Suggestions for your reading list
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Suggestions for your reading list Table of contents Abuse Adventure & Spy Africa America American Indians Australia Black writers/ Black Americans Canada Death and dying Death penalty Detectives Drugs Education Family Great Britain Growing Up Holocaust Homelessness Homosexuality Immigrants Internet Ireland Lawyers as writers Medical thrillers New Zealand Outsiders People with special needs Psychiatry Racism Relationships Science Fiction & Utopia Scotland Teenage Violence Terrorism Totalitarian systems Unmarried mothers Violence, War Women Miscellaneous Plays Films 1 Abuse Anna Quindlen, Black and Blue woman stays with abusive husband for 18 years, runs away with son, hiding Alice Sebold, The Lovely Bones Susie Salmon, rape and murder victim speaks from heaven Swindells Robert: Abomination John Fowles, The Collector Adventure & Spy Dan Brown, Angels and Demons The Da Vinci Code Jeffrey Deaver, The Bone Collector The Coffin Dancer The Vanished Man Daniel Silva, A Death in Vienna Africa Karen Blixen, Out of Africa John Briley, Cry Freedom Doris Lessing, The Grass Is Singing Alexander McCall Smith, The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency Keith B. Richburg, Out of America America Bill Bryson, The Lost Continent travels in small-town America, sarcastic Hillary Clinton, Living History women in the USA, civil rights activists, the American Dream, First Lady Jonathan Franzen, The Corrections American family life, three generations, Parkinson’s, depressions, failure Charles Frazier, Cold Mountain American Civil war, wounded soldier and women staying at home A.M. Homes, This book will save your life main character lives isolated life in Los Angeles, panic attack, middle eastern owner of donut shop, crying housewife in supermarket - satire about modern America Jack Kerouac, On the road Ron Rash, Serena North Carolina, 1930s, corruption, revenge, money Philip Roth, The Human Stain 1998, small New England town, classics professor Coleman Silk, forced to retire for being a racist Tom Wolfe, A Man in Full Atlanta, super-rich people, politics, racial tensions American Indians Margret Coel, The Storyteller Arapaho storyteller finds sacred tribal artifact missing from local museum, an American attorney, Vicky Holden, investigates Margret Craven, I Heard the Owl Call My Name Canadian Indians Walter Dyk, Left Handed, Son of Old Man Hat, Navajo autobiography Yvette Melanson, Looking for Lost Bird Jewish woman discovers her Navajo roots, story of a Navajo child taken against her parents’ wishes 2 Frank Waters, The Man Who Killed the Deer Pueblo Indian caught between the ritual ways of his th tribe and 20 century world of white men James Welch, The Indian Lawyer tale of the paradoxes of assimilation Australia Peter Carey, The History of the Kelly Gang life in post-colonial Australia, first person narrator Ned Kelly, difficult to read because of language, but interesting Miles Franklin, My Brilliant career Australian classic, story of a 16-year-old girl, lives on outback farm, has to choose between conventional life and brilliant career David Malouf, Remembering Babylon 1840s, former ship’s boy grows up with Aborigines, conflict between “civilized” and “primitive” world Marlo Morgan, Mutant Message Down Under white woman joins Aborigenes in walkabout Mutant Message From Forever sequel to Mutant Message Down Under, aboriginal twins separated at birth Doris Pilkington, Rabbit-Proof Fence mixed-race Australian girls taken from their Aboriginal families escape and return hom Black writers/Black Americans Maya Angelou, Singin' and Swingin' and Getting Merry Like Christmas autobiography, experiences of black singer in Europe on tour with Porgy and Bess I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings autobiography; childhood in the American South E. R. Braithwaite, To Sir, With Love black teacher in a tough London school Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird racism in the Deep South in the thirties, seen through the eyes of a child John Griffin, Black Like Me David Jay, Growing Up Black Anne Moody, Coming of Age in Mississippi autobiography, growing up poor and black in the rural south, sixties, Toni Morrison, Beloved mid 1800s, death of Sethe’s baby daughter Beloved Jazz Harlem, twenties Alan Paton, Cry the Beloved Country Zulu parson looking for deliquent son in