Recommended Reads for January

Happy New Year! Welcome to the Mid Sussex Reading Challenge 2020, running in five West Sussex libraries: Burgess Hill, Haywards Heath, East Grinstead, Hassocks and Hurstpierpoint. We can’t wait to share our love of reading with you by following twelve reading themes across the year. Whether you’re local to West Sussex or live further afield and just love reading, anyone is welcome to follow along with the challenge and have a look at our book suggestions and reviews. Find out everything you need to know about the challenge here.

The first reading challenge theme is:

At this point, we’d like to add a little note to say that the challenge is relaxed and informal – so if you’d rather read a book that has been adapted into a play or TV show, that’s absolutely fine. You can also use audiobooks, eBooks, graphic novels, children’s books, or use any other format you wish – the challenge can be adapted to suit you!

If you’re struggling for inspiration this January, why not try one of our staff picks:

General Fiction:
Alice Sebold – The Lovely Bones
Nicholas Sparks – The Notebook
Stephen King – The Shining, Carrie or IT
Markus Zusak – The Book Thief
Ian McEwan – Atonement
Michael Crichton – Jurassic Park
Michael Oondatje – The English Patient
Yann Martel – Life of Pi
Margaret Atwood – The Handmaid’s Tale (not a film – but a TV series!)
Philippa Gregory – The White Queen (another TV series!)
Charles Dickens – A Christmas Carol or Oliver
Helen Fielding – Bridget Jones’ Diary
Chuck Palahniuk – Fight Club
Emily Bronte – Wuthering Heights
Thomas Harris – Silence of the Lambs
Bret Easton Ellis – American Psycho
Irvine Welsh – Trainspotting
Hunter S. Thompson – Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
Margaret Mitchell – Gone with the Wind
Graham Green – Brighton Rock
Jessie Burton – The Miniaturist
Tracy Chevalier – The Girl with the Pearl Earring
Louis de Bernieres – Captain Corelli’s Mandolin
Jane Austen – Pride and Prejudice
J.R.R. Tolkien – Lord of the Rings

Crime & Thriller Novels:
Stieg Larsson – The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Gillian Flynn – Gone Girl
Dan Brown – The Da Vinci Code or Angels & Demons
Peter Benchley – Jaws
John le Carre – The Constant Gardener

Children’s & Teen Books:
John Boyne – Boy in the Striped Pyjamas
J.K. Rowling – Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone
J.R.R Tolkein – The Hobbit
Michael Morpurgo – Warhorse
Suzanne Collins – The Hunger Games
Neil Gaiman – Coraline
Mark Haddon – The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time
Louisa May Alcott – Little Women
John Green – The Fault in Our Stars, plus Looking for Alaska was adapted for television
Stephanie Meyer – Twilight
Roald Dahl – Matilda, BFG or James and the Giant Peach
Stephen Chbosky – The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Non-Fiction
Charles Brandt – I Heard You Paint Houses (adapted as The Irishman for Netflix)
William Hodges – Alan Turing: The Enigma (used as the basis for The Imitation Game
Chris Kyle – American Sniper
Elizabeth Gilbert – Eat, Pray, Love

Reserve any of these great books to collect from any West Sussex Library by visiting our library catalogue.

What will you be reading this January? Let us know by joining our Facebook group, tweeting us using the hashtag #MidSussexReadingChallenge or sending in your own review.

Happy reading!