TY Book Recommendations

Today we head off on half-term. No better time to grab books and catch up on reading. And here are two recommendations by Transition Year pupils who have been reading for their Extended Essays (to be written after the break).

Toby Green on Q & A by Vikas Swarup (the basis of the film Slumdog Millionaire)
"This book is about a boy who wins a quiz show in India. He is then sued by the corrupt company for 'cheating'. He explains to his lawyer about he knew the answer to each question by recounting a part of his life story. This is a good book to use because he meets many people and has many different types of relationships with them. You can also dip into the life of a poor orphan boy in India and the horrors people can do to each other. I really enjoyed this book and I highly recommend it."


Anna Bofferding on Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn:
"I would recommend it, because the author has a very intimate style of writing, which makes it very gripping and interesting. To understand the story fully you have to imagine yourself inside the main charcters Nick and Amy and try to understand why they did what they did.

The storyline is also very gripping, because it completely changes once you get to a certain point and this makes you want to read it on. I have experienced with many other novels that I got bored of them after a while, but because of this transformation of the plot, it keeps you up all night reading.
It is set in our time, which makes it easy to understand the background. Amy is a seemingly lovely woman, who marries Nick and they move to his hometown together. On their fifth anniversary she suddenly disappears and the police and bystanders start thinking he murdered her.  You find out bit by bit that she had planned it all and disappeared herself. The opinions of the readers start changing at this point, going from pity to hate. The disappearance and revenge on her husband doesn't go as planned, so she goes to an old friend, fakes a rape and murders him, coming home as a hero, who saved herself from a monster.

When you find out, that Nick is cheating on his wife, the opinion of him changes negatively, too, but after all he is the real victim of the story."