Johannesburg Ah, But Your Land is Beautiful, South Africa, fifties, black sitting in no-blacks section Too Late the Phalarope Alice Walker, The Colour Purple growing up black in the American South Mark Behr, The Smell of Apples Canada Mary Lawson, Crow Lake Northern Ontario, four children return home – police car comes - life changes forever, family tragedy Mordechai Richler, The apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz main character obsessed with the idea that he has to own land, never loses faith Death and dying Philip Roth, Patrimony true story, Roth’s 86-year-old father, brain tumor, describes how family deals with his death Lionel Shriver, So Much for that American middle class man loses everything due to wife’s cancer 3 Death penalty Ernest J. Gaines, A Lesson Before Dying late 1940s, black man sentenced to death John Grisham, The Chamber racist on Death Row being defended by his grandson; The Innocent Man true story about star college baseball player; waitress raped and murdered in 1982, Williamson arrested, later found innocent Sister Helen Prejean, Dead Man Walking Roman Catholic nun fights death penalty, two cases Detectives Kingsley Amis, The Riverside Villas Murder Paul Auster, The New York Trilogy detectives where identities merge and nothing is what it seems Simon Beckett, The Chemistry of Death Robert Bloch, Psycho Raymond Chandler, The Big Sleep Philip Marlowe mystery Agatha Christie, And Then there Were None - Ten Little Niggers – a detective without a detective Evil Under the Sun, Death on the Nile Hercule Poirot detectives A Pocket Full of Rye Miss Marple detective Michael Connelly, The Poet Bloodwork Patricia Cornwell, Body of Evidence a Dr. Kay Scrapetta mystery, disappearance of a manuscript Unnatural Exposure a Dr Kay Scarpetta mystery, Dublin, Ireland and Richmond, Virginia murders connected? The Last Precinct typical Kay Scarpetta detective Michael Crichton, Rising Sun Tower, industrial murder in L.A., Nakamoto intrigue USA/ Japan Amanda Cross, Sweet Death, Kind Death a Kate Fansler mystery, suicide?/murder? of a college professor Death in a Tenured Position, first female professor in Harvard - women Colin Dexter, The Dead of Jericho Inspector Morse investigates a “suicide” The Silent World of Nicholas Quinn Murder of a deaf academic in North Oxford Lisa Gardner, The Neighbour The Survivors Club The Next Accident Elizabeth George, Deception on his mind mystery, relationships, racism, Asian-English In pursuit of the proper sinner two bodies in pre-historic stone circle an Inspector Lynley/ Barbara Havers detective Sue Grafton, "E" is for evidence Kinsey Millhone finds $5000 on bank account, frame-up Caroline Graham, Murder at Madingley Grange mystery weekend at Madingley Grange, nobody wants to play the victim, not really a detective, British The Killings at Badger’s Drift British village detective, Inspector Barnaby Ann Granger A Word After Dying Superintendent Alan Markby and his girlfriend Meredith Mitchell inquire into an old lady’s death when on holiday Graham Greene, Our Man in Havanah agent in Havanah, pretending and sending fake stories The Confidential Agent a man is sent to England to buy coal, civil war The Human Factor John Harvey, Still Water a Charlie Resnick mystery (British), domestic abuse Rough treatment a Charlie Resnick mystery, drug dealing 4 Carl Hiaasen, Double Whammy private eye R.J. Decker, looking for a killer, Florida detective, funny to read, but difficult language Mary Higgins Clark, The Cradle Will Fall doctor “cures“ infertile women Moonlight becomes you Fashion photographer meets former stepmother, murder? Pretend you don’t see her a young woman witnesses a crime and goes into the witness protection program You belong to me call-in radio show; topic: lonesome women who disappear Patricia Highsmith, The Talented Mr. Ripley a schizophrenic murderer Ripley's Game sequel Ripley Under Ground sequel Deep Water psychosis in American suburbia Strangers on a Train “I kill your wife and you kill my father“, Hitchcock movie People Who Knock on the Door religious fanaticism, Evangelical Revival Reginald Hill, The Wood Beyond British detective , a Dalziel and Pascoe novel, British country life, animal rights activist Tony Hillerman, Skinwalkers a Joe Leaphorn/ Jim Chee mystery, American Indians (Navajos), murders A Thief of Time Anasazi pothunters, American Indians, religion The Fallen Man Greg Iles, 24 Hours