23. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone(Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone)
(The first book in the Harry Potter series)
(1997)
J K Rowling
What did Harry Potter know about magic? He was stuck with the decidedly un-magical Dursleys, who hated him. He slept in a closet and ate their leftovers. But an owl messenger changes all that, with an invitation to attend the Hogwarts School for Wizards and Witches, where it turns out Harry is already famous.. . .----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
22. Breaking Dawn (The fourth book in the Twilight Saga series)
(2008)
Stephenie Meyer
To be irrevocably in love with a vampire is both fantasy and nightmare woven into a dangerously heightened reality for Bella Swan. Pulled in one direction by her intense passion for Edward Cullen, and in another by her profound connection to werewolf Jacob Black, she has endured a tumultuous year of temptation , loss, and strife to reach the ultimate turning point. Her imminent choice to either join the dark but seductive world of immortals or pursue a fully human life has become the thread from which the date of two tribes hangs. Now Bella has made her decision; a startling chain of unprecedented events is about to unfold with potentially devastating and unfathomable consequences. Just when the frayed strands of Bella's life--first discovered in Twilight, then scattered and torn in New Moon and Eclipse--seem ready to heal and knit together, could they be destroyed...forever?
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21. Twenties Girl (2009)
Sophie Kinsella
Lara has always had an overactive imagination. Now she wonders if she is losing her mind. Normal twenty-something girls just don't get visited by ghosts! But inexplicably, the spirit of Lara's great aunt Sadie - in the form of a bold, demanding Charleston-dancing girl - has appeared to make one last request: Lara must track down a missing necklace Sadie simply can't rest without. Lara's got enough problems of her own. Her start-up company is floundering, her best friend and business partner has run off to Goa, and she's just been dumped by the love of her life. But as Lara spends time with Sadie, life becomes more glamorous and their treasure hunt turns into something intriguing and romantic. Could Sadie's ghost be the answer to Lara's problems and can two girls from different times end up learning something special from each other? ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
20. Chicken Soup for the Soul Love Stories: Stories of First Dates, Soul Mates, and Everlasting Love(2007)
Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen & Peter Vegso
Whether it is at first sight, develops over time with a close friend, or it hits you like a ton of bricks--falling in love is a lyrical life-changing event. Chicken Soup for the Soul® Love Stories will transport you to the moments of your life that were filled with devotion and unconditional love. Who can forget what it feels like to walk on air, share private jokes, and ponder over intimate moments? This collection of stories is sure to rouse the inner romantic in your heart, with stories of long-lost love rekindled in the twilight of life, young love discovered, and love that truly lasts forever. But this book will also remind you of the everlasting love between friends, family, and parents and children. Stories peppered throughout celebrate the vastness of love in all its many forms, including the story of one woman who is able to endure a painful illness because of the unconditional love and affection she receives from her cat, and the story about the love shared between father and daughter when he returns from overseas, as well as stories about love found in surprising ways by women and men who thought their time for romantic love had passed. Chicken Soup for the Soul® Love Stories will take you back to your most cherished memories and inspire you to create a few more. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
19. The Gift (2008)
Cecelia Ahern
If you could wish for one gift this Christmas, what would it be?
Everyday Lou Suffern battled with the clock. He always had two places to be at the same time. He always had two things to do at once. When asleep he dreamed. In between dreams, he ran through the events of the day while making plans for the next. When at home with his wife and family, his mind was always someplace else. On his way into work one early winter morning, Lou meets Gabe, a homeless man sitting outside the office building. Intrigued by him and on discovering that he could also be very useful to have around, Lou gets Gabe a job in the post room. But soon Lou begins to regret helping Gabe. His very presence unsettles Lou and how does Gabe appear to be in two places at the same time?
As Christmas draws closer, Lou starts to understand the value of time. He sees what is truly important in life yet at the same time he learns the harshest lesson of all. This is a story about people who not unlike parcels, hide secrets. They cover themselves in layers until the right person unwraps them and discovers what's inside.S ometimes you have to be unravelled in order to find out who you really are. For Lou Suffern, that took time.----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
18. Torn Apart: The Heartbreaking Story of a Childhood Lost(Against Medical Advice)
(2008)
James Patterson
Cory Friedman was an ordinary fun-loving little boy. That fateful March morning in 1989 started just like any other but later that day, he started to feel very different and the course of his life was set to change. It started with an irresistible urge to shake his head, and before long, his body became a volatile, explosive and unpredictable force. Overtaken by physical urges, tics and compulsions, the bright young boy started to feel and look like a puppet on a string. Cory had developed a rare combination of Tourette Syndrome, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Anxiety Disorder and other neurological conditions. The life he knew had been torn apart and his family was left watching him suffer. Desperate to help and hopeful of a cure, they embarked on a fifteen year plight which took them beyond breaking point.Cory was seen by thirteen doctors who in total prescribed sixty potent medicines. He was mistakenly sent to a psychiatric ward and on the brink of utter despair, he and his family decided to try a form of intervention that had never been tried in cases such as Cory's: he was sent to a wilderness survival camp in a bitter, unforgiving snowy Utah winter.
