Summer Book List, 2013
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his is our now-annual list of summer reading recommendations for pupils, with many new books added since last year, and we hope that parents will also find it useful when encouraging their sons and daughters to keep up and extend their reading over the summer holidays. The first reason for is simple: pure pleasure, since the school summer vacation is one of the few times in life when for day after day you can dedicate yourself to reading something you are interested in and really enjoy. The second is more educational: all pupils can make real intellectual strides in these months, instead of succumbing to the ‘summer slide’. You should also read newspapers, magazines and articles on websites too: good reading is everywhere around you. Almost all of these books are in the College Library, so on return in September you can check out the ones you didn’t get around to reading in July and August… Tom McConville, Librarian Julian Girdham, Head of English Department
Fiction Mostly Junior 1. Millions by Frank Cottrell Boyce: A bag full of money drops into the lives of Damian and Anthony, and suddenly they can buy anything they want, except their mum has died and their dad is suffering, they’ve just moved house and they’re in a new school... Funny, poignant novel of bereavement, childhood and new life. 2. The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne: Nine-year-old Bruno’s father is a concentration camp commandant, only he doesn’t know that; then he meets Shmuel who lives on the other side of the wire and wears pyjamas. [Second World War – Holocaust] 3. The Sight by David Clement-Davies: A pack of wolves seeks shelter from the winter, a legend clinging to them of man and wolf, power and death - the Sight has come into their world. 4. The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly: David mourns the loss of his mother and takes refuge in the myths and fairy tales she loved; as war rages across Europe he is soon propelled into a land that is both imaginary and frighteningly real. 5. Al Capone does my Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko: Moose Flanagan moves with his family to live on Alcatraz Island, to its new life, new school, new friends; only his older sister Natalie is autistic, a different kind of imprisonment, and that puts all kinds of pressure on his family. [Family life, childhood, humour] 6. Arthur: the Seeing Stone Trilogy by Kevin Crossley-Holland: Medieval England and sixteen-year-old Arthur de Caldicott is eager to grow up and become a knight, his life intertwined with that of his mythical namesake, King Arthur. 7. The Midnight Zoo by Sonya Hartnett: Two boys on the run across a war-ravaged countryside carry a secret bundle--one night in a deserted town they find a zoo filled with animals.
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8. Mockingbird by Kathryn Erskine: Caitlin, who has Asperger’s syndrome, misses her dead brother Devon who used to explain the world to her, and her father, who cries all the time - now she sets about finding closure, a word she has discovered in a dictionary [Bereavement, family life]. 9. Inkheart by Cornelia Funke: First in a suspense-filled darkly comic trilogy (Inkspell, Inkdeath) wherein twelve-year-old Meggie discovers to her peril that fictional characters do not cease living when a book is closed. 10. Coraline by Neil Gaiman: Coraline finds a secret corridor behind a locked door that takes her into another house terrifyingly similar to her own but with counterfeit parents and a terrible quest on which her survival, and much more, depends [Fantasy, horror]. 11. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman: Nobody Owens (Bod) is a normal boy who happens to live in a graveyard where he is raised and educated by ghosts; it is in the land of the living that danger lurks, in the form of the man, Jack, who has already killed Bod’s family. 12. I, Coriander by Sally Gardner: Coriander Hobie lives in Oliver Cromwell’s London, her late mother a fairy come into the mortal world, her prosperous father under suspicion for aiding the Royalist side during the Civil War - she must deal with the two worlds, one a threatening and repressive regime, the other holding a vengeful fairy queen. 13. Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer:The first in an extended series, in which young Artemis Fowl, a brilliant criminal mastermind, kidnaps a fairy, Captain Holly Short of the LEPrecon unit, and sees his troubles begin. Snappy, funny and highly imaginative fantasy. 14. Chalkline by Jane Mitchell: The chalkline of the title is the one scratched on a wall against which a child is measured - if he is taller than it he is deemed big enough to be a soldier by the Kashmiri Freedom Fighters, and nine-year-old Rafiq is tall for his age. 15. Goodnight, Mr Tom by Michelle Magorian: The childhood classic in which Willie is evacuated to the countryside where he is billeted with gruff widower, Tom Oakley, and a surprising friendship develops - and then Willie is summoned back to blitz-torn London by his mother [Friendship]. 16. War Horse by Michael Morpurgo: Out of the shocking destruction of the First World War trenches comes this moving story of Joey, a farm horse turned cavalry charger, who experiences both the deadly carnage and the truest of friendships. [War, friendship]. 17. The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness: The first in the Chaos Walking trilogy: Todd Hewitt lives in a weird world of men with his talking dog, Manchee, where everyone can hear everyone else’s thoughts in a never-ending Noise and then he discovers first, silence, and secondly, Viola, a girl, and soon they’re on a desperate run from Prentisstown. Highly recommended fantasy adventure. 