kidnapping, family terror for 24 hours, thriller The Quiet Game Natchez, Mississippi, racial tensions, dark secrets in the town, main character’s family involved , often compared to John Grisham’s novels Dead Sleep, detective set in New Orleans. Are the women in the pictures sleeping or dead? Michael Innes, Seven Suspects, a Sir John Appleby mystery, murder in an English university P.D. James, Original Sin murder at Peverell press, a conservative publishing house in London J.A. Jance, Desert Heat detective set in Arizona Sadie Jones, The outcast Britain 1957, class, abuse Philip Kerr, A Philosophical Investigation intellectual thriller, two different points of view, criminal and detective Donna Leon, Death in a Strange Country a Guido Brunetti murder, corruption Death and Judgement a Guido Brunetti murder, international, organised crime Sharyn McCrumb, The Rosewood Casket four sons meet to build a coffin for their dying father, a box containing the remains of a young child must be buried with Randall Stargill Sara Paretsky, Deadlock woman detective V.I. Varshavski Stuart Pawson, The Picasso Scam Inspector Charlie Priest, unorthodox methods, international art fraud, British detective Ian Pears, Giotto’s Hand master criminal, called Giotto, English art dealer involved Ian Rankin, Knots and Crosses detective John Rebus, series of murders, maniac Kathy Reichs, Deja Dead Dr. Temperance Brennan, director of forensic anthropology in Quebec, serial killer at work Break no bones, Brennan case, serial murder, homeless Fatal Voyage jetliner disaster, bomb theories, a Tempe Brennan detective Ruth Rendell, An Unkindness of Ravens Inspector Wexford mystery, husband missing The Secret House of Death Some Lie and Some Die No More Dying Then Inspector Wexford mystery, little girl disappears Michael Ridpath, Free to Trade young trader framed for murder and accused of insider trading Nancy Taylor Rosenberg, Interest of Justice Judge’s sister murdered, nephew murderer? Abuse of Power abuse of police authority 5 Ann Rule, Everything She Ever Wanted true story of woman who murders if she doesn’t get what she wants In the Name of Love and other cases man killed by best friend and business partner Dead by Sunset true story - wife killed by husband If You Really Loved Me father wants 14-year-old daughter to kill his wife Bitter Harvest disintegration of a marriage, two houses burnt down, two children die in the fire Dorothy Simpson, No Laughing Matter an Inspector Thanet mystery, murder at vineyard Wake the Dead murder at a fete, mother of an MP Sue Townsend, Rebuilding Coventry “Yesterday I killed a man called Gerald Fox“, story of a confused housewife Barbara Vine, A Fatal Inversion 1976 bohemian commune in Britain shattered, years later bones of woman and child discovered A Dark-Adapted Eye England in the fifties, family secrets, death penalty The Brimstone Wedding A home for the elderly, two women share secrets Minette Walters, The Ice House Three women living at the Grange, corpse discovered ten years later, British detective Drugs Anonymous, Go Ask Alice diary of a 16-year-old addict Melvin Burgess, Junk Marian Keyes, Rachel’s Holiday New York City, Rachel, 27, drinks, group therapy Sarah T., Portrait of a Teenage Alcoholic Irvine Welsh,Trainspotting Irvine Welsh, Ecstasy Education Erin Gruwell, The Freedom Writers’ Diary Nat Hentoff, The Day They Came To Arrest The Books Lou Ann Johnson, Dangerous Minds Nancy H. Kleinbaum, Dead Poets Society Willy Russell, Educating Rita Family Margret Atwood, The blind assassin family history, two world wars, story of two sisters and their secrets Mark Haddon, A Spot of Bother main character George retires, worries about cancer, wife has affair, daughter wants to marry, has toddler from first marriage, gay son … Siri Hustvedt, What I Loved New York, two families, family saga, loss Joyce Carol Oates, freaky Green Eyes, mother disappears mysteriously, domestic violence Joanna Trollope, Marrying the Mistress married man falls in love with younger woman, wife and sons cope with it The best of friends close friends, both married, one marriage ends, new relationships worry three generations and two families Second Honeymoon couple living in London, three grown-up kids, empty nest syndrome, mother wants kids to return home, do so for different reasons 6 Great Britain Helen Fielding, Bridget Jones’s Diary The Edge of Reason Nick Hornby, Fever Pitch partly