serial killers

Thought that this would be a good place to share titles for AH dissertation. Most of these were sent in as a response to my email plea but would work well with either killer or serial killer as the central linking theme. Here are the suggestions so far
(with some duplicates or extra votes ! )

No country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy. Takes the theme of serial killers way above and beyond anything you’ve ever read before and leaves you feeling that the whole American Dream is now defunct, destroyed and annihilated by the existence of pure evil. It is FANTASTIC!

Bonfire of the Vanities? By Tom Wolfe

Complicity – Iain Banks

Silence of the lambs – Thomas Harris

The mermaids singing – Val McDermid

Underground - Tobias Hill

American psycho’ by Bret Easton Ellis

Lullaby by Chuck Palahniuk

Darkly Dreaming Dexter – Jeff Lindsay

American Psycho – Bret Easton Ellis

Hannibal Lecter Series?

Engleby - Sebastian Faulks

In Cold Blood - Truman Capote

The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold

Interpretation of Murder by Jeff Rubinstein

RJ Ellory - A Quiet Belief in Angels

Perfume by Patrick Suskind

.........and I have just discovered Tess Gerritsen - 'The mephisto club' is her 6th novel I think but the first I have read. Gruesome, dismemberment serial killer plot, two main female characters - Dr Maura Isles and Detective Jane Rizzoli. The Mephisto club of the title is dedicated to the study of evil (well there's a surprise!)and a killing takes place close to the home of one of the members leading to their involvement - is the killer human or is something more supernatural at work. Dark and brutal but a real page turner.

Of course I meant Engleby!

The Road

Not sure what happened to my first posting earlier in the week. I saw it, but it seems to have vanished now. That's what comes of being a blogging virgin!

Great to hear what people are reading - keep them coming, especially if it is one you can't put down.

I am reading Wolf Totem by Jiang Rong, a fascinating fictional account based on the author's real life experiences in the Mongolian grasslands. I am now inspired to read Man's biography of Genghis Khan before seeing the new film 'Mongol'.

Oh yes, the reason for the posting. Moira says we are looking at The Road - we actually have it on the database because it is so good. It is a 'must read'.

Di

about Burma ? level

I also read recently The Glass palace by Amitav Ghosh. I found it fascinating about the development of Burma from monarchy to secretive jhunta. The family saga over many generations made compulsive reading and I particularly enjoyed the parts which described the exiled royal family. The story brought us up to date with the great granddaughter of the family visiting Burma and hearing Aung san su Kyi opposing the current repressive goverment . It was a great read but maybe more for summer relaxing reading than personal study. If anyone else has read it, help me find a theme for PS which might encourage H students to use this because it is a great read.

The Nostradamus Prophecy s1 - s4

A great historical novel set in the time of Nostradamus, with strong female characters and lots of court and political intrigue. Theresa Breslin is getting better and better.

Cleo

Hurrah, I think I have arrived Also listening to Enderby by Sebastian Faulks check out www.audible.co.uk I have a 12 month premium subscription to this web site (£14.99 a month and there are cheaper options) for which I receive two free downloads a month and they supplied a free ipod shuffle on which to listen to them. Great for the train when it is too noisy to read or the wee small hours when you don't want to disturb anyone.

Thought this might be interesting: off the top of my head, these are the books that the SLRCC book group have discussed, and i think most of these books would be OK for higher...am sure i've forgotten some though - please let me know!

Prime of Miss Jean Brodie - Muriel Spark
The Sea - John Banville
The accidental - Ali Smith
Unless -Carol Shields
Seesaw - Debbie Moggach
9th life of Louis drax - Liz Jensen
Kafka on the shore - Haruki Murakami
Fight Club -Chuck Palahniuk
Woodlanders - Thomas Hardy
Jekyll and Hyde - RL Stevenson
People's act of love -James Meek
testament of Gideon Mack - James robertson
We need to talk about kevin - Lionel Shriver
Eyre Affair - Jasper Fforde

we're discussing 'the road' by cormac mccarthy next, and that'll probably be Higher too i think...

we've also discussed looking for JJ and Henry Tumour, but they're more Int1/2 I think

Hi Anne, thanks for organising this blog - sure we will all find it easy once we practice!
I've just read I, Coriander, by Sally Gardiner - it's a lovely story set in London in the mid 17th century, not at all dry but beautifully written and gripping. Not a new book, published in 2005, but still worth mentioning. Good for S1/2 I think.

how to use Libread blog

We are quite new to this blog thing so thought a bit of brief guidance on how to use might help. I am the administrator and hope that I see the same screen as everyone else. I think that to place a new message you would go to 'new post' at the top of the page. You can add a label if you want and this would be useful to put a level for the book you are recommending. That way we can pick out the different levels more easily. Your post can include your comments about the book.
Just click on orange button 'Publish post' at bottom left
There is an option to 'comment' on a post but these only appear to the person who made the origianl post, I think . I'll email this as well to those who have not yet blog-ged .

Thanks for the recommendation, Cleo. Would that Crossley-Holland title be aimed at S1/2 ?
Maybe we could put the level in the label field on the mapost and that way we could collate the suggestions. I have to admit we are not being inundated yet; from the comments on email (!) we are facing an attack of blog-a-phobia.

Hi guys
Thanks for initial comments. let's get those suggestions for new reading at any level posted. If we can suggest a level for any new text , that would be great. I've just read Engleby by Sebastian Faulkes which was a well thought out cliff hanger,but a bit dry in parts. The subject matter and the psychiatric analysis would make it more suitable for H if anybody could plod through the dry scientific bits.

Great idea, we all read so much and don't always get a chance to contribute formally, I think we should put a recommendation on each post. I really enjoyed Gatty's tale by Kevin Crossley-Holland, we could share our BRAW and Carnegie thoughts

Cleo

thanks for the invitation Anne - good idea setting up this blog, i've already added it to my del.icio.us account !