Sunday, April 30, 2017

Z is for “Zzzzz (Books That Kept Me Up Past Bedtime)”

Welcome to the Blogging from A to Z Challenge. Every day in April, I’ll be sharing a short bookish memory with you. 



I love to sleep. It’s one of my favorite hobbies. But, sometimes, I get so immersed in a book that I stay up way too late. I’ll start reading at 8pm, and the next time I look at the clock, it’s midnight. Oops. The books that keep me awake are usually books about interesting topics or stories with a lot of plot twists. Here are five recent reads that kept me up past bedtime.





Sleep-Stealing Books






Sleeping Giants – Sylvain Neuvel


A girl named Rose is riding her new bike near her home in Deadwood, South Dakota, when she falls through the earth. She wakes up at the bottom of a square hole, its walls glowing with intricate carvings. But the firemen who come to save her peer down upon something even stranger: a little girl in the palm of a giant metal hand. 
Seventeen years later, the mystery of the bizarre artifact remains unsolved—its origins, architects, and purpose unknown. Its carbon dating defies belief; military reports are redacted; theories are floated, then rejected. 
But some can never stop searching for answers. 
Rose Franklin is now a highly trained physicist leading a top secret team to crack the hand’s code. Along with her colleagues, she is being interviewed by a nameless interrogator whose power and purview are as enigmatic as the provenance of the relic. What’s clear is that Rose and her compatriots are on the edge of unraveling history’s most perplexing discovery—and figuring out what it portends for humanity. But once the pieces of the puzzle are in place, will the result prove to be an instrument of lasting peace or a weapon of mass destruction?






Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology – Leah Remini


Leah Remini has never been the type to hold her tongue. That willingness to speak her mind, stand her ground, and rattle the occasional cage has enabled this tough-talking girl from Brooklyn to forge an enduring and successful career in Hollywood. But being a troublemaker has come at a cost. 
That was never more evident than in 2013, when Remini loudly and publicly broke with the Church of Scientology. Now, in this frank, funny, poignant memoir, the former King of Queens star opens up about that experience for the first time, revealing the in-depth details of her painful split with the church and its controversial practices. 
Indoctrinated into the church as a child while living with her mother and sister in New York, Remini eventually moved to Los Angeles, where her dreams of becoming an actress and advancing Scientology's causes grew increasingly intertwined. As an adult, she found the success she'd worked so hard for, and with it a prominent place in the hierarchy of celebrity Scientologists alongside people such as Tom Cruise, Scientology's most high-profile adherent. Remini spent time directly with Cruise and was included among the guests at his 2006 wedding to Katie Holmes. 
But when she began to raise questions about some of the church's actions, she found herself a target. In the end, she was declared by the church to be a threat to their organization and therefore a "Suppressive Person," and as a result, all of her fellow parishioners—including members of her own family—were told to disconnect from her. Forever.





The Book of Strange New Things – Michel Faber


It begins with Peter, a devoted man of faith, as he is called to the mission of a lifetime, one that takes him galaxies away from his wife, Bea. Peter becomes immersed in the mysteries of an astonishing new environment, overseen by an enigmatic corporation known only as USIC. His work introduces him to a seemingly friendly native population struggling with a dangerous illness and hungry for Peter’s teachings—his Bible is their “book of strange new things.” But Peter is rattled when Bea’s letters from home become increasingly desperate: typhoons and earthquakes are devastating whole countries, and governments are crumbling. Bea’s faith, once the guiding light of their lives, begins to falter. 
Suddenly, a separation measured by an otherworldly distance, and defined both by one newly discovered world and another in a state of collapse, is threatened by an ever-widening gulf that is much less quantifiable. While Peter is reconciling the needs of his congregation with the desires of his strange employer, Bea is struggling for survival.  





Between Shades of Gray – Ruta Sepetys


It's 1941 and fifteen-year-old artist Lina Vilkas is on Stalin's extermination list. Deported to a prison camp in Siberia, Lina fights for her life, fearless, risking everything to save her family. It's a long and harrowing journey and it is only their incredible strength, love, and hope that pull Lina and her family through each day. But will love be enough to keep them alive?





Revolver – Marcus Sedgwick


In an isolated cabin, fourteen-year-old Sig is alone with a corpse: his father, who has fallen through the ice and frozen to death only hours earlier. Then comes a stranger claiming that Sig’s father owes him a share of a horde of stolen gold. Sig’s only protection is a loaded Colt revolver hidden in the cabin’s storeroom. The question is, will Sig use the gun, and why?







