Wickeds, I suspect we all have a long list of these books, so let us know about the most memorable ones. Is there a certain genre that keeps you up reading? Or do you get to a certain point and decide to finish it?
Jessie: I love this question, Julie! I had a torrid affair with A Prayer for Owen Meany. My first child was still quite small and I have to confess that I was not the most attentive mother in the couple of days I devoted to reading that gem! More recently, I stayed up all night to read the final Harry Potter. I went to an event the night before the release with my son who loved those books with all his heart. It was held at a music hall and the local bookstore owner read the first chapter of the novel beginning at 1:45 pm. At midnight we all were handed a copy of the book which had been part of the ticket price. My son read aloud while we drove home to continue the story. I stayed up all night to keep reading. We were both haggard ( not Hagrid), but happy, in the morning!
Sherry: I just finished an ARC of Death at Greenway by Lori Rader Day. It’s set during World War II at Agatha Christie’s home. There was more than one morning when I woke up late with dark circles under my eyes. She also got me with her book Under a Dark Sky when it came out. I was in Massachusetts for a Kensington event and stayed up until 3 am reading. The event was fun, but I was tired!
Edith: Lori definitely has the chops to keep anyone up late reading! I will stay up past my bedtime with any of Ann Cleeves’ books in any of her series. Lately I’m binge-reading Jaqueline Winspear, except I started with The Consequences of Fear, her latest Maisie Dobbs. I definitely lost sleep over that one – and it was totally worth it.
Liz: I finally got around to reading Before the Fall by Noah Hawley, which has been on my list for a while. It was so good I stayed up late two nights in a row to finish it.
Barb: I often stay up way too late finishing books. One I particularly remember is Hallie Ephron’s Come and Find Me. I remember because I wrote her a note complaining about my lack of sleep!
Julie: When I get to a certain point in a book, I have to finish. My most recent “sit up in bed so you don’t fall asleep” book was Mrs. Pollifax Unveiled. I’m not sure what took me so long to meet Mrs. Pollifax (that’s how my mother and I talk about protagonists, like they’re real and you meet them by reading the book), but I listened to the Mrs. Pollifax series this spring. I’d never read them. The last book wasn’t recorded (!), so I read it on my Kindle. A quick read, but it still kept me up way too late.
Readers, what’s the last book that kept you up late?