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  • Foundation

    The Galactic Empire has ruled for twelve thousand years from Trantor, a planet covered by a single city. Hari Seldon, a mathematician, has developed psychohistory, a science that predicts the behaviour of huge populations, and it tells him the Empire will collapse into thirty thousand years of barbarism. He cannot prevent the fall, but he believes he can reduce the dark age to a single millennium.

    Seldon arranges for a group of scientists and encyclopedists to be exiled to Terminus, a resource-poor planet at the galaxy's edge. The book then jumps forward across decades in linked episodes, as a series of leaders, among them the shrewd mayor Salvor Hardin and the trader Hober Mallow, face crises that Seldon foresaw, using wit, religion and commerce rather than force.

    Built from short stories first published in Astounding magazine in the 1940s, Foundation is a novel of ideas, driven by dialogue and political manoeuvring more than action. Inspired by Gibbon's history of Rome, it explores how civilisations decline. The trilogy won a special Hugo for Best All-Time Series in 1966 and has influenced generations of writers.

    Book details

    AuthorIsaac Asimov
    First published1951
    Original languageEnglish
    GenreScience fiction
    TypeFiction
    Pages (approx.)255
    SettingTrantor and the planet Terminus in a declining Galactic Empire
    AwardsHugo Award for Best All-Time Series 1966 (Foundation trilogy)

    Themes

    • Fall of civilisations
    • Prediction and determinism
    • Knowledge preservation
    • Politics
    • Reason over force

    Who should read it

    Readers who like idea-driven science fiction about history, politics and the long view.

  • Dune

    Thousands of years in the future, a galactic empire depends on melange, a spice that extends life and enables space navigation, found only on the harsh desert planet Arrakis. The Emperor hands control of Arrakis to Duke Leto Atreides, removing the rival House Harkonnen, but the gift is a trap. The Duke's son Paul, trained in combat and in the mental disciplines of his mother Jessica, travels with the family to their new fief.

    On Arrakis, water is so scarce that people wear stillsuits to recycle their own moisture, and giant sandworms roam the dunes. The native Fremen, a fierce desert people, hold prophecies that seem to point at Paul. As betrayal unfolds, Paul and Jessica must survive among the Fremen while Paul's growing prescient visions show him terrifying possible futures.

    Herbert combined political intrigue, ecology, religion and economics into a densely built world, complete with appendices and glossaries. The novel warns against messianic leaders and resource dependence. It won the first Nebula Award and shared the Hugo, is often called the best-selling science fiction novel ever, and has been filmed by David Lynch and Denis Villeneuve.

    Book details

    AuthorFrank Herbert
    First published1965
    Original languageEnglish
    GenreScience fiction
    TypeFiction
    SettingThe desert planet Arrakis, in the far future
    AwardsNebula Award for Best Novel 1965, Hugo Award for Best Novel 1966

    Themes

    • Power and politics
    • Ecology
    • Religion and messianism
    • Colonialism
    • Destiny

    Who should read it

    Science fiction readers who want deep worldbuilding and political intrigue on an epic scale.

  • The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

    During the Second World War, the Pevensie siblings Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy are sent from London to the country house of an old professor to escape the bombing. Exploring the house, Lucy, the youngest, hides in a wardrobe and finds herself in a snowy wood lit by a lamppost, where she meets a faun named Mr Tumnus.

    Narnia is ruled by the White Witch, who has made it always winter and never Christmas. Edmund, tempted by enchanted Turkish delight, falls under her influence, while the others learn from talking beavers that the great lion Aslan is on the move and that an old prophecy speaks of four humans sitting on Narnia's thrones. The children are drawn into the struggle between the Witch and Aslan.

    Lewis, an Oxford scholar and friend of Tolkien, wove Christian allegory into the story, though children enjoy it purely as an adventure full of talking animals, battles and magic. It was the first published of the seven Chronicles of Narnia and remains one of the best-loved children's books, adapted many times for stage, television and film.

    Book details

    AuthorC. S. Lewis
    First published1950
    Original languageEnglish
    GenreChildren's
    TypeFiction
    Pages (approx.)208
    SettingAn English country house during the Second World War, and the land of Narnia

    Themes

    • Sacrifice
    • Betrayal and forgiveness
    • Good versus evil
    • Courage
    • Faith

    Who should read it

    Children ready for their first fantasy adventure, and adults revisiting a childhood favourite.

  • Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone

    Harry Potter has grown up neglected by his aunt and uncle, the Dursleys, sleeping in a cupboard under the stairs in suburban Surrey. On his eleventh birthday a giant named Hagrid tells him the truth: his parents were a witch and wizard, killed by the dark wizard Voldemort, and Harry is famous in the magical world for surviving the attack as a baby.

