Top 10 Best Page Turner Books Updated 04 /2024

In 2020, reading will be great if these books are any guide. Each book is different and covers a wide range of topics, so you won't be able to put it down until you've read the last one. These books are all well-written from start to finish and will stay with you long after you finish reading them. Enjoy!

American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins

American Dirt drew me in from the start and didn't let go until I reached the last page. Cummins has written a beautiful, haunting, and fast-paced story that is both timely and relevant to the world we live in right now. American Dirt is a mix of thriller and literary fiction. It's about a mother's love and what it's like to live in fear all the time. It also talks about the violence and injustice that people in areas where drug cartels rule have to deal with, as well as how far some people will go to protect their families. With a lot of twists and turns in a complex story, Cummins talks about what it means to be human. A must-read is American Dirt.

Dear Edward by Ann Napolitano

Dear Edward is one of the most beautiful and moving stories I've read in a long time. It's also very sad (the last such book for me was A Gentleman in Moscow). For Dear Edward tells the story of Edward, who is 12 years old and the only survivor of a plane crash. He is trying to move on in the wake of this terrible event. Edward's life after he was in the plane crash is also told in the story. I was a little afraid to pick this book up because I don't like stories that are too sad or dark, and I thought Dear Edward might be that kind of story. But it turned out to be a good book. However, even though the book's subject matter is sad, the book itself is uplifting, life-affirming, and just plain great. Can't say enough good things about this great and unique story.

The Falcon Thief: A True Tale of Adventure, Treachery, and the Hunt for the Perfect Bird by Joshua Hammer

You'll learn about a man named Jeffrey Lendrum. He spent his whole life stealing rare bird eggs and smuggling them. This book is about the U.K. detective who caught Lendrum and brought him to justice. A mix of adventure, history, and true crime is told in this book. It also gives us a glimpse into the world of people who love rare birds and rare bird eggs. From the Middle East to Canada, Africa, and the United Kingdom, The Falcon Thief is a story that is sure to keep you on your toes. It was both depressing and mind-boggling to read about the negative effects on a number of bird species and the single-mindedness and obsession of those who took bird eggs and caught birds. Afterwards, I couldn't put it down.

Father of Lions: One Man’s Remarkable Quest to Save the Mosul Zoo by Louise Callaghan

During the ISIS occupation of Mosul, in Iraq, in the mid-2010s, Father of Lions shows how Abu Laith (known as the "Father of Lions") tried to save the animals in the Mosul Zoo at any cost. He focuses on the civilians in Mosul, people who had already lived under tense and somewhat restrictive conditions because of the ongoing war in Iraq even before ISIS came to Mosul. She talks about their daily lives and how almost everything about their lives changed after ISIS came in. A skilled use of cultural, social, and religious traditions from modern-day Iraq helps the reader better understand what it's like to live in a city that's been taken over by soldiers. "Father of Lions" is a great book that is both interesting and relevant at the same time (you will need tissues).

Followers by Megan Angelo

If you want to learn more about modern society, read Followers by Megan Angelo. She looks at how people use social media and smartphones, and how they lose their privacy as a result. When Angelo writes about her three main characters, she switches back and forth between 2016 and 2051 to show how they deal with the worst of social media. Page-turner: I started paying more attention to my social media and cell phone use while reading this book. I also thought about and admired Angelo's creativity and ability to make the world in Followers. Her insights and sense of how people use cell phones and social media are both interesting and a little scary.

In Five Years by Rebecca Serle

Take a quick look into the future and see that you're living a very different life from the one right now.

In the book Five Years, Dannie falls asleep and wakes up five years later with a different engagement ring, a new apartment, and a different man in her bed. In the future, Dannie spends an hour and falls asleep. Then, she wakes up and goes back to her normal, everyday life. She is shaken by this fateful hour in the future and struggles to get back to her normal life. She always wonders if what she saw was a dream, a vision, or something else. The idea for this book is very unique, and Serle's way of putting it into practice is both clever and thought-provoking.

The Mountains Sing by Nguyen Phan Que Mai

Nguyen Phan Que Mai's first book in English is beautiful and lyrical. It tells the story of several generations of the Tran family against the backdrop of Vietnam's heartbreaking 20th-century history. When North Vietnam became a Communist country, The Mountains Sing shows how the rise of Communism and the Vietnam War changed the lives of the Vietnamese people. It also shows how the language and traditions of their culture were used in the book. If you want to learn more about Vietnam and its people, The Mountains Sing is a good place to start. It's also a cautionary tale about how long-term war can have an effect on people who live through it. It will be a long time before I forget about the book that I read about Tran, though.

The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James

The Sun Down Motel is a creepy, run-down motel that serves as a rest stop for travelers on their way through Fell, New York. It also gives locals a place to hide out. Viv and Carly, two women who are 35 years apart, find out that there is someone or something else living at the Sun Down. They want to find out who or what is haunting the motel and why, so they go on a search. St. James's pacing is perfect, and the book is a great mix of scary and creepy. As Viv and Carly tried to figure out what was going on, I felt like I was rooting for them. The Sun Down Motel is one of the best books I've read in a long time. Putting this book down until you've read the last page isn't going to be possible.

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