Reading List: Classic fiction (Many available in Penguin popular classics)
Emily BronteWuthering Heights
Wilkie CollinsThe Woman in White
Joseph ConradHeart of Darkness
Victory
Daniel DefoeRobinson Crusoe
Journal of the Plague Year
Moll Flanders
Charles DickensOliver Twist
David Copperfield
Nicholas Nickleby
A Tale of Two Cities
F Scott Fitzgerald The Great Gatsby
The Diamond as Big as The Ritz and Other Stories
Henry JamesTurn of the Screw
Thomas HardyThe Mayor of Casterbridge
Tess of the D'Urbervilles
Aldous HuxleyBrave New World
DH Lawrence Sons and Lovers
Harper Lee To Kill A Mockingbird
George OrwellAnimal Farm
Nineteen Eighty -Four
John SteinbeckThe Grapes of Wrath
Cannery Row
Tortilla Flat
William GoldingLord of the Flies
J.D.Salinger The Catcher in the Rye
Franny and Zooey
RL StevensonThe Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Treasure Island
Bram Stoker Dracula
Mary ShelleyFrankenstein
Jonathan SwiftGulliver's Travels
The following websites are also useful:
Modern day fiction with links to Psychology, History, Sociology and Politics. Authors adopt a variety of narrative strategies.
Iain BanksThe Wasp Factory
Pat BarkerRegeneration Trilogy
Border Crossing
Melvyn Bragg The Soldier’s Return
A Son of War
A.S. ByattPossession
Peter CareyOscar and Lucinda
True History of the Kelly Gang
Sebastian FaulksBirdsong
Michael FraynSpies
Charles FrazierCold Mountain
Nicci FrenchThe Red Room
Mark HaddonThe Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time
Joseph HellerCatch- 22
Khaled HosseiniThe Kite Runner
Ken KeseyOne Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
Hilary MantelWolf Hall
Bring Up the Bodies
Cormac McCarthyThe Road
Ian McEwanEnduring Love
Toni MorrisonBeloved
Brian MooreLies of Silence
Joseph O’ConnorStar of the Sea
Michael OndaatjeThe English Patient
Zadie SmithWhite Teeth
Irvine WelshTrainspotting
Tom WolfeThe Bonfire of the Vanities
The following websites are also useful:
The Wasp Factoryis the firstnovelby Scottish writerIain Banks. It was published in 1984.It is written from afirst personperspective, told by sixteen-year-old Frank Cauldhame, describing his childhood and all that remains of it. Frank observes manyshamanisticrituals of his own invention, and it is soon revealed that Frank was the perpetrator of three deaths of children within his family before he reached the age of ten himself. As the novel develops, his brother's escape from amental hospitaland impending return lead on to a violent ending and a twist that undermines all that Frank believed about himself.
Regeneration is a prize-winning novel by Pat Barker, first published in 1991. The novel was a Booker Prize nominee and was described by the New York Times Book Review as one of the four best novels of the year in its year of publication.[1] It is the first of three novels in the Regeneration Trilogy of novels on the First World War, the other two being The Eye in the Door and The Ghost Road, which won the Booker Prize in 1995.[2] The novel is loosely based on the history of psychology and the real-life experiences of British army officers being treated for shell shock during World War I at Craiglockhart War Hospital in Edinburgh.
Belovedis a novel by the American writerToni Morrison. Set after theAmerican Civil War(1861–1865), it is inspired by the story of an African-Americanslave,Margaret Garner, who temporarily escaped slavery during 1856 in Kentucky by fleeing to Ohio, afree state.
