# Books you've stayed up late to finish reading **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 11, 2009, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-youve-stayed-up-late-to-finish-reading/506109 "2009-08-11T21:14:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![PoorYorick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecccb3/32.png) [@PoorYorick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PoorYorick)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2009, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-youve-stayed-up-late-to-finish-reading/506109/41 "2009-08-12T16:53:25Z")
> [@BMalion](#): > > Embarrassingly, _Battlefield Earth_, it seemed like the right thing to do at the time. All ten volumes?! I’ve been reading a lot of mysteries lately, and anything by Ed McBain or Jonathan Kellerman is guaranteed to keep the midnight oil burning. The first book I remember that I stayed up all night reading was _The Exorcist_. Dayum. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2009, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-youve-stayed-up-late-to-finish-reading/506109/42 "2009-08-12T16:58:28Z")
Off the top of my head, Clive Cussler’s _Dragon_ (not worth it and the last of his books I’ll ever read), Michael Connelly’s _Blood Work_ (totally worth it, and still one of his best ever), and the last two Harry Potter books. ---
**Author:** ![Lok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e8c25b/32.png) [@Lok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lok)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2009, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-youve-stayed-up-late-to-finish-reading/506109/43 "2009-08-12T17:04:25Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > Off the top of my head, Clive Cussler’s _Dragon_ (not worth it and the last of his books I’ll ever read), Michael Connelly’s _Blood Work_ (totally worth it, and still one of his best ever), and the last two Harry Potter books. I am still reading Cussler. Every time I see one on the remainder shelf, I pick it up. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![typoink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecb155/32.png) [@typoink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/typoink)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2009, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-youve-stayed-up-late-to-finish-reading/506109/44 "2009-08-12T19:18:57Z")
I’ve stayed up late reading numerous books, but…I like reading and like staying up late. The only one where it was really a case of compulsive “can’t-put-it-down”-ness was Catcher in the Rye my freshman year of college. I started it around 8pm, and just stayed up all night reading the whole. I think I missed my first two classes the next day. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2009, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-youve-stayed-up-late-to-finish-reading/506109/45 "2009-08-12T19:58:24Z")
One of the most vivid reading memories of my youth is sitting in an armchair reading the last page of Middlemarch by George Eliot as the dawn chorus sounded in the early morning air outside the window. I’d read all through the night and not even been aware of it. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2009, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-youve-stayed-up-late-to-finish-reading/506109/46 "2009-08-12T20:15:49Z")
> [@PoorYorick](#): > > All ten volumes?! Battlefield Earth is only one book. Mission: Earth is the decology. (Which I have read the first 6 books of. Never read the rest, or Battlefield.) ---
**Author:** ![tr0psn4j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@tr0psn4j](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tr0psn4j)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2009, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-youve-stayed-up-late-to-finish-reading/506109/47 "2009-08-12T20:15:59Z")
I read Old Man and the Sea in one sitting. Took a while but it was well worth it. Other than that, I finished a few of the Sookie Stackhouse novels in two days (about 150 pages a day). Oh and also, Hamlet. I started Hamlet reading only a few pages a day but finished the second half on one of my days off from work. I was reading while having dinner. Good stuff. ---
**Author:** ![tr0psn4j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@tr0psn4j](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tr0psn4j)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2009, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-youve-stayed-up-late-to-finish-reading/506109/48 "2009-08-12T20:19:21Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > As a kid I tried making it through LotR many times, and never could get out of the shire. Finally in 8th grade I made it out of the Shire, and the books picked right the hell up. > > I stayed up one night reading _The Two Towers_. It was pushing midnight, but I was almost done with it. > > And then it ended. If you’ve read it (not seen the movie), you know where it ended. > > Dammit! I couldn’t leave it there! So I picked up _Return of the King_, figuring I’d read just the first chapter till I found out what had happened. > > Turns out you don’t find out what happened until the second half of the book. By then it was nearly five in the morning. > > I wasn’t much good the next day. I love that book to death and I’ve tried many times to read it in one day but I just don’t have the stamina to go for 400 pages. I feel inadequate. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Loisseau](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/2bfe46/32.png) [@Loisseau](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loisseau)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2009, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-youve-stayed-up-late-to-finish-reading/506109/49 "2009-08-12T21:26:18Z")
**The Butcher’s Boy** by Thomas Perry. Perry is probably one of the best mystery/action writers alive. L. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2009, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-youve-stayed-up-late-to-finish-reading/506109/50 "2009-08-12T22:10:48Z")
All of these were as a kid. Nowadays, I read a bit, work a bit, have sex a bit, eat pizza a bit … The Foundation series. I was maybe 10, couldaben 8ish. I could not put those down til done. The first time only. The original Dune. Actually took me a few nights, but I fell asleep well past 2 am reading the book. The LOTR books. Same as Dune. Only shear exhaustion put me to sleep when first I read those. Ender’s Game. Actually, I think I read the whole thing on the toilet (several trips) in one particularly squirty day ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2009, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-youve-stayed-up-late-to-finish-reading/506109/51 "2009-08-12T23:50:52Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > Rebecca by Daphne DuMaurier. I remember getting to the “twist” part and having to stay up to finish it. So good! Admit it, you were afraid if you fell asleep Mrs Danvers would get you 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![PoorYorick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecccb3/32.png) [@PoorYorick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PoorYorick)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2009, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-youve-stayed-up-late-to-finish-reading/506109/52 "2009-08-13T12:42:57Z")