autobiographical, man obsessed with fhe “real” football High Fidelity Rob, pop music junkie, girlfriend Laura, relationship, music, movies Ian McEwan, Atonement childhood, love, crime, pre-war atmosphere of 1934 Bill Bryson, Notes from a small island Scott O’Driscoll, Britain in Close-Up Growing up Judy Blume, Summer Sisters two girls who were best summer friends for years meet again several years later Malcolm Bosse, Ordinary Magic 14-year-old American boy has grown up in India, moves to the USA, two cultures Stephen Chbosky, The perks of being a wallflower growing up as an outsider Robert Cormier, The Chocolate War secret school society, bullying Berlie Doherty, Dear Nobody pregnancy of girl; diary form Anne Fine, The Tulip Touch Tulip is a real weird and mean kid, nobody wants to be her friend Flour Babies Janet Frame, Owls Do Cry growing up in New Zealand John Grisham, A painted house growing up in Arkansas, 1952, seen through the eyes of a sevenyear-old, cotton, Mexican workers Gaye Hicyilmaz, Coming Home Turkish girl grows up in England, moves to Turkey Kief Hillsbery, War Boy deaf-mute teenage skateboard freak takes to the road with an older friend he trusts, America, environmental issues, homosexuals, terrorism S. E. Hinton, The Outsiders 14-year- old orphan, two brothers, member of rival gang killed by his best friend That Was Then, This Is Now Nick Hornby, About a Boy ideal family model? Marcus, 12, Will, 36 – relationship? Slam Sam – 16, skater, Alicia - girlfriend Jennifer Lauck, Blackbird Jennifer is five, her mother is ill, Jennifer is not allowed a childhood Beverley Lewis, The Shunning growing up in Amish community Joy Nicholson, The Tribes of Palos Verdes teenage life in California, American dream, drugs Joyce Carol Oates, Freaky Green Eyes Big Mouth and Ugly Girl friendship between two outsiders Louis Sachar, Holes Stanley sent to boys’ detention center, digging holes every day J. D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye 16-year-old kicked out of several schools, fights phoney people, family, education in America, classic Sue Townsend, The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole The Growing Pains of Adrian Mole Adeline Yen Mah, Chinese Cinderella story of an unwanted daughter Holocaust John Boyne, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas Lily Brett, Too Many Men Ruth, daughter of a holocaust survivor returns to Poland with her father to visit Anne Frank, The Diary of a Young Girl 7 Thomas Kenneally, Schindler’s List The German Oskar Schindler saved more than a thousand Jews, made into a Hollywood movie by Spielberg Homelessness Elizabeth Lutzeier, Coldest Winter Colum McCann This Side of Brightness homeless white man and black work in tunneling, family saga four generations, racism Morton Rhue, Aspahlt Tribe Robert Swindells, Stone Cold Homosexuality David Levithan, Boy Meets Boy Alice Walker, Color Purple Jeanette Winterson, Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit Morton Rhue, Aspahlt Tribe Immigrants Margret Atwood, Alias Grace true story of murderess in the 19th century; growing up Gaye Hicyilmaz, Coming Home Turkish girl growing up in London decides to stay with her sister’s family in Turkey Frank Mc Court, Tis, sequel to Angela’s Ashes, life of an Irish immigrant in post-war New York Andrea Levy, Small Island Jamaican lodger in London in 1948, former RAF soldier, wife Hortense joins him E. Annie Proulx; Accordion Crimes different immigrant stories – Italian, German, French Elizabeth Laird, Kiss the Dust Kurdish family flee Iraq, live as refugees in London Internet Malorie Blackman, A.N.T.I.D.O.T.E. Hacker Ireland Maeve Binchy, The Glass Lake woman disappears in a lake, romance Roddy Doyle, Paddy Clarke Ha, Ha, Ha Joan Lingard, The Twelfth Day of July protestant girl meets catholic boy in Northern Ireland Across the Barricades sequel Into Exile sequel Frank McCourt, Angela’s Ashes poor Irish catholic childhood; growing up Leon Uris, Trinity three Irish family stories Redemption sequel Bernhard McLaverty, Cal 8 Lawyers as writers George Dawes Green, The Juror female juror with 12-year-old son is threatened to return verdict of guilty John Grisham, A Time to Kill racial prejudice: Mississippi, rape of black 10-year-old girl, father shoots the white culprits The Firm young lawyer hired by law firm representing big mafia bosses; mafia The Pelican brief young law student discovers cover-up, environment