With Young Adult fiction flying of the shelves on both sides of the Atlantic is it time to find out what you're missing? Shake up your reading list with two current YA heavy weights...


The Fault in our Stars by John Green

1. This novel re-imagines the theme of star-crossed lovers with terminally ill cancer sufferer Hazel and amputee Gus who meet at a teen support group. This central motif is refreshingly unlike many other titles in the genre.

2. Similarly individual is the antagonist Peter Van Houten whose fictional novel An Imperial Affliction is a key plot device which keeps the work on the right side of sentimental. Fans of the written word will appreciate that Hazel and Gus's relationship develops around their favourite novel!

3. The book was launched with massive social media noise. Read and then check out #TFIOS for the ongoing twitter chat around the film adaptation's release.


Divergent by Veronica Roth

1. Part 1 of a trilogy of books that are currently being adapted for the big screen. The novel features a strong female lead, Beatrice Prior, who must complete a mandatory aptitude test for all 16 year olds that determines which faction she will live in; Abnegation, Amity, Candor, Dauntless or Erudite.

2. The novel is set in an engaging post-apocolyptic Chicago. This near future dystopia is recognisable enough to relate to, the brilliant scenes on the L train for example, but could have been much more compelling had the plot paused for breath!

3. The writing is quick paced and tight, the perfect commuter read. At times the prose is so rapid that it might be considered kids fiction rather than young adult however, once tuned in this makes for easy read.

The Hunger Games this isn't but Part 1 is worth the read  

3 great reads for May...

The Fault in our Stars - John Green
#1 on numerous best seller lists worldwide since publication in 2011. Winner of the New York Times Book Review Editor's Choice Award. Read now before the imminent movie adaptation and find out what all the social media hype is about.

Divergent - Veronica Roth
Young Adult best seller set in a dystopian Chicago of the future. The first of a trilogy of books that have been filling a 'Hunger Games' shaped hole. Anyone who has ever been 16 years old will enjoy.

The Truth about the Harry Quebert Affair - Joel Dicker
Translated from the French novel 'La Vérité sur l’Affaire Harry Quebert' which has topped most French language best seller lists. Is this the Swiss answer to The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo?

Look out for full reviews coming soon.

“Later, as he sat on his balcony eating the dog, Dr Robert Laing reflected on the unusual events that had taken place within this huge apartment building during the previous three months.”

With a new film in production, with Tom Hiddleston and director Ben Wheatley, and the Tate Britain exploring the enigma of ruined architecture, in current show Ruin Lust, this is the perfect time to pick up a copy of JG Ballard's 1975 sci-fi gem Highrise.

In the novel Ballard imagines a scenario in which society, in this case within the microcosm of a luxury Highrise development, completely breaks down. What begin as minor malfunctions such as faulty lifts and waste disposal systems soon escalate to life threatening events as the inhabitants turn feral within the luxury carpeted halls. Social order is literally thrown from the high rise balconies as a new dystopian order seeps through the concrete structure of the vertical city. 

The story centres on 3 key characters who neatly represent the social worlds that exist within the complex. On one of the lower proletariat floors is Laing, a lecturer who we meet early on in the novel roasting an Alsatian on a pyre of yellow pages. Higher up lives TV producer and social climber Wilder. On one of the upper floors is Royal, architect, urbanist and idealist.

The work is at its best when the boundaries blur between the social strata creating an anti-society no-mans land. Ballard allows us to experience this through the eyes of the three main protagonists effectively. This wouldn't have worked as well told through one single view point.

The challenge with the novel is to recognise that this is essentially a period piece. Much has changed since 1975 and the book is markedly void of digital interference.

A great read with a unforgettable first opening sentence that will hook you in whether browsing in the library/bookshop or trying a kindle sample. Your perfect hit of post-apocolyptic mayhem.

More about the film adaptation here http://ind.pn/1b1WTjX

More about Tate Britain's show here http://bit.ly/1bIF221

Tweet @wordsshortlist if you're planning to read

Always read the small print...

Robert Glancy's debut novel proves that the devil is indeed in the detail, in this case within the small print. We meet Frank Shaw whose job, on the bottom most rung of the corporate ladder, is to compile the terms and conditions (the bit nobody reads)in contracts compiled by his family law firm.

Following a near fatal car crash Frank pieces together his life from fragments of memories using his meticulous attention to detail. By appraising the rules of life through different 'terms and conditions' Frank discovers more about his former life than he ever understood before his amnesia.

1. Frank hates his job

2. Frank is suspicious of his wife

3. Frank wasn't the happy chappy everyone tells him he was

The novel is initially tricky to get into. Each chapter includes foot notes which feel more like an academic paper than a work of fiction however, a quarter of the way in to the book this feels natural as we get to know Frank, the narrator. What begins as an unusual quirk soon becomes an valid device which provides a handy and concise way to develop characters and plot lines. 