18. The Recruit by Robert Muchamore: First in the multitudinous CHERUB series, high quality and topically gritty secret agent fiction, in which CHERUB agents are fully-trained professionals with one essential advantage: adults never suspect that children are spying on them. 19. Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan: Percy Jackson series: Percy’s father is Poseidon, Greek god of the sea so Percy is half god, half boy and just happens to live a semi-normal teenage American life as well as having to deal with the jealous and combative denizens of Mount Olympus--who now also all live in America. A funny, fast-paced series, and a good introduction to Greek mythology. 20. The Penalty by Mal Peet: Mal Peet is a wide-ranging author--this is one of his Paul Faustino series, in which the south American sports journalist investigates the disappearance of El Burjito (the Little Magician), a teenage football prodigy, and is drawn into a world of murder, corruption, slavery and the occult. 21. Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli: Stargirl Caraway is a highly unconventional girl who comes Mica Area High School where at first her different approach wins hearts and minds, but soon threatens the status quo; Leo, desperately in love with her, urges her to become the one thing she won’t be, normal. 22. Journey to the River Sea by Eva Ibbotson: Orphan Maia is sent to spiteful distant cousins in the rainforests of the Amazon but meets a mysterious boy and begins a spectacular journey to the heart of an extraordinary new world. 23. Hitler’s Canary by Sandi Toksvig: Bamse’s mother is a famous actress and his friend Anton one of the most daring boys in Denmark; when the Germans invade he must decide whether to stay out of trouble or join his brother in the resistance. [War, childhood]. 24. Spud by John van de Ruit: Spud Milton is beginning his first year in boarding school--there will be trouble ahead including illegal night swimming, teacher-baiting, girls, friendship...and complete insanity. 25. The Silver Notebook by Enda Wyley: Timothy Finn has no father, or so he thinks, until a silver notebook arrives on his birthday.
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26. Creature of the Night by Kate Thompson: When Bobby’s mother moves his family to the country all he wants to do is to get back to his out-of-control life in Dublin, but disappearances and whispers of murder soon have them involved with the creature of the night . 27. A Note of Madness by Tabitha Suzuma: Pressure of a coming concert pushes top young pianist Finn into mental illness where being alive feels worse than being dead - a fine study of depression and recovery. 28. Carbon Diaries 2015 by Saci Lloyd: It’s 2015 and the UK is the first nation to introduce carbon rationing - as her family spirals out of control Laura acerbically chronicles the world around her. 29. Everybody Jam by Ali Lewis: Danny Dawson lives in the Australian outback, his older brother Jonny dead in an accident, his teenage sister pregnant, and now it’s time for the annual cattle muster. 30. Blood Red Road by Moira Young: There are no laws in Saba’s world and when her twin brother is stolen she pursues his captors through a wasted land, trusting no-one, not even the handsome thief who saves her life. [Fantasy] 31. The Alchemyst-the secrets of the immortal Nicholas Flamel by Michael Scott (first in series). Twins Sophie and Josh Newman become involved in magician Nicholas Flamel’s struggles with evil Dr John Dee and the secret of eternal life/ [Magic, fantasy] 32. Blood Red, Snow White by Marcus Sedgwick. A novel of real-life author Arthur Ransome in the revolutionary Russia of 1917; a journalist, he leaves his English home, his wife and daughter, and falls in love with Russia - and Evgenia. 33. Angus, Thongs and full-frontal snogging by Louise Rennison: Georgia Nicolson series. Very funny diary of young teen Georgia Nicolson as she struggles to come to terms with changes in her own life as well as influence those around her [Humour]. 34. Scrivener’s Moon by Philip Reeve: The third in the Fever Crumb series, itself a prequel to Reeve’s fantastic Mortal Engines series about warring cities on wheels, sees Fever at the heart of the great war that is about to change the future of humankind. [Fantasy] 35. Northern Lights by Philip Pullman (His Dark Materials trilogy). Lyra and her daemon set off for the far North in search of Roger and encounter armoured polar bears and witch-queens who fly through frozen skies, and a woman and a golden monkey who are conducting experiments too horrible to mention. Highly recommended. [Fantasy] 36. Wolf Brother by Michelle Paver (first in Chronicles of Ancient Darkness series); Young Torak, an outcast from his clan like his father, lives in the pre-historic ancient Forest with only an orphaned wolf cub as a companion--soon he must face a foe that he can neither outrun nor outwit. 37. Bruised by Siobhan Parkinson: Jono and Julie’s mother is an alcoholic and their granny is dead; when one day their mother hits Julie Jono decides it’s time to protect his little sister and the only way to do that is to go. [Childhood, family life] 38. Sabriel by Garth Nix (first in trilogy): Sabriel must leave school and go in search of her father who is in danger as Charter Magic, which keeps them safe is in danger from Free Magic/Vivid, exciting fantasy adventure. 39. Airborn by Kenneth Oppel: Matt Cruse is a cabin boy on the airship Aurora, and friend and rival to spirited and rich Kate de Vries--then one night air pirates board the Aurora [Fantasy]. 40. Out of Shadows by Jason Wallace: Young Robert Jacklin has just moved to newly independent Zimbabwe but for some of his schoolmates the war is not over, black is not equal to white, and they are ruthless enough to take it to the very top [Africa, racism]. 