Hi all - Hope there is something that you would like to read! I have added the blurbs from amazon and then some personal comments from me to help you all decide!
Sophie’s World – Jostein Gaarder
When 14-year-old Sophie encounters a mysterious mentor who introduces her to philosophy, mysteries deepen in her own life. Why does she keep getting postcards addressed to another girl? Who is the other girl? And who, for that matter, is Sophie herself? To solve the riddle, she uses her new knowledge of philosophy, but the truth is far stranger than she could have imagined. A phenomenal worldwide bestseller, SOPHIE'S WORLD sets out to draw teenagers into the world of Socrates, Descartes, Spinoza, Hegel and all the great philosophers. A brilliantly original and fascinating story with many twists and turns, it raises profound questions about the meaning of life and the origin of the universe.
One of my favourite all-time books. It is essentially written for young adults but this is a fascinating mix of fairy tale and introduction to philosophy. Very original and different to other books - I often re-read all or parts of this.
A Widow for One Year – John IrvingRuth Cole is a complex, often self-contradictory character - a 'difficult' woman. By no means is she conventionally 'nice', but she will never be forgotten. Her story is told in three parts, each focussing on a critical time in her life. When we first meet her - on Long Island in the summer of 1958 - Ruth is only four. The second time we meet Ruth it is 1990, when she is an unmarried woman whose personal life is not nearly as successful as her literary career. She distrusts her judgement in men, for good reason. The book closes in 1995 when Ruth is forty-one years old, a widow and a mother. She's about to fall in love for the first time. Richly comic, as well as deeply disturbing, A Widow for One Year is a multi-layered love story of astonishing emotional force. It is also a brilliant novel about the passage of time and the relentlessness of grief.
My favourite contemporary author and one that is a bit controversial I know! But this is a gripping book, I love the fact that it is in three parts, seeing how Ruth's life changes. For a man, he seems to write about a main female character very well. This is one of my favourite Irving books, he has a unique style and often pushes boundaries and I do think he likes to shock sometimes - his characters are not always that nice! But they are always interesting!
Two Caravans - Marina Lewycka
A field of strawberries in Kent ... And sitting in it two caravans - one for the men and one for the women. The residents are from all over: miner's son Andriy is from the old Ukraine, while sexy young Irina is from the new: they eye each other warily. There are the Poles Tomasz and Yola, two Chinese girls and Emanuel from Malawi. They're all here to pick strawberries in England's green and pleasant land. But these days England's not so pleasant for immigrants. Not with Russian gangster-wannabes like Vulk, who's taken a shine to Irina and thinks kidnapping is a wooing strategy. And so Andriy - who really doesn't fancy Irina, honest - must set off in search of that girl he's not in love with.
I can't add much to this since it is on my TBR pile but I loved A short History and this looks like an interesting read as well.
The Eyre Affair – Jasper Fforde
Fforde's heroine, Thursday Next, lives in a world where time and reality are endlessly mutable--someone has ensured that the Crimean War never ended for example--a world policed by men like her disgraced father, whose name has been edited out of existence. She herself polices text--against men like the Moriarty-like Acheron Styx, whose current scam is to hold the minor characters of Dickens' novels to ransom, entering the manuscript and abducting them for execution and extinction one by one. When that caper goes sour, Styx moves on to the nation's most beloved novel--an oddly truncated version of Jane Eyre--and kidnaps its heroine. The phlegmatic and resourceful Thursday pursues Acheron across the border into a Leninist Wales and further to Mr Rochester's Thornfield Hall, where both books find their climax on the roof amid flames.
Again one I haven't read. However, it is a book about books! Nik (bf) also has suggested this to me and wanted to have some influence on this list!
Kestrel for a Knave – Barry Hines
Life is tough and cheerless for Billy Casper, a disillusioned teenager growing up in a small Yorkshire mining town. Violence is commonplace and he is frequently cold and hungry. Yet he is determined to be a survivor and when he finds Kes, a kestrel hawk he discovers a passion in life. Billy identifies with her proud silence and she inspired in him the trust and love that nothing else can. Intense and raw and bitingly honest, "A Kestrel For A Knave" was first published in 1968 and was also made into a highly acclaimed film, "Kes", directed by Ken Loach.
A beautifully written book, full of detailed descriptions. I first read this at school when I was 15 and taught it for the first time this year. A powerful book (and film) not always a light-hearted read though.
August Book Poll
Sophie's World - Jostein Gaarder (34.6%)
A Widow for One Year - John Irving (7.7%)
Two Caravans - Marina Lewycka (30.8%)
The Eyre Affair - Jasper Fforde (15.4%)
Kestrel for a Knave - Barry Hines (11.5%)