Fantasy Book Club discussion

I stayed up well past 3 am last night because I just had to finish The Hero of Ages. I can think of several other times that this has happened. The Time Traveler's Wife, The Lions of al-Rassan, and A Game of Thrones/A Clash of Kings to name a few. Has anyone else ever been so caught up in a book that they've foregone sleep because they just couldn't put it down?

Oh, numerous times. Even worse, I've gone to bed knowing I need to get up early for work, only to wake up at 2:00 a.m. because I can't sleep and start reading again.

Jon wrote: "Oh, numerous times. Even worse, I've gone to bed knowing I need to get up early for work, only to wake up at 2:00 a.m. because I can't sleep and start reading again. "

Ditto :-D

I love when that happens, but it hasn't happened lately :-(
Jon, I think that's the siren call of a good book, that wakes you up at 2 am.

Last time it happened to me was with Stormed Fortress, the latest book in Janny Wurts' The Wars of Light and Shadow series. With work and kids, I couldn't read during the day, and then, when I started reading at 9 or 10 at night, I couldn't stop! I had sore ribs for a week from my wife elbowing me to turn off the light. Every bruise was worth it!

April wrote: "the siren call of a good book"

Definitely.

Well, I've never stayed up all night reading a book, but there have been times I've stayed up really late just to finish one. I just really can't keep myself awake to be reading all night. I would probably fall asleep while reading. :P

I knocked out A Game of Thrones in a single weekend the first time I read it. I managed to sleep, and eat on occasion, but did little else....

Lauren, I just got to the halfway point of Hero of Ages last night. Are you warning me ahead of time that I might be in trouble very soon? Maybe I should wait until the weekend to pick it up again...

I just couldn't put it down - there were so many answers to the many sub plots and cliff hangers, and you are just so invested in all of the characters, I had to finish! Hope you enjoy

I've read quite a few books that kept me up until I finished - a couple of times until just before dawn!

I'm with Elise - I don't think I've ever stayed up all night, but there are a few which kept me up past my bedtime. The latest that I can think of are the Harry Potters (which I've also dreamed about), Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, and the Ranger's Apprentice series. I believe the Abhorsen trilogy might've done it in places, too.

I remember getting Deathly Hallows at midnight when it first came out and reading it completely through before I went to sleep. As I recall I didn't sleep until the next night. Good times!

When I first started reading Tolkien I would pull all nighters to finish if I was close to the end. Chronicles of The Black Company has been keeping me up pretty late :]

The first few books in the Wheel of Time kept me up all night. Hasn't happened recently, though

Martha wrote: "The first few books in the Wheel of Time kept me up all night. Hasn't happened recently, though"

Alas, that is too true. Perhaps Brandon Sanderson will rekindle the magic on November 3.

Up all night books, wow, aren't they great?

My flashlight under the covers as a kid, sneak reading after bedtime was Lord of the Rings.

Authors who've done it on me as an adult would be Carolyn Cherryh, sometimes Bujold, Jennifer Roberson on occasion, Hambly, Kay, Berg, R. M. Meluch, DICK FRANCIS, darn him! Dunnett. Augh! The list could get pretty long, pretty fast! I've learned, by experience, there are certain authors I DO NOT pick up while I have to work, or they will utterly destroy my best intentions and schedule...those special ones get laid tenderly aside, and only opened on Special Moments when I can devour the book without putting my life in a mess. The ultimate compliment I can give a writer - your in That Heap I approach at my peril.

Oooooh yes. More often than is healthy. I heavily invest in characters and I can't abandon them when they're in trouble. I'm getting better at recognizing the watershed moment in a book where I'd better put it down or I'll be in trouble. But sometimes I can't help myself, even then.

blackrose wrote: "...The latest that I can think of are the Harry Potters (which I've also dreamed about)"

The other night I dreamed I was a member of the Black Company :P Those kind of dreams are always fun.

It happens to me frequently. I hate to put a book down whether I need to go to bed or not.

This happened to me with the seventh Harry Potter book, and I suppose it would have happened with The Forest House by Marion Zimmer Bradley as well, had I not finished it by the time I usually went to sleep.
That definitely means something, that a book can keep you up all night. There's something magical about it, a certain feeling that pops up each time to are reminded of that book. Love it!

To true. ID say that happened to me when i read the Lord of the Rings and happens now as i read The Wheel of Time Series and Drizzt Do'Urden Series.

Ya I love that - I need to sleep but can't put it down feeling. There are a few authors that are masters and keepign you going - just one more -- I find with those I have to stop reading in the middle of the chapter because if I get to end they have me hooked for the next - they are worse than crack dealers I tell you!

I have stayed up until 5 or 6 am reading before. It was not pretty the next day. I think I read a couple 1000-page books in a single day (I was much younger and could handle such things) but now I tend to fall asleep and (since I don't move in my sleep) wake up with a book covering my face. Nothing like having "Chapter 32" inked onto your forehead while starting the work day. ;)

To true haha.

Viktoria, that is hard core! You deserve some kind of reader merit badge...

Thats very funny Viktoria !

Viktoria wrote: "I have stayed up until 5 or 6 am reading before. It was not pretty the next day. I think I read a couple 1000-page books in a single day (I was much younger and could handle such things) but now I ..." Viktoria, if you were a Goth or Hard-Core, I would say get "Page 32" tattooed on your forehead. What a cool image. Thank you.

Wow nice Viktoria. I cant do that either now. I did it all the time as a younger child but now i can only stay up till half that time.

