Today I thought I’d compile my list of favourite fiction books. I’ve done a lot of reading throughout the summer, of all sorts of books, and I think that I’m now able to provide some advice on what books that are most worth your time – and I’ve made sure not to include spoilers! I’ve purposely steered clear of any books that I know to be commonly used in school curriculums, but plenty of recommended books for school are amazing works as well!
1. All The Light We Cannot See
This is an extremely touching story about a French girl who is blind and an orphaned German boy during World War II. They each encounter different problems as the war plays out, with the French girl eventually working to support the French Resistance and the German boy becoming frustrated at how scientific innovations are being used for war. Each of them is blind in their own way – the French girl is physically blind, while the German boy feels that he has been blinded from the positive side of the world due to the negative war rhetoric. It has a very bittersweet ending that further contributes to the overall feeling of the book. A must read for sure.
2. A Game Of Thrones
You knew this was going to be on here. I decided to read this book after watching a couple episodes of HBO’s TV adaptation, and I must say that I am super impressed with the original novel series. There’s an enormous amount of detail poured into this book, that every Game of Thrones fan would enjoy. Upon opening the pages of the book, I was immediately whisked away to the kingdom of Westeros, and I could feel a connection with the setting and characters immediately. Even if you don’t like the Game of Thrones TV show, still give the books a shot – they are amazing in their own respect.
3. The Kite Runner
This is a truly emotional story that incorporates the events that have happened in our real world into a heart-warming fiction story. The Kite Runner is based around a young Afghan boy called Amir and follows events in his life as he grows. His experiences span from periods of relative stability in Afghanistan to Soviet intervention and the refugee influx to Pakistan to the rise of the Taliban. All along the way, he experiences a very close relationship with his friend, Hassan. Amir is unable to prevent violence against Hassan in one scene, which gives him a great amount of guilt. The rest of the story centres around Amir’s attempt to make it up to Hassan.
4. The Circle
This techno style futuristic novel is about an extremely powerful Internet company called The Circle, and the experiences of one employee named Mae who works there. She moves up the ranks of the company fast, and she soon discovers a new project that the company is pursuing: SeeChange, a project where small cameras are placed everywhere in the world for surveillance purposes. Mae embraces the motif of transparency, but many in the story begin to question the motives of The Circle and they begin to attempt to protect their privacy. The conflicts that result are truly nail-biters. In April, the movie The Circle was released, and it had quite a different ending. If you have time for either the movie or the book, make sure that you do go and see/read The Circle in some form!
5. The Hunt For Red October
Last, but certainly not least, is my personal favourite on this list. The Hunt For Red October is the first book written by Tom Clancy in the Jack Ryan series, which is based around the titular character(Jack Ryan) as he works in the CIA during the Cold War. The book is about a Soviet nuclear submarine, named the Red October, which has a crew that wishes to defect to the USA. The book details all of the military and intelligence responses from both the USA and the Soviet Union, as well as the diplomatic processes that were pursued by both countries during this time period. It is one of the most action-packed espionage books I have ever read, and I thoroughly enjoyed the suspense that the book brought to me. With this book, Tom Clancy became my favourite novelist, and I continue to read his trilogy today.
That concludes my list of my favourite fiction books. I’ll post my list of nonfiction books in the next part!
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