Top Ten Tuesday

I love reading books in a day. Love. It. And really, I have ample opportunity to do it, but I hardly ever do anymore- which I guess is down to trying to avoid headaches and trying to do things that are totally useful and whatnot. But anyway. Here, for various reasons, are my:

Top Ten Books to read in a day


1. To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee- I'm not sure I've ever actually read this in a day, but it wouldn't take a lot of convincing to make me do so. As a first time read it should probably be savoured, but after that, I'd probably just recommend reading it daily.

2. Any Harry Potter Book- I more or less read each of the Harry Potter books in a day, and those were the best 14 days of my life! But really, I do actually find them fairly impossible to put down, so I can't really help but read each of them cover to cover.

3. 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami- I'm having some 'I just finished it and I LOVE IT SO MUCH' feelings about this book, hence its inclusion on this list. But really, if it was a really really long day, I think reading all 1000 or so pages of this would be a good way to spend it, especially since I found it difficult, and sometimes impossible to put down.

4. How To Be A Woman by Caitlin Moran- I kind of accidentally read almost all of this in one day, and it was amazingly excellent! I'm not sure if you can do anything but read it all at once, so I'd recommend setting aside a day when you decide to start reading it.

5. Any Shakespeare Play- This isn't so much a 'I can't put it down!' thing, but more of a useful thing- I find the best way to read a Shakespeare play (or really any play, I guess) is all in one go, because it's written to be performed all at once. Also because it's sometimes difficult to understand, and in the mental strain of doing that, I sometimes forget the plot a little bit...

6. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime by Mark Haddon- I managed to get this book out of the library one Saturday, take it upstairs to read, and I didn't emerge for a whole afternoon. Because of this I don't remember a whole lot about it, other than the fact that it was completely compelling, and I literally couldn't put it down.


7. The New York Trilogy by Paul Auster- I love this book, but that's not why you should read it in a day. There are a whole lot of interlinking things going on in this book, and while you can still follow them if you leave days between reading, it's a lot more jarring and kind of interesting if you don't.


8. Any Bill Bryson Book- If, say, you were locked in a room without food or water and you were told that you weren't allowed to leave until you'd read a whole book; you'd want there to be a Bill Bryson book on offer. In fact, if there was a Bill Bryson book, you'd probably forget about eating and things anyway, and just be completely entertained, and at the same time accidentally learning things. So, yeah. He's a great writer to read all at once.


9. Maus I and II by Art Speigelman- I don't even know how to put down Maus once I've started reading it, so if you have, you've got some mad skills that I really don't have! It really doesn't take very long to read either, but remains one of the best (and saddest) reading experiences of my life.


10. The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy- I wasn't necessarily expecting to be as compelled by this book as I really was- my main memory of it is reading it for basically all of a hot summer's day, and basically being in love with it. Actually, I really have to read it again...

So, yeah. My top ten books to read in a day. I'm so looking forward to the readathon later this month, where I can read many books in one day and feel super duper awesome about it- maybe I'll find some new favourites that I can add to this list!