The other hand by Chris Cleave

This is the story of Little Bea, a Nigerian illegal immigrant and Sarah a high flying suburban magazine publisher. How their lives collide provides an amazing story of lives damaged by events in Nigeria and how the main characters cope with the aftermath in UK. The insight into the situation of an illegal immigrant was especially well drawn and little Bea was a very engaging 'heroine'.
It was a very well written book and a harrowing story with many elements and images which would make it work well for H personal studies

Just by chance I was given "the Cellist of Sarajevo" to read and I'm so glad that I did not miss this real gem of a book. It is written by Steven Galloway and is set in the 1990s during various stages of the four siege of the city. It is harrowing to hear how the people survived the constant shelling by the rival factions in the hills above the city. They all survived with litlle electricity and no running water, let alone the small problem of food shortages. The story is told by four very different characters all, equally affected and damaged by the war. It sounds grim and in parts , it is, but it is also a very uplifting story of hope and pride and sheer guts. It is based on the story of a real cellist who chose to play his cello in the street for 21 days as the mortar shells explode around him. The adagio by Albinoni is a soulful piece of music but for all of the people of Sarajevo and especially the four characters in the book, this act of resistance and the unifying and civilizing power of music was very symbolic. Needless to say there is a lot of human interest detail and the characters are very well developed in such short chapters. I thoroughly enjoyed this book but its message was very emotional and very powerfully delivered. Incidentally its structure and the character deveopment would make it work very well for the personal study, but that is quite apart from being a superb read !

The Secret Scripture

The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry - runner up for Booker and winner of Costa Award. This story is told by two people - an old woman who has been in an asylum in Ireland most of her life but now has to be moved because the institution is being closed down - and the doctor who has to investigate and assess her case. This has tinges of The Magdalene Sisters but it is not nearly as gruesome, yet the injustice that women suffered in these times is just as heart felt. It is well written and slowly draws you into the world of both the narrators where you genuinely feel for both of them.

The Road
Cormac McCarthy

This is a very stark, harrowing story about a father and son trying to survive what we can only guess has been a nuclear holocaust. It is sparsely written in typical McCarthy style which adds to the bleak theme of the book. It is both a celebration of human love and desperation for survival; and yet in contrast it is the horrific illustration of man's inhumanity to his fellow man when society is stripped away. When I closed the book at first, I didn't think I felt particularly sad or sorry for the characters, but as I stood in my kitchen making a cup of tea I suddenly burst into tears. It is a 'sneaky' emotional book which made me cry as a mother, a daughter, a friend and a member of the human race!

I just read these books for teen titles, and they were brilliant!

The Trap by John Smelcer
This made me cry a bit...its set in Alaska and is about this old man who is out checking his wolf traps, when he gets his foot caught in a trap. Meanwhile, his grandson is at home in the village growing more and more worried as his grandad fails to return, but he's reluctant to look for him in case he dents his grandad's pride. Its a really haunting tale, beautifully told, and it explains really well family relationships, the isolation of Alaska as well as the conflicts faced by native american people too. this could work for Int2 I think

Frozen in time by Ali Sparkes
This book looks like it should be awful, but the dialogue's great and it is genuinely funny! It is about a brother and sister who dicover that their great aunt and uncle were cryogenically frozen in a bunker in their back garden in the 50s. This book has intrigue (what happened to the kid's dad who froze them? why did he freeze them for so long?) , spies and a Librarian who has her eye on the 50s teenagers, and she has Cold War connections too. The way that the 50s teenagers are introduced to 2009 is well done too, as is the fact that the teenagers from 2009 grow to see some of the benefits that the 50s had.

I have read 'Before I Die' and I enjoyed it but I don't know about whether it is the sort of book to put on the open shelves. In a school this size there are bound to be pupils with direct or indirect experience of terminal illness and I do not want to have a book that might be upsetting rather than comforting to a teenager who is in a similar situation or imagines that they are.

Margaret

I'm adding this here because I am not yet sure whether everyone or only Di can read my reply to her request for new senior titles so it may be a repeat !

I read lots this summer and amongst the best was "the Road home" by Rose Tremain. It is a heart rending story of an immigrant man who comes to Britain from an impoverished East European country . His wife has died but he is desperate to improve the lives of his mother and daughter back home. The book charts his physical and emotional struggle as an immigrant, trying to adjust to his loneliness and a very different culture. His journey 'home' is harrowing but beautifully told. I think it would work well for a special study (but with a fair smattering of sexual encounters it would need to be for someone with a bit of maturity)

13 November 2008 15:57

Dear Anne,
I love you but you need to get out more! Before I die is a fabulous, ground-breaking work that is long overdue. If I were to die, I would want to live my final hours at the rate of knots and Yes, Johnny Depp and I WOULD get together! If you're talking about bad books on death then Life, Interrupted by Damian Kelleher IS badly written and derivative. I read Before I die and immediately lent it to my 14 year old who loved it too.
Anyone else feel strongly about this book?
Plus, we must all read every book by Jaclyn Moriarty....now they really are well written!

Love ya!

Rachel

PS Coral has taught me how to blog and is now worried about what she has released onto the WEB!

next senior reading group meeting

Our next meeting is on the 5th December, so if you have read any good books that you would like to see on the next list, please add your blog to the site, and we will take the ideas forward.