41. The Maze Runner by James Dashner High-octane thriller in which a group of youths fend for themselves in a destructive future: ‘When the doors of the lift crank open, the only thing Thomas can remember is his first name. But he’s not alone. He’s surrounded by boys who welcome him to the Glade, an encampment at the centre of a bizarre and terrible maze. Like Thomas, the Gladers don’t know why or how they came to be there, or what’s happening in the world outside. All they know is that every morning when the walls slide back, they will risk everything to find out…’ 42. Gods And Warriors by Michelle Paver Set in the Greek Bronze Age, the accomplished author of The Chronicles of Ancient Darkness series takes us into new territory: ‘Hylas is scratching an existence with his goats in the mountains when he’s attacked by mysterious warriors—nightmares of black rawhide armour and bronze spears, their faces smeared with ash. Last night he and Issi had made camp in a cave below the western peak. Now his sister was missing, his dog was dead, and he was running for his life.” 43. I’d Tell You I Love You, But Then I’d Have To Kill You by Ally Carter The first in the Gallagher Girls series, and a very funny addition to the ‘teen girl’ genre. The Gallagher Academy might say it’s for geniuses, but really it’s a school for spies, and Cammie Morgan, who knows how to kill a man in seven different ways, is about to begin her most dangerous mission yet: falling in love. 44. Matched by Ally Condie The first book in a dystopian trilogy from Ally Condie: ‘On her seventeenth birthday Cassia meets her perfect match. Society dictates he is her perfect match. Except he’s not. In Cassia’s society Officials decide
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who people love, how many children they have, where they work, when they die. But as Cassia finds herself falling in love with another boy, she is determined to make some choices of her own.’ 45. Falling Fast by Sophie McKenzie Sophie McKenzie is the author of the popular Medusa Project and Girl, Missing series. In this new novel she looks at love: ‘When River auditions for a part in an inter-school performance of Romeo and Juliet, she finds herself falling for Flynn, the boy playing Romeo. River believes in romantic love, and she can’t wait to experience it. But does Flynn see things the same way?’ A good question. 46. The Knife That Killed Me by Anthony McGowan ‘Only my eyes can move. But that’s enough for me to see it coming. The knife that will kill me. It is in the hand of a boy. The boy is blurred but the knife is clear. He has just taken it from the inside pocket of his blazer.’ This thought-provoking novel highlights the terrible consequences of peer pressure, bullying and knife crime among teenagers. 47. Mortal Chaos by Matt Dickinson ‘The Butterfly Effect is the scientific theory that a single occurrence, no matter how small, can change the course of the universe forever. A butterfly startles a young rabbit, the rabbit makes a horse rear, and a chain of events starts that will over the course of a day change people's lives - and end people's lives. From a climber on Everest to a boy in Malawi, from a commercial pilot to an American psycho, the chaos knows no bounds.’ 48. Numbers by Rachel Ward ‘Since her mother's death, fifteen-year-old Jem has kept a secret. When her eyes meet someone else's, a number pops into her head—the date on which they will die. Knowing that nothing lasts forever, Jem avoids relationships, but when she meets a boy called Spider, and they plan a day out together, her life takes a new twist and turn. Waiting for the London Eye, she sees everyone in the queue has the same number—something terrible is going to happen.’ 49. My Dad Is Ten Years Old by Mark O’Sullivan ‘The accident changed everything. Once, my dad was the perfect father. We were the perfect family. Now he’s got the mind of a ten-year-old. From one crazy day to the next we lose a little more of the man we knew and loved. And then a shocking discovery about his past makes us question everything…did we ever know him at all?’ 50. This Dark Endeavour by Kenneth Oppel. Oppel is previously known for his Silverwing (bats) and Airborn (airship) series. This new departure is a prequel to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, in which 16 year-old Victor Frankenstein begins his dark journey in an attempt to cure his twin brother, Konrad. ‘A true page-turner…Oppel has re-invented the gothic thriller for modern readers. The narrative crackles with tension, emotions run high, and the atmosphere is perfectly dark and brooding,’ says fellow author Rick Riordan. 51. Uncle Petros And Goldbach’s Conjecture by Apostolos Doxiadis A book highlighted in our recent Maths Fiction display, Uncle Petros is an ageing recluse who lives alone in a suburb of Athens, tending to his garden. But his young nephew suspects he is more than the family joke, and soon discovers that he was once a mathematician brilliant and foolhardy enough to stake his reputation on Goldbach’s Conjecture—a problem that has defied all attempts at proof for nearly three centuries. 52. The Chronicles Of Cadaver College: Book 1, The Book Of Ornis by Olive Mooney Olive recently did a very successful reading for Primary and Form 1. In the Chronicles ‘12 year-old Simon suddenly discovers he is dead, in a college full of mad ghosts – a talking Bookworm, a deranged Librarian (surely not!), a poetry-writing Crusader – and he’s expected to save them from the evil sea-witch Halbizia. Then there’s Fi, a Pirate Princess and her magic cutlass, Hildebrande…’ 53. Unhooking The Moon by Gregory Hughes ‘Meet the Rat: a dancing, soccer-playing, gangster-wise prairie kid. When the Rat’s father dies, she decides to head for New York. What can her older brother Bob do but follow?’ “A deliciously subversive, tragic fairytale…it made me laugh even when I should have been hurting,” says fellow author Mal Peet.
