Written when the author was just 27, this book about characters in small town Australia contains elements of stream of consciousness and experimental literature that made it famous at the time, and yet White would not allow it’s reprint in his life time. An excellent first time novel, something about the story and characters feels …
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Dance Dance Dance by Haruki Murakami
Murakami's novels are kind of an acquired taste and are generally a normal story that's a bit weird. In this story, the narrator feels compelled to return to a hotel he stayed in years before, because he feels that someone is calling him back there, possibly a girl he used to be in a …
The Boy Who Could See Demons by Carolyn Jess-Cooke
This was an unusual book, I really enjoyed the mystery of whether the boy could see demons, or only thought he could! The story is about The Troubles in Northern Ireland, and how much that has effected the mental health of the people who have lived through trauma there. Which sounds depressing, but it's actually …
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The Ocean At The End Of The Lane by Neil Gaiman
A gentle mix of modern life and ancient fairy tale, this book is about memory and childhood, magic and the mundane. Opening on an adult returning to his childhood home after the death of his parents, it soon slips into the half forgotten story of the man as a young boy. Starting with the suicide …
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Legally Blonde/Family Trust by Amanda Brown
I'm cheekily lumping these two books in together because they're kind of short, and often come in a one volume book. I happened to buy them together too. I'm also not usually a huge proponent of chick lit, but actually, I think the covers on these novels let them down in some respects. Yes, these …
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The Watcher In The Shadows by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
I actually didn't realise that Carlos Ruiz Zafon wrote young adult fiction, but I loved The Shadow Of The Wind, and I think this book has some tonal similarities. Following the death of her father in 1937, Irene moves with her mother and younger brother to a small island where her mother can work as …
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Captain Corelli’s Mandolin by Louis de Bernières
I think what strikes you first about de Bernieres is how human is writing is. It's mundane, describes the ordinary, or perhaps ordinary people caught up in history, in change. While war wages around the sleeping, pastoral island of Cephallonia, for example, goats must still be milked, fathers scolded and meals shared, distant politics debated, …
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Vixen by Rosie Garland
I came across this book via a recommendation on Amazon, based on previous purchases of historical fiction, and I loved the cover, but this tale is not like regular historical fiction, really. It is set in Devon in the mid 1300's during a time of plague, and tells the story of three people: a woman …
The Mystery Of Edwin Drood by Charles Dickens
This was part of my last years reading list and it's very naughty of me to have only just finished reading it! The final, incomplete and posthumous work of the famous author it was about half complete at the time of Dickens death and much speculation about the ending has amused generations. The book …
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A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness & Siobhan Dowd
A dark fairy tale for older children or young teens, this one will also appeal to some adults too. With beautiful, dark illustrations, the book follows the story of a boy called Connor whose mother is very, very sick and who is visited by a monster who says it will tell him three stories …
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