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u/vanillaaish_ 2d ago
Demon Copperhead
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u/Alternative_Egg_7546 2d ago
the title caught my attention, what is this all about?
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u/vanillaaish_ 2d ago
It’s a coming of age story, set in the Appalachian region of Virginia. The story tackles some intense topics. The prose and main character get you hooked to the story. I had a hard time putting it down and thought about the book long after the first read.
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u/AccessibleVoid 1d ago
This was a choice for the book-club I'm in, so I wasn't expecting much. I couldn't put it down either. I still think about it occasionally. It is supposed to be a retelling of David Copperfield.
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u/2nd_TimeAround 2d ago
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u/Mysterious5555 2d ago
And lose the opportunity to have a fresh conversation with someone who loves the book?
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u/Mabel_Jenkins 1d ago
Ugh. I started it but couldn’t do it. It was really sad, the lives of those poor people. Maybe I will try it again.
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u/madagascarprincess 2d ago
Gone girl
I went in blind (it was before the movie came out) and I was up reading until 4am
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u/Fear_The_Rabbit 2d ago
Yesssss...loved barely knowing anything about it. Thank god everyone I knew who read it just said that the wife goes missing
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u/Commercial_Search249 2d ago
The entire Harry Potter series (I read it all in around 2 and a half weeks). And Red Rising was the best book I've read
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u/LovelyMeadow- 2d ago
The Road. I felt so totally drained by the end, though.
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u/MasoLilOne 2d ago
Because it was emotional?
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u/Robotboogeyman 2d ago
It’s both bleak and emotional and imo oddly uplifting. The guy is trying to protect his kid from not only the horrors of the world they’re in but from despair and losing hope and carrying forward the torch of humanity.
McCarthy has a way of describing the world that is both beautiful and horrific.
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u/LoveAnata 1d ago
It angered me that he had an easily curable condition idk
I think that world was done for. They were trying to survive a world that wasn't going to survive environmentally
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u/BitEnvironmental283 2d ago
When I was younger, My side of the Mountain was absolutely epic.
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u/ksugunslinger 1d ago
This was my favorite book as a young person, and still to this day, the book I have read the most times cover to cover.
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u/Time_Airport4583 2d ago
Fantasy novel guy here. The First Law trilogy.
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u/Sancrist 2d ago
Fantastic series. Some of the best character development I have ever seen. I read and listened to the audiobook. The voice actor is superb.
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u/CharmingCascade 2d ago
Good Omens, by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. I used to do it all the time, but that's the last book that grabbed me so hard I could literally not put it down.
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u/hezorabora 2d ago
The Girls by Emma Cline. Heavily based on the Manson family and explores feelings of being a bystander in your own life. 10/10 I was hooked the whole time
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u/Ambitious-Menu-1271 2d ago
This is such a difficult question. Sometimes the most unsuspecting book catches you with so much captivation.
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u/Specialist_Room_4373 2d ago
Unbroken, the true story of Louie Zamperini in WWII. I bought it before a flight from New Zealand to Chicago and never slept a minute. Had to finish it.
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u/peescheadeal 2d ago
South by Ernest Shackleton. It's beyond riveting. You really feel like you're there. I just felt exhausted after reading about that expedition every night and slept like a baby.
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u/Wise_Stock 2d ago
probably the picture of dorian gray. i fucking hated every minute of it and despised the characters but it was hella captivating.
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u/throwawayredditttttt 2d ago
Normal People by Sally Rooney
Realistic and devastating depiction of teenage romance
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u/-O0w0O- 2d ago
I’m not much of a book person, but I found this trilogy when I was younger, the three books were called Slated, Fractured and Shattered by Teri Terry. Like I said I’m not a book person, but I always recommend this trilogy to people when talking about the subject & they are still sitting on my shelf with terrible spine breakage D:
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u/Hot-Refrigerator6583 2d ago
The Andromeda Strain
I read nearly the entire thing in one night during high school. Sphere was the same way, but I couldn't do that in less than two nights
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u/Pepperoni_Dogfart 1d ago
Both are amazing, but I'd tip my my hat to sphere as the more captivating.