The Client boy accidentally witnesses suicide, finds woman lawyer who helps him and his younger brother and mother against mafia and FBI The Brethren three former judges meet in prison, fine-tune a mail scam and it’s starting to work The Partner $9o million disappeared from law firm, partner escapes to Brazil, hunted down The Summons old judge, has issued a summons fpr his two sons to return to Clanton to discuss his etstate The King of Torts Clay Carter, public defender, becomes greedy lawyer, enormous settlements The Testament angry old man rewrites his will, - mysterious woman living in the Brazilian Jungle, contrast – America – money, Brazil - money doesn’t mwan anything William Lashner, Hostile Witness loser lawyer is offered millionaire clients and beautiful women Richard North Patterson, Eyes of a Child murder, custody battle, child abuse, Mafia story The Race U.S. Presitential election, battle among Repulican candidates Exile Medical thrillers Michael Crichton, A Case of Need Tess Gerritsen, Harvest Michael Palmer, Flashback New Zealand Alan Duff, Once were warriors portrayal of Maori life in New Zealand today, abuse, alcohol problems What becomes of the broken hearted sequel to Once were warriors Ian Cross, The Godboy 13-year-old boy tells his story, abuse Barbara Else, Gingerbread husbands men/women relationships, family life in the 90s Janet Frame, An autobiography New Zealand’s most famous author, life in New Zealand Owls Do Cry growing up in New Zealand Faces in the Water breakdown, madness and confinement in mental institutions Patricia Grace, Potiki New Zealand coastal community threatened by developers, political world of today and myths of older times Keri Hulme, The Bone People South Island Maori culture, abuse, drinking problems Fiona Kidman, The Book of Secrets 1817, group of settlers under leadership of preacher moved to Nova Scotia, later 1854, settled in New Zealand, religious fanaticism Helga Tiscenko, Strawberries with the Führer autobiography, Tiscenko, born in Germany, father important man in the Waffen SS, later emigrates to New Zealand 9 Outsiders Mark Haddon, The curious incident of the dog in the night-time 15-year-old autistic boy, a neighbour’s dog is killed, wants to solve the murder oTorey L. Hayden, Somebody Else's Kids One Child, six-year-old girl, abused, neglected, violent, taken to special class, true story The Tiger’s Child, sequel Ghost Girl little girl living in a nightmare, cults S. E. Hinton, The Outsiders Wally Lamb, I Know This Much is True twin brothers, one schizophrene Oliver Sacks, Awakenings doctor’s report on patients suffering from sleeping sickness Robert Swindells, Ruby Tanya asylum seekers in Britain People with special needs Christy Brown, My Left Foot Leonore Fleischer, Rain Man Helen Keller, Story of My Life Doris Lessing, Fifth Child Tennessee Williams, The Glass Menagerie Psychiatry Janet Frame, Faces in the Water breakdown, madness and confinement in mental institutions Hannah Green, I Never Promised You a Rosegarden 16-year-old schizophrenic Jewish girl John Katzenbach, The Analyst New York psychoanayst’s life destroyed, thriller Ken Kesey, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest life in a lunatic asylum Wally Lamb, I know this much is true twins, one schizophrene, American family saga She’s Come Undone teenager, eating disorder, therapy Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar American girl’s breakdown, Matt Ruff, Set this House in Order multiple personalities share an imaginary house in the main character’s head Irivin D. Yalom, Lying on the Couch psychiatric whodunit Racism Chris Cleave, Little Bee story of a British couple and a 16-year-old Nigerian orphan Colum McCann, Zoli Gypsy girl survives the holocaust and, learns to read and write and wants Gypsy traditions to survive Harper Lee, To Kill A Mockingbird Mary Ann Rodman, Yankee Girl Jackson, Mississippi, 1964, 11-year-old girl from Chicago confronted with racist south Katherine Stockett, The Help Jackson, Mississippi 1962 black maids not respected by their white employers Relationships Sarah Dessen, Dreamland 10 Cecelia Ahern, PS, I love you young husband died, left wife letters Stephenie Meyer, Twilight vampires Annabel Giles, Birthday Girls Nick Hornby, Juliet, Naked online lovestory between a women and a rockstar David Nichols, Ohe day separate ways after graduation, fate … Lionel Shriver, The Post-Birthday