E V E R E S T R E A D I N G C H A L L E N G E 15 New Books to Choose From! Base Camp 2017/18 A collection of books recommended for Lower School pupils These books should prove challenging and enjoyable, and be the next step in developing as a creative and critical reader. This collection has been compiled by the Memorial Library in collaboration with the English department How does the challenge work? You need to read 10 books from this booklet throughout the school year. Every time you finish a book from the list, come and talk to Library staff about the book and we’ll give you a stamp. Once you have conquered the Everest Reading Challenge and collected ten stamps, you will join your fellow students on an end of year trip to Pizza Hut & Cineworld. It’s like a Costa card, but with Pizza and Movies! Worried about losing your Everest booklet? Don’t! We keep track of your progress through the challenge; so don’t fret if you can’t find it. Things Fall Apart/Chinua Achebe This heart-wrenching novel follows the struggle of Okonkwo, a leader of his village and local wrestling champion, as his world is invaded by British colonialism and his life falls apart. The novel is based in the fictional village of Umuofia, and has real echoes of the legacy of the Britain’s colonial occupation of Africa and how it changed not only the world, but the individuals and cultures caught in its wake. Northanger Abbey/Jane Austen Northanger Abbey is a novel that plays with the Gothic; although like most Austen novels, it is deeply romantic. Follow the story of Catherine Morland, a 17 year old girl from a middleclass family, as she projects her love of Gothic Fiction onto the world around her. Catherine’s love life goes into a tailspin as she believes the plots of her favourite horror-stories are happening to her! Is she wrong? Regeneration/Pat Barker Craiglockhart War Hospital, Scotland, 1917, and army psychiatrist William Rivers is treating shell-shocked soldiers. Under his care are the poets Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen, as well as mute Billy Prior, who is only able to communicate by means of pencil and paper. Rivers' job is to make the men in his charge healthy enough to fight. Yet the closer he gets to mending his patients' minds the harder becomes every decision to send them back to the horrors of the front. Pat Barker's Regeneration is the classic exploration of how the traumas of war brutalised a generation of young men. Fahrenheit 451/Ray Bradbury “Guy Montag is a fireman. His job is to burn books, which are forbidden, being the source of all discord and unhappiness. Even so, Montag is unhappy; there is discord in his marriage. Are books hidden in his house? The Mechanical Hound of the Fire Department, armed with a lethal hypodermic, escorted by helicopters, is ready to track down those dissidents who defy society to preserve and read books.” A punchy, poetic examination of resistance within an ultra- conformist society – pair with Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four or Huxley’s Brave New World Jane Eyre/Charlotte Bronte “Orphaned Jane Eyre grows up in the home of her heartless aunt, where she endures loneliness and cruelty, and at a charity school with a harsh regime. This troubled childhood strengthens Jane’s natural independence and spirit – which proves necessary when she takes a position as a governess at Thornfield Hall. But when she finds love with her sardonic employer, Rochester, the discovery of his terrible secret forces her to make a choice.” A Victorian gothic must-read: will Jane stay true to her convictions, even if it means losing the man she loves? The 39 Steps/John Buchan “Richard Hannay finds a corpse in his flat, and becomes involved in a plot by spies to precipitate war and subvert British naval power. The resourceful victim of a manhunt, he is pursued by both the police and the ruthless conspirators… a seminal ‘chase’ thriller, rapid and vivid.” A classic adventure story: it’s got everything: chases, disguises, fisticuffs, action and atmosphere. In Cold Blood/ Truman Capote A book that is hard to pin down, described as a ‘non-fiction novel’ that reconstructs the killing of a Kansas family. Capote’s study of the killings explores the circumstances around the terrible crime. This is an evocative, compelling and factually sound narrative rated as one of the ‘best books of all time’. The Big Sleep/Raymond Chandler The quintessential hard-boiled crime novel. An early morning call to a dying millionaire sets Philip Marlowe on the fast inside track of West Hollywood’s hidden sewer of blackmail, menace and muscle. Neither of General Sternwood’s daughters, it seems, is going to come up smelling of roses. Marlowe senses it is his job to protect the two women. But then he hadn’t considered himself part of the wholesale nastiness of it all… On the Black Hill/Bruce Chatwin On the Black Hill is an elegantly written tale of identical twin brothers who grow up on a farm in rural Wales and never leave home. They till the rough soil and sleep in the same bed, touched only occasionally by the advances of the twentieth century. Bruce Chatwin is an Old Marlburian and we highly recommend you invest time in reading this beautifully written, pastoral novel. 