Older Fiction 54. The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins: America in the future is ruled brutally from a central Capitol, and one girl called Katniss finds herself in deadly conflict with its rulers. 55. Watership Down by Richard Adams: Fiver’s sixth sense tells him something terrible will happen to the warren. He and his brother Hazel and a small band of rabbits begin an epic and perilous journey - a fable for our time. 56. Empire of the Sun by J. G. Ballard: A young British boy separated from his parents is imprisoned in Shanghai with other civilians by the Japanese and sees extraordinary times become ordinary where the rulers become the ruled, brutality abounds and human behaviour is reduced to its essence. 57. The Fault in our Stars by John Green: Funny, irreverent and deeply moving story of Hazel, a terminal cancer sufferer on hold, who meets Augustus Waters, tall, gorgeous, intelligent - and also a cancer sufferer [Teenage love, bereavement].
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58. Genesis by Bernard Beckett: Intelligent, determined Anaximander faces the examination of her life in the isolated island Republic--a powerful philosophical novel on the meaning of freedom and free will. 59. Noughts and Crosses Trilogy by Malorie Blackman: Callum is a nought, a second class citizen, and Sephy is a cross, daughter of one of the most powerful men in the country...and then a bomb explodes [Racism, love, fantasy adventure]. 60. A Swift Pure Cry by Siobhan Dowd: A young girl becomes pregnant and the baby dies at birth--and then a second dead baby is found. This is a sensitive, powerful re-imagining of a true story from the Ireland of the 1970s. 61. No and Me by Delphine de Vigan: Lou Bertignac is thirteen, has an IQ of 160 and a troubled family life after the death of her sister; then in the Gare d’Austerlitz she befriends No, an elusive homeless girl, and life begins to return to her family. 62. The Ropemaker by Peter Dickinson: The magic in the Valley is dying and four companions must find the ancient sorcerer, their desperately dangerous journey shadowed by the mysterious Ropemaker, who might - or might not - control the rope of time itself. [Fantasy] 63. The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas: The classic swashbuckler - young d’Artagnan comes to Paris to seek his fortune and immediately finds himself challenged to duels by Athos, Porthos and Aramis, only for them to become his greatest companions as they become embroiled in the intrigues of the French court and the machinations of Cardinal Richelieu and the beautiful Lady de Winter. 64. Divided Loyalties by Denis Hamley: Ellen, a British nurse and Matthias, a German soldier, met and fell in love at the end of the First World War; now it is 1939 and their son Walter is filled with hatred of his father’s origins [War, family life] 65. Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld: First in a proposed trilogy about an intriguing world that mimics our historical one, where the Clankers of the Austro-Hungarian Empire pit their machines against the Darwinists of the British Empire, who evolve living creatures into tools: Prince Aleksandar, on the run from his own people, encounters Deryn Sharp, a girl dressed as a boy, whose airship of living animals has crash-landed in enemy territory. 66. Ostrich Boys by Keith Gray: Teenagers Kenny, Sim and Blake steal the urn that contains the ashes of their friend Ross, to bring to Ross, a tiny village in Scotland, and on the way discover that having known Ross will affect them for the rest of their lives. [Friendship] 67. Guitar Girl by Sarra Manning: Seventeen year-old Molly Montgomery’s band, The Hormones, unexpectedly hits the bigtime, and suddenly hazards include fame, first love, threatened friendship, screaming fans, exhaustion and sleazy managers. Realistic and well-written. 68. Broken Soup by Jenny Valentine: Rowan Clark is trying to hold her family together after her brother Jack’s death as her parents can’t cope - and then a boy in the school lunch queue hands her a photographic negative, of her brother as it turns out, and so begins a search. 69. Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: The story of two sisters caught up in the Biafra-Nigerian war of the late 1960s. 70. Lean on Pete by Willy Vlautin: Heartbreaking and beautifully told story of Charley, a 15 year-old boy, who sets off on a journey to find his aunt, the only adult who might care for him. 71. Hetty Feather by Jacqueline Wilson: Hetty is abandoned as a baby and suffers hardship and friendship in Victorian England as she searches for her real mother. 72. How I live now by Meg Rosoff: Worldly fifteen-year-old Daisy is sent from New York to England to spend the summer with cousins, one of whom is Edmond...and then comes war and separation as she goes on the run with young Piper. 73. Reading in the Dark by Seamus Deane: A haunting story about a young boy in Derry and the troubles his family become entangled in over the decades. 74. Atonement by Ian McEwan: Briony, a young girl, makes a terrible mistake at an English country house in 1935, a mistake that will blight the lives of many other people for ever. 75. Breath by Tim Winton: A great novel about surfing, and about Western Australia. 76. Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro: It becomes clear before long that Hailsham boarding school is nothing like St Columba’s (we hope).... 77. Skippy Dies by Paul Murray: A very funny novel set in a boarding school (based on Blackrock College) which captures memorably the confusions and dramas of boys’ adolescence. 78. Bad Day at Blackrock by Kevin Power: The aftermath of a tragic death as seen through the lives of privileged former pupils of a boarding school, set in Dublin at the height of the Celtic Tiger. 79. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini: Two boys from two very different backgrounds are the closest of friends in pre-Taliban Afghanistan, before something happens to change everything for ever.
