List Five Books That I've Read That I Think Everyone With A "Read More" Goal Should Read

I’m not really a sci-fi buff if I’m honest. I’ll watch a little bit here and there and I’ll read the odd novel now and then, but I tend to leave hardcore sci-fi to The Boy.

Flowers for Algernon is written as a series of progress reports by man called Charlie who has an IQ of 68, but undergoes surgery to increase his intelligence. He is the first human trial after the surgery was proved successful on a mouse called Algernon.

Wikipedia claims it “touches upon many different ethical and moral themes such as the treatment of the mentally disabled”, but I just know that I really enjoyed it.

So 3 down. 2 to go.

I figure comic books count, and although I actually own this in its constituent parts, instead of the collected version, I absolutely love it and recommend it.

It’s about a introverted young witch, only one of about 52 worldwide, and her interactions with the people of her town and a few other witches.

Sounds like many other fantasy stories, but Aaron A’s art is beautiful and his writing is touching and clever.

I have been waiting for the last four years for him to finish the story where he left off and he has recently started doing so on his webpage, and although I don’t want to spoil anything you could take a look and see what he is all about.

I picked this up at a book store recently and boy am I glad I did!

Set in a dystopic reflection of Japan called the Republic of Greater East Asia, a class of 42 students are pitched against each other in a fight to the death.

While this book is a little gory, and quite a hefty read, I raced to the end of it in no time at all. When I realised that there were forty two characters to keep up with I did get a little worried that I wouldn’t be able to follow, and that I would spend a lot of time at the beginning of the novel being bored as lesser characters were picked off with little characterisation.

Contrary to that I was surprised when at least one character I expected to continue to the end exited mid way through the book and several I expected to get wiped out quickly still lurked towards the end.

It isn’t just the structure of the novel that kept me interested either. There are some really touching scenes in the book, with love running as a theme throughout.

I wouldn’t say this is a widely read book, which is why I have put it on my list, so 1 down 4 to go!

So I picked my top five teen books, but I’m not going to tick it off yet. I figure it’s a slightly different question, so I’m going to wait until I have mulled it over, but I can pick my top-five-everybody-should-read-these teen books no problem. I’ve done them in alphabetical order ‘cause picking a favourite is tough.

1. Sugar Rush by Julie Burchill: is about a girl who just might be in love with her best friend. Honest and funny and cool, just a modern teen novel thats a bit trashy, but also quite fun.
2. Tenderness by Robert Cormier: isn’t mentioned as often as The Chocolate War, which is also good, but this one seems to stick with me a lot more.
3. The Tulip Touch by Anne Fine is probably written for younger teens, but Tulip is just such a dark character that I keep coming back to it
4. The Woven Path by Robin Jarvis was always the best first book in any of his series. Most of his books are about anthropomorphic animals. This one is about norse mythology, the second world war and a creepy museum (a bit of a cop out, cause it is the first in a trilogy, but it’s my list!)
5. The Raging Quiet by Sherryl Jordan is a “historical” love story I guess, although it’s not set in any real time period, except “the past”. It’s about a young girl and a deaf boy, but I don’t really want to give too much away

So anyway, these are my five books I’d recommend to older teens who want to read more, or in fact anyone else because I think they are all pretty good.

Now on to careful consideration of every book I’ve ever read…

This might take a little longer…