Beloved'smain character, Sethe, kills her daughter and tries to kill her other three children when a posse arrives in Ohio to return them to Sweet Home, the plantation in Kentucky from which Sethe recently fled. A woman presumed to be her daughter, called Beloved, returns years later to haunt Sethe's home at 124 Bluestone Road, Cincinnati. The story opens with an introduction to the ghost: "124 was spiteful. Full of a baby's venom."[1]
The novel won thePulitzer Prize for Fictionin 1988.[2]It was adapted during 1998 into amovie of the same namestarringOprah Winfrey. During 2006 aNew York Timessurvey of writers and literary critics ranked it as the best work of American fiction of the past 25 years
Enduring Love(1997) is a novel by British writerIan McEwan. The plot concerns Rose, scientific author and journalist, and our first-person narrator claims that the "beginning" of this story "is simple to mark". However, the following events appear anything but simple. Whilst enjoying a picnic with his long-term partner Clarissa Mellon, a literature academic and Keats scholar, a ballooning accident occurs - a catastrophe for virtually all those involved and leads to two strangers becoming perilously entangled.
The Roadis a 2006 novel by American writerCormac McCarthy. It is apost-apocalyptictale of a journey of a father and his young son over a period of several months, across a landscape blasted by an unspecified cataclysm that has destroyed most of civilization and, in the intervening years, almost all life on Earth. The novel was awarded the 2007Pulitzer Prize for Fictionand theJames Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fictionin 2006.The book wasadaptedto afilm by the same namein 2009, directed byJohn Hillcoat, starringViggo MortensenandKodi Smit-McPhee.
Possession: A Romanceis a 1990 bestsellingnovelby British writerA. S. Byatt. It won the 1990Booker Prize.Parthistoricalas well as contemporary fiction, the titlePossessionrefers to issues of ownership and independence between lovers, the practice of collecting historically significant cultural artifacts, and to the possession that a biographer feels they have of their subject. The novel incorporates many different styles and devices:diaries, letters andpoetry, in addition tothird-person narration.Possessionis as concerned with the present day as it is with the Victorian era, pointing out the differences between the two time periods, and satirizing such things as modernacademiaand mating rituals.
Oscar and Lucindais anovelbyAustralianauthorPeter Careywhich won the 1988Booker Prize, the 1989Miles Franklin Award, and was shortlisted forThe Best of the Booker.It tells the story of Oscar Hopkins, theCornishson of aPlymouth Brethrenminister who becomes anAnglicanpriest, and Lucinda Leplastrier, a youngAustralianheiress who buys aglassfactory. They meet on the ship over to Australia, and discover that they are bothgamblers, one obsessive the other compulsive. Lucinda bets Oscar that he cannot transport a glasschurchfromSydneyto a remote settlement atBellingen, some 400km up theNew South Walescoast. This bet changes both their lives forever
Birdsongis a 1993war novelbyEnglishauthorSebastian Faulks. Faulks' fourth novel, it tells of a man called Stephen Wraysford at different stages of his life both before and duringWorld War I. The novel came 13th in a 2003BBCsurvey called theBig Readwhich aimed to find Britain's favourite book.[2]It has also been adapted three times under the same title – forradio(1997),the stage(2010) andtelevision(2012).
While most of the novel concentrates on Stephen's life in France before and during the war, the novel also focuses on the life of Stephen's granddaughter, Elizabeth, and her attempts to find out more about her grandfather's experiences inWorld War I. The story is split into seven sections which cover three different time periods.
Throughout the novel there are echoes of several war poets such asSiegfried SassoonandWilfred Owen(1918)
Spies(2002) is apsychological novelby English author and dramatistMichael Frayn.Narrating in the form of abildungsroman,[1]an elderly man, Stephen Wheatley, reminisces about his life during theSecond World Waras he wanders down the now modernised London cul-de-sac that he once called home.