World Science Fiction & Utopia Margaret Atwood, A Handmaid’s Tale Anthony Burgess, A Clockwork Orange Aldous Huxley, Brave New World George Orwell, Animal Farm 1984 J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit Scotland Alexander McCall Smith, 44 Scotland Street Alexander McCall Smith, The Sunday Philosophy Club Teenage Violence Lionel Shriver, We need to talk about Kevin Todd Strasser, Give a Boy a Gun Iain Banks, The Wasp Factory Todd Strasser, If I grow up Terrorism Tom Clancy, Patriot Games Terrorist attack on the Prince of Wales and his family, Northern Ireland background first published 1987 Rainbow Six, John Clarke, head of elite multinational task force, kidnapping, hostage taking – big terrorist threat Douglas Coupland, Hey Nostradamus victim of Columbine high school massacre, evangelical christian group, main themes loss and religion Daphne du Maurier, Don’t Look Now A Border-Line Case A confident young actress confronts her father’s old friend on a lonely island Brian Moore, Lies of silence IRA, man forced to plant a bomb because his wife is kept as a hostage Gerald Seymour, Harry’s Game IRA undercover agent is sent to Belfast, badly equipped Totalitarian systems Cory Doctorow, Little Brother Marcus, 17, good at computers, terrorist attack on San Fancisco Aldous Huxley, Brave New World utopian novel, controlled world vs. savages, classic George Orwell, 1984 all your life is controlled by Big Brother, classic Animal Farm satire upon dictatorship; Stalin, Hitler; classic Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451 utopian classic, books as a danger to society are burned 11 Unmarried mothers Margret Drabble, The Millstone successful woman getting pregnant after first sexual experience Lynn Reid Banks, The L-Shaped Room pregnant woman kicked out by father, neighbours Jewish, Black helps Two Is Lonely sequel, son 8 years Violence, War Zlata Filipovic, Zlata’s Diary William Golding, Lord of the Flies Khaled Hosseini, Kite Runner Judith Kerr, When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit Women Marjorie Darke, A Question of Courage story of a suffragette Waris Dirie, Desert Flower childhood in Somalia, life in England, illiteracy, autobiography of a top model, UN ambassador fighting circumcision Colin McDowell, A Woman of Spirit, woman in fashion business Arthur Golden, Memoirs of a Geisha women are trained to “serve” men, a girl’s virginity is auctioned, Japanese society Marian Keyes, Sushi for Beginners three women living in Dublin, working for magazine, career woman, married, two children … searching for happiness Amy Tan, The Joy Luck Club lifestories of four Chinese women and their daughters in China and the USA Fay Weldon, The Life and Loves of a She Devil woman finds out that husband has an affair, becomes destructive and diabolic Miscellaneous Margret Atwood, The Blind Assassin story of two sisters and their secrets, one of them died a mysterious death, memory, intrigue and betrayal Julian Barnes, Arthur and George end of 19th century Britain, class in Britain, doctor, later writer, Conan-Doyle, true story Dan Brown, The Da Vinci Code historical thriller, religion A.S. Byatt, Possession love story and satire on the modern biography industry, literary mystery Steven Clarke, Merde actually an Englishman living in France opens his own tearoom, makes fun of his experiences Charles Coe, Young Man in Vietnam Douglas Coupland, Hey Nostradamus novel about a fictional 1988 school shooting Michael Crichton, Disclosure man sexually harassed by woman, career Michael Cunningham, The Hours inspired by Virginia Woolf’s life; book about failure, love and madness Geoffrey Eugenides, Middlesex family saga, life in Detroit, Greek background, sex change Ian Mc Ewan, Atonement mysteries, crime, 1934, a comedy as well as an atrocity Sebastian Faulks, Engleby working class boy wins scholarship at famous British university, dark secret 12 Joy Fielding, See Jane Run woman lost her memory, kept away from family, abuse Jonathan Safran Foer, Everything is illuminated main character Jonathan Safran Foer travels to the Ukraine to find the woman who helped his grandfather survive during the Second World War – funny – translator’s broken English, family history Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close amateur detective New York, family mystery Stephen Fry, The Liar makes fun of Britain, Oxbridge and spies Fynn, Mister God, This Is Anna