So,
another Top ten Tuesday. This week a list of books dealing with tough subjects.
As always the top ten Tuesday meme is hosted by the broke and the bookish.
1. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is about rape and about racial prejudice. If
you haven’t read it part of the book is about a rape trial where a white woman
wrongly accuses a black man of raping her and he is as good as jailed because
of his skin colour. I think it was a brilliant book and it was interesting to
see how the prejudice was dealt with.
2. The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks deals with mental illness and child abuse. Not in
the sense that someone is beaten, but the main character is ignored by his
father. Also while trying not to spoil a major plot point, the main character
is subjected to a rather horrific incident from his father that basically
shapes his whole sense of self and his belief system. Also it made me want to puke.
3. Stasia
by Peter Strassegger is a Norwegian book about growing up in a sort of broken
home. Armin lives on the road with his mother, father and sister. He used to
live with his grandmother, but she dies. His older sister is trying to rebel,
and she abandons her brother, although not entirely voluntarily. Armin is sort
of overlooked and ignored by his parents, who are obviously not having the best
marriage.
4. A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness is about a kid who has to deal with his mother’s
illness and later death. He also has to deal a lot with his guilt over what he
feels about his mother’s illness.
5. Hold Still by Nina LaCour deals with suicide and the people left behind after
suicide. Basically it starts after the main character’s best friend has just
committed suicide.
6. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green is about a girl who has got cancer and is depressed
about it. She has to go to cancer support group where she meets a boy with
cancer and they start falling in love. Obviously there’s a lot of heartache
over the fact that they are both young, dying and that’s a bit tragic, or a lot
tragic. Good to not be flippant probably.
7. Disgrace
by John Coetzee is about apartheid, rape and all kinds of delightful guilt. It
made me feel sort of physically ill while I read it, so that is impressive.
8. Glasskår by Harald Rosenløw-Eeg
again a Norwegian book. It means shard of glass. The book is about a kid called
Viktor who is 12 years old. He has an older brother, and his brother has
cancer. The book is about them growing up and Viktor’s brother getting
progressively more sick, I can’t for the life of me remember his name. It’s
about growing up and grief and losing your innocence. And it’s my favourite
Norwegian YA book.
9. Jonas by
Jens Bjørnebye is about a kid named Jonas who is put into a school for kids who
aren’t as smart as other kids. Essentially he is dyslexic in the 50s, which was
called stupid in those days. It basically tells the story of a flawed
educational system. It also tells stories about people dealing with anxiety and
the loss of friends and family. It was absolutely amazing and wonderful.
10. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky. When I wrote this down I sort of
thought, what isn’t this book about? Growing up, anxiety, prejudice, abuse,
violence, and being alone. I thought it was sort of beautiful and dealt well
with the tough subjects.