4:50 From Paddington Station/Agatha Christie “For an instant the two trains ran together, side by side. In that frozen moment, Elspeth witnessed a murder. Helplessly, she stared out of her carriage window as a man remorselessly tightened his grip around a woman’s throat. The body crumpled. Then the other train drew away. But who, apart from Miss Marple, would take her story seriously? After all, there were no suspects, no other witnesses… and no corpse.” And Then There Were None/Agatha Christie “Ten strangers, apparently with little in common, are lured to an island mansion off the coast of Devon by the mysterious U.N. Owen. Over dinner, a record begins to play, and the voice of an unseen host accuses each person of hiding a guilty secret. That evening, former reckless driver Tony Marston is found murdered by a deadly dose of cyanide. The tension escalates as more guests begin to die, and the survivors realise that the killer is not only among them but is preparing to strike again…” This plot has been imitated countless times since, but Christie’s nail-biting, suspense-filled and masterfully-plotted novel remains the best. A true thriller. The Hunger Games/Suzanne Collins “Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen regards it as a death sentence when she is forced to represent her district in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV. But Katniss has been close to death before and survival, for her, is second nature. The Hunger Games is a searing novel set in a future with unsettling parallels to our present. Welcome to the deadliest reality TV show ever…” A compelling dystopian tale, with an engaging cast of characters. Plenty of action and suspense to keep you reading. Gift of Stones/Jim Crace “A coastal community live prosperously crafting fine stone tools. But their proud insularity is breached by raiders, and in the violence a boy loses his arm. Useless as a knapper, he finds a role as the village storyteller, roaming far and returning home with fantastically embellished tales. When the arrival of a new metal threatens all their livelihoods, his fearless imagination becomes a lifesaving gift.” A fascinating book that vividly brings to life the prehistoric world, a time not often dealt with by fiction. A great choice for those who like to be immersed in the atmosphere of a lost world. One/Sarah Crossan Grace and Tippi don't like being stared and sneered at, but they're used to it. They're conjoined twins - united in blood and bone. What they want is to be looked at in turn, like they truly are two people. They want real friends. And what about love? But a heart-wrenching decision lies ahead for Tippi and Grace. One that could change their lives more than they ever asked for... This moving and beautifully crafted novel about identity, sisterhood and love ultimately asks one question: what does it mean to want and have a soulmate? Robinson Crusoe/Daniel Defoe What would you take with you if you had to survive on a tropical island? Robinson Crusoe doesn’t have the luxury of choice. A castaway, marooned on an island for thirty years, he has to find food, build a home and be on the look out for cannibals, pirates and wild beasts. One of the first realistic novels and one of the most widely published books in history, this fictional book takes the form of an autobiography that draws you into the peril and loneliness of being stranded alone in the middle of the vast oceans. Room/Emma Donoghue “To five-year-old Jack, Room is the entire world. It is where he was born and grew up; it's where he lives with his Ma as they learn and read and eat and sleep and play. At night, his Ma shuts him safely in the wardrobe, where he is meant to be asleep when Old Nick visits. Room is home to Jack, but to Ma, it is the prison where Old Nick has held her captive for seven years.” Told entirely from Jack’s point of view, Room is both the story of a boy growing up in captivity, as well as what happens when he enters the world outside.