This felt like their final chance. Throughout his young life, Cory struggled to have the same childhood and adolescence as his friends. From time to time an overwhelming anger and frustration overcame him when one doctor after another and an unprecedented number of medicines continually failed him. Still, throughout it all, Cory battled against the extraordinary events that were unfolding, and would take him on one of the most terrifying personal journeys ever recorded. "Torn Apart" is a true story of one family's courage, heartbreak, sacrifice and ultimately, triumph.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------This felt like their final chance. Throughout his young life, Cory struggled to have the same childhood and adolescence as his friends. From time to time an overwhelming anger and frustration overcame him when one doctor after another and an unprecedented number of medicines continually failed him. Still, throughout it all, Cory battled against the extraordinary events that were unfolding, and would take him on one of the most terrifying personal journeys ever recorded. "Torn Apart" is a true story of one family's courage, heartbreak, sacrifice and ultimately, triumph.
17. Bedside Stories: Confessions of a Junior Doctor(2003)
Michael Foxton
Michael Foxton's riotously candid memoir of his adventures as a junior doctor has established itself as a classic.Medics of all kinds; fans of Casualty, Holby City, Cardiac Arrest; humour fans.For two years, Michael Foxton wrote about his experiences as a junior doctor in the NHS for the "Guardian". Vivid, hilarious and often alarming, his book has gone on to find a cult following among doctors and patients alike. His observations illuminate the quirks, horrors and delights of all aspects of doctoring, from casualty to the psychiatric ward. Foxton tells us what it really feels like to be on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week and introduces us to a mixed cast of patient that includes the rude, the violent and the outrageously flirtatious. Bedside Stories has become a classic.
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16. Tuesday's War (The first book in the Charlie Bassett series)
(2005)
David Fiddimore
This wasn't to be the last time that we left pieces of aeroplane all over Germany, but you remember your first time. It's just like your first kiss. It is 1944 and as their battered Lancaster Bomber limps home to base in thick fog, an RAF crew are horrified to find a second Bomber just moments in front. It is too close for their own pilot to react, but in one skillful move their forerunner swoops out of the way and the crew's lives are saved. Back on the runway the seven, thankful young men eagerly await their saviour's return and are stunned, when the pilot climbs down from the cockpit, to find themselves face to face with female Air Transport Auxiliary pilot Grace Baker.Grace quickly befriends the crew, introducing them to their new Bomber, 'Tuesday's Child' and ensconsing herself in their spare bunk. Then when rear gunner 'Pete the Pole' absconds, the lads don't think twice about asking Grace to secretly take his place in 'Tuesday' as they return to Germany... As radio operator Charlie Bassett regales the reader with the drama of combat during his eight weeks aboard 'Tuesday's Child' in 1944, a funny, authentic and deeply humane tale unfolds. Comparable to Sebastian Faulks' "Birdsong", "Tuesday's War" races vividly across the page, emotionally entwining the reader in the lives and friendships of its extraordinary characters and awakening us to the heroics and realities of war.
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15. Airhead (The first book in the Airhead series)
(2008)
Meg Cabot
Emerson Watts, 16 and female, loves playing video games, hanging out with her best friend, Christopher, and has made peace with her less-than-supermodel-esque looks. But when she's involved in a mysterious accident, she wakes up to find she's now in the body of...a supermodel. Who was behind this switch? What was the motive? And how can she get Christopher to realize she's still the same person inside? ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
14. Cocktails for Three (2000)
Madeleine Wickham
Three women, smart and successful, working in the fast and furious world of magazines, meet for cocktails and gossip once a month.
Roxanne: glamorous, self-confident, with a secret lover - and hoping that one day he will leave his wife and marry her.
Maggie: capable and high-achieving, until she finds the one thing she can't cope with - motherhood.