Interesting characters include Alice, Frank's wife and author of a seminal business book who struggles to understand the boundaries between real life and a self help seminar. Also Malc, Frank's brother whose emails from Thailand often go unanswered. 

The novel is at its best when Frank begins to understand the small print of his own life. Firstly challenging the point of his his career by unleashing 'corporate graffiti' in the small print of some pretty serious contracts. Secondly as he begins to unravel the deceit close to home. Original and compelling stuff.

The only unanswered question is why Frank ever accepted the status quo before his accident. A sobering prospect that it took a serious car crash for Frank to get a grip on life! 

Terms and conditions is a disappointing read that's slow burning, formulaic and predictable*

* Disclaimer: Of course, none of this is true, Terms and conditions is a great read! 

What the critics said...

This tale of a lawyer losing his grip on reality is original, very funny and very poignant. Read it! (Paul Torday, author of Salmon Fishing in the Yemen)

It's wonderful. Funny, poignant, simple and profound - it's the kind of book I absolutely love. And it has the best ending I've read in a very long time (Gavin Extence, author of The Universe Versus Alex Woods)

With the announcement this month of the long awaited new novel from Kazuo Ishiguro now is the perfect time to re-discover Never Let Me Go the million selling novel from 2005.

Both of Ishiguro's most successful novels, The Remains of the Day and Never Let Me Go, have made the transition to the big screen but to only experience these works on film is to miss the subtlety of one of the best writers working in Britain today.

Never Let Me Go is an intense coming of age drama set in a seemingly near perfect boarding school. In the first part we meet the three lead characters, Kathy, Ruth and Tommy at a school environment in which health and well being dominate the curriculum. 

Through the nuances of their teachers, know as 'guardians' we discover that the story is actually set in a near future, anti-utopian, vision of England. Science-fiction, not really, this dystopian future is only slightly removed from a world we recognise which is what makes the second and third parts of the book so compelling.

From adult hood to life as a 'donor' Ishiguro weaves a story of love and loss that is about as unforgettable as fiction can get. Brilliant writing, ingenious narrative and thought provoking morality will keep you reading all night.

Never Let Me Go is a classic book club choice but, now that almost 10 years have elapsed since initial publication, the furore has died down allowing more room for the story.

The April shortlist.....

Look out for weekly blog posts here about these great titles over the next few weeks

Terms and Conditions -  Robert Glancy (Bloomsbury)

High-Rise - J.G. Ballard (Flamingo Modern Classics)

Never Let Me Go - Kazuo Ishiguro (Faber and Faber)


Read more this April!

For Bret Easton Ellis, whose generosity will never cease to warm my heart...

The Secret History by Donna Tartt

'A haunting, compelling and brilliant piece of fiction' The Times

'So irresistible and seductive it's almost a guilty pleasure' The Guardian

Books cited as 'modern classics' often come with so many pre-conceived ideas that as a reader you're bogged down in expectation before the first chapter is through. Luckily, with The Secret History, this is all thrown out of the dormitory window as you're drawn into a world in which sharp captivating prose, clever structure and characterisation reminds just why you love reading great fiction.

"The snow in the mountains was melting and Bunny had been dead for several weeks before we came to understand the gravity of our situation"

The Secret History is an East coast collegiate novel based around a tight social circle of privileged and monied under-graduates studying Classics. Enter Richard, whose small town working class background is instantly at odds with the friends he makes in this elite Ivy League elysium. Richard is initially both attracted and intrigued by the characters in the group from gregarious Bunny to effeminate Francis and kooky twins Charles and Camilla.

Before long Richard is drawn into a world in which college life blends with greek tragedy and ultimately into a dangerous Dionysian drama... 

This time, I thought, a year ago. What had I been doing? Driving a friend's car up to San Francisco, standing around in the poetry sections of bookstores worrying about my application to Hampden. And now here I was, sitting in a cold room in strange clothes and wondering if I might go to prison.

Not only is the novel exceptionally well written but the characters are as intriguing and well drawn as you'll find in a modern piece of literature. This is a novel to read and enjoy and then re-read and love. If there is a book that can grow old with you then this is it. 

Pick up in a second hand bookstore for a flavour, between the torn cover and dog eared pages, of your copy's very own secret history.

A week in the written word....