girl talking to God Ernest Gaines, A Gathering of Old Men Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat Pray Love John Grisham, A Painted House growing up in the American South, story told through the eyes of a child Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter Nick Hornby. A Long Way Down four people who want to commit suicide meet on top of a skyscraper Khaled Hosseini, The Kite Runner growing up of two boys in Afghanistan in the 1970s, later emigration to the USA Diane Johnson, Le Divorce American marries into French aristocratic family, collision of two cultures Sebastian Junger, The Perfect Storm The Andrea Gail, a commercial Gloucester fishing boat gets into the storm Sophie Kinsella, Shopaholic Abroad young woman, shopping addict, love story The Secret Dreamworld of a Shopaholic Donna Leon, Death at La Fenice David Lodge, Nice Work British university life Jonathan Lynn, Anthony Jay, The Complete Yes Minister Armistead Maupin, Tales of the City naive young secretary in San Francisco, thriller chronicle Audrey Niffenegger, The Time Traveler’s Wife love story set at different times, Henry travels from past to present to future, Clare dreams of a normal life Brian Moore, The Great Victorian Collection dream changes a man’s life, becomes true; fantastic, surreal world Joyce Carol Oates, my sister, my love 6-year-old girl murdered, New Jersey, based on true story Sivasankara Pillai, Scavenger’s son Indian caste system, social commentary Anna Quindlen, One True Thing a family novel, relationships, women Miss Read, Chronicles of Fairacre idealized, quiet life of a schoolteacher in an English village J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the philosopher’s stone Harry’s first year as a wizard Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Muriel Spark, Memento Mori old people called by anonymous caller and reminded that they have to die Sue Townsend, The Queen and I Republican government wins election in England, royal family has to live like average citizens Joanna Trollope, The Best of Friends relationships, best friends who have never ben in love marry someone else, one of the marriages ends Marrying the Mistress relationships, same story from different points of view Anne Tyler, Saint Maybe young man blames himself for the accidental death of his brother Breathing Lessons housewife, married, two children, late forties; expectations and disappointments about marriage; family Searching for Caleb search for a family’s roots, growing up, rebellion and acceptance The Accidental Tourist tourist guidebook writer, addicted to routine, falls in love 13 Simon Winchester, The Professor and the Madman The Making of the Oxford English dictionary Virginia Woolf, Mrs. Dalloway experimental book, First World War, London society PLAYS Brendan Behan, The Hostage Northern Ireland Richard's Cork Leg Northern Ireland Caryl Churchill, Top Girls women of different centuries meet and discuss their situation Arthur Miller, Death of a Salesman All My Sons The Crucible Peter Nichols, The Freeway people spending their lives in cars A Day in the Death of Joe Egg handicapped Peter Shaffer, Equus Martin Sherman, When She Danced Russian poet marries American dancer Tennessee Williams, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof American South, family conflicts FILMS About A Boy (growing up, lifestyles) American Beauty (beauty, The American Dream, suburbian America) American History X (racism) Billy Elliot (family, a boy trying to make it as a dancer) Blood Diamond (Sierra Leone, diamond trade, tainted gem stones) Bowling for Columbine (America, school shootings) Brokeback Mountain (homosexuality) Dangerous Minds (education) Darwin’s Nightmare (globalization) Dead Man Walking (death penalty) East is East (multicultural Britain) Juno (teenage pregnancy) Little Miss Sunshine (beauty pageants, dysfunctional families) Love Actually (Love, relationships) Mississippi Burning (racial segregation) My Life without Me (dying) Once Were Warriors (Maori in New Zealand) Rain Man (autism) Ray (Ray Bradbury, drug addiction, music) Requiem for a Dream (drugs) Slumdog Millionaire (India, life in the slums, TV shows) Supersize Me (food) Thank you for smoking (spinning the truth, lobbying) The Beach (traveling) The Freedom Writers (education, gang life) The Truman Show (reality TV) The Wind that shakes the Barley (Ireland) 14 Thin (eating disorders, documentary) 15