Candice: honest, decent, or so she believes - until a ghost from her past turns up, and almost ruins her life.
A chance encounter in the cocktail bar sets in train an extraordinary set of events which upsets all their lives and almost destroys their friendship.
Roxanne: glamorous, self-confident, with a secret lover - and hoping that one day he will leave his wife and marry her.
Maggie: capable and high-achieving, until she finds the one thing she can't cope with - motherhood.
Candice: honest, decent, or so she believes - until a ghost from her past turns up, and almost ruins her life.
A chance encounter in the cocktail bar sets in train an extraordinary set of events which upsets all their lives and almost destroys their friendship.
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13. Even Madder About Malaysia(2009)
Dean Johns
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12. Betrayed(The second book in the House of Night series)
(2007)
Kristin Cast and P C Cast
Fledgling vampire Zoey Redbird has managed to settle in at the House of Night. She's come to terms with the vast powers the vampire goddess, Nyx, has given her, and is getting a handle on being the new Leader of the Dark Daughters. Best of all, Zoey finally feels like she belongs - like she really fits in. She actually has a boyfriend...or two. Then the unthinkable happens: Human teenagers are being killed, and all the evidence points to the House of Night. While danger stalks the humans from Zoey's old life, she begins to realize that the very powers that make her so unique might also threaten those she loves. Then, when she needs her new friends the most, death strikes the House of Night, and Zoey must find the courage to face a betrayal that could break her heart, her soul, and jeopardize the very fabric of her world.
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11. Brida (2008)
Paulo Coelho
The spellbinding new novel from one of the world's best-loved authors, Paulo Coelho, recounting the story of Brida, and her pursuit of wisdom. This is the story of Brida, a young Irish girl, and her quest for knowledge. She has long been interested in various aspects of magic, but is searching for something more. Her search leads her to people of great wisdom, who begin to teach her about the world. Her teachers sense that Brida has a gift, but cannot tell what that is. Meanwhile, Brida pursues her course ever deeper into the mysteries of life, seeking to answer questions about who she is. She meets a wise man who dwells in a forest, and teaches her about overcoming her fears and trusting in the goodness of the world, and a woman who teaches her how to dance to the music of the world, and how to pray to the moon. She seeks her destiny, as she struggles to find a balance between her relationships and her desire to become a witch. This enthralling novel incorporates themes fans of Paulo will love. It is a tale of love, passion, mystery and spirituality.
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10. Eclipse (The third book in the Twilight Saga series)
(2007)
Stephenie Meyer
"BELLA?"
Edward's soft voice came from behind me. I turned to see him spring lightly up the porch steps, his hair windblown from running. He pulled me into his arms at once, just like he had in the parking lot, and kissed me again. This kiss frightened me. There was too much tension, too strong an edge to the way his lips crushed mine like he was afraid we had only so much time left to us.
As Seattle is ravaged by a string of mysterious killings and a malicious vampire continues her quest for revenge, Bella once again finds herself surrounded by danger. In the midst of it all, she is forced to choose between her love for Edward and her friendship with Jacob knowing that her decision has the potential to ignite the ageless struggle between vampire and werewolf. With her graduation quickly approaching, Bella has one more decision to make: life or death. But which is which?
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Edward's soft voice came from behind me. I turned to see him spring lightly up the porch steps, his hair windblown from running. He pulled me into his arms at once, just like he had in the parking lot, and kissed me again. This kiss frightened me. There was too much tension, too strong an edge to the way his lips crushed mine like he was afraid we had only so much time left to us.
As Seattle is ravaged by a string of mysterious killings and a malicious vampire continues her quest for revenge, Bella once again finds herself surrounded by danger. In the midst of it all, she is forced to choose between her love for Edward and her friendship with Jacob knowing that her decision has the potential to ignite the ageless struggle between vampire and werewolf. With her graduation quickly approaching, Bella has one more decision to make: life or death. But which is which?
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9. A Thousand Splendid Suns(2007)
Khaled Hosseini
After 103 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list and with four million copies of The Kite Runner shipped, Khaled Hosseini returns with a beautiful, riveting, and haunting novel that confirms his place as one of the most important literary writers today.
Propelled by the same superb instinct for storytelling that made The Kite Runner a beloved classic, A Thousand Splendid Suns is at once an incredible chronicle of thirty years of Afghan history and a deeply moving story of family, friendship, faith, and the salvation to be found in love.
