with them. If you're into hard scifi, then you'll love this series

I read almost exclusively fantasy and sci fi. Here's a few favourites.

Sci fi: Red Rising Trilogy Bobiverse The Martian and Project Hail Mary

Fantasy: The First Law Trilogy (my absolute favourite of everything I've read) Brandon Sanderson (literally any of his stuff. If you're looking for a trilogy, start with Mistborn and if a stand alone, Warbreaker). Don't be overwhelmed by his Cosmere world, if you only read mistborn era 1 it wraps up in a nice bow. Robin Hobbs first trilogy is a nice introduction to her series. If you don't love it it wraps up nicely after the first trilogy.

Dystopian: Unwound by Neal Schusterman Arc of the Scythe by Neal Schusterman

Project Hail May by Andy Weir was fantastic.

I feel like I have read quite a few books that I felt that way about, but it's always hard to bring them to mind when someone asks. That said, the first few that popped into my head:

• Cradle (series)
• Wool (series)
• The Martian (Audio book is especially well narrated!)
• Murderbot Diaries (series)
• The Bobiverse (series)

A Short History of Chinese Philosophy by Fung Yu-Lan. I spent pretty much all of my time off work reading it. I found it insanely interesting since I knew almost nothing about Chinese philosophy, and the book is written specifically for people like that. The way their schools of thought developed through the ages and were influenced by each other constantly as one became dominant was very fascinating.

Anything by Blake Crouch I've flown through (Dark Matter, Recursion, Upgrade). As others have mentioned, The Martian and Project Hail Mary are really great as well. A few others I couldn't put down over the past few years:

The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides

The Ferryman by Justin Cronin

Brother by Ania Ahlborn

Mistborn 1 - 3 (The Final Empire, The Well of Ascension, & The Hero of Ages) by Brandon Sanderson

Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

Monk and Robot Series by Becky Chambers

The Fisherman by John Langan

I scrolled all the down the comments and didn't see Discworld by Terry Pratchett. Don't listen to anyone and just start reading it. There's no right or wrong way to do it.

End of the World running club. As someone the UK the concept of a massive apocalyptic event set in the uk was intriguing. I loved the book.

Also Sphere by Michael Crichton. In my own head canon, I seem to recall reading this in one sitting over a single night I was doing an all nighter. It was just super gripping!

Fairy Tale by Stephen King. I wish I could forget it and read all over again.

Imajica by Clive Barker.

for some reason i only get this with biographies or memoirs because i am very stupid - it's easier to process and internalize the writing when you know it's about the real world and you already perhaps know some of the facts

Not sure if your into light novels, recently I've been addicted to Acendence of A Bookworm.

Since his work hasn't been mentioned yet:
Any of the Discworld Novels by Sir Terry Pratchett. My personal favorites are the ones following the Wizzard Rincewind. But, I'm a sucker for the reluctant hero style story. These start with the the novel The Colour of Magic. One of the more popular series within Discworld are the books which follow Sam Vimes. They play on the Noir genre and start with the novel Guards! Guards!. There are several other threads within the Discworld which can be followed independently, though they all do tend intersect from time to time.

Not mentioned much lately are the Gunslinger books. They really get going into page turners.

Very recently, Mrs March by Virginia Feito. I was just gripped, I finished it in a day. It was compulsive, I just had to know what the main character was going to do next and how it was all going to unravel.

Old man's war by John Scalzi. Got it as a gift for our annual Christmas book exchange and finished it that day

Hyperion Cantos -Dan Simmons Cryptonomicon - Neal Stephenson A deepness in the sly - Vernor Vinge Insane City - Dave Barry Where Eagles Dare by Alistair MacLean.

The Kingkiller Chronicles is a series by Patrick Rothfuss. The first book is The Name of the Wind. Definitely one of my absolute favorites

Every time I buy the new Alex Delaware novel written by Jonathan Kellerman I read it straight through in one seating. I own the entire collection in hardback.

Between Two Fires. If you're into fantasy and dark/horror then this is right up your alley.

Lilith by george mc donald

For good fantasy I'd recommend the mistborn trilogy by Brandon Sanderson. It's also a great entry point to the cosmere, especially since the subsequent quadrolgy set on the same planet is finished now.

Beware you will almost certainly get sucked into the rest of the cosmere, it's awesome!

Not knowing what you have read...

• THGTTG Trilogy in Five Parts

• The Farseer Trilogy is NOT what you think. It drew me into reading the next few (and really long) trilogies... an awesome journey. LONG but not long enough...