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80. Hotel Juliet by Belinda Seaward: A dramatic love story which moves between Zambia and England. 81. Regeneration by Pat Barker: The story of physically and mentally wounded soldiers at an Edinburgh hospital in the First World War, including the poet Wilfred Owen (first part of the Ghost Road trilogy). 82. Slaughterhouse-5 by Kurt Vonnegut. Both horrifying and hilarious, this take on war is partly set in Dresden during its firebombing in 1945. 83. A Game of Thrones by George R.R.Martin (Book 1 in the series A Song of Ice & Fire).Set in the fictional land of Westeros, a battle to rule the seven kingdoms begins. Sometimes brutal, always “unputdownable”. 84. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury: The great science fiction author has just died: this is his most famous book, the story of a society where books are outlawed, and the houses of their owners are burned down. 85. Fools of Fortune by William Trevor: A great story told by the greatest Old Columban writer, set just after the First World War - with a whole chapter set in our school, too. 86. Me Cheeta by James Lever: The story of a famous Hollywood chimpanzee told by, well, the famous Hollywood chimpanzee. Blisteringly funny. 87. The Lincoln Rhyme series by Jeffrey Deaver: A great series of thrillers featuring a wheelchair bound forensic detective; Deaver is one of the best thriller-writers around. 88. Blindness by Jose Saramago: This is definitely dark: the story of a world in which (almost) everyone turns blind and what happens as a result: it is also a rivetting story by this Portuguese Nobel Prize winner. 89. Pigeon English by Stephen Kelman: Harrison Opuku is eleven, newly arrived from Ghana and lives in a block of flats in a sink estate; he observes everything with the same innocence, vitality and interest, but when a boy is stabbed to death he begins his own murder investigation. 90. Rule of the Bone by Russell Hoban: Chappie Dorset - “Bone” - is a 21st century Holden Caulfield abandoned by adults to a semi-feral world of drugs, theft and worse yet he is always uniquely himself, struggling to be decent and learning, learning as he progresses towards a form of peace. 91. Before I Die by Jenny Downham: Tessa is sixteen and dying of cancer; that makes time short so she’s got to do a lot of living quickly - a humorous, tender and redemptive book. 92. Alone in Berlin by Hans Fallada: A German couple lose their son in the war and begin a postcard campaign against the Reich. 93. Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin: Set in rural Mississippi where Silas Jones is a black law enforcement officer while Larry Ott, his white boyhood friend, has been ostracised for life for the suspected murder of a teenage date when Larry is shot old certainties no longer apply. 94. Candy by Kevin Brooks: Joe loves Candy, but that love takes him into a world of addiction, violence and hopelessness an uncomfortable look at the realities of some lives by young adult writer Brooks. 95. Tinkers by Paul Harding: George William Crosby is dying at home with his family around him and imagines his whole house collapsing in on him, and then the sky and heavens - in his last hours he revisits the mystery of his father and grandfather before him in a beautifully written, elegiac novel. 96. Skinny by Ibi Kashlik: Holly and Giselle are sisters, Holly a rising track star, Giselle an anorexic on self-destruct, tormented by her troubled relationship with her late father. 97. Emperor: Gates of Rome by Conn Iggulden: First of the Emperor quartet, a sword-and-sandals epic tracing the bloody rise to power of Julius Caesar [Historical - Ancient Rome]. 98. Alexander, Child of a Dream by Valerio Massimo Manfredi: First in trilogy, a finely written imaginative account of the boyhood of Alexander the Great, soon to become conqueror of the known world. [Historical Ancient Greece]. 99. Wolf Totem by Jiang Rong: Beautifully evocative of the delicate eco-balance between wolves and nomadic herdsmen of Inner Mongolia, threatened in turn by the arrival of the officious bustling modern People’s Republic. 100. Dissolution by C. J. Sansom: First in the terrific Shardlake series. Matthew Shardlake, Tudor lawyer, is sent by Thomas Cromwell to investigate a sinister murder as Henry VIII dissolves the monasteries [Crime, Historical fiction - Tudor England]. 101. Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel: Sympathetic, intelligently-written account of the rise of Thomas Cromwell, Henry VIII’s enforcer, followed now by the newly released sequel, Bring up the Bodies [Historical fiction - Tudor England]. 102. The Help by Kathryn Stockett: Jackson, Mississippi, 1962 - aspiring journalist Miss Skeeter begins to wonder why black maids raise white children yet aren’t trusted with the silver, and decides it’s their stories that need to be heard [Racism].