Born a generation apart and with very different ideas about love and family, Mariam and Laila are two women brought jarringly together by war, by loss and by fate. As they endure the ever escalating dangers around them-in their home as well as in the streets of Kabul-they come to form a bond that makes them both sisters and mother-daughter to each other, and that will ultimately alter the course not just of their own lives but of the next generation. With heart-wrenching power and suspense, Hosseini shows how a woman's love for her family can move her to shocking and heroic acts of self-sacrifice, and that in the end it is love, or even the memory of love, that is often the key to survival.
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8. Yours, Faithfully
(2006)
Sheila O'Flanagan
Sheila O'Flanagan
A wonderfully gripping, dramatic, touching and warm novel for the women's fiction market from the expert hand of a bestselling author who just gets better and better. Iona's not pregnant. It's a blow, but she knows that when husband Frank gets home he'll reassure her that their dream of a family together will come true. Sally, on the other hand, has just discovered that she's very much pregnant. Which is quite a surprise, with her only child now a seventeen-year-old. And Sally's not sure how her husband's going to feel about it, when he gets home. Except Frank's not going to get home - to either of his wives. Frank's bigamy of several years is about to be exposed, because Frank was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Now his wives are going to meet in the hospital where he lies in a coma. And everything is about to change for all of them..
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7. Confessions of a Park Avenue Plastic Surgeon (2005)
Cap Lesegne M.D
New York City’s Park Avenue between 64th and 72nd Streets is the pinnacle for a plastic surgeon—if you can make it here, you’re at the top of your game. Home to the most renowned plastic surgeons—and clientele—in the world, it takes immense training and sacrifice to be successful on Park Avenue. Dr. Cap Lesesne, an internationally known plastic surgeon whose clients you would recognize from movies, TV, and the covers of magazines—supermodels, royalty, rock stars, and the very, very rich—now takes us behind the scenes to reveal the lives of his patients and the intimate reasons for which they call on his services. Privy to his patients’ greatest insecurities, fears, and desires, Dr. Lesesne writes of making them over in the image of their favorite celebrities; being flown to a secret location to perform surgery on a queen and her lady in waiting; performing last-minute liposuction to perfect a model just seventy-two hours before a photo shoot; trying to turn back the clock for mega-rich dowagers who have started dating someone younger; and dozens of other fascinating cases. Dr. Lesesne also reveals his own struggles and challenges, and the toll his career has taken on his personal life
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6. Little Earthquakes(2004)
Jennifer Weiner
Jennifer Weiner
Ayinde is a beautiful, biracial newscaster who moves to Philadelphia after her husband, a star player for the NBA, is traded to the 76ers. She meets Becky, an overweight chef who plays the "pregnant or just fat" game every time she passes a mirror, and Kelly, an overachieving event planner who has her whole life mapped out down to the most minute details, after going into labor at a prenatal yoga class. The three become fast friends, and come to rely on each other for everything from burping techniques to intense emotional support. The group grows to include Lia, a semi-famous Hollywood starlet who leaves her husband and returns to Philly after a sudden tragedy.
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5. The Cupid Effect (2003)
Dorothy Koomson
Dorothy Koomson
Ceri D'Altroy watches too much Oprah Winfrey - and it's having serious repercussions. Bored with London life and writing yet another 'have the perfect orgasm' feature, she's decided to take Oprah's advice and follow her heart's desire. Going back to college might not be everyone's dream but all Ceri's ever wanted to do is lecture...
Unfortunately, Ceri's new start seems to involve disrupting lives: within days she's reunited a happily uncoupled couple, encouraged her new flatmate to do something about his unrequited love, and outed the secret relationship of her two colleagues. Only, while Ceri's playing Cupid for others, the highlight of her social calendar is trying a new hair conditioner. Something needs to be done, but can Ceri stick to her vow to give up her accidental matchmaking for good...?
A delicious comedy about love, life and following your heart.
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Unfortunately, Ceri's new start seems to involve disrupting lives: within days she's reunited a happily uncoupled couple, encouraged her new flatmate to do something about his unrequited love, and outed the secret relationship of her two colleagues. Only, while Ceri's playing Cupid for others, the highlight of her social calendar is trying a new hair conditioner. Something needs to be done, but can Ceri stick to her vow to give up her accidental matchmaking for good...?
A delicious comedy about love, life and following your heart.
