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British Literature: Top Recommendations

This guide helps Seniors pick a novel by a British author.

Librarian's Recommendations

The Man with the Golden Gun

Secret agent James Bond, kidnapped and brainwashed by the KGB, faces off against assassin Francisco Scaramanga.

Sharpe's Rifles

Lieutenant Richard Sharpe is charged with leading the demoralized men of the 95th Rifles to safety through the enemy-infested mountains of Spain and discovers that turning to Spanish soldier Blas Vivar for help may be a fatal mistake.

The Day of the Jackal

The jackal is an Englishman who is a killer at the top of his profession, a man unknown to any secret service in the world, and an assassin with a contract to kill the world's most heavily guarded man.

The Spy Who Came in from the Cold

Veteran spy Alec Leamas, hoping to "come in from the cold" to retirement, is given one last bone-chilling assignment in which he is required to pretend defection and provide the enemy with sufficient evidence to label their leader a double agent.

Dracula

Having discovered the double identity of the wealthy Transylvanian nobleman, Count Dracula, a small group of people vow to rid the world of the evil vampire.

The Hound of the Baskervilles

Sherlock Holmes is asked to investigate the tale of a hound that haunts the lonely moors around the Baskervilles' ancestral home.

Brave New World

A satirical novel about the utopia of the future, a world in which babies are decanted from bottles and the great Ford is worshipped.

Emma

A novel of Regency England that centers upon a self-assured young lady who is determined to arrange her life and the lives of those around her into a pattern dictated by her romantic fancy.

The Hand of Fu-Manchu

Burmese police commissioner Nayland Smith and Dr. Petrie face numerous assasination attempts and must unravel several mysteries in their attempts to find the evil Fu Manchu and bring him to justice.

1984

Depicts life in a totalitarian regime of the future.

Animal Farm and 1984

Contains George Orwell's novels "Animal Farm" and "1984".

Frankenstein

Victor Frankenstein discovers the secret of creating life and fashions an eight-foot monster, only to bring danger and destruction to the lives of those he loves.

Treasure Island

While going through the possessions of a deceased guest who owed them money, the mistress of the inn and her son find a treasure map that leads them to a pirate's fortune.

Gulliver's Travels

Presents the 1726 text of Swift's satire in which a shipwrecked Englishman encounters bizarre populations in unheard-of lands, including an enlightened race of horses that makes him see his fellow humans as vile creatures; and includes notes and fourteen works of criticism.

The Island of Dr. Moreau

Dr. Moreau, a scientist, finds an isolated island that gives him the freedom to create hideous creatures with human intelligence.

Bridget Jones

Bridget Jones, having decided to give Mark Darcy a chance, finds herself wrestling with the realities of sharing bed and board with a man, and things become complicated even further with the arrival on the scene of the beautiful, man-hunting Rebecca.

Fever Pitch

Recreates the fever pitch of football fans in Great Britain, and describes how football has played a defining role in thousands of young men's coming-of-age stories.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

Despite his overwhelming fear of interacting with people, Christopher, a mathematically-gifted, autistic fifteen-year-old boy, decides to investigate the murder of a neighbor's dog and uncovers secret information about his mother.

Chocolat

Beautiful, mysterious Vianne Rocher and her young daughter arrive in Lansquenet-sous-Tannes at the start of the Lenten season where she proceeds to set up a chocolate shop, much to the chagrin of the local priest.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Seconds before Earth is demolished to make room for a galactic freeway, an earthman is saved by his friend. Together they journey through the galaxy.

American Gods

Shadow sets out on a journey across America fighting old myths and the gods of modern technology and material obsession when he takes employment with a man named Wednesday--otherwise known as the god Odin--after his release from prison and his wife's sudden death.

Lost Horizon

Conway, one of four people whose plane crashed while they were fleeing a civil war in a foreign land, is rescued along with the rest of his group by a mysterious Chinese man who takes them to safety in Shangri-la, a land of peace and beauty where they are offered near immortality on the condition that they never leave.

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

Four English schoolchildren find their way through the back of a wardrobe into the magic land of Narnia and assist Aslan, the golden Lion, to triumph over the White Witch, who has cursed the land with eternal winter.

The Amber Spyglass

Lyra and Will find themselves at the center of a battle between the forces of the Authority and those gathered by Lyra's father, Lord Asriel.

The Lord of the Rings

Contains The Fellowship of the ring, The Two towers, and The Return of the king, appendices, indexes, and notes on the text.

An Artist of the Floating World

A portrait of a Japanese artist who put his painting to work in the service of the movement that led Japan into World War II.

Master and Commander

Two men, Captain Jack Aubrey, R.N., and Stephen Maturin, ship's doctor and intelligence agent, become fast friends aboard a man-of-war ship during the Napoleonic wars.

The Hellbound Heart

Julia Cotton discovers that her brother-in-law and lover, Frank, has entered another realm, where he is tortured for his insatiable sensual desires, and agrees to return him to this world by feeding him the bodies of the living--but when Kirsty, a close friend of Julia's husband, discovers this dark secret, she is confronted with the powers of the Lemarchand box.

High Fidelity

Recently dumped by his wealthy girlfriend, record store owner Rob Fleming finds himself in financial trouble and sets out on a pilgrimage to ask his former girlfriends where their relationships went wrong and to learn where his life went off track.

Confessions of a Shopaholic

Young Rebecca Bloomwood, a financial magazine writer whose perpetual shopping has dug her into a huge debt hole, tries to turn her life around when she meets the desirable Luke Brandon.

Murder on the Orient Express

Detective Hercule Poirot has a wealth of suspects to choose from when a wealthy American is stabbed to death en route to Paris on the Orient Express.

The Sign of Four

A Study in Scarlet

Island Girls and Boys

Jen, Chelsea, and Amy head for Jen's grandparents' island house where they plan to spend the summer together before going off to college, but the perfect vacation they envisioned begins to go awry when boyfriends--old and new--arrive on the scene.

Thrill Ride

Megan lands a job at an amusement park near Lake Erie, leaving behind her boyfriend, older sister's wedding plans, and hectic family life, and finds herself falling for a cute co-worker and learning that no matter how far she travels, her past will always catch up with her.

Childhood's End

When the Overlords first came to Earth, they brought peace and prosperity with them, but it soon became apparent that their purpose was the elimination of the human race.

2001 - Space Odyssey 2001

The spacecraft Discovery journeys to the outer edge of the solar system, and two navigators become uneasy when Hal, the craft's talking computer system, demonstrates unusual behavior.

The Time Machine

Relates the adventures of a scientist who invents a machine that transports him into the future.

The War of the Worlds

An intellectually superior race invades the Earth.