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103. One day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksander Solzhenitsyn: set in the Soviet labour camps of the 1950s, this famous book describes a single day in the life of one prisoner. 104. The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver: looks at the experience of a Baptist missionary’s family who go to the Congo in 1959 and whose fate unfolds over the subsequent decades. 105. The Family on Paradise Pier by Dermot Bolger: a novel about three members of a privileged Donegal family following their lives as they interact with great events between 1915 and 1945. 106. The Siege by Helen Dunmore: set in the siege of Leningrad, this is an uplifting tale of decent people engulfed by disaster in 1941. 107. Pompeii by Robert Harris : gripping story set against the explosive events of 79 A.D. 108. Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks: a love story that also looks at the realities and horrors of the trenches of the First World War. 109. The Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers “The Yellow Birds is a superb novel. Call it a war novel or a first novel or whatever you like. Powers has created a powerful work of art that captures the complexity and life-altering realities of combat service.” Iraq War veteran Kevin Powers captures the desperation and brutality of war, and its terrible after-effects. But it is also a story of love, of great courage, and of extraordinary human survival. 110. Post Office by Charles Bukowski Henry Chinaski is a low life loser with a hand-to-mouth existence. But he also has an uncompromising and hilarious intelligence, and while his menial Post Office day job supports a life of beer, sequential women and racetracks, he needs that job. Lurid and deeply honest, Bukowski’s debut novel (1971) marked him out as one of the most distinctive American writers of the last fifty years. 111. The Paris Wife by Paula McLain “Hadley Richardson is a shy twenty-eight year old...when she meets Ernest Hemingway and is captivated by his energy, intensity and burning ambition. After a whirlwind courtship and wedding they set sail for France. But glamorous Jazz Age Paris, full of artists and writers, fuelled by alcohol and gossip is no place for family life and fidelity.” “McLain captures Hemingway’s legendary charisma and his fatal tendencies...The Paris Wife sings with pitch perfect renderings of famous voices...” 112. HHhH by Laurent Binet ‘Himmlers Hirn heisst Heydrich’ – Himmler’s brain is called Heydrich. In this extraordinary novel Laurent Binet details Operation Anthropoid, Prague, 1942, in which two Czech parachutists are sent from London to assassinate Reinhard Heydrich, the head of the Gestapo. Such is the impact of his research that Binet is unable to leave himself out of the story – his reactions, what he finds out, what he supposes. “HHhH blew me away,” says Bret Easton Ellis. “Binet’s style fuses it all together: a neutral journalistic honesty sustained with a fiction writer’s zeal and story-telling instincts. It’s one of the best historical novels I’ve ever come across.” 113. Lost Memory Of Skin by Russell Banks Just released from prison after a liaison with an underage girl, the Kid has no one to help him and nowhere to go. Shackled to a GPS monitoring device and forbidden to live within 2,500 metres of anywhere children may gather, he washes up under a Florida causeway, in a shanty town built by his fellow outcasts. An unsettling and disturbing book by the author of Rule of the Bone that looks at disposable American youth and ‘tackles hard subjects with verve and courage, and takes us into the dark side of the dark side.” 114. City Of Bohane by Kevin Barry Bohane is the Limerick of the future, postindustrial, post-digital, almost medieval in its warren of laneways, scrabbling citizens and rival gangs, divided by the swirling black river and surrounded by the Big Nothin’—the bogland outside. The dominant gang is the Hartnett Fancy, its leader the suave albino, Logan Hartnett. But now the Gant Broderick, his old rival in love and war is rumoured to be back, his henchmen are getting ambitious, and the gangs of the Northside Rises are looking for trouble. Colourful, flamboyant and very readable, this IMPAC Award Winner 2013 will stay with you long after you put it down. 115. Down The Rabbit Hole by Juan Pablo Villalobos “Tochtli lives in a palace. He loves hats, samurai, guillotines and dictionaries, and what he wants more than anything right now is a new pet for his private zoo: a pygmy hippopotamus from Liberia. But Tochtli is a child whose father is a Mexican drug baron on the verge of taking over a powerful drug cartel, and Tochtli is growing up in a luxury hideout that he shares with hitmen, prostitutes, dealers, servants and the odd corrupt politician...” In this excellent short novel the real story is the one Tochtli is not telling us—the story behind the story. 116. THE BLACK PRISM: Lightbringer 1 by Brent Weeks. For those of us who like a little sci-fi, now called fantasy fiction: Guile is the Prism, the most powerful man in the world. His strength, wit and charm are all that preserve a tenuous peace. Yet Prisms never last, and Guile knows exactly how long he has left to live. When Guile discovers he has a son, born in a far kingdom after the war that put him in power, he must decide how much he’s willing to pay to protect a secret that could tear his world apart.
