10. The Giver by Lois Lowry.
Call Number: PZ7.L9673 GI 1993
Located: Curriculum Collection section on Lower Level
“Jonas’s world is perfect. Everything is under control. There is no war or fear or pain. There are no choices. Every person is assigned a role in the Community. When Jonas turns twelve, he is singled out to receive special training from The Giver. The Giver alone holds the memories of the true pain and pleasure of life. Now it’s time for Jonas to receive the truth. There is no turning back.”
9. Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen.
Call Number: PR4034.P7 1945
Located: General Stacks section on Upper Level
“Elizabeth Bennet is young, clever and attractive, but her mother is a nightmare and she and her four sisters are in dire need of financial security and escape in the shape husbands. The arrival of nice Mr Bingley and arrogant Mr Darcy in the neighbourhood turns all their lives upside down in this witty drama of friendship, rivalry, enmity and love.”
8. The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks
Call Number: PS3569.P363 N68 1996
Located: General Stacks section on Upper Level – currently missing
“Noah Calhoun reads aloud from a well worn notebook. His audience is Allie, his much loved but now ailing wife. The story he is telling is their story. After teir first fateful meeting as teenagers, Noah and Allie spend a wonderful summer falling in love. Allie’s parents look on horrified. They have great ambitions for their daughter, which don’t include a poor rural southerner. Forced to seperate, Noah and Allie lose contact. Then, years later, on the eve of a marraige to a successful lawyer Allie finds herself drawn irresistibly to Noah’s home town. What follows is an unforgettable meeting and a wonderful tribute to the power of love.”
7. Lord of the Rings (trilogy) by J.R.R. Tolkien
Call Number: PR6039.O32 L61 1993
Located: General Stacks section on Upper Level
"The title of the book refers to the story's main antagonist, the Dark Lord Sauron, who had in an earlier age created the One Ring to rule the other Rings of Power, as the ultimate weapon in his campaign to conquer and rule all of Middle-earth. From quiet beginnings in the Shire, a hobbit land not unlike the English countryside, the story ranges across Middle-earth following the course of the War of the Ring through the eyes of its characters, most notably the hobbits, Frodo Baggins, Samwise Gamgee (Sam), Meriadoc Brandybuck (Merry) and Peregrin Took (Pippin)."
6. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Call Number: PS3562.E353 T6 1993
Located: General Stacks section on Upper Level
“Lawyer Atticus Finch defends the real mockingbird of Harper Lee's classic, Puliter Prize-winning novel--a black man charged with the rape of a white woman. Through the eyes of Atticus's children, Scout and Jem Finch, Harper Lee explores with rich humor and unanswering honesty the irrationality of adult attitudes toward race and class in the Deep South of the 1930's.”
5. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Call Number: PS3511.I9G7 1991
Located: General Stacks section on Upper Level
“Generally considered to be F. Scott Fitzgerald’s finest novel, The Great Gatsby is a consummate summary of the ‘roaring twenties’ and a devastating expose of the ‘Jazz Age’. Through the narration of Nick Carraway, the readers is taken into the superficially glittering world of the mansions which lined the Long Island shore of the American seaboard in the 1920s, to encounter Nick’s cousin Daisy, Jay Gatsby and the dark mystery which surrounds him.”
4. Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
Call Number: PS3537.A426
Located: General Stacks section on Upper Level
“A sixteen year old boy named Holden Caulfield (the son of wealthy parents) runs away from school to his home in New York. Wandering the city alone, he is disillusioned by the superficiality of it and its citizens. However, it is through witnessing his young sister Phoebe going round and round on a merry-go-round after a trip to the zoo that he receives any sort of answer or joy, not from the advices of the school teachers, girlfriend and other acquaintances he meets along the way. (Camille Scaysbrook)”
3. Angels & Demons by Dan Brown
Call Number: PS3552.R685434 A64 2004
Located: Audio-Visual section on Lower Level – currently checked-out
"When a world renowned scientist is found brutally murdered, a Harvard professor, Robert Langdon, is summoned to identify the mysterious symbol seared onto the dead man's chest. His conclusion: it is the work of the Illuminati, a secret brotherhood presumed extinct for nearly four hundred years - now reborn to continue their bitter vendetta against their sworn enemy, the Catholic Church. In Rome, the college of cardinals assembles to elect a new pope. Yet somewhere within the walls of the Vatican, an unstoppable bomb of terrifying power relentlessly counts down to oblivion. While the minutes tick away, Langdon joins forces with Vittoria Vetra, a beautiful and mysterious Italian scientist, to decipher the labyrinthine trail of ancient symbols that snakes across Rome to the long-forgotten Illuminati lair - a secret refuge wherein lies the only hope for the Vatican. But, with each revelation comes another twist, another turn in the plot, which leaves Langdon and Vetra reeling and at the mercy of a seemingly invincible enemy."
2. 1984 by George Orwell
Call Number: PN6120.A52 O934
Located: General Stacks section on Upper Level
“Winston Smith works for the Ministry of Truth in London, chief city of Airstrip One. Big Brother stares out from every poster, the Thought Police uncover every act of betrayal. When Winston finds love with Julia, he discovers that life does not have to be dull and deadening, and awakens to new possibilities. Despite the police helicopters that hover and circle overhead, Winston and Julia begin to question the Party; they are drawn towards conspiracy. Yet Big Brother will not tolerate dissent – even in the mind. For those with original thoughts they invented Room 101...”
1. Harry Potter (series) by J.K. Rowling
Call Number: PZ7.R79835 HAR 1998
Located: Curriculum Collection section on Lower Level
“The books chronicle the adventures of the adolescent wizard Harry Potter and his best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, all of whom are students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The central story arc concerns Harry's struggle against the evil wizard Lord Voldemort, who killed Harry's parents in his quest to conquer the wizarding world and subjugate non-magical people (Muggles). Several successful derivative films, video games and other themed merchandise have been based upon the series.”
For more background information on these books, visit Wikipedia.
1 comment:
I love that Harry Potter is on the list (although maybe it would make some professors cringe?) - I still reread the first book when I need a pick-me-up.
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