Modern Fiction Books

Advantages: easy book
Disadvantages: non

Some books defy categorisation: Life of Pi, the second novel from Canadian writer Yann Martel, is a case in point: just about the only thing you can say for certain about it is that it is fiercely and admirably unique. The plot, if that's the right word, concerns the oceanic wanderings of a lost boy, the young and eager Piscine Patel of the title (Pi). After a colourful and loving upbringing in gorgeously-hued India, the Muslim-Christian-animistic ...
...blissful voyage is rudely interrupted when his boat is scuppered halfway across the Pacific, and he is forced to rough it in a lifeboat with a hyena, a monkey, a whingeing zebra and a tiger called Richard. That would be bad enough, but from here on things get weirder: the animals start slaughtering each other in a veritable frenzy of allegorical bloodlust, until Richard the tiger and Pi are left alone to wander the wastes of ocean, with plenty of ... Read review

Advantages: a good read
Disadvantages: i wanted yo read more

Ps I love you is written by Cecelia Ahern (the Irish prime ministers youngest daughter). It is her first novel and was one of the biggest selling début novels of 2004 and became a number one best seller. The story is about a young woman trying to rebuild her life after her husbands death through cancer with the help of the letters he left her. The husband had left his wife 12 letters for her to open, one for every month for the 1st year after his ...
...again. Each letter ended with Ps I love you. This is a very touching story and very funny as well. Anyone going through the grieving process should read this book. This book is fantastically written and with touch every heart. Remarkable for such a young woman to write an moving story. I highly recommend this book. A film adaptation of this book is currently in production with Warner Brothers. Summary: a funny but very moving story, I highly ... Read review

Advantages: Unputdownable
Disadvantages: In some ways almost too short

Astonishing Splashes of Colour is the first novel by Clare Morrall and was shortlisted for the MAN Booker Prize 2003. The book itself is the first published book by its author, and I think it was the Astonishing Splashes of Colour that make up its cover that attracted me towards its purchase in the first place. The title itself is inspired by Peter Pan, “For the Neverland is always more or less an Island with astonishing splashes of colour here and ...
...character Kitty Wellington, and is set in a familiar part of Birmingham that is Edgbaston in the present time. Kitty herself is the youngest of six adult children, including a runaway elder sister who she does not remember, and four older brothers. Kitty does not remember her Mother either, as she died in a car accident when she was three years old. For the bulk of the book, Kitty herself speaks of a time as a 30 something married female who is ... Read review

Advantages: A very well written look inside an Asperger's child's psyche
Disadvantages: TOO MUCH MATHS!

...pleasantly surprised. Boring= Title: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time Author: Mark Haddon Publisher: Random House Children's Books ISBN: 0-09-945676-1 Price: £6.99 Plot Christopher John Francis Boone is a fifteen year old boy who can tell you all the countries in the world and their capital cities, a boy who can tell you all the prime numbers up to 7,507. Sounds like a genius, yes? Well, no, because Christopher ...
...an autistic spectrum disorder. So the whole book is from his perspective. As the title of the book shows the book is based, particularly at the beginning, on the murder mystery of a dog named Wellington who has been murdered and Christopher is trying to work out who committed said 'murder'. However as the book goes on the author is less concerned with the dog being killed than with how Christopher lives out his day to day life in a world where no ... Read review

Advantages: Masterfully crafted, stunning read.
Disadvantages: Difficult to understand some of the older language, over descriptive in some places.

Being another 'encouraged' to read this novel at school, I found that I did rather enjoy the old language, and intrigue plot-line. The beginning chapter shows the first signs of rivalry between Jack and Ralph, the two main leaders of the story who will continue to butt-heads with each other throughout, only coming to compromises to any decisions, although at the end of the tale there is a rather more chilling story. With Ralph as the chosen leader, ...
...boys to split in two groups, Jack's ruthless group of hunters, and Ralph's group of more civilised boys. Throughout the majority story there are numerous mentions of the beast, which will turn out to be something least expected, and not at all evil. However, Jack will see the hunting of the beast as something like an obsession, and the hunt will possess every single one of the boys until they do something most terrible. The book is filled with representations ... Read review