Books for Advanced

Choose one of Following:

‘Tales of the Unexpected’ by Roald Dahl. (Penguin) 
This collection showcases sixteen of Roald Dahl's finest tales, taken from "Kiss Kiss" and "Someone Like You". There are tales of the risk-takers, such as the man who wagers his daughter's hand in marriage to a wine connoisseur, or the traveller who throws himself overboard on a cruise liner to win a bet. Here too is the understated cruelty of "Edward the Conqueror," in which a mysterious cat seems to threaten domestic life, or the innocuous-seeming "Landlady," whose guests stay for longer than they intend. Not forgetting the satisfyingly shocking tales of revenge, such as "Nunc Dimittis" or "Lamb to the Slaughter".

‘About a Boy’ by Nick Hornby. (Indigo)

Will is 36 but behaves like a teenager. He’s single, rich and cool. He has no responsibilities – no parents, no children, no family.
Marcus is 12 and behaves like an adult. He has just moved to London with his mum, Fiona. He isn’t much like other kids of his age and he’s having trouble at his new school. Fiona, meanwhile, is heading for a breakdown.
Will and Marcus meet by chance on the day that Fiona tries to kill herself. She recovers, but Marcus thinks she will try again and leave him on his own. He realises that Will can teach him how to be a kid and fit in at school. Will doesn’t know how to cope with a suicidal mother, but he does know what trainers to wear and what music to listen to.

To Kill a Mockingbird  by Harper Lee published in 1960. It was immediately successful, winning the Pulitzer Prize, and has become a classic of modern American literature. It tells of Scout and Jem's childhood in Alabama and how a series of events shook their innocence, shaped their character and taught them about human nature. Lee examines racism and other prejudices through a page turning story told in a wonderful, Southern voice. This is a must read American classic.

‘The no 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency’ by Alexander McCall Smith. (Abacus)

When Precious Ramotswe decides to use the money her beloved father left her to open the first ever Ladies’ Detective Agency in Botswana, everyone is skeptical. "Can women be detectives?" asks the bank’s lawyer. Mma Ramotswe herself feels unsure of her success. After all, her only assets are a tiny white van, two desks, two chairs, a telephone, an old typewriter, a teapot, and three teacups. But she does possess the intangible assets of intuition and intelligence. These she has in great supply, along with perseverance, a keen knowledge of the human mind and heart, a steadfast sense of right and wrong, and a personality that inspires trust and loquaciousness in nearly all who meet her.

‘Moon Palace’ by Paul Auster. (Faber & Faber)
It is a novel written by Paul Auster that was first published in 1989. The plot is set in Manhattan and the U.S. Midwest, and is centered around the life of the narrator Marco Stanley Fogg and the two previous generations of his family.

'Restless' is an espionage novel written by William Boyd,

The novel depicts the tale of a young woman who discovers that her mother was recruited as a spy during World War II. The book continually switches between time periods and, in doing so, from first to third person.

'Life of Pi' by  Yann Martel

The protagonist, Piscine Molitor "Pi" Patel, an Indian boy from Pondicherry, explores issues of spirituality and practicality from an early age. He survives 227 days after a shipwreck while stranded on a boat in the Pacific Ocean with a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker.

The Plot Against America  by Philip Roth.

It is an alternative history in which Franklin Delano Roosevelt is defeated in the presidential election of 1940 by Charles Lindbergh.

Water for Elephants  by Sara Gruen.

A circus elephant, a love story, and a Prohibition-era thriller. It tells the story of Jacob, a young man who joins the circus and ends up falling in love with both a woman and an elephant (in different ways, thank goodness).

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

 December 2002, Mikael Blomkvist, publisher of the Swedish political magazineMillennium, loses a libel case involving allegations about billionaire industrialist Hans-Erik Wennerström. He is sentenced to three months (deferred) in prison, and ordered to pay hefty damages and costs. Soon afterwards, he is invited to meet Henrik Vanger, the retired CEO of the Vanger Corporation, unaware that Vanger has checked into his personal and professional history; the investigation of Blomkvist's circumstances has been carried out by Lisbeth Salander, a brilliant, but deeply troubled, young woman who works as a surveillance agent with Milton Security.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon

The story is written in the first-person narrative of Christopher John Francis Boone, a 15-year-old boy living in Swindon, Wiltshire in 1998, who is described as having Asperger syndrome, although the behaviour he displays throughout the novel suggests a far more severe condition on the autism spectrum.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid is a realistic fiction novel by Jeff Kinney. It is the first book in theDiary of a Wimpy Kid series. The book is about a boy named Greg Heffley and his struggles in middle school.

The Elegance of the Hedgehog (French: L'Élégance du hérisson) is a novel by the French novelist and professor of philosophy Muriel Barbery. The book follows events in the life of a concierge, Renée Michel, whose deliberately concealed intelligence is uncovered by an unstable but intellectually precocious girl named Paloma Josse. Paloma is the daughter of an upper-class family living in the upscale Parisian apartment building where Renée works.

The Undomestic Goddess by Sophie Kinsella

Workaholic attorney Samantha Sweeting has just done the unthinkable. She’s made a mistake so huge, it’ll wreck any chance of a partnership.

Going into utter meltdown, she walks out of her London office, gets on a train, and ends up in the middle of nowhere. Asking for directions at a big, beautiful house, she’s mistaken for an interviewee and finds herself being offered a job as housekeeper. Her employers have no idea they’ve hired a lawyer–and Samantha has no idea how to work the oven. She can’t sew on a button, bake a potato, or get the ironing board to open. How she takes a deep breath and begins to cope–and finds love–is a story as delicious as the bread she learns to bake. But will her old life ever catch up with her? And if it does…will she want it back?