General
Five great reads for beside the pool
31 May 2013
Five great reads for beside the pool
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Hilary Mantel’s Bring up the Bodies
Winner of the 2012 Man Booker Prize, Mantel’s Bring up the Bodies is a fabulous sequel to Wolf Hall, released in 2009 (which also won that year’s Man Booker Prize). In the court of Henry VIII, we witness the rise of Thomas Cromwell as England splits from the Catholic Church and faces isolation from other nations. Anne Boleyn has failed to give Henry an heir, and, as Henry’s Chief Minister, Cromwell must find a solution that will keep the king, himself and the nation secure. |
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John Cantwell’s Exit Wounds
A raw, moving personal account from Major General John Cantwell and his experiences on a modern battlefield. After hiding his post-traumatic stress disorder for years, Cantwell now reveals all, and will leave no one unmoved with his true stories of death and life in a war zone. |
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Jonas Jonasson’s The One-hundred Year Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared
If you want something light hearted and laugh-out-loud funny, then this book is for you. Following the adventure of Allan Karlsson as he escapes his nursing home to avoid his 100th birthday party, there is a wonderful weaving of history and politics as the most unexpected things happen. |
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Paullina Simons’ Children of Liberty
This one will tear at your heartstrings with Gina and Harry’s ill-fated love affair, which starts as they each arrive on Boston’s Freedom Docks searching for a better life. Their families become entwined as they face collisions of old and new, what is expected and what is desired, and what is given and what is taken away. |
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Ben Elton’s Two Brothers
Another wonderful read by this best-selling author. Set during the Nazi’s reign of Germany, the story follow two boys, one Jewish, one Ayran, raised as brothers and who face terrible decisions as they attempt to survive under the Third Reich. Who will survive? |
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Teen reads
Maureen McCarthy’s The Convent
Set in the early 1900s, Sadie is forced to give up her daughter, the after-effects of which will ripple through the generations. McCarthy explores the Abbotsford Convent’s history through separate stories of three generations, as young Peach battles with whether she really wants to know who she is.
David Levithan’s Every Day
Every morning, ‘A’ wakes up in a different person’s body, forced to live a different life every day. Having accepted his fate and told himself to never get attached, avoid being noticed and don’t interfere, ‘A’ then is forced to rethink all his rules when he meets Rhiannon and finally faces the complexities of his erratic and ever changing life.
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