Your Ultimate Reading List! Part 3

Still looking for things to read? Here we have Mrs Paterson's picks. You'll recognise themes of survival, power, and destiny running through all these books. The characters in these stories overcome fear, learn the importance of curiosity, and search for truth. 

1. His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman
Not long after Lyra Belacqua witnesses a plot to poison her uncle, the adventurer Lord Asriel, her friend Roger is kidnapped by the "Gobblers". These events lead Lyra on an epic adventure that enters parallel universes and spans three amazing books! 

2. The invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick 
Orphaned Hugo lives an anonymous life within the walls of a train station, until his biggest secret is jeopardised by his relationship with the cranky old man who runs the toy repair booth.

3. The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak 
Liesel Meminger is a nine-year-old girl living in Nazi Germany during World War II. Her family hide a Jewish man named Max, who teaches Liesel to read in secret.

4. The curious incident of the dog in the night time by Mark Haddon
When Christopher Boone discovers the neighbour's dog speared by a garden fork, he decides to investigate the dog's death and record his experiences as a murder mystery novel.

5. The Life of Pi by Yann Martel
Young Pi Patel survives disaster at sea only to find himself sharing the lifeboat with an assortment of zoo animals, including a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker.

Storm Front by Jim Butcher

Answer truthfully, when you see the word wizard what image comes up in your mind?

For me it's a majestic being in a light blue cloak carrying a magical staff with a book levitating in front of him, who can twirl up a tornado with the sound of a few words. Sounds grand, doesn't it? See, most people conjure up the same image, more or less, so when I started reading The Dreseden Files it changed my perspective completely.

Harry Dresden is a powerful wizard, a wizard so renowned he himself has been requested by the White Council (a court with the same power as the Australian High Court except for, well, wizards) to represent all wizards in numerous formal events. However instead of living a life of celebrity as you would assume, he lives in an old, musty basement, struggling to pay the rent with the money he earns from his few cases as a public wizard (the wizard version of Sherlock Holmes).

We are introduced to the main character in this first book of the Dresden Files, Storm Front. In general the plot is about the cases he undertakes, from small things such as finding a missing ring to solving murder cases. Mixed into this are complications from breaking one of the laws of magic written by the White Council to the quarrels he has with the leader of the vampires.

Without revealing too much of the book, Dresden is hired to find a missing husband but in fact stumbles upon a complicated set-up involving murders, black magic and a mob boss.

Overall, Jim Butcher's series The Dresden Files is an interesting and captivating idea. I recommend this book to young adult readers who like the fantasy and mystery genres. If you want to try a new book or are already a fan of the Sherlock Holmes mystery novels then you would enjoy this series.

Review by Siven

Do You Dystopia?

Stories not about your happy place.

Dystopian fiction. It’s not a new phenomenon (1984, Z for Zachariah, The Giver) but it certainly seems to be having a resurgence. As a genre it’s a little bit like a virus, an appropriate comparison because so many dystopian storylines feature one. As we all know a virus replicates and spreads, which is pretty much what has happened within the genre since The Hunger Games was published in 2008.

So it's a really popular genre, but how do you identify a dystopian novel? It is probably set in one of many possible futures or deals with the end of civilisation as we know it. It may point to the possible results of a disturbing world-trend - dangerous reality television, worsening climate change, extreme plastic surgery, Belieberism. 

While it may make you anxious about the way humanity is headed it may also fill you with hope for it - the hope that people will work together to find solutions to these problems before it’s too late. Here’s to getting it right before we are forced to go all Sci-Fi on each other and set off to find another planet we can call home.

Below are some reviews of dystopian fiction that we've recently read. If these books fuel your dystopian fire, check out our reading lists Speculative Fiction and Dystopia for more like this!