• A Man Called Ove

• The Midnight Library

I absolutely plowed through How to be Perfect by Michael Schur. Popcorn reading for intro philosophy but poignant enough to stick with you.

@Evolone The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells and the Wayfarers series by Becky Chambers (anything by Becky Chambers, really). Also anything by Gail Carriger.

This is a hot take, but Street Lawyer, by John Grisham.

Camino by Anya Niewierra. She's Dutch so I'm not sure if the book also exists in English.

Before that, Ready Player One. Later on I heard there is some criticism/toxicity around genders, right elitism and the like, but I never noticed that when reading it.

Already mentioned, but Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut. I’m not sure if I read it in one sitting or two.

J.R.R. Tolkien - Lord of the Rings Tom Robbins - Jitterbug Perfume Can Toraman - Malik-i Mevt Orhan Pamuk - Kara Kitap (Black Book) Trevanian - Shibumi

My two favorites so far this year are Babel by RF Kuang and The Women Could Fly by Megan Giddings

Hyperion. And that book was fucking heavy.

Not exactly “book books” per se, but I’ve been obsessed with Junji Ito lately. Just finished Uzumaki, and I did literally start it and not put it down until I was finished lol

Here are a few nonfiction books I couldn't stop reading and ultimately finished in a couple of days. They might be a little niche, but I'd recommend them for everyone.

• "Tranny" by Laura Jane Grace (autobiography by the lead singer of the band Against Me!)

• "Where You'll Find Me" by Ty Gagne (story and analysis of a woman who died hiking New Hampshire's White Mountains in winter)

• "This Land" by Christopher Ketcham (kind of one big reported essay on how big industry and cowboy culture are destroying the American West)

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

In the Woods by Tana French

It's probably been said, and is not exactly a hidden gem, but 1984 is something special. I read an excerpt of the first chapter and was hooked.

• A Secret History
• A Gentleman in Moscow
• The Martian
• 11/22/63
• Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow
• East of Eden

The Anthropocene Reviewed is the coziest book I’ve ever listened to. John Green reads it himself for the audio book and you can really feel his emotions and charm through it.

Here's some I have even reread.

• The chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever. By Stephen R. Donaldson. 10 books
• The Galactic Center Saga by Gregory Benford. 6 books
• The Culture Series by Iain M. Banks 10 books
• LOTR

Love the Murderbot series too.

Bobiverse series (science fiction).

Gibson's sprawl trilogy when I read them back in '89. The fact that it had many short chapters made it easy to consume in quick bursts of reading

FWIW I am a 29 yo man who has read alot of scifi/fantasy including WoT, Malazan, Cosmere, Lotr, Dune, etc.. but back when Brandon Sanderson released his YA book (now trilogy? series?) "Skyward", I read the whole thing in 2 sittings. I was enthralled. Haven't experienced a total immersion like it since.

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke. It’s around 250 pp and so it moves quickly. It’s on sale (ebook formats) right now too.

Here's some I have even reread.

• The chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever. By Stephen R. Donaldson. 10 books
• The Galactic Center Saga by Gregory Benford. 6 books
• The Culture Series by Iain M. Banks 10 books
• LOTR

Love the Murderbot series too.

My favorite book that I read in one sitting (though not hard to do because it’s so short) is The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman… made me cry with its beauty!

Quick and fast paced reads for me are anything by John Sanford, Michael Connelly and Archer Mayor. Usually finish them in 4-5 hours

Real Life by Brandon Taylor

The Midnight Library and The Words We Keep. Missed bus stops multiple times because of reading the books, well worth it.

Here's some I have even reread.

• The chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever. By Stephen R. Donaldson. 10 books
• The Galactic Center Saga by Gregory Benford. 6 books
• The Culture Series by Iain M. Banks 10 books
• LOTR

Love the Murderbot series too.

For some chill, positive vibes that had me up rather too late flipping pages, I'd recommend either or both of:

• Legends & Lattes - Travis Baldree
• The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches - Sangu Mandanna

They're basically the novel version of a slice of life comic/manga. L&L is more high fantasy, while Very Secret Society is here on Earth if witches were real. It feels like there's a sub-genre of these kinds of stories popping up post pandemic and I'm all for it.

For something more action-packed, this one was incredibly engaging:

• The Blacktongue Thief - Christopher Buehlman

I'm actually reading a book like right now, The Bourne Identity, it's phenomenal!

The Mote in God's Eye