Shelfari Book Activity

The Alchemist

by Paulo Coelho

Original title: "O Alquimista"

"My heart is afraid that it will have to suffer," the boy told the alchemist one night as they looked up at the moonless sky." Tell your heart that the fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself. And that no heart has ever suffered when it goes in... (learn more about this book)

The Lovely Bones

by Alice Sebold

My name was Salmon, like the fish; first name, Susie. I was fourteen when I was murdered on December 6, 1973. My murderer was a man from our neighborhood. My mother liked his border flowers, and my father talked to him once about fertilizer.

This is Susie Salmon. Watching from heaven,... (learn more about this book)

Water for Elephants

by Sara Gruen

Though he may not speak of them, the memories still dwell inside Jacob Jankowski's ninety-something-year-old mind. Memories of himself as a young man, tossed by fate onto a rickety train that was home to the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth. Memories of a world filled with... (learn more about this book)

1984

by George Orwell

Among the seminal texts of the 20th century, 1984 is a rare work that grows more haunting as its futuristic purgatory becomes more real. Published in 1949, the book offers political satirist George Orwell's nightmare vision of a totalitarian, bureaucratic world and one poor stiff's attempt to... (learn more about this book)

A Thousand Splendid Suns

by Khaled Hosseini

Born a generation apart and with very different ideas about love and family, Mariam and Laila are two women brought jarringly together by war, by loss and by fate. As they endure the ever escalating dangers around them-in their home as well as in the streets of Kabul-they come to form a bond... (learn more about this book)

Life of Pi

by Yann Martel

Life of Pi is a fantasy novel about a boy stranded in a lifeboat with a 450-pound Bengal Tiger after a shipwreck. Pi Patel's father runs a zoo in Pondicherry - a former French colony in India - but decides to migrate to Canada along with his family and assorted zoo animals due to political... (learn more about this book)

Animal Farm

by George Orwell

The satirical, allegorical fable of a revolution being corrupted by a wicked, greedy dictator and the blind faith of ignorant citizens, destroying the possibility of a democracy. Written during the rise of the USSR in the WWII, this book is hailed as a classic due to its powerful message and... (learn more about this book)

The Help

by Kathryn Stockett

Enter a vanished and unjust world: Jackson, Mississippi, 1962. Where black maids raise white children, but aren't trusted not to steal the silver...

There's Aibileen, raising her seventeenth white child and nursing the hurt caused by her own son's tragic death; Minny, whose cooking is... (learn more about this book)

My Sister's Keeper

by Jodi Picoult

New York Times bestselling author Jodi Picoult is widely acclaimed for her keen insights into the hearts and minds of real people. Now she tells the emotionally riveting story of a family torn apart by conflicting needs and a passionate love that triumphs over human weakness. Anna is not... (learn more about this book)

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

by Mark Haddon

Christopher Boone knows all the countries of the world and their capitals and every prime number up to 7,057. He relates well to animals but has no understanding of human emotions. He cannot stand to be touched. And he detests the colours yellow and brown. This improbable story of... (learn more about this book)