Ever had to put a book down for a little while because something in it startled you?

[littlemissattitude]

This might sound like a strange question...but have any of you ever come across something in your reading that just startles you as much as if someone came up behind you suddenly and touched you when you didn't think anyone was there?

This happened to me last night, and it really sort of weirded me out.

I'm reading The Black Ice, by Michael Connelly. And because most of his books (that I've read so far) take place in and around the Los Angeles area, he sometimes mentions places that I am familiar with. That is kind of cool, even if it does make me homesick. He does his homework very well and so having this happen makes it easier for me to fall into the narrative because I can so easily picture the scenes where the story takes place.

But last night as I was reading along, the story begins to talk about the funeral of a police officer whose death is the event upon which the story turns. One of the characters names and locates the cemetery where the officer will be buried.

What startled me about this was not so much that I know that this particular cemetery exits in reality, because I've learned to expect that from Connelly's books...but that it is the cemetery where my father, my grandmother and grandfather, my great-great Aunt Catherine and great-great Uncle Jake, and two of my uncles are buried.

That really freaked me out. Not in a bad way, really, but so much so that I had to put the book down for the evening because I couldn't get past that reference.

Perhaps for not so close a reason, but has anything you have read ever affected you so much that you had to actually put the book down for awhile?

 

[daisybee]

Re: Ever had to put a book down for a little while because something in it startled y

In short-yes.

A book I read when I was about 14 or so:

Dibbs- In Search Of Self-Victoria Axline.

I was utterly involved and struggled through many parts of the story-I literally had to put it down, and come back once I had control of myself-or done something really physically exerting.

It's a strange feeling-and I have never been able to read it again-although I would recommend it to anyone with an interest in child play therapy.

 

[Talysia]

Re: Ever had to put a book down for a little while because something in it startled y

This has happened to me, too, with a book I read earlier this year - Loop, by Koji Suzuki. I didn't see the twist coming, but when I read it I wasn't prepared for it and just shut the book in surprise. It's perhaps not as good a reason, but it did make me put the book down for a while.

Given the time of year, I may read the series again.

 

[GOLLUM]

Re: Ever had to put a book down for a little while because something in it startled y

Yes when I was reading Erikson's Memories Of Ice. Some of the ideas were so great I had to step back and say WOW and take it all in before proceeding.

 

[Culhwch]

Re: Ever had to put a book down for a little while because something in it startled y

After the Red Wedding in aSoIaF, for sure, as it was so unexpected. Actually, recently I experienced this with Joe Hill's Heart-Shaped Box, when Jude's dogs are killed - which was strange as I'm not even a dog person.

 

[GOLLUM]

Re: Ever had to put a book down for a little while because something in it startled y

Well mate that may have been one of the few times you had pause to do so. That book overall was a real dissapointment for me...

 

[Nesacat]

Re: Ever had to put a book down for a little while because something in it startled y

Very recently with Kafka On The Shore by Haruki Murakami.

One of the characters, Johnny Walker, mutilates and kills cats and the descriptions in the book are very graphic.

Despite having been forewarned, I found myself closing the book with a snap and putting in in the bottom drawer of my walk-in closet for several days, before I took it out and managed to go on. The rest of the book is a good read.

 

[GOLLUM]

Re: Ever had to put a book down for a little while because something in it startled y

Knowing your love of cats first hand I can understand that Nesa. Kafka On The Shore by Haruki Murakami is worth reading for anyone checking out this thread.

 

[kcs_hiker]

Re: Ever had to put a book down for a little while because something in it startled y

Breathing Underwater by Alex Flinn

snapped it closed halfway through when I turned to the back cover and found that the author was a woman.

took me a week to pick it up again.

 

[GOLLUM]

Re: Ever had to put a book down for a little while because something in it startled y

Breathing Underwater by Alex Flinn

snapped it closed halfway through when I turned to the back cover and found that the author was a woman.

took me a week to pick it up again.

Sorry I don't get it???

Edit: OK I get it now DAH!...

 

[HoopyFrood]

Re: Ever had to put a book down for a little while because something in it startled y

When I was reading The Dark Tower (volume seven) by Stephen King, I could see a inevitable death approaching (Oy's death) and it was the one I was dreading the most. Usually when I'm nearing the end, and especially with this book as it wasn't just nearing the end of the book, but nearing the end of the entire epic series, I'll plough on mercilessly. But I had to put it down for a while just before the death to prepare myself for it!

I think I also had to pause for a moment while reading The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch -- he surprised me by killing off quite a few of the main characters very abruptly.