What’s the last book that kept you up past bedtime?





28 comments:

  1. Loved Troublemaker!! I have Between Shades of Gray to get to. I think A Million Junes was the last book to keep me up late.

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  2. haven't read any of these but the first one looks interesting.

    I haven't really had any book that kept me reading toward the night but I will tell you one that I eagerly finished way past my bedtime hour - the marvelous magic of miss mabel by Natasha Lowe - a really wonderful book about a would-be witch, sort of middle grade but I love it. there are two companion books but miss mabel is the best one, in my opinion.

    have a lovely day.

    ~ my Z post - Zodiac ~

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  3. The first books that come to mind is the Harry Potter series. Though I didn't stay awake from beginning to end, they were very compelling.
    I'm sure there have been many others over the years.
    On the flip side, I've stayed awake until stupid o'clock writing books!
    Thanks for the recommendations, I'll check them out.

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  4. Ooh, I've not read any of these.

    I've lost count of the books which have kept me up past bedtime but I do remember being at school and reading The Endless Steppe by Esther Hautzig which kept me up. I finished reading it and went right back to the beginning and begged my Dad to buy me a copy as well.

    Cait @ Click's Clan

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  5. I don't often read late at night unless it is fast-pace fiction. Probably the last book I read till late was Pompeii which I reviewed in my blog. I have enjoyed your A-Z challenge. Congratulations.

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  6. And "Between Shades of Gray" sounds very interesting. I have been to Siberia and want to go back, the next time in winter!

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    1. I’d love to see Siberia. That would be so cool. (Literally cool.)

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

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  7. A clever Z! Well done, and congratulations on reaching the end of the challenge. The last book that kept me up was last night! But believe it or not, I can't remember the title or the author! I could go and look, but it's Zzzz time again (here in S.Africa) and I want to quickly acknowledge some comments. It's been a good month. Thank you for your part. Add Zing and Zeal as you Build a Better Blog #atozchallenge

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  8. Revolver sounds like a book that would keep me up. Sleeping Giants was interesting and The Book of Strange New Things is new to me, but kinda intriguing.

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    1. The Book of Strange New Things is literary fiction, so it’s slow-paced, but the alien society is awesome.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

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  9. Dang it, now I want to read all of these. Okay, that's a good thing. I always need more material. The last book that really sucked me in was The Indifferent Stars Above about the tragedy of the Donner Party written by Daniel James Brown. Chilling stuff.

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    1. I’ve read about the Donner Party, but I haven’t heard of that book. I just added it to my TBR list.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

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  10. I own Sleeping Giants. It's still waiting to be read though.

    Used to watch King of Queens.

    Anyway, good job with the challenge. I enjoyed your posts.

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    1. I used to watch King of Queens, too. I loved that show. Congrats on finishing your challenge!

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

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  11. Those sound like interesting books. I have read too many books into the wee hours of the night to count. I do not remember which was the last to keep me up past bedtime.

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    1. Books keep me awake fairly often. These are just a few of many that sucked me in.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

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  12. The last book I stayed up all night to read was a long time ago...Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code. I wanted to finish it before I went to bed and finished at 4am which was much later than I planned! It's not my favourite book or the greatest I've read but that night I just wanted to keep reading it. I've got more discipline now!

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    1. I read The Da Vinci Code in high school. I remember sitting in the school hallway and reading it while everybody else was at lunch. It was way more interesting than socializing.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

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  13. The last book to keep me up late was The Female of the Species by Mindy McGinniss. I just couldn't sleep because I just had to know how it was going to end.

    I have Between Shades of Gray on my TBR so really can't wait to read that now after reading your post. :)

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  14. I used to do this all the time but I never stay up real late reading. I just can't function without enough sleep and if I don't fall asleep before the snooring man I married then no sleep will be had. I am actually more likely to get up early to read some before work.

    I did actually stay up a bit later when I read an Ilona Andrews book earlier this year but most of the sleep that I lost was in the morning.

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  15. I wasn't planning on actually commenting on each and every one of these, but here I am ... :-)

    I stay up way too late reading OFTEN. The last time was just a couple of days ago when I finished Tell Me Three Things.

    Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction

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  16. I wasn't someone who stayed up too late to finish a book before, but lately it's been happening more and more, which isn't good for my sleeping! I've been in love with Santino Hassell's new adult novels and I finished two in one night, staying up to five am xD

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