    Harry enters Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, travelling from a hidden platform at King's Cross. He befriends Ron Weasley and the brilliant, rule-abiding Hermione Granger, discovers a talent for the airborne sport Quidditch, clashes with the snobbish Draco Malfoy and the cold Professor Snape, and starts to suspect that something valuable is being guarded inside the castle.

    Rowling combines a boarding-school story with a richly imagined hidden world of wands, houses, ghosts and magical creatures. The book was rejected by several publishers before Bloomsbury accepted it, then launched a seven-book series that became a worldwide phenomenon. It was published in the US as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.

    Book details

    AuthorJ. K. Rowling
    First published1997
    Original languageEnglish
    GenreFantasy
    TypeFiction
    Pages (approx.)223
    SettingSurrey and Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Scotland
    AwardsNestle Smarties Book Prize 1997

    Themes

    • Friendship
    • Belonging
    • Courage
    • Good versus evil
    • Orphanhood

    Who should read it

    Young readers starting out with fantasy and adults who want to see where the phenomenon began.

  • The Fellowship of the Ring

    Years after the events of The Hobbit, Bilbo Baggins leaves the Shire and passes his magic ring to his young cousin Frodo. Gandalf discovers that it is the One Ring, forged by the Dark Lord Sauron to dominate the world, and that Sauron is searching for it. Frodo sets out with his gardener Sam Gamgee and friends Merry and Pippin, pursued by sinister Black Riders.

    With help from the mysterious ranger Strider, the hobbits reach the elven house of Rivendell, where a council of elves, dwarves and men decides the Ring must be destroyed in the fires of Mount Doom, deep in Sauron's land of Mordor. Nine companions form a Fellowship to escort Frodo, passing through the mines of Moria and the golden wood of Lothlorien as tensions grow within the group.

    The first volume of The Lord of the Rings moves from pastoral comedy to deepening dread, rich with invented languages, songs, histories and landscapes. Tolkien explores temptation, friendship and the courage of ordinary people. Published in 1954, it became one of the best-selling and most influential works of fantasy, and the basis of Peter Jackson's acclaimed 2001 film.

    Book details

    AuthorJ. R. R. Tolkien
    First published1954
    Original languageEnglish
    GenreFantasy
    TypeFiction
    Pages (approx.)423
    SettingMiddle-earth, from the Shire through Rivendell, Moria and Lothlorien

    Themes

    • Temptation and power
    • Friendship
    • Sacrifice
    • Good versus evil
    • Courage of the small

    Who should read it

    Fantasy readers who want the foundational epic that shaped the genre.

  • The Hobbit

    Bilbo Baggins lives a respectable, uneventful life in his hobbit-hole at Bag End until the wizard Gandalf arrives with thirteen dwarves led by Thorin Oakenshield. They plan to reclaim their ancestral home under the Lonely Mountain and its treasure from the dragon Smaug, and Gandalf has decided Bilbo will be their burglar, whether he likes it or not.

    The journey east takes them through troll-infested woods, the elvish refuge of Rivendell, goblin tunnels under the Misty Mountains and the dark, spider-haunted forest of Mirkwood. Along the way Bilbo finds a mysterious ring in a cave and wins a riddle contest with the creature Gollum, gradually discovering resourcefulness and courage he never knew he had.

    Tolkien wrote the book for his own children, and its warm, chatty narrator makes it more playful than The Lord of the Rings, which grew out of it. Drawing on Norse myth and Old English literature, it helped define modern fantasy. It has never gone out of print and was adapted into a trilogy of films by Peter Jackson.

    Book details

    AuthorJ. R. R. Tolkien
    First published1937
    Original languageEnglish
    GenreFantasy
    TypeFiction
    Pages (approx.)310
    SettingMiddle-earth, from the Shire to the Lonely Mountain

    Themes

    • Adventure
    • Courage
    • Greed
    • Home
    • Personal growth

    Who should read it

    Children and adults looking for a classic adventure and an easy entry point into Middle-earth.

  • The Name of the Rose

    In the winter of 1327, William of Baskerville, an English Franciscan with a sharp, empirical mind, arrives at a Benedictine abbey in the mountains of northern Italy, accompanied by Adso of Melk, a young Benedictine novice who narrates the story many years later. William has come to help prepare a tense theological debate between papal envoys and Franciscan representatives over the poverty of Christ.

    Soon after their arrival a young monk is found dead, and more deaths follow over seven days. The abbot asks William to investigate, and his inquiries lead toward the abbey's vast library, a forbidden maze of rooms guarded jealously by the monks, and toward a mysterious book that someone is willing to kill to protect. The Inquisition's arrival raises the stakes further.

    Eco, a semiotics professor, packs the novel with medieval philosophy, heresy, Latin quotations and debates about laughter and knowledge, while keeping a detective plot that nods to Sherlock Holmes. William Weaver's translation made it an international bestseller, it won Italy's Strega Prize, and it was filmed with Sean Connery in 1986.