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

Reviewed by Mrs Paterson

I really can’t say anything about this story without giving too much away, so I’ll just say: this is one of those unstoppable pandemic dystopias, where everyone dies from some unrelenting virus and no one can stop the dying and soon there are just a handful of people who haven’t died or are not dying. And some of them perform Shakespeare for the dwindling, non-existent masses because "survival is insufficient". The story moves back and forth through time, weaving together seemingly disparate people and things: the lives of survivors, the histories of the departed, a mysterious comic strip and a bizarre cult. But that’s really all I can say.

So if I can’t give you even a shred of coherent storyline, why should you read it? Because ultimately this is a story about hope and beauty and human resilience in the face of extreme none-of-those things. And it is about the power of memory, and the importance of remembering. I loved this story. And i highly recommend that you read it. Just don’t do what I did, and start getting pneumonia while you’re reading about fevers, coughing, and dying. Not good...

Themes ticked: global pandemic, post-apocalyptic, decline in the fabric of society, set immediately after the catastrophe, survivors as the main characters

The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham

Reviewed by Mrs Klein

Bill Masen is disappointed when he misses out on the greatest light show ever because he is in hospital recovering from an eye operation. What he doesn’t know is that everyone who has seen the light show is blinded. When he removes his bandages the next day, he also finds that the Triffids, plants that can walk, have escaped their compound. Everyone had forgotten about the Triffids “because they were novelties”. What they had also overlooked was that “the whorl topping a Triffid’s stem could lash out as a slender stinging weapon ten feet long, capable of discharging enough poison to kill a man if it struck squarely on his unprotected skin.”

So there you have it – a world of blind people at the mercy of rampaging carnivorous plants – the stuff of nightmares! I still can’t see a strange plant without being reminded of this book.

Themes ticked: catastrophic event, rampaging carnivorous plants, decline in the fabric of society, set during the catastrophe

Clade by James Bradley

Reviewed by Ms Herlinger

Set in the near future, with global warming worsening with each year that passes, Clade is a loose collection of episodes in the life of a family - set against a background of a world in peril. Beginning with power cuts, bird die-offs, progressing to tropical cyclones in England, refugees from flooded lands, a global pandemic,  technology to replace lost worlds and lost people, it could be depressing, but it’s not. It’s just a fascinating glimpse into a possible future world – if we don’t act now.

Themes ticked: environmental disaster, global pandemic, decline in the fabric of society, set during the catastrophe

The Maze Runner by James Dashner

Reviewed by Ms Agnostopoulos

Thomas wakes up in dark box that is slowly moving upwards. He has no memory of how he got there or who he is. All he knows is his name. When the box gets to the top Thomas enters The Glade, a field surrounded on all sides by a mile high wall. The Glade is populated by other teenage boys who have also had their memories stripped. Some have been there for 2 years, with a new boy arriving once a month. The box also brings some supplies, but the boys have to work to survive. They tend crops, raise animals and keep the place in order, but their main objective is to escape the maze that is outside the stone walls.

Within the maze are monsters called Grievers who mostly come out at night - mostly. Each night the doors to the maze close. Overnight the walls of the maze change, and each day ‘runners’ explore the maze and return to map out the changes. After two years they have still not found an exit. A couple of days after Thomas arrives the box brings someone else to The Glade - a girl in a coma. In her fist is a note that reads ‘She is the last one ever’. Thomas gets flashes of his memory back and soon realises that her arrival signals the end for The Glade. It is time to finally solve The Maze and find out why they were put there in the first place.

Themes ticked: catastrophic event, decline in the fabric of society, set during the catastrophe

Your Ultimate Reading List! Part 2

Another five books, this time from Mrs Klein.

1. The Sword and the Scimitar by David Ball
Tags: siblings, slave markets, sultans, knights, sieges
2. Two Brothers by Ben Elton
Tags: brothers, Nazis, Jewish, Berlin, WWII
3. The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
Tags: ambition, brothers, builders, cathedrals, Henry I
4. The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
Tags: Belgian Congo, jungle, missionaries, families, tragedy
5. Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts
Tags: Bombay, beggars, gangsters, slums, underworld 

If you want to find out any more about these titles, come and ask!

