READING LIST (2): NOVELS ABOUT FAMILY AND HISTORY

1. The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan: The Joy Luck Club was formed of four Chinese women recently moved to San Francisco who meet to eat dim sum, play mah-jong and to share stories. Forty years on they and their daughters tell wise and witty tales of hope, loss, family and history.Watch the trailer of the movie adaptation here. 
 

2. The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13 ¾. by SueTownsend (or any other of his diaries) . At thirteen years old, Adrian Mole has more than his fair share of problems - spots, ill-health, parents threatening to divorce, rejection of his poetry and much more - all recorded with brilliant humour in his diary.

3. Brooklyn by Colm Toibin: The novel is set in Brooklyn and Ireland in the early 1950s, when one young woman crosses the ocean to make a new life for herself. By far Tóibín's most instantly engaging and emotionally resonant novel, Brooklyn will make readers fall in love with his gorgeous writing and spellbinding characters. The movie adaptaion was nominated for several Oscars in 2016: 

4. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini: The unforgettable, heartbreaking story of the unlikely friendship between a wealthy boy and the son of his father’s servant, The Kite Runner is a beautifully crafted novel set in a country that is in the process of being destroyed. It is about the power of reading, the price of betrayal, and the possibility of redemption; and an exploration of the power of fathers over sons—their love, their sacrifices, their lies. Listen to an interview with the author here. 


5. Pay It Forward by Catherine Ryan Hyde- LOOK INSIDE THE BOOK