    Book details

    AuthorUmberto Eco
    First published1980
    Original languageItalian
    Translated byWilliam Weaver
    GenreMystery
    TypeFiction
    Pages (approx.)536
    SettingA Benedictine abbey in northern Italy, November 1327
    AwardsStrega Prize 1981

    Themes

    • Knowledge and censorship
    • Faith versus reason
    • Heresy
    • Power of the Church
    • Interpretation of signs

    Who should read it

    Readers who enjoy intellectual mysteries steeped in history, philosophy and medieval detail.

  • The Road

    Some years after an unexplained disaster has destroyed most life on Earth, a man and his young son push a shopping cart along a highway toward the coast, hoping the south will be warmer. The sky is grey with ash, plants and animals are gone, and the few survivors scavenge for canned food or have turned to brutal violence, including cannibalism.

    Neither character is named. The man is ill and determined to protect the boy at any cost, while the boy, born after the catastrophe, clings to the idea that they are the good guys who carry the fire. Their days are a cycle of searching abandoned houses, hiding from roving gangs and talking in brief, tender exchanges as the father teaches survival and tries to preserve his son's humanity.

    McCarthy writes in fragmented, sparse prose with almost no punctuation for dialogue, creating a bleak, hypnotic rhythm. Beneath the horror is one of the most moving portraits of parental love in modern fiction. The novel won the Pulitzer Prize in 2007, was adapted into a film, and is a landmark of post-apocalyptic literature.

    Book details

    AuthorCormac McCarthy
    First published2006
    Original languageEnglish
    GenreLiterary fiction
    TypeFiction
    Pages (approx.)287
    SettingA devastated post-apocalyptic United States, heading toward the southern coast
    AwardsPulitzer Prize for Fiction 2007

    Themes

    • Fatherhood
    • Survival
    • Hope
    • Morality amid collapse
    • Love

    Who should read it

    Readers who can handle darkness and want a spare, powerful story about a parent's love.

  • The Book Thief

    In 1939, nine-year-old Liesel Meminger is taken to live with foster parents on Himmel Street in Molching, a small town near Munich. On the way, at her brother's graveside, she picks up her first stolen book, a gravedigger's handbook she cannot yet read. Her accordion-playing foster father, Hans Hubermann, teaches her letters in the basement late at night, while his sharp-tongued wife Rosa hides real tenderness.

    Liesel befriends Rudy Steiner, a lemon-haired neighbour who idolises Jesse Owens, and begins rescuing books from Nazi bonfires and the library of the mayor's wife. The Hubermanns then take a dangerous step by hiding Max Vandenburg, a young Jewish man, in their basement. Words become Liesel's way of understanding and resisting the world around her.

    The narrator is Death, weary, wry and oddly compassionate, who announces some events in advance and comments on human nature. Zusak, an Australian whose parents grew up in Germany and Austria, drew on their stories. Published for adults in Australia and as young adult fiction elsewhere, the book became an international bestseller and a 2013 film.

    Book details

    AuthorMarkus Zusak
    First published2005
    Original languageEnglish
    GenreHistorical fiction
    TypeFiction
    Pages (approx.)552
    SettingMolching, a fictional town near Munich, Germany, 1939-1943
    AwardsMichael L. Printz Honor 2007

    Themes

    • The power of words
    • Death
    • Courage
    • Friendship
    • Life under Nazism

    Who should read it

    Teenagers and adults who want a moving Second World War story about books, family and kindness.

  • A Thousand Splendid Suns

    Mariam is born outside marriage near Herat in the 1960s, the daughter of a wealthy man who visits but will not acknowledge her publicly. At fifteen she is married off to Rasheed, a much older shoemaker in Kabul, and her life narrows to his house and his moods as she fails to give him the son he wants.

    Years later Laila, a bright girl raised by a bookish father who believes in educating daughters, grows up on the same street, in love with her childhood friend Tariq. The civil war that follows the Soviet withdrawal tears her life apart and brings her into Rasheed's household. The two women begin as rivals but slowly form a bond that sustains them through the rise of the Taliban.

    Hosseini shifts focus from fathers and sons, the heart of The Kite Runner, to mothers, daughters and the experience of Afghan women under successive regimes. The novel traces history from the monarchy to the post-2001 period through the domestic lives of its heroines. It is often praised for its emotional force and its portrait of endurance and quiet courage.

    Book details

    AuthorKhaled Hosseini
    First published2007
    Original languageEnglish
    GenreHistorical fiction
    TypeFiction
    Pages (approx.)372
    SettingHerat and Kabul, Afghanistan, 1960s to early 2000s

    Themes

    • Women's lives under oppression
    • Female friendship
    • Domestic abuse
    • War
    • Sacrifice

    Who should read it

    Readers who were moved by The Kite Runner or want a novel about women's resilience in wartime.