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u/Hot-Refrigerator6583 1d ago
The movie really didn't do it justice.
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u/Pepperoni_Dogfart 1d ago
The Dustin Hoffman Andromeda Strain flick was pretty darn good though. Kind of surprised it's a largely forgotten film.
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u/lucy_valiant 2d ago
Educated by Tara Westover
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u/missantarctica2321 2d ago
It’s everything Hillbilly Elegy wishes it was.
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u/AccessibleVoid 1d ago
I read Educated (loved it) but still haven't read Hillbilly Elegy. Is it worth reading?
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u/BricktopsTeeth 2d ago
James and the Giant Peach. 2nd grade. Stayed up all night. Literally couldn’t put it down.
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u/Individual_Cause 2d ago
Malazan Book Of The Fallen - Memories of Ice
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u/PetzlPretzl 2d ago
I said Deadhouse Gates. But yeah, MoI is... sigh. They're both so good.
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u/Individual_Cause 2d ago
When I read DG the second time it topped MOI for my all time favourite :-) but on my first read MOI definitely had the biggest pull on me.
I just love Seven Cities.
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u/throwaway040501 2d ago
House of Leaves def drew me in in a way that other books really hadn't for a while at the time.
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u/dayvie182 2d ago
Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders has stuck with me the most. The prose is just so unique and the fantastical elements of the story are super engrossing. It's also incredibly life affirming. Strong recommend
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u/thunderintess 2d ago
Probably the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo trilogy, specifically the third book. I can pick it up thinking I'll read just the ending, and then find myself hours later paging back to read earlier parts of the book until I've read almost the entire thing again.
Books by Elmore Leonard and Carl Hiaasen also have this effect on me.
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u/Graehaus 2d ago
Strangely enough Dan Brown’s Angels and Demons , I read it in less than24 hrs.
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u/LoveAnata 1d ago
He has a cool comp Sci book too about a computer worm.
I forget what it's called but it's a page turner
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u/PetzlPretzl 2d ago
Deadhouse Gates in the Malazan Book of the Fallen series. Absolutely devastating.
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u/loki143 2d ago
The Hobbit. Such great world building, I remember when I first discovered it when I was a freshman in high school. I had some reading difficulties and there were many words I had to look up but I was completely engrossed by the story. I think I ended up reading several places aloud so I could hear the richness and rhythm of the language.
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u/JumpAccomplished2706 2d ago
The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga
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u/AccessibleVoid 1d ago
This book is so powerful. I read it once, then suggested it for book club and didn't mind reading it again. The comparison of the chicken coop to the oppression of the people. What you have to sacrifice to become 'free'. So much knowledge packed into one readable book.
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u/ilyTouni 1d ago
Flipped.
I got the book when my friend gave it to me in middle school. I didn’t think much about the book nor read it but eventually did a few years later. Now I won’t spoil much of the details but it’s just basically teenage romance in the 1960s. Well at least I thought about it that way until I realized certain parts of the book highlighted the struggles of living in the 1960s, mainly societal norms and stereotypes.
I find it captivating because the way the two protagonists went from in denial to getting closer was a result of many mistakes for the sake of saving themselves (mainly the boy protagonist). The book can be used as an inspiration for young lovers to push beyond societal norms and drop the cool boy/girl ‘facade’. Don’t let toxic societal norms or other people define who should you be in a relationship with! Poor or rich, complete family or not, generational wealth or not, parent‘s have jobs or not or whatever, what matters is that you meet halfway and find every reason to love one another.
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u/veganhimbo 2d ago
"Why Buddhism Is True" completely changed how I look at the world in a fundemental way. Only self help book I've ever read that actually dramatically changed my life for the better.
In terms of fiction. Project Hail Mary by Andy Wier.
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u/Funnyxsunshiney 2d ago
John Dies at the End
The humor, horror, and original concept captivated me.
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u/Appropriate_Cap4459 2d ago
When I was really young, Brendon Chase when my dad read it to me, when I was about 14, the first mistborn book by Brandon sanderson and now probably the wheel of time series!