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117. Tell No One by Harlan Coben. Coben has seen a sudden surge in popularity, at least in our environs, though he has been writing crime thrillers for a long time: “Every year, Elizabeth and David Beck return to Lake Charmaine, a place they have known since childhood. On their thirteenth visit, Elizabeth is kidnapped and murdered, while David is left for dead. For the next eight years David relives the horror...then an image of Elizabeth appears on his computer screen. Is it a joke, or evidence that Elizabeth is still alive? Suddenly Beck is chasing a ghost whose messages hold out a desperate hope – but soon Dr Beck himself is being hunted down... 118. Citadel by Kate Mosse The third in her Languedoc trilogy (the other two being Labyrinth and Sepulchre), Citadel brings us to the summer of 1942. Spirited and courageous, Sandrine finds herself drawn into the world of the Resistance in Carcassonne under German Occupation. Her network—‘Citadel’—is made up of ordinary women who risk everything to fight the sinister battles raging in the shadows around them. As the war reaches its violent and bloody conclusion, Sandrine’s fate is tied up with that of three very different men. But who is the real enemy? Who is the real threat? And who is the true guardian of the ancient secrets that for generations have drawn people to the foothills of the Pyrenees. 119. Broken Harbour by Tana French Another tense, psychological ‘police procedural’ from a talented and award-winning Irish author – “Detective Mick Kennedy is all about control. Driving the right car. Wearing the right suit. Everything carefully designed to show the world—and more importantly, the killer—that he’s in charge of this case. But Broken Harbour will not be tamed. This wild and beautiful place holds Mick Kennedy’s happiest memories. It also holds the worst. And now a new horror has happened here, and the cracks are beginning to show...” 120. Ghana Must Go by Teiye Selasi The Sais family’s good life crumbles in an evening; a Ghanaian father, Kwaku Sai, who becomes a highly respected surgeon in the US only to be disillusioned by a grotesque injustice; his Nigerian wife, Fola, the beautiful homemaker abandoned in his wake; their eldest son, Olu, determined to reconstruct the life his father should have had; their twins, seductive Taiwo and acclaimed artist Kehinde, both brilliant but scarred and flailing; their youngest, Sadie, jealously in love with her celebrity best friend. All of them sent reeling on their disparate paths into the world. Until, one day, tragedy spins the Sais in a new direction.
General non-fiction 1. Whoops by John Lanchester: An entertaining and scary account of how the world has got into its current financial mess. 2. Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight: an African Childhood by Alexandra Fuller: Beautifully evocative account of a childhood in Zimbabwe, Malawi and Zambia in the 1970s. 3. Zeitoun by Dave Eggers: Powerful story of how one man tried to help others in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina but then found himself a victim in awful circumstances. 4. Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser: Entertaining and horrifying story of where your burgers really come from; it will put you off fast food for life. 5. The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson: A very funny and affectionate evocation of a childhood in 1950s America. 6. The Shark Net by Robert Drewe: Beautifully told story of the author’s youth in Western Australia, and of how it overlapped with the story of a serial killer. 7. Krakatoa by Simon Winchester: The story of the massive 1883 volcanic eruption, with lots of fascinating historical and scientific detail. 8. Stasiland: true stories from behind the Berlin Wall by Anna Funder: This Australian journalist researched the stories of those who worked for the East German secret police, or whose lives were affected by the Stasi: the stories are consistently interesting and moving. 9. Dreams from my Father by Barack Obama: Long before anyone imagined he could become the most powerful person in the world, Obama produced this candid and beautifully written account of his upbringing. 10. Ship of Fools by Fintan O’Toole: The sub-title says it all : ‘How stupidity and corruption sank the Celtic Tiger’. Very readable account of our recent economic troubles. 11. THE MEN WHO STARE AT GOATS by Jon Ronson. In 1979 a secret unit was established by the most gifted minds within the US Army. Defying all known military practice—and indeed the laws of physics—they believed that a soldier could adopt a cloak of invisibility, pass cleanly through walls, and, perhaps most chillingly, kill goats by staring at them. They were the First Earth Battalion. And they weren’t joking. Simultaneously frightening and hilarious, Jon Ronson investigates this wacky, mysterious and seriously weird world.
