Suggestions for World Book Night 2013

My suggestions are given below. All are great books to encourage people into reading - immediately engaging with a strong narrative thread, exciting or funny, not too long and covering a range of genre. None of the authors have featured in previous WBN lists.

Check out the WBN website www.worldbooknight.org for the 100 most popular suggestions to date (none of mine are in there) – and to add your own.

 

Ordinary Thunderstorms by William Boyd

Atmospheric modern day thriller set in London – one man with a secret hunted by both the police and a corporate hit man.

The Odessa File by Frederick Forsyth

 

The original Nazi-hunting novel and still the best – compelling, action packed with grains of truth.

Spies by Michael Frayn

Evocatively told story set in WW2 England that shows how childish imagination can misread adult behaviour with dangerous results.

The Kon Tiki Expedition by Thor Heyerdahl

True but hard to believe story of oceanic exploration and bravery in the days before satnav, mobile phones and an accompanying reality TV crew.

High Fidelity by Nick Hornby

The most accurate portrait of the modern metropolitan male predicament, as hero Rob tries to come to terms with his disintegrating personal life and failing record shop business.

French Revolutions by Tim Moore

One bike enthusiast’s hilarious account of his attempt to ride the Tour de France course.

Knots & Crosses by Ian Rankin

The first novel in the brilliant Inspector Rebus series – sharp, crisp with a tense ending.

Holes by Louis Sachar

Nominally a book for young adults but much too good not to share wider – Stanley Yelnets being sent wrongly to “juvie” is just the start of a sequence of strange events that eventually, bizarrely, resolve themselves in a satisfying conclusion.

The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13¾ by Sue Townsend

Witty, engaging and accurate account of adolescent angst with laugh out loud moments and now with added nostalgic appeal.

Slaughterhouse 5 by Kurt Vonnegut

Billy Pilgrim’s chronologically mixed-up life story includes WW2 and interplanetary travel, but provides a fascinating narrative and some universal truths.