Favourite Fiction for Adults

This list of favourite books is a mix of award-winning classic books as well as some that are just a good enjoyable read. You may not be able to find them all in bookstores but there are plenty of options to buy them online.

A "Brave New World" foretold

This is one of my favourite books and is not that well known today.
It is fascinating to realise this book and was written in 1932 and yet it could have been written last year and would make a great contemporary movie.. What imagination and fore-sight Huxley had to create a world where babies are not only fertilised in test-tubes but grown in them. Where genetic engineering, invitro manipulation and brain-washing creates a class structure where supposedly all are are happy. Step into the shoes of Bernard Marx and share his restless and his discovery of "The Savage".

Constant Princess

This novel tells the intriguing story of the Spanish princess that became the first of Henry VIII's wives after becoming the widow of his elder brother. Beautifully written prequel to "The Other Boleyn Girl" (refer below)

The Time Travellers Wife

The inconvenient practicalities of time travel form the basis of this fabulous book which has since been made into a movie. In some ways it creates a new genre of "Sci-Fi realism" - take one unlikely concept as a given (time travel) and then explore the ramifications of it on daily life and a relationship. The movie is very good but there's so much to it in the book. For more details or to buy this popular book online click on the image.

Award Winning "Life of Pi"

After the tragic sinking of a cargo ship, a solitary lifeboat remains bobbing on the wild, blue Pacific. The only survivors from the wreck are a sixteen year-old boy named Pi, a hyena, a zebra (with a broken leg), a female orang-utan - and a 450-pound Royal Bengal tiger. The scene is set for one of the most extraordinary and favourite works of fiction in recent years. I believe it is scheduled to be made into a movie soon too.

Business Inspiration

This non-fiction book looks at some of the great business success stories over the last century.
It reminds us that success so often follows failure and that passion and persistence are two of the most important components of entrepeneurship.

Before Anne Boleyn

Before Anne Boleyn there was Mary. This fabulous historical novel is set in the court of King Henry VIII where Mary Boleyn attracts the attention of the young king and becomes his mistress; when he tires of her, she sets out to school her sister, Anne, as a replacement. Politics and passion are inextricably bound together in this compelling drama. Much more detail and interest than the movie.

Time Travel Escapism

In 1945, Claire Randall is back from the war and reunited with her husband on a second honeymoon in Scotland. Innocently she walks through a stone circle in the Highlands, and finds herself in a violent skirmish taking place in 1743. Suddenly she is a Sassenach, an outlander, in a country torn by war and by clan feuds. Marooned amid the passion and violence, the superstition, the shifting allegiances and the fervent loyalties, Claire is in danger from Jacobites and Redcoats - and from the shock of her own desire for James Fraser, a gallant and courageous young Scots warrior.

Sushi for an Irish Girl

A nervous breakdown seems like a great idea: all that lying in bed and watching daytime TV. But who's going to have it? Will it be housewife Clodagh, who spends her days microwaving pasta for her demanding toddlers and waiting for her beautiful husband Dylan to come home? Or Lisa, hard, brittle and shiny as an M&M, reeling from the shock of a demotion from her fabulous job in London to a one-horse magazine in Dublin? Or Ashling, so normal she's weird?
A light-hearted, fun read.

"The Winner"

Imagine winning the lottery ... imagine being promised the lottery!! LuAnn Tyler is an unwed mother striving to escape a life of endless poverty. Then a mysterious Mr Jackson makes her an offer - a guarantee to be the winner of the USD100 million lottery. But LuAnn won't do it. Less than twenty-four hours later, she is fighting for her life and running from a false murder charge. Jackson's offer - and its condition that she leave the country forever - seems her only hope. However, ten years later, LuAnn secretly returns to the United States but a canny reporter has picked up her trail, as have the FBI - and Jackson.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

A Swedish journalist reluctantly takes up an assignment to investigate the disappearance of an industrialist's niece forty years earlier.
When signs of a much more sinister crime emerge he teems up with a much-tattooed social misfit that has uncanny investigative abilities.

Mr Pip

Set mainly on Bouganville, this novel tells the story of Mathilda and her teacher - the only white man in the village.
By his own admission he's not much of a teacher and proceeds to educate the children by reading them Great Expectations. Mathilda falls in love with the novel, strongly identifying with Pip. When the rebels visit the village searching for any remaining men to join their cause, they discover the name Pip written in the sand and instigate a search for the non-existent Mr Pip. Mister Pip explores notions of storytelling, and the role of imagination in inventing the self.

The Greatest Knight

More historic escapism with appeal to both men and women.
A penniless young knight with few prospects, William Marshal is plucked from obscurity when he saves the life of Henry II's formidable queen, Eleanor of Aquitaine. In gratitude, she appoints him tutor to the heir to the throne, the volatile and fickle Prince Henry. But being a royal favorite brings its share of danger and jealousy as well as fame and reward. Historic fiction based on a true story. Available to buy online - just click on the image for details.

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What's your latest favourite book?

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