My Ten Best Reads of 2013
This blog entry is for every camper, Arts Academy participant, staff member or parent who loves to read. Here are my ‘ten best reads’ of 2013… send me yours, and I’ll post them! Just a minor caveat before starting the list: nothing I recommend here has lengthy content that any age would find particularly disturbing. However, I cannot guarantee that every single page of every book is free from expletives, or references/descriptions of an adult nature, so parents of younger readers are cautioned!
1. The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak
Finally: a gorgeously written, intelligently researched, poetically rich novel for young adults, and a perfect antidote to the recent teen publications that deliver polished plot and well imagined dystopias, but little in the way of good writing.The Book Thief is heartbreaking, of course; it’s also filled with some of the most powerful and poetic sentences I’ve read in a long time. Read it soon, before you see the movie.
2. Sacred Hearts, by Sarah Dunant
The best writers transport us into a world we can otherwise never know, and this is so true of Sarah Dunant. In 1570, in Italy, the high price of dowries meant half the noblewomen in the country were forced into convents, to live out their lives behind walls. For some, the convent became their prison. For others, it was liberating, offering them the freedom to make decisions, learn, debate and think freely in a way that would have been unthinkable for women outside their walls. Dunant’s Renaissance Italy is well researched and beautifully imagined.
3. Stardust, by Neil Gaiman
In England, 600 years ago, a village stood on the edge of a wall, and beyond the wall was the magical land of Faerie. This is an engaging fantasy, and both a quick and pleasurable read.
4. Life After Life, by Kate Atkinson
This novel has one of the most unusual plot structures I’ve encountered in a long time. In the first two pages, Ursula Todd – the book’s main character – is born and (due to the late arrival of the midwife) immediately suffocates. The novel returns again and again to the moment of her birth, with the child surviving a little longer each time. For each reincarnation, we see the life of the character play out differently, and it’s when she reaches adulthood just before the outbreak of the second World War that things really get interesting. If you could live your life again and again and again, what paths would you take? If you carried a memory of previous incarnations – and therefore of the future – what choices would you make? This is a fascinating read, with a premise that stays with you long after Ursula lives her final life.
5. Skellig by David Almond
In this haunting and beautiful children’s book, a lonely little boy finds a strange half-dead creature in his parents’ crumbling garage. The creature turns out to be an angel, but is totally unlike any angel we choose to imagine. This is a lyrical tale about sadness and healing… it’s a classic children’s story; if you haven’t read it take the time to do so, whatever your age.
6. Me, who Dove into the Heart of the World, by Sabina Berman
I said above that the best books transform us into worlds we can otherwise never know; they also offer us the perspective of people we might never otherwise grow to understand. Perhaps this is why reading has been linked to the growth of empathy in young people. This bizarre novel is told from the point of view of Karen Nieto, an autistic girl who starts out as a feral child and ends up being the only hope for her family’s tuna fishery. This novel explores our relationship to the world around us, and asks questions about why we treat our fellow creatures the way that we do. Karen’s unique perspective on life encourages us to question our own.
7. The 100 Year Old Man who Climbed out the Window and Disappeared, by Jonas Jonasson
This novel is clever, quirky and intelligent. It also has a fast-paced and thoroughly enjoyable plot. A 100 year old man is suddenly sure more adventures await him in life, and so he clambers out of the window of his nursing home and disappears. Before long, he’s being hunted by a gang of crooks as well as the police. In a series of flashbacks, we gradually discover that the 100 year old man has had an impact upon many of the key events of the twentieth century. The 100 Year Old Man has a cast of hugely appealing characters. It’s a really enjoyable read.
8. Beautiful Ruins, by Jess Walter
The novel opens in a tiny clifftop village in Italy in 1962. Not far away, Richard Burton ad Elizabeth Taylor are birthing the cult of the celebrity, on the set of the doomed movie, Cleopatra. This novel places unforgettable characters in intriguing circumstances, then catches up with them again decades later. Walters is not only a talented storytelling, but she knows how to create unforgettable characters, too.
9. The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, by Rachel Joyce
Harold Fry is sinking into a depressing retirement, and all that remains of his life feels predictable and dull. Then, one morning, without really understanding why, he sets out on a personal quest to walk six hundred miles up the spine of England, to visit a dying friend. Harold’s lonely quest takes on personal meaning for all the many people he meets along the way. This is a wonderful bitter-sweet book about the smallness of a life, and how it’s never too late to redefine the people we have become.
10. Kith: The Riddle of the Childscape, by Jay Griffiths
As a camp director and educator, I am always on the lookout for books with new perspectives on how we treat our children, and what childhood has become in the twenty-first century. Kith is one of the best non-fiction books I’ve read in a long time, and one that will be at the forefront of my mind as I plan camp for next summer! Griffiths laments that the children of today have become removed from the natural world, and have lost so many of the magical freedoms that accompanied childhood just a couple of generations ago. What happens to a person whose childhood is mostly spent sitting down, in the confines of small indoor spaces, staring at machines? What happens to imagination, respect for freedom and a desire to protect the natural world? And what will happen to all of us, in the future, as children grow to adulthood without these things? In some ways, this is a terrifying look at what humanity is becoming… but it’s also a well researched book by an author who draws as much on literature and history as science, to put forward her premise. She writes well, too – this is an eminently readable book.
Julie Hartley
Director
Centauri Summer Arts Camp
www.centauriartscamp.com