Exploring Top Books of Shelfari

A tender and sharply observant debut novel about a missing young girl—winner of the Costa First Novel Award and long-listed for the Booker Prize, the Orange Prize, and The Guardian First Book Award In the 1980s, Kate Meaney—“Top Secret” notebook and toy monkey in tow—is hard at work as a junior detective. Busy trailing “suspects” and carefully observing everything around her at the newly opened Green Oaks... (more)

Don't Look Now and Other Echoes from the MacabreDaphne, Dame Du Maurier

Don't Look Now and Other Echoes from the Macabre

by Daphne, Dame Du Maurier

The Graveyard Book

by Neil Gaiman

Beloved master storyteller Neil Gaiman returns with a luminous new novel for the audience that embraced his New York Times bestselling modern classic Coraline . Magical, terrifying, and filled with breathtaking adventures, the graveyard book is sure to enthrall readers of all ages.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

by J. K./ Dale, Jim (NRT) Rowling

Elementals (Thorndike Large Print General Series)

Elementals (Thorndike Large Print General Series)

by A. S. Byatt

From the booker Prize-winning author of Possession comes this richly imaginitive story collection that transports the reader to a world where opposites--passion and loneliness, betrayal and loyalty, fire and ice--clash and converge. A beautiful ice maiden risks her life when she falls in love with a desert prince, whose passionate touches scorch her delicate skin. A woman flees the scene of her husband's heart... (more)

Harry Potter: Book 4

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

by J. K. Rowling

Harry Potter is midway through his training as a wizard and his coming of age. Harry wants to get away from the pernicious Dursleys and go to the International Quidditch Cup. He wants to find out about the mysterious event that's supposed to take place at Hogwarts this year, an event involving two other rival schools of magic, and a competition that hasn't happened for a hundred years. He wants to be a normal,... (more)

Harry Potter: Book 1

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

by J. K. Rowling

Readers are in for a delightful romp with this award-winning debut from a British author who dances in the footsteps of P.L. Travers and Roald Dahl. As the story opens, mysterious goings-on ruffle the self-satisfied suburban world of the Dursleys, culminating in a trio of strangers depositing the Dursleys' infant nephew Harry in a basket on their doorstep. After 11 years of disregard and neglect at the hands of... (more)

White Teeth: A Novel

by Zadie Smith

Zadie Smith’s dazzling debut caught critics grasping for comparisons and deciding on everyone from Charles Dickens to Salman Rushdie to John Irving and Martin Amis. But the truth is that Zadie Smith’s voice is remarkably, fluently, and altogether wonderfully her own. At the center of this invigorating novel are two unlikely friends, Archie Jones and Samad Iqbal. Hapless veterans of World War II, Archie and Samad... (more)

The Autograph Man (Vintage International)

The Autograph Man (Vintage International)

by Zadie Smith

Alex-Li Tandem sells autographs. His business is to hunt for names on paper, collect them, sell them, and occasionally fake them—all to give the people what they want: a little piece of Fame. But what does Alex want? Only the return of his father, the end of religion, something for his headache, three different girls, infinite grace, and the rare autograph of forties movie actress Kitty Alexander. With fries. ... (more)

Can You Keep a Secret?

by Sophie Kinsella

With the same wicked humor, buoyant charm, and optimism that have made her Shopaholic novels beloved international bestsellers, Sophie Kinsella delivers a hilarious new novel and an unforgettable new character. Meet Emma Corrigan, a young woman with a huge heart, an irrepressible spirit, and a few little secrets: Secrets from her mother: I lost my virginity in the spare bedroom with Danny Nussbaum while Mum and... (more)

The Mission Song: A Novel

by John Le Carre

A naive young interpreter stumbles into the heart of an outrageous British plot in the astonishing new novel by the master of the literary thriller. Abandoned by both his Irish father and Congolese mother, Bruno Salvador (alias Salvo) has long looked for someone to guide his life. Enter Mr. Anderson of British Intelligence. Bruno's African upbringing and fluency in numerous African languages have... (more)

The Meaning of Night: A Confession

by Michael Cox

The atmosphere of Bleak House , the sensuous thrill of Perfume , and the mystery of Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell all combine in a story of murder, deceit, love, and revenge in Victorian England. "After killing the red-haired man, I took myself off to Quinn's for an oyster supper." So begins the extraordinary story of Edward Glyver—booklover, scholar, and murderer. As a young boy, Glyver always... (more)

On Chesil Beach: A Novel

by Ian McEwan

A novel of remarkable depth and poignancy from one of the most acclaimed writers of our time. It is July 1962. Florence is a talented musician who dreams of a career on the concert stage and of the perfect life she will create with Edward, an earnest young history student at University College of London, who unexpectedly wooed and won her heart. Newly married that morning, both virgins, Edward and Florence arrive... (more)

The Post-Birthday World

by Lionel Shriver

In this eagerly awaited new novel, Lionel Shriver, the Orange Prize-winning author of the international bestseller We Need to Talk About Kevin , delivers an imaginative and entertaining look at the implications, large and small, of whom we choose to love. Using a playful parallel-universe structure, The Post-Birthday World follows one woman's future as it unfolds under the influence of two drastically different... (more)

City of Tiny Lights

by Patrick Neate

From award-winning novelist Patrick Neate, a literary mystery that introduces a new kind of British detective, Ugandan-Indian Tommy Akhtar, and a side of London that the mystery world has never seen. A contemporary murder mystery set in the heart of London, this is the story of Tommy Akhtar, hard-drinking veteran of the Mujahideen, devoted on, sometime private investigator and sometime idol to the thug-lites... (more)

The Wedding Officer: A Novel of Culinary Seduction

The Wedding Officer: A Novel of Culinary Seduction

by Anthony Capella

In the sumptuous tradition of Chocolat and Captain Corelli's Mandolin , and already optioned for a major motion picture, comes a magical tale of romantic passion, culinary delight—and Italy. Captain James Gould arrives in wartime Naples assigned to discourage marriages between British soldiers and their gorgeous Italian girlfriends. But the innocent young officer is soon distracted by an intoxicating young... (more)

Remember Me?

by Sophie Kinsella

With the same wicked humor and delicious charm that have won her millions of devoted fans, Sophie Kinsella, author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Shopaholic & Baby , returns with an irresistible new novel and a fresh new heroine who finds herself in a life-changing and utterly hilarious predicament…. When twenty-eight-year-old Lexi Smart wakes up in a London hospital, she’s