> [@Tengu](#): > > Battlefield Earth is only one book. Mission: Earth is the decology. (Which I have read the first 6 books of. Never read the rest, or Battlefield.) Ah, thanks for the correction. ---
**Author:** ![norinew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@norinew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/norinew)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2009, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-youve-stayed-up-late-to-finish-reading/506109/53 "2009-08-13T14:48:17Z")
Now that I’m ‘old’ (approaching 50) staying up half the night reading is simply not an option. I’ll be reading, next thing I know, it’s 2AM, I’m waking up having to go to the bathroom, and the book is in some random spot on the bed! But, when I was 14, there was a movie released called _The Reincarnation of Peter Proud_. I _really, really_ wanted to see that movie. But my mother had deemed me “not old enough for R-rated movies”. So my father bought me the book. 😛 I stayed up until 4AM finishing it, even though I _knew_ I had to get up for school at 6:30, and it was gonna be a rough day. _'Salem’s Lot_ was another one for me. I was 15 when my father handed it to me and said “don’t read this at night”. For the first half of the book, no prob. It was mostly set-up and character development. But the _second_ half, where things really get going. . . ::shudder::. I couldn’t put it down. I ended up sleeping with a crucifix under my pillow for a week! Also, my bedroom was upstairs, and the upstairs half-bath, when you sat on the john, directly faced a window. I decided that if I ever saw a face at that window, it would be a good thing I was already sitting on the toilet. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![ajdebosco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecd19e/32.png) [@ajdebosco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ajdebosco)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2009, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-youve-stayed-up-late-to-finish-reading/506109/54 "2009-08-13T15:17:15Z")
I still do this too frequently, but the first time I remember was likely _Of Mice and Men_ Steinbeck’s masterpiece. The first three installments of the Detective Arkady Renko series, _Gorky Park, Polar Star and Red Square_ by Martin Cruz Smith all made me an absolute wreck at work the following day. The first and last novel by late Seth Morgan (aka Mr. Janis Joplin) _Homeboy_ is perhaps the best book I’ve read in half a lifetime, and never will get a chance to read another by this author due to his untimely demise. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Rysto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecccb3/32.png) [@Rysto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysto)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2009, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-youve-stayed-up-late-to-finish-reading/506109/55 "2009-08-13T15:20:46Z")
I bought Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows at midnight and was home by 12:30 AM. I finished it at 4:30AM. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2009, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-youve-stayed-up-late-to-finish-reading/506109/56 "2009-08-13T15:45:29Z")
Good Lord, you read quickly! I generally consider myself to be a fast reader, and it took me 10 hours! ---
**Author:** ![Telcontar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3bc359/32.png) [@Telcontar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telcontar)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2009, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-youve-stayed-up-late-to-finish-reading/506109/57 "2009-08-13T15:48:11Z")
> [@Rysto](#): > > I bought Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows at midnight and was home by 12:30 AM. I finished it at 4:30AM. > [@cmkeller](#): > > Good Lord, you read quickly! I generally consider myself to be a fast reader, and it took me 10 hours! i finished around dawn, but i forget both when dawn was and when i actually got it home. Did the whole deal though, made popcorn, sat in my comfy chair…and i left the book by my friend’s door before i went to sleep :-P. I’ve done the “just one more chapter” deal many many times. Not worth recalling for what. ---
**Author:** ![ChiefScott](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/58f4c7/32.png) [@ChiefScott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChiefScott)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2009, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-youve-stayed-up-late-to-finish-reading/506109/58 "2009-08-13T15:59:53Z")
I gulped each of the final three volumes of King’s \*The Dark Tower \*series at single sittings. We’d waited so long for them. Most recently? Meacham’s _American Lion_. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Woodhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/838e76/32.png) [@Miss\_Woodhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Woodhouse)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2009, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-youve-stayed-up-late-to-finish-reading/506109/59 "2009-08-13T16:02:46Z")
When I was young it seemed worth it to stay up reading. I went to bed at 1 and 2 am in high school on a regular basis because I had to finish a book. I couldn’t tell you what any of them are. I love reading a book straight through. Now though, I just neglect my children all day and there’s no need to stay up late. 😉 Ok, I lied. I still stay up late reading often enough that none of us have enough time for me to list the books I’ve done that with even if i could remember them. I think the last one was a Kim Harrison book. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2009, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-youve-stayed-up-late-to-finish-reading/506109/60 "2009-08-13T16:08:00Z")
> [@ajdebosco](#): > > I still do this too frequently, but the first time I remember was likely _Of Mice and Men_ Steinbeck’s masterpiece. That book is like 150 pages long. Please tell me you were really young or started really late at night. 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-youve-stayed-up-late-to-finish-reading/506109.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-youve-stayed-up-late-to-finish-reading/506109.md?page=4)