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4. Marked(The first book in the House of Night series)
(2007)
Kristin Cast and P C Cast
(2007)
Kristin Cast and P C Cast
The House of Night series is set in a world very much like our own, except in 16-year-old Zoey Redbird's world, vampyres have always existed.In this first book in the series, Zoey enters the House of Night, a school where, after having undergone the Change, she will train to become an adult vampire--that is, if she makes it through the Change.Not all of those who are chosen do.It's tough to begin a new life, away from her parents and friends, and on top of that, Zoey finds she is no average fledgling.She has been Marked as special by the vampyre Goddess, Nyx.But she is not the only fledgling at the House of Night with special powers.When she discovers that the leader of the Dark Daughters, the school's most elite club, is misusing her Goddess-given gifts, Zoey must look deep within herself for the courage to embrace her destiny--with a little help from her new vampyre friends.
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3. Size 14 Is Not Fat Either (The second book in the Heather Wells Mysteries series)
(2006)
Meg Cabot
(2006)
Meg Cabot
Former pop star Heather Wells has settled nicely into her new life as assistant dorm director at New York College—a career that does not require her to drape her size 12 body in embarrassingly skimpy outfits. She can even cope (sort of) with her rocker ex-boyfriend's upcoming nuptials, which the press has dubbed The Celebrity Wedding of the Decade. But she's definitely having a hard time dealing with the situation in the dormitory kitchen—where a cheerleader has lost her head on the first day of the semester. (Actually, her head is accounted for—it's her torso that's AWOL.)
Surrounded by hysterical students—with her ex-con father on her doorstep and her ex-love bombarding her with unwanted phone calls—Heather welcomes the opportunity to play detective . . . again. If it gets her mind off her personal problems—and teams her up again with the gorgeous P.I. who owns the brownstone where she lives—it's all good. But the murder trail is leading the average-sized amateur investigator into a shadowy world. And if she doesn't watch her step, Heather will soon be singing her swan song!
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2. New Moon (The second book in the Twilight Saga series)
(2006)
Stephenie Meyer
Legions of readers entranced by Twilight are hungry for more and they won't be disappointed. In New Moon, Stephenie Meyer delivers another irresistible combination of romance and suspense with a supernatural twist. The "star-crossed" lovers theme continues as Bella and Edward find themselves facing new obstacles, including a devastating separation, the mysterious appearance of dangerous wolves roaming the forest in Forks, a terrifying threat of revenge from a female vampire and a deliciously sinister encounter with Italy's reigning royal family of vampires, the Volturi. Passionate, riveting, and full of surprising twists and turns, this vampire love saga is well on its way to literary immortality.
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1. Twilight(The first book in the Twilight Saga series)
(2005)
Stephenie Meyer
Isabella "Bella" Swan moves from sunny Phoenix, Arizona, to rainy Forks, Washington, to live with her father, Charlie. She chooses to do this so that her mother, Renée, can travel with her new husband, Phil Dwyer, who is a minor league baseball player. Bella attracts much attention at her new school and is quickly befriended by several students. Much to her dismay, several boys in the school compete for shy Bella's attention.
When Bella sits next to Edward Cullen in class on her first day of school, Edward seems utterly repulsed by her. However, over the next few days Edward warms up to her, and their newfound relationship reaches a climax when Bella is almost run over by a fellow classmate's van in the school parking lot. Seemingly defying the laws of reality, Edward saves her life by stopping the van with his bare hands.
Bella then becomes hellbent on figuring out how Edward saved her life, and pesters him with questions constantly. After tricking a family friend, Jacob Black, into telling her local tribal legends, Bella concludes that Edward and his family are vampires who drink the blood of animals instead of humans. Edward reveals that he initially avoided Bella because the scent of her blood was so desirable to him. Over time, Edward and Bella fall in love.
Their relationship is thrown into chaos when another vampire coven sweeps into Forks and James, a tracker vampire, decides that he wants to hunt Bella for sport. The Cullens plan to distract the tracker by splitting up Bella and Edward, and Bella is sent to hide in a hotel in Phoenix. Bella then gets a phone call from James in which he says that he has her mother, and that Bella must give herself up to save her. She does so and James attacks her, but Edward, along with the rest of the Cullen family, rescues Bella before James can kill her. Once they realize that James has bitten Bella's hand, Edward sucks the venom out of her system before it can spread and change her into a vampire. Upon returning to Forks, Bella and Edward attend their prom and Bella expresses her desire to become a vampire, which Edward refuses to let happen.
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