Drop the Needle

Reason number one to refrain from channel or library-surfing in the middle of the night: Some movies and books are SO darn watchable/readable that if you stumble across a scene twenty, thirty, forty minutes (or pages) into it—drop the needle anywhere—you’re hooked. Until the final credits or the ast page. Even though you’ve seen it or read it a dozen times before.

It’s kind of like your favorite flavor of Haagen-Dazx—can you really eat just one bite?

So here’s our drop-the-needle-anywhere-and-you’re-toast list:

• Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell (2004)