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Sports 1. Friday Night Lights : a town, a team and a dream by H.G.Bissinger: Often called ‘one of the best sports books ever written’ (and ‘better than the awful movie’), this tells the story of a team of 17 year-old boys in the most intense year of their lives. 2. Seabiscuit by Laura Hillenbrand: Great story of a special horse that won races against all the odds. 3. Only a Game by Eamonn Dunphy: One of the best accounts of what it is like to be an ordinary professional sportsman, set in English football before the Premier League era. 4. Brilliant Orange by David Winner: Holland may have been knocked out of Euro2012 in the first round, but the country still has a very distinguished football pedigree, and this is a fascinating study of the sport, and the country. 5. The Damned Utd by David Peace: Vivid and controversial semi-fictional account of the very short time that possibly the greatest of all English football managers, Brian Clough, spent with the greatest team of the 1970s, Leeds United. 6. Shakespeare by Bill Bryson: A well-researched, accurate and interesting account of the playwright’s life: not too academic, and recommended for general readers. 7. On and Off the Field by Ed Smith: The Wisden Book of the Year 2004 tells the story of an extraordinary cricket season for the author
Science 1. The Young Atheist's Handbook by Alom Shaha: An enthralling story of a young Muslim's exploration and appreciation of the world of science and his ensuing struggles with his faith. 2. A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson: An entertaining and surprisingly readable look at the history of the universe, planet Earth and human discovery. 3. A Really Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson: Again, an entertaining look at the history of science - this time aimed at younger readers and using wonderful illustrations. 4. The Science of Harry Potter by Roger Highfield: Highfield reveals new depth to Rowling’s series of books - revealing the true (and unexpected) science behind Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry. 5. Tweeting the Universe by Marcus Chown & Govert Scilling: In 140 pages, two masterly popularisers present 140 explanations of the biggest questions in physics - in the form of 10 or so tweets per page. 6. Why Does E=mc2? (and Why Should We Care?) by Brian Cox & Jeff Forshaw : An exciting and accessible explanation of Einstein’s famous equation. 7. How to Destroy the Universe … and 34 other really interesting uses of physics by Paul Parsons: If you want to get to grips with science behind relativity, antigravity and parallel universes, or if you are really more interested in learning how to teleport, travel through time or achieve immortality, this is the perfect introduction to the amazing world of modern physics. 8. How to Live Forever: and 34 Other Really Interesting Uses of Science by Alok Jha: Dealing with an assortment of questions, from the very small to the very big, the book explores the majesty of the universe, cloned sheep, alien worlds, invisibility cloaks, how the mind works, quantum weirdness, parallel dimensions and time travel.
Senior History 1. Bomber Boys by Patrick Bishop: Fascinating history of the men of Bomber Command in World War II. 2. All Hell Let Loose - The World at War 1939-45 by Max Hastings: wonderful new book about that monumental struggle which left 60 million dead, focusing on its impact on people around the world. 3. Savage Continent : Europe in the Aftermath of World War Two by Keith Lowe: looks at the chaos, dislocation, famine and mass expulsions which happened in the aftermath of World War II 4. Inside Hitler’s Bunker by Joachim Fest tells the fascinating story of Hitler’s last days reconstructed from eye-witness accounts. 5. The End by Ian Kershaw: tries to explain why the Germans followed Hitler’s suicidal orders to the end. 6. A Woman in Berlin by Anonymous: one of the most harrowing accounts of war-time Berlin you could read by an intelligent, well-educated journalist. 7. The Road to Wigan Pier by George Orwell: a famous observant study of the wretched lives of the working class in the north of England during the depression of the 1930s. 8. Aristocrats by Stella Tillyard: the story of the Lennox sisters whose lives spanned the Georgian period of English and Irish history.
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9. In the Footsteps of Mr Kurtz: Living on the Brink of Disaster in the Congo by Michela Wrong looks at the regime of the African despot Mobuto Sese Seko who plundered and pauperised his nation. 10. The Second World War in Photographs by Richard Holmes: this well-known historian has provided the text to explain some 500 photographs from the archive of the Imperial War Museum. 11. The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank: one of the most famous and eloquent books in the world! (Junior) And finally, two History of Art books 1. How to read a Painting: decoding, Understanding and Enjoying the Old Masters by Patrick de Rynck: illustrated book that looks at some of the clues to the meaning of some of the masterpieces of art history which may elude the modern eye. 2. Michelangelo and the Pope’s Ceiling by Ross King is about the creation of one of the world’s great masterpieces, the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.
Many thanks to Mrs Haslett (history) and Mr Jones (science) for their contributions.
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