Smint

Midnight Express by Billy Hayes - the only book I've stayed up all night to finish (but I was a student then and could cope with the sleep deprivation)

I enjoyed it too - once I realised it wasn't a travelogue about the county where I live

I started The Shadow of the Wind on a very long flight to India and it certainly passed the time! Not sure now whether to read it again before the prequel, or read the prequel and then read TSOTHW afterwards so they're in the "right" order

I read it a couple of years ago and enjoyed it (although I have to say I can't now remember the ending and whether I thought it was good or bad) Was very frustrating knowing what we know now about the plague, and how they could have prevented the spread, but I thought it very well written

I'm amazed you're actually admitting you STARTED it! I found The Handmaid's Tale disturbing too, as well as Oryx and Crake and, in a completely different way, Perfume by Patrick Suskind

Yay! Thanks for that - I feel all logical now!

Someone on the Off Topic forum on hitched recommended you

I enjoyed it too, although I found it a little unsettling not to know when it was set - and some of the characters annoyed me - but I think they were supposed to