“The Road” by Cormac McCarthy held me captive, staying up all night immersed in its pages, awakening the next morning with a lingering sense of melancholy. Stephen King’s works, especially “The Shining,” share that unique ability to make you eagerly anticipate the next page, constantly wondering what twist awaits.

  • El_Sol_de_Madrid@alien.topB
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    1 year ago

    It happened to me last week.

    I decided to give a chance to a book genre that I don’t usually read (romance) and I started reading Normal People by Sally Rooney.

    It did not captivate me from the start. The first day I didn’t stay up longer than usual. But the second day, when I had passed the first fifty pages, I found it hard to put it down because I wanted to know what happened next.

    I stayed up until pretty late that night even though I had to get up early to study before going to university.

    • hyrulepirate@alien.topB
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      1 year ago

      It took me a year before I could break through the first few chapter cause of the whole damn no quotations marks the author got going, but after I got over that, it took me only two seatings to finish the book. I wouldn’t say it was a great book. I don’t think I could even recall a huge middle part of the story, but as far as engaging writing goes, the fact that it was a page-turner is already high enough praise.

      • El_Sol_de_Madrid@alien.topB
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        1 year ago

        The quotation mark thingy also happened to me. At first I thought I had bought an ill formated version (I mostly read digital).

        After trying to find out what had gone wrong with my book on the internet, I came across an article talking about this and that’s how I found out it was supposed to be that way.

        It took me a bit aback, but after a few pages I forgot about it.

    • Slm821@alien.topB
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      1 year ago

      You’ve intrigued me. I kind of hate romance novels because of the tropes that get overused, but this might be up my alley. Just reserved it on Libby 🙂

      • rain_in_numbers@alien.topB
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        1 year ago

        definitely not a romance but more about a shifting envolving relationship over years, and the beautiful/ugly realities of what that entails especially between two people who have a hard time connecting with others

      • El_Sol_de_Madrid@alien.topB
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        1 year ago

        I don’t know, really, I don’t usually read this genre. I just knew of the stereotypes surrounding this genre and the book was nothing like that.

        If you don’t know about the book I recommend you check the book blurb, it will most likely do a better job than me.

        I enjoyed the book overall and would recommend it to other people like me who don’t usually read romance novels. I don’t know what people who use to read this genre would think about the book, perhaps it might not be their cup of tea or perhaps it might be.

        • ShinyHappyPurple@alien.topB
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          1 year ago

          Actual romances are not like romance stereotypes when they are well-written.

          But Sally Rooney is not a romance writer and people who read her books expecting them to be romances will be disappointed, it’s a much bleaker and cynical world view.