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Timeis a 2003mystery novelby British writerMark Haddon. Its title quotes the fictional detectiveSherlock HolmesinArthur Conan Doyle's 1892 short story "Silver Blaze". Haddon andThe Curious Incidentwon theWhitbread Book Awardsfor Best Novel and Book of the Year,[1]theCommonwealth Writers' Prizefor Best First Book,[2]and theGuardian Children's Fiction Prize.[3]As a writer forThe Guardianremarked, "Unusually, it was published simultaneously in separate editions for adults and children."[4]
The novel is narrated in thefirst-person perspectiveby Christopher John Francis Boone, a 15-year-old boy who describes himself as "a mathematician with some behavioral difficulties" living inSwindon, Wiltshire. Although Christopher's condition is not stated, the book's blurb refers toAsperger syndrome,high-functioning autism, orsavant syndrome. In July 2009, Haddon wrote on his blog that "curious incident is not a book about asperger’s....if anything it’s a novel about difference, about being an outsider, about seeing the world in a surprising and revealing way. The book is not specifically about any specific disorder," and that he is not an expert on autism spectrum disorder or Asperger syndrome.
Cold Mountainis a 1997 historical novel byCharles Frazierwhich won the U.S.National Book Award for Fiction.[1]It tells the story of W. P. Inman, a wounded deserter from theConfederatearmy near the end of theAmerican Civil Warwho walks for months to return to Ada Monroe, the love of his life; the story shares several similarities with Homer'sThe Odyssey.[2]The novel alternates chapter-by-chapter between Inman's and Ada's stories. It wasCharles Frazier's first novel and a major bestseller, selling roughly three million copies worldwide. It was also adapted into an award-winningfilm of the same name.
Wolf Hall (2009) is a multi-award winning historical novel by English author Hilary Mantel, named after the Seymour family seat of Wolfhall or Wulfhall in Wiltshire. Set in the period from 1500 to 1535, Wolf Hall is a fictionalized biography documenting the rapid rise to power of Thomas Cromwell in the court of Henry VIII, through the death of Sir Thomas More. The novel won both the Man Booker Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award.[1][2] In 2012, The Observer named it as one of "The 10 best historical novels".[3]
Bring Up the Bodiesis a historical novelbyHilary Manteland sequel to her award-winningWolf Hall. It is the second part of a planned trilogy charting the rise and fall ofThomas Cromwell,the powerful minister in the court of King Henry VIII. Bring Up the Bodies won the 2012 Man Booker Prize and the 2012 Costa Book of the Year. It is to be followed by The Mirror and the Light.
Catch-22
The finished novel describes the wartime experiences of Army Air Corps CaptainJohn Yossarian. Yossarian devises multiple strategies to avoid combat missions, but the military bureaucracy is always able to find a way to make him stay.[17]As Heller observed, "Everyone in my book accuses everyone else of being crazy. Frankly, I think the whole society is nuts – and the question is: What does a sane man do in an insane society?"[9]Heller has also commented that"peace on earth would mean the end of civilization as we know it."
The Kite Runneris anovelbyKhaled Hosseini. Published in2003byRiverhead Books, it is Hosseini's first novel,[1]and was adapted into afilm of the same namein 2007.The Kite Runnertells the story of Amir, a young boy from theWazir Akbar Khandistrict ofKabul, whose closest friend is Hassan, his father's youngHazaraservant. The story is set against a backdrop of tumultuous events, from the fall ofAfghanistan'smonarchythrough theSoviet military intervention, the exodus ofrefugeestoPakistanand theUnited States, and the rise of theTalibanregime.
Lies of Silenceis anovelbyBrian Moorepublished in 1990. It focuses on the personal effects ofThe Troubles, a period of ethnic, religious and political conflict inNorthern Irelandfrom the late 1960s to 1998. The plot revolves around the protagonist, Michael Dillon, and his wife, Moira Dillon, who are held hostage in their house by terrorists that are members of theProvisional Irish Republican Army(IRA). The men force Dillon, an apolitical hotel manager, to drive his bomb-laden car to the hotel he manages in order to kill a leadingProtestantreverend, members of theOrange Order, and militant Protestants, all of whom are attending the same function. However, various aspects offemale psychologyare also present throughout the novel.