Di

Before I die

OK here goes trying to stir up a bit of a debate about a book I recently read.
It is "Before I die" by Jenny Downham. I can hardly say I enjoyed this book because the subject matter was quite depressing. What can you say about a terminally ill teenager who is working her way through a list of excesses before she dies ?
I thought it was not very well written anyway, but my main problem was the morality of the main character: sex, drugs, petty crime are high on her list of things to achieve before she dies.Her friends, the boys in her life do her no favours until she meets Adam, the 'boy next door'. I do not know if this is the way a terminally ill teenager would think or behave, but I do think that this was not sensitively handled and in parts was quite gratuitous.
I would struggle to recommend this to pupils not because of the subject matter (there have been several excellent books about death and young people recently e.g. Skin and Ways to live forever) but because of the lack of hope in the main character. Okay, what hope does a dying person have ?I can believe in a rebellious reaction to a terminal illness but her recklessness makes Tessa very unlikeable for me. If anyone else has read this what do you think ?
Tell me I am being too hard on this book and that teenagers will love it !
Who might you expect to read this ?

Novel nights out!

There are two fantastic looking films coming out in January based on teen fiction. ok I’m more than a bit excited…I’ve just watched the trailer for Inkheart and it looks fantastic! When I was reading the book -it really made me question the darker side of writing, inventing a character who is everything dark and evil and then discovering he could come alive, ArG! Imagine the guilt, if he kills does that make you a murderer, accessory??? I hope the film is just as magical. www.inkheartmovie.com
Also there's Twilight, It’s a lurve story between a high school girl and the weird boy at school –who turns out to be a vampire! The book is brilliant. I read the first 3 in the series back to back in one week! I was seriously desperate until the next book comes out, and now I have spotted it in C2C. Imagine how happy-making that is :-) Check out the trailer for the film… www.twilightthemovie.com
Anyone fancy a novel night out or two to dispel the winter blues?

People of the book

This was a fascinating read with lots of historical interest. It was based on the fate of one very rare book and its journey around the world. Each chapter flipped from different places and times so you had to concentrate on the detail. There was particular mention of a librarian and a book conservator but also intrigue and romance. I would think S6 and adults would enjoy this one which has recently come out in paperback.

The reader by Bernard Schlink

I have recommended this to so many people this summer and no one has been disappointed.
It was on the previous 'Free your mind' list but not the latest one , but I see it is being released as a film soon. It is beautifully written but it is also the first book I have read which attempts to talk about German atrocities during the Holocaust from an immediate post war German perspective. The relationship between the young man and the older woman with a 'past' is fascinating , almost incredible. When her past catches up with him at a later stage in his life , he struggles to balance his concern for her with his horror at her past.
It is a compelling read and would easily work for H or AH.

Crusade

Ok here goes! Crusade by Elizabeth Laird - loved it! Thank you Val for lending it to me to review. Maybe you have to love history but I think a story about the Crusades has resonance in today's world. The book has pace and strong sub plots. The two boys, on either side of the conflict during the seige of Acre, are exceptionally well defined and accessible to a modern readership. The story unfolds through their eyes and in their two voices and p.o.v. With the benfit of hindsight and dramatic irony, I found this a very poignant read. The Crusade to reclaim Jerusalem from Saladin was vicious, bloody and lacking in all conscience - Christian or otherwise. You feel the boys' fear and can't help but say"If only...."

Anne B

key words: Crusades; Islam; Prejudice; Conflict; Family

PS think I may not entirely have the hang of this format yet!! :-)

Sea glass

I am not always a fan of Anita Shreve; I find them a bit lightweight but I was very moved by "Sea glass" . It is set in American weaving mills following the Wall Street crash. It describes a fascinating period of history during which mill owners squeezed their workers to retain their own profits while the almost slave workers struggled to survive. It is mainly a love story though told from a variety of viewpoints: the woman, her new husband, the man she falls in love with, an impoverished child mill worker and a bored, rich, society heiress. The way their story is woven together provides a great insight into the politics of the time. At its most basic level it is the story of a lonely young woman who marries the wrong man because it is the 'done thing'.
I think it would work well for Int 2 since it has the 'angle' of the different viewpoints which they could use to interpret the ongoing story. The theme of glass worn down by the sea reflects the hopelessness of the woman's situation. Apart from being suitable for a student personal study, it was a very enjoyable read .

Alexander McCall Smith

Been reading lots of Alexander McCall Smith books this summer - all the Isabel Dalhousie novels especially. (The 5th one in the series in "The comfort of Saturdays"). I've enjoyed them very much but not sure that our Senior pupils would. What do you others think?
I have only got the first in the series "Sunday Philosophy Club" in the LRC, and I 'm not sure whether it's worth buying the others in the series for my book stock.

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak is my book of the year! I read it earlier this summer and sent a recommendation by text to my friends - "some books touch your soul, this one took mine and danced with it!" David, my youngest son, read this book (probably his first - I know I'm a failure as a Mum and a Librarian!) for his personal study for English Higher and even he cried...he even admitted to his pals and his teacher that he'd shed a few tears. Death is the narrator of the story about a young girl growing up in Germany during the Holocaust which at first might seem sombre and depressing. This book is funny, heart rending, unique and life changing! I would recommend it to a good reader in S2/3 as well as for Personal Study.

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!