A Brief History of Seven Killings
By Marlon James
The winner of this year’s Man Booker Prize, A Brief History of Seven Killings begins with an incident that happened in real life: the attempted assassination of the legendary singer Bob Marley in his home town of Jamaica back in 1976. The book delves into the couple days prior to his scheduled concert that was held by the Prime Minister and the fate of the seven potential killers. The succeeding decades are filled with drug wars, Cold War politics, and a certain journalist and his pursuit for Mick Jagger. Numerous deeply described characters are brought to life in a novel that is so brutal, that it turns Pulp Fiction into Noddy, but at the same time is gentle and stimulating
The Worst Journey in the World
By Apsley Cherry-Garrard
Apsley Cherry-Garrard was part of the renowned Antarctic expedition of Robert Falcon from 1910 to 1913. Nine years later after their journey to the Antarctic region, Cherry-Garrard released his own story regarding his travels in 1992 which became widely recognized for almost a hundred years as among the most touching and at the same time most fascinating travel books ever made. The “worst journey” part of the book’s title pertains to Apsley’s dreadful journey towards Cape Crozier during 1911 to look for eggs of the emperor penguin. The most renowned aspect of the book, however, narrates his hunt for Scott and his other lost companions and his finding of their dead bodies. The book celebrates the courage exhibited by the team who were unafraid to raise the toughest of questions regarding whether or not their exploits were actually meaningful.
Other Men’s Flowers
By AP Wavell
It might come as a surprise to find out that a military commander obtained his highest level of notoriety by releasing an assembly of his beloved poems. Yet such was the fortune of the Field Marshal Earl Wavell, who assembled this collection of poems as a means to relax in the course of his service as the Commander in Chief of the British Army in the Middle East in the course of World War II. Wavell labelled himself as “a workaday man who prefers plain gold, silver or metal work to elaborate jewellery,” and given the reality that his collection is still published following seven decades brings to mind that numerous readers indeed share his personal tastes. Although the anthology is titled “other men’s flowers”, Wavell is a frequent and wanted manifestation in the book with his clever, straightforward remarks and primers.
The Art of War
By Sun Tzu
“If you know your enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.” After 700 years, The Art of War by the legendary military commander and philosopher Sun Tzu has continued to be a mandatory read for politicians and chief executives and likewise soldiers all over the world. Even the Men’s National Football Team of Brazil that won the World Cup in 2002 had every member read a copy of The Art of War. Today, it is still widely considered as the foremost compilation of knowledge and insight regarding psychological warfare, favouring cunning over brute force. Digesting its wealth of wisdom on tactics and strategies can unexpectedly be a great groundwork for a job interview or a round of golf.
Goldfinger
By Ian Fleming
James Bond has been known as an iconic figure that both men and women adore. Although it truly might be the case, in case you manage to revisit a number of Bond’s views in the novels of Ian Fleming, you might discover that women themselves would love to have the license to kill. Nevertheless, James Bond embodies the kind of thing that we would prefer British Intelligence officers to be doing: fighting terrorists and crime syndicates instead of prying on our smartphones and privacy. Majority of the action movie writers who admired Ian Fleming are indebted to him, and only a handful can compete with his agility, flair and uncanny ingenuity: no one could have managed to create that razor-edged bowler hat.
Beyond a Boundary
By CLR James
“What do they know of cricket who only cricket know?” is the question that CLR James presents at the start of this amazing combination of accounts, political evaluations and cricket history, which was published during 1963. James was an Afro-Trinidadian scholar and cricket player who held the notion that cricket enjoys some power over history and follows influence of the sport in the cultural identity of two nations, the United Kingdom and Trinidad. He defines the manner in which he slowly became a radical after experiencing racism throughout the durations of his career in cricket, and his part in the victorious movement to designate Frank Worrell as the first black captain of the West Indies team. This is the king of cricket books, unquestionably the foremost ever made of its kind.
The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole aged 13¾
By Sue Townsend
Each and every one of us has been an Adrian Mole at a certain point in our lives, even if it simply didn’t last that long: the self-proclaimed genius who can’t quite get the reason why the world, and especially his gorgeous classmate Pandora, fails to recognize him. Sue Townsend’s profound perception of the teenage boy is eerie. Every person would easily share Adrian’s sentiments when he decided to repaint his bedroom black to portray his rebellious stance but is unable to prevent the Noddy wallpaper showing through. His horrible poems and struggles against puberty (“Tuesday, November 10th. My nipples have swollen! I am turning into a girl!!!”) also summon numerous agonizing memories, although Sue’s brilliance has everyone laughing and at the same time grimacing.
Stalingrad
By Antony Beevor
Never in his wildest dreams would Antony Beevor have ever thought, throughout the course of his numerous years digging through old and dusty Russian archives, that all his efforts on his scholarly work would translate into a bestselling book. Military history has become quite a norm in the world of bestsellers at present, but that is thanks in large to the revolutionary exploits of Beevor which proved that the theme could become as absorbing as a thriller. Beevor’s 1998 interpretation of the Battle of Stalingrad that lasted for five months expresses the complete dread of what is generally considered as the single bloodiest battle in war history, blending a scholar’s meticulousness with brilliance for a concise description of historical perspective alongside commanding narrative energy.
The Second Half
by Roy Keane and Roddy Doyle
There are only a handful of football players who can successfully obtain the expertise of a Booker Prize-winning novelist to ghostwrite their autobiographies. Nevertheless, Roy Keane has been a distinct figure throughout his life and this foremost controversial sports icon has proven to be a worthwhile topic for the legendary writer Roddy Doyle. The book The Second Half is a story of brutality in and outside the pitch – the infamous take on Alf-Inge Haaland, battling with Peter Schmeichel in a hotel – prior to the notorious athlete’s evolution into a clear-headed and prosperous manager of Sunderland. Not many autobiographies of every sort is as fiercely honest regarding the subject’s inadequacies: It’s quite ugly but is nevertheless, for once, the untainted truth.
Outliers: The Story of Success
By Malcolm Gladwell
Malcolm Gladwell has transformed himself into a global bestseller largely due to his talent in summarizing complicated concepts regarding sociology and economics through examples and stories which echo with his readers. Published in 2008, the book is the one which promoted the “10,000-hour rule” – the concept that every person who achieved the pinnacle of success in their career or industry, including the legendary band The Beatles and billionaire, tech icon Bill Gates, honed their craft for 10,000 hours prior to obtaining mastery. Aside from that, it likewise examines how factors like chance, background, and society play an important role in a person’s probability of securing success. Ultimately, it is a guide that teaches us how we can all enhance each other’s chances as much as improving our very own.