Monday - Arrange a review copy of Under the Sea: Stories by Ben Marcus, thanks Granta Books can't wait to read and review. http://amzn.to/1eBSCmF

Tuesday - Thanks to a re-tweet by The Oxford Literature Festival my review of The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton becomes the most read blog post on The Words Shortlist bit.ly/1ideZPS

Wednesday - Finish How to Survive and Thrive at Work by Chris Barez-Brown for a work (day job) project based on the idea of "Upping your Elvis" in the office!. A good commuter read for a fiction free few days.amzn.to/NGTawN 

Thursday - Thank you Graeme Simsion for commenting on my review of The Rosie Project in last week's blog post.

Friday - A chance to finish The Secret History by Donna Tartt on a short break to Bath. Best coffee shops for reading in this beautiful city? Try Society Cafe (http://www.society-cafe.com/) or Colonna and Smalls (http://www.colonnaandsmalls.co.uk/) 

Saturday - Time for some book-spiration at Mr B's Emporium of Reading Delights. This great independent bookshop in the heart of Bath is brilliantly curated to help you pick up new titles by new writers - plus they offer a reading spa for a one on one bibliotherapy session.

Sunday - Discovering Britain's most unassuming second hand bookshop in the village of Lacock in Wiltshire. This door-step book shop is only a snitch throw away from Lacock Abbey used as a location in the Harry Potter series.

"I'm not good at understanding what other people want." - Don Tillman.

The Rosie Project, debut novel from Australian writer Graeme Simsion, is a feel good, rom-com, page turner ideal as a lighter read after the heavier tomes of the award season. What the novel lacks in intellectual depth is made up with a fast paced narrative that romps through common dating misconceptions and the anxiety around meeting 'the One'.

The story features Don Tillman, a 39 year old geneticist, who devises a 16 page questionnaire which he believes will help him find the perfect wife. Don knows exactly the type of woman he wants to  avoid settling down with and, when he meets Rosie "the World's most incompatible woman", his approach is initially validated.

Don's life is highly systematic, ordered and meticulous as is his approach to finding a life partner. This is another novel with the protagonist somewhere on the Asperger's scale but, as with The Shock of the Fall, the work is heart-warming, humorous and feel good - i.e. destined to fly of the shelves in late austerity Britain! 

The novel is more screen play than literature and will, no doubt, make the transfer to the big screen in due course. Will it make more than standard popcorn rom-com fare? - Yes it just might thanks to the Don's unique academic nerd meets chivalrous romantic turn.

The publishers, Penguin, have had some fun trying to make this an 'event' novel with its positioning as the novel of 2014.  Whilst the inclusion of Don's questionnaire as an appendix is irresistibly witty, the cocktail menu and party inspiration that follows is less tongue in cheek and more try hard! 

An easy read but ultimately a little too 'made for Hollywood'.

An improbable journey with a unlikely hero. Meet Alex Woods, one of the world's only survivors of a direct meteorite hit to the head!

'It's Mark Haddon meets Kurt Vonnegut' (Observer)

'An eccentric young protagonist meets his match in a compelling comic debut' (The Bookseller)


'Extence's plotting is astute, and he handles the theme of euthanasia with an affecting delicacy' (Financial Times)

This debut novel from Gavin Extence treads a fine line between comic caper and poignant coming of age drama as our protagonist, nerdy Alex Woods, befriends a wise widower to form an improbable double act.

Alex's unconventional childhood, we learn about his single clairvoyant mother and his own conception somewhere near Stonehenge early on, has done little to prepare him for his teen years but, thanks to a chase from the school bullies, Alex lands crashing into the world of Mr Peterson - a typical pot smoking, Kurt Vonnegut reading, Vietnam vet living in suburban England. 

Putting this slightly unfeasible back story to one side this is just the sort of literary pairing that can be forgiven as a device which drives the story on from set piece to set piece.

The unlikely couple's adventures ultimately take them to Switzerland where Alex fulfils his promise to support Mr Peterson in his decision to undergo euthanasia. Heavy stuff but written, with the emotional naivety of a 15 year old, the result is heart warming and, at times, uplifting.

Where the novel succeeds is in the character Extence creates in Alex Woods. The opening scene in which Alex is stopped at Dover customs with a packet of marijuana and an urn full of ashes is memorable becoming unforgettable when a loud blast of Handel's Messiah is used to delay an epileptic fit. This is a young man quite literally in the driving seat.

At other times the novel tries to hard to cram in sub plots which fail to fully develop. No doubt, Mr Extence could have delivered a second novel in here about Alex's relationship with the meteorite and the Natural History Museum.

No doubt we'll read much more from Gavin Extence and, who knows, we may even meet Alex Woods again.

The March short list of must read fiction....

The Secret History - Donna Tartt

The Rosie Project - Graeme Simsion

The Universe vs Alex Woods - Gavin Extence

Read, enjoy and share....