One Flew Over the Cukoo’s Nest
The inspiration forOne Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nestcame while working on the night shift (withGordon Lish) at theMenlo ParkVeterans' Hospital. There, Kesey often spent time talking to the patients, sometimes under the influence of the hallucinogenic drugs with which he had volunteered to experiment. Kesey did not believe that these patients wereinsane, but rather that society had pushed them out because they did not fit the conventional ideas of how people were supposed to act and behave.
Star of the Seais an historical novel by the Irish writerJoseph O'Connorpublished in 2004. The novel is set in 1847 against the backdrop of theIrish famine.Star of the Seabecame an international number one bestseller, selling more than 800,000 copies in a year.TheStar of the Seaof the title is afamine ship, making the journey fromIrelandtoNew York. Aboard are hundreds of refugees, many from humble and desperate backgrounds. Key protagonists are David Merridith Lord Kingscourt, his wife Laura, their servant Mary Duane, the ship's captain Josias Lockwood, a friendless Irishman named Pius Mulvey, and American journalist Grantley Dixon.The narrative of the novel follows multiple threads interwoven by Grantley Dixon from documents such as diaries and letters, or from conversations/interviews with some of the principal characters or their relatives/descendants.
The English Patientis a 1992 novel by Sri Lankan-Canadian novelistMichael Ondaatje. The story deals with the gradually revealed histories of a critically burned English accented Hungarian man, his Canadian nurse, a Canadian-Italian thief, and an Indiansapperin the British Army as they live out the end of World War II in an Italian villa. The novel won the CanadianGovernor General's Awardand theBooker Prizefor fiction. The novel was adapted into an award-winningfilm of the same namein 1996. The narrative is non-linear and the main characters are examined in depth and detail.
White Teethis a 2000novelby the British authorZadie Smith. It focuses on the later lives of two wartime friends—theBangladeshiSamad Iqbal and the Englishman Archie Jones, and their families in London. The book won multiple honours, including the 2000James Tait Black Memorial Prizefor fiction, the 2000Whitbread Book Awardin category best first novel,theGuardian First Book Award, theCommonwealth Writers First Book Prize, and theBetty Trask Award.Timemagazine included the novel in itsTIME 100 Best English-language Novels from 1923 to 2005
Trainspottingis thefirst novelby Scottish writerIrvine Welsh, first released in 1993. It takes the form of a collection of short stories, written in eitherScots,Scottish EnglishorBritish English, revolving around various residents ofLeith,Edinburghwho either useheroin, are friends of the core group of heroin users, or engage in destructive activities that are implicitly portrayed asaddictionsthat serve the same function as heroin addiction. The novel is set in the late 1980s[1]and has been called "the voice of punk, grown up, grown wiser and grown eloquent".[2]
The novel has since achieved a cult status, added to by the global success of the film based on it,Trainspotting(1996), directed byDanny Boyle.[3]Welsh later wrote a sequel,Porno, in 2002.Skagboys, a novel that serves as a prequel, was published in April 2012.[4]
'Trainspotting' is a slang term for injecting heroin: the drug running along the 'tracks' or veins. It is also said that 'trainspotting' is slang for spotting the drug dealer, or being on the look out for a drug dealer.
The Bonfire of the Vanitiesis a 1987 novel byTom Wolfe. The story is a drama about ambition,racism,social class,politics, andgreedin 1980sNew York Cityand centres on four main characters:WASPbond trader Sherman McCoy,Jewishassistant district attorneyLarry Kramer,Britishexpatriatejournalist Peter Fallow, and black activist the Reverend Reginald Bacon.
The novel was originally conceived as a serial in the style ofCharles Dickens' writings; it ran in 27 instalments inRolling Stonestarting in 1984. Wolfe heavily revised it before it was published in book form. The novel was a bestseller and a phenomenal success, even in comparison with Wolfe's other books.