Not all books can be read “for half an hour” before going to bed. Some are too addictive. And, having started reading, you can no longer stop until you reach the last lines. The main thing is not to pick up such books in the late evening. Otherwise, it may never come to sleep …
Instructions
Step 1
Daniel Keyes, Flowers for Algernon
Sci-fi story about mentally retarded janitor Charlie turned into a "laboratory rat" in an IQ experiment - an experiment that seemed brilliant at first. Charlie's meager intellect first develops rapidly, turning him into a genius - and then begins to fade steadily. And this whole story is told in the first person, in real time: seven months of diary entries reflect both the rise and fall of Charlie.
Step 2
Arthur Haley, "Airport"
The recognized virtuoso of the "production drama" describes one and only evening in the life of the airport - an evening that for many heroes may be the last. Difficult weather conditions, hard work in the "behind the scenes" of the airport, personal and industrial troubles are woven into one knot, and the feeling of approaching tragedy keeps you in suspense until the last pages.
Step 3
Joanne Harris, Five Orange Quarters
The beginning of this story is reminiscent of Puss in Boots: after death, the mother of three children bequeathed a farm to her son, her elder sister a wine cellar, and the inheritance of the younger sister, Framboise's favorite, was only a cookbook compiled by the deceased - and a truffle in a jar of olive oil. And now the heroine is trying to “read between the lines” … The book, which the English writer dedicated to her grandfather, tells about the era of the Second World War, about growing up, family secrets - and does it exciting and temperamental.
Step 4
Gabriel García Márquez, Love in the Time of the Plague
The book (published in Russia also under the title "Love during Cholera") is called the most optimistic and most poetic novel of the famous writer. This is a love story that conquers everything that comes its way. Magic, romance, mysticism, exoticism - all this accompanies the life of a beauty who married a scientist, making the book incredibly exciting.
Step 5
Anna Borisova, "Vremena goda"
Love and doom, history and mysticism, life and death, a cool "twisted" plot - all this is intertwined in a novel written by Boris Akunin as part of his "female" project under the name of Anna Borisova. An elite nursing home in France is becoming a place where a sick girl and a paralyzed old woman can "exchange souls", where they can gain inner strength and find the path leading to happiness.
Step 6
Sebastien Japrizo, "Lady with glasses and a gun in the car"
The main character of the French bestseller, charming blonde Dunn Logneau, finds herself embroiled in a strange and frightening intrigue. She is forced to hide from the police, she tries to convince others that she is in her right mind, she is left without money … And in order to get out of this situation, she has to take on the role of a detective.
Step 7
Guy de Maupassant, Dear Friend
Georges Duroy is a former soldier who has almost no merit. Except for one thing - to win the hearts of beautiful ladies. Which, combined with complete shamelessness and an adventurous streak, opens up brilliant prospects for the hero: women help him make a career in journalism, bring wealth and a title … It is impossible to tear yourself away from the story of the "dear friend" - the skill of one of the best French writers of the late 19th century is still strong today "Keeps" the reader.
Step 8
Alan Alexander Milne, "Two"
The novel written by the author of the famous "Winnie the Pooh" is considered one of the pearls of English humorous prose. An unremarkable middle-aged landowner who wrote a book suddenly becomes a fashionable writer - and this plunges him into the whirlpool of the bohemian life of the capital. And with each new day his life, as well as the life of his completely "unglamorous" wife Sylvia, more and more resembles a "comedy of mistakes."
Step 9
Winston Groom, Forrest Gump
The book fascinates no less than the famous film based on it - while there is much more irony and touching in it. The history of the American "Ivanushka the Fool", by the will of a coincidence (sometimes completely fantastic), which has witnessed and even participated in many of the country's most important historical events of the second half of the 20th century, told by himself, is read in one breath.
Step 10
Janusz Wisniewski, "Loneliness on the Net"
This sensational book is called one of the most poignant love stories of recent decades. Internet acquaintance of the heroes develops into virtual love, dating in chat rooms becomes an occasion for erotic fantasies and deep experiences. And the main test that awaits the heroes is, of course, the meeting "in real life", which will take place in Paris, the city of lovers.
Step 11
Diana Setterfield "The Thirteenth Tale"
The debut novel of a British teacher in 2006 made a splash, instantly becoming the world's number one bestseller. A gothic detective novel with a famously twisted plot, an elegant literary game, filled with secrets, mysticism, family “skeletons in closets”, love stories, brought the writer the fame of “the new Charlotte Brontë” and charmed billions of readers.
Step 12
John Fowles, "The Collector"
One of Fowles' most famous novels, frightening and addictive at the same time. A seemingly ordinary clerk, a butterfly collector, having won a large sum at the races, kidnaps a girl he likes and turns her into the “most expensive” exhibit in his collection. Having imprisoned the girl in the basement of his house, he does not lose hope that she will eventually fall in love with him - he himself does not understand what terrible things he does, guided by his love.
