The more that you read,
The more that you know,
The more you learn,
The more places you go.
(a wee rhyme by Dr Zeuss)
You might think it is silly, but reading definitely teaches us things. Every writer takes inspiration from real life when they begin their tales, no matter how small. Stories can transport us to places we have never been and show us things we would never have thought of.
With that in mind I challenge my Senior pupils to read the following novels. They are all available from either the school library or from the class library at the back of my room. These are thirty novels that I think will teach you something and show you a little bit more of our world using either a real or an imagined setting.
1) The Handmaids Tale – Margaret Atwood,
2) Behind the Scenes at the Museum – Katie Atkinson,
3) Any book by Jane Austen for the original Romantic Comedy,
4) Empire of the Sun – J. G. Ballard,
5) Regeneration – Pat Barker,
6) Bloody Chamber – Angela Carter,
7) Birdsong – Sebastian Faulks,
8 ) Memoirs of a Geisha – Arthur Golden,
9) Across the Nightengale Floor – Lian Hearn,
10) I Capture the Castle – Dodie Smith,
11) Snow Child – Eowyn Ivey,
12) The Night Circus – Erin Morgenstern,
13) Any book by Roddy Doyle for a look at Irish working class social issues,
14) The Kite Runner or A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini,
15) Never Let Me Go – Kazuo Ishiguro,
16) The Lovely Bones – Alice Sebold,
17) The Help – Kathryn Stockett,
18) Beloved – Toni Morris,
19) Good Omens – Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman,
20) To Kill a Mocking Bird – Harper Lee,
21) Life of Pi – Yann Martell,
22) The God of Small Things – Arundhati Roy,
23) Titus Groan – Mervyn Peake,
24) The Hobbit or Children of Hurin – J. R. R. Tolkein,
25) Persopolis – Marjane Satrapi,
26) On the Road – Jack Kerouac,
27) Any short story collection or novel by A. L. Kennedy,
28) Animal Farm – George Orwell,
29) Fugitive Pieces – Anne Michaels,
30) Fight Club – Chuck Palahnuik.
Let’s see who rises to the challenge!