 

[dustinzgirl]

Re: Ever had to put a book down for a little while because something in it startled y

When I was reading The Dark Tower (volume seven) by Stephen King, I could see a inevitable death approaching (Oy's death) and it was the one I was dreading the most. Usually when I'm nearing the end, and especially with this book as it wasn't just nearing the end of the book, but nearing the end of the entire epic series, I'll plough on mercilessly. But I had to put it down for a while just before the death to prepare myself for it!

I think I also had to pause for a moment while reading The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch -- he surprised me by killing off quite a few of the main characters very abruptly.

I had to put Dark Tower down three or four times because I started balling like a baby. Not really shocking, but very very sad. Even the ending where Suz finds everyone was sad because they weren't really going to remember their journey, so in a way it was like that piece of them was dead anyways, which I think was kind of the point....

Yeah so I'm reading a book and crying and my darling adorable man goes "Why are you crying over freaking book!" So I threw it at him. Silly men types.

 

[Jarshen]

Re: Ever had to put a book down for a little while because something in it startled y

Some violent sequences in American Psycho and also in Nicholas Salaman's Garden of Earthly Delights had me stopping because of the horror.

George Martin definately has frozen me three times in awe, red wedding amongst them with his skill and horribly justifiable turns of events.

Those are the ones that stand out but I am sure there are loads.

 

[Pyan]

Re: Ever had to put a book down for a little while because something in it startled y

I read Ash - a Secret History by Mary Gentle a couple of years ago, when laid up in bed for six weeks, from a bad case of cellulitis in my leg - stuffed full of painkillers, antibiotic drip, the works.
I had to stop reading several times during the descriptions of the winter cold in Burgundy - they kept setting off violent shivering fits and inducing, along with the drugs, the most amazingly realistic dreams where I was there, freezing to death with the characters in the book.
So associated with the memories of this has the book become to me, that it remains one of the extremely few books that I have never re-read.

 

[Culhwch]

Re: Ever had to put a book down for a little while because something in it startled y

Well mate that may have been one of the few times you had pause to do so. That book overall was a real dissapointment for me...

I'd agree on the whole. It had a really promising start, but really lost its way, I felt. I almost gave up about halfway through but ploughed on. Which makes it even stranger that those moments had such an impact on me...

I think I also had to pause for a moment while reading The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch -- he surprised me by killing off quite a few of the main characters very abruptly.

Agreed. They were sudden and unexpected, and I felt very aggrieved. Knowing there were another, what, dozen books planned (might be overexaggerating there a little) I figured the majority of the main characters were safe, but no...

 

[Pyan]

Re: Ever had to put a book down for a little while because something in it startled y

They were sudden and unexpected, and I felt very aggrieved. Knowing there were another, what, dozen books planned (might be overexaggerating there a little) I figured the majority of the main characters were safe, but no...

That's what I thought when I started ASoIaF, Cul - never again!

 

[Culhwch]

Re: Ever had to put a book down for a little while because something in it startled y

That's what I thought when I started ASoIaF, Cul - never again!

Being a Martin devotee I really should have known better... But against my better judgement I'm sure I'll continue to get emotionally attached to doomed characters. It's that tangible emotional impact that makes a book great. Why else read, I say...

 

[CaptainCatfish]

Re: Ever had to put a book down for a little while because something in it startled y

"Misery" by Stephen King

 

[Gav]

Re: Ever had to put a book down for a little while because something in it startled y

A few books have startled me.

I think the one that most springs to mind was The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists. One of the characters has an affair... I was so appalled I had to put the book down.

It just goes to show what good characterisation can do to your mind.

After writing this post another occurred to me:

In 1984 I found the torture sequence so disturbing that I cried.

 

[kcs_hiker]

Re: Ever had to put a book down for a little while because something in it startled y

Sorry I don't get it???

Edit: OK I get it now DAH!...

as a high school teacher, I routinely come across teens in more or less the same situations as she was writing about.

as I was reading I felt that the author was doing a very good job of capturing the mental processes of the male protaganist

when I learned the author was a woman (a bit deceptive with her name I thought and probably intentionally so) it angered me that a woman thought she could write about what is essentially a solely male problem

although I've since met the author, and told her my story, and received a signed copy of the book for my trouble, I'm still not sure that my initial take is wrong...

just as a man can never truly appreciate what it's like to be a woman, I think the reverse is also true. Flinn's credentials are similar to Chris Crutcher's (i.e. years and years of family social work). Crutcher's characters are generally male, although he does have the occasional female protaganist.

Anyhow, I recommend Flinn's books (as well as Crutchers)

edited to add: after rereading my post, I want to say that many who read Breathing Underwater may see the conflict as one of abuse... certainly NOT a solely male problem, or perhaps one of anger and anger management, again not only a male issue. I was focusing on the boys relationship with his father, certainly a love-hate relationship if there ever was one.