Your Ultimate Reading List! Part 1

The literary/library/bookselling world abounds with lists. What you should read during the summer, what you should read on a road trip, what you should read before you die, what you should read in the event of a zombie apocalypse. (I thought I was being funny with the zombies, but it turns out someone has written a list for that. No, really.)

So we here at the AHL decided to make a list of each of our Top 5 Books To Read Before You Leave School. Books on this list are well-written and offer high levels of enjoyment whilst being read but they also offer a little extra. Call it what you will - wisdom, life-lessons, a unique perspective. Sometimes you just can't pinpoint what it is about a book, you just know everyone else must read it too.

So we hope you enjoy this first instalment of the list. Watch this space and get reading!

Ms Mileto's Top 5 Books To Read Before You Leave School

1) The Harry Potter series by JK Rowling
2) The night circus by Erin Morgenstern
3) Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
4) Jaws by Peter Benchley
5) Perfume: The story of a murderer by Patrick Suskind

If you want to know more about a particular book and why Ms Mileto chose it, just ask! She will be happy to tell you!

Mrs Klein’s Top Horror Stories

After finishing Horrorstör the other day, Mrs Klein remarked that although she does not prefer the horror genre, she sure is surprised by how many horror stories she has read.

Here is a selection of her favourites:

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Victor Frankenstein is a scientist who creates a creature from parts of dead people. After the monster is rejected by Frankenstein, he seeks his revenge. Published in 1818, the story of this lonely and rejected creature still remains one of the saddest stories that I have ever read. 

Dracula by Bram Stoker
First published in 1897, Dracula by Bram Stoker is where the horror story really began. The story of a Vampire with an insatiable thirst for blood - preferably by sucking it from the neck of young ladies.

Vlad : the last confession by C.C. Humphreys
Not really a horror story but is based on what is known about Vlad Tepes (Vlad The Impaler) the 15th century Prince of Wallachia, known as Dracula. After reading this story, I have great sympathy for this man who was betrayed, imprisoned and tortured yet managed to be a great ruler. It is also a great story about the Crusades and gives an insight into the mind of the man who inspired Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Lots of battles.

The enemy by Charlie Higson
This is a world where everyone over the age of fifteen becomes a zombie. In this world without responsible adults, it is up to a group of kids to band together to survive in a lawless London. Lots of exploding corpses and gory scenes!

The prey by Andrew Fukuda
This is a world which has been taken over by creatures who farm humans for their meat. Their desire for human flesh is so strong that the people in these farms need to be kept under a dome during the night to prevent them from being eaten. Gene has lived incognito with these vampire-like creatures all his life but when he reaches puberty, his smell become life-threatening so he must escape. If you want to read something which is truly scary then this is the book for you! The Prey is the first book in “The Hunt” trilogy.

Hunter and collector by S. Carey
Don’t be fooled into thinking that this short story is a book for little kids. When the Alien (Mrs Hunter) chooses William she thinks she has found the perfect prey but everything is not as it seems.

Horrorstor: a novel by Grady Hendrix
If you have ever been lost in Ikea you will know how scary this can be. In Horrorstor, a group of people volunteers to stay overnight in the Orsk furniture superstore in Cleveland, Ohio because mysterious things have happened during the night.

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
Yet another vampire story where the vampires have kept their true identity hidden. When seventeen-year-old Bella goes to live with her father in Forks, Washington, she meets a boy in her science class who appears to be repelled by her but surprise, surprise, he’s hiding a dark secret. Read it to find out what makes Edward so attractive to girls and why this novel went on spawn the paranormal romance genre. But don’t watch the movie - It’s dreadful!

Mrs Klein

Do you have a favourite horror story that isn't listed here? Share it with us below!