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u/duhogman 2d ago
The Burning White by Brent Weeks, it's the last of The Lightbringer series. Truly a fun and captivating read.
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u/MassHassEffect 2d ago
"De komst van Joachim Stiller" / "The coming of Joachim Stiller" of Hubert Lampo. One of the most enjoyable books of one of the founding fathers of magic realism in literature.
Slightly biased because it takes place in my hometown, but nevertheless, it reads like a train and captivates you to the conclusion
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u/soEezee 2d ago edited 2d ago
Robbie. Short story by Isaac Asimov.
While the story itself and the future it painted were what got me into asimov's works, learning about the past culture surrounding human looking machines being Frankenstein's monster on the verge of rampage and instead making a book on a machine working as it's meant to in a world that doesn't trust robots I found fascinating.
Where Asimov's books show robots doing what robots do and then Will Smith comes along and goes, "No, robots are unstable and on the verge of rampage, call it i,robot" is offensive to Asimov's legacy. I never would've known about it had I not read about a robot that cares for a little girl, as it was programmed to.
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u/eddiefarnham 2d ago
The Autobiography of Malcolm X as told to Alex Haley.
The first book I ever read again once I finished it.
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u/UncleJuniorMints 2d ago
Not really a book, but I got my hands on a Penthouse Forum back in ‘93 when I was 13 and that captivated me just fine for awhile
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u/FroggiJoy87 2d ago
Almost anything Michael Crichton, but particularly Jurassic Park. Read that in one sitting.
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u/Lacey_on_reddit 2d ago
I have dyslexia so reading has always been really hard for me but I managed to finally get through fight club and I actually really liked it. I ended up watching the movie afterwards and it makes The book even better. Iykyk
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u/williamwalkerobama 2d ago
For Whom the Bell Tolls. It's such a great book that I would fall asleep reading it and wake up pissed that I didn't finish the chapter.
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u/zombie_goast 2d ago
Between Two Fires by Christopher Buehlman. Holy fucking hell what a magnificent book.
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u/Sallyanne57 2d ago
Mr Nice by Howard Marks. True story of an accidental drug smuggler. The film doesn’t do it justice though.
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u/hedonism_bot21 1d ago
Native Son by Richard Wright... Honestly at first i thought it would be preachy assigned reading... But it's one of the most gripping and poignant thrillers I've ever read.
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u/Cardboardude 1d ago
Basically any book by Erik Larson. Also Fahrenheit 451, and The History and Social Influence of the Potato
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u/Pepperoni_Dogfart 1d ago
The Stand. I read the whole unabridged 1300 something pages in like two days. Could not put that book down.
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u/Mabel_Jenkins 1d ago
The Hunger Games and The Girl with the dragon tattoo series. I ripped through those really fast.
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u/Crazy_Arachnid_2366 11h ago edited 10h ago
*The Dwarf by Par Lagerkvist -- HOLY SHIT!! (His book Barabbas is up there too)
*My favorite book is Don Quixote and I credit it for saving my life during the hardest time of my life. So in that way, it is the most captivating book I've ever read. The characters, the physical comedy, the friendship, the meta moments and so much more make me ADORE this book.
*I constantly think about Pride and Prejudice and the characters.
*And I read Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis almost every year and still lose it, laughing out loud at the physical comedy EVERY time. I've scared people on the subway!
Yet there have been so many in my life. Of recent years:
*Hatchet by Gary Paulsen
*Mysterious Benedict Society series by Trenton Lee Stewart
*2666 by Robert Bolaño
*Any book by Yukio Mishima but especially The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea
I included 2666 because it fucked with my mind. For at least a month after finishing it, I thought about it most of the hours of every day. And everytime I had a thread where I thought I figured it out and brought the story together it would slip away because of another part in the text I remembered. Very cyclical, puzzle-like thinking, that slipped away each time. I finally had to use cognitive techniques to force myself to let it go and quit thinking about it. It was consuming me and I had to force myself to be okay with it never being resolved. Phew.
P.S. I wish I could or knew how to underline on Reddit. Sorry.
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u/plowerd 2d ago
The Martian.