In high school I discovered Edgar Allen Poe and couldn't get enough. I had to stay up, because the alternative was "to sleep, perchance to dream..." (I know that's Shakespeare, not Poe.)

I've been doing this the last couple of days, while reading some of LMB's Vorkosigan books - staying up until 2am seems to be the most I can handle, now that I'm pushing 40.

Viktoria - thanks for the mental image! LOL!

Vorkosigan books tend to have that effect :)

And yes, It happens I stay up until early morning hours to read. How can I sleep when on a exciting part of a book? It's impossible. Of course, I have no work at this moment, so it's not an issue.

I stayed up until about 1 am last night, reading The Curse of Chalion. I'm quite tired, but it was well worth it!

I keep hearing great things about Ender's Game. Maybe I'll have to find time for it in the coming months. I love a good book that keeps me up to the wee hours!

Consider this post "more great things about Ender's Game"! I couldn't put it down either.

I also loved "Ender's Game". Surprisingly, I really liked "Ender's Shadow" too. I didn't like anything else in the series, but I liked those two a lot.

Gah!
Too many times to count.
Often happens after a new book in a series comes out, especially if it was along wait.
Just one more chapter......!

Alex wrote: "It doesn't fit in to fantasy, exactly, but Ender's Game forced me to finish it in one night. As cliche as it sounds, I literally could not put it down. Just one more chapter, I'd say... and then ..."

This describes exactly my experience with Ender's Game.
Also when i first read the 3rd Malazan, Memories of Ice, i almost got fired - always sleepy and late at work because of too much night reading.

Gerald's Game by Stephen King was a "one sitting" read for me. I didn't stay up all night because I started it early in the evening on a night my wife was working 2nd shift, but I didn't put it down until I finished it that night.

I read Under Heaven over a 24 hour period. I stopped to sleep and eat, but that's about it. Loved that book!

I haven't pulled the all nighter, but I have pulled the "most of the nighter." I usually have some control over the books that pull you in if I have to work the next day (otherwise I am a big grump), but if I have the next day off, all bets are off.

My fairly recent list of "most nighters" are Nyphron Rising (along with much of the rest of the series), Changes and the rest of the Harry Dresden books by Jim Butcher, Wizard's First Rule/Sword of Truth series, and most of the Harry Potter books. Also, most of the Drizzt Do-Urden books by R.A. Salvatore.

The last two nights I was actually up past my bedtime, because I didn't want to put down the book I just finished: The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker. It wasn't up all night by any means, as I did have to go to work and all, but I was certainly up a few hours later than my norm.

Whilst I rarely read any entire book in one sitting, I have found a few that keep me up way past when I should have gone to sleep for the night. Kushiel's Dart as well as this entire series did it to me, as did the entire Mistborn: The Final Empire series.

I stayed up all night reading all of the Harry Potter books when I was a kid. I would literally buy it, read it all night, and be done in the morning. I waited so many years for the seventh book, and I finished it in one night. =( That's definitely a drawback of being a fast reader.
I'm rereading Game of Thrones right now, and I've been staying up entirely too late to keep reading.

I read the last two Harry Potters in one sitting... but it was more an all day event than an all night one.

Me too. I read all of the 5th on a plane trip. It came in the mail the day I left. By the time I reached my destination in Denver, I was finished...well I did finish the last few pages in the parking lot before leaving the airport to drive to Cheyenne.

I used to pull all-nighters when I was younger, now I just pull most-of-the-nighters. If I need to stop and look at the time of the clock, it means the book is not riveting enough!

Has anyone else ever been so caught up in a book that they've foregone sleep because they just couldn't put it down?

Numerous times. I still remember the first time the most vividly. I'd bought Michael Ende's Neverending Story and was reading it happily completely forgetting time. When my mom told me to go to bed and turn of the light I was only going 'Yeah, okay.' and continued reading. In the end she had to forcefully take away the book and my flashlight or I wouldn't have stopped.

Later I learned to be a bit more sneaky about it and these days it's up to me how long I read. I think the last one that kept me up all night was one by Anne Bishop. I tend to re-read her Dark Jewels book every time a new one comes out and get totally caught up in them.

I think the one that I like the most in this situation is the "Take the book to work and hide it behind your computer" book. That way, when the boss isn't around, you can pull it out and sneak a couple more pages.

I'm a fat kid. For me, not finishing a good book ASAP is like leaving the last two pieces of pizza in the refrigerator past lunch the next day. Sure, I'd stretch my enjoyment more, but it just ain't gonna happen. Just like I'm eating those two pieces for breakfast (cold), I'm reading a book.

I had this happen three nights in a row. I stayed up all night reading The Gathering Storm, and went well into the next day. I napped, then picked up Janny's To Ride Hell's Chasm. Yep. Up all night again. Finished that, and discovered a nifty little book called Ender's Shadow that I had no idea Orson Scott Card wrote. Third time a charm? Damn right.

I didn't stay up all night, but wanted to last night as I was close to the end of The Ships of Merior by Janny Wurts. It got to be 9:45 & 4:30 comes too quickly. So, I reluctantly put it down & finished during lunch today. I'm glad I did because I really got it. The way Janny writes means I need to pay close attention & I can't do that when my jaw is cracking from yawning too much.
;-)

I stay up late reading about once a week, and all night about once a month. I have been really trying to crutail it though, because the next day is always horrible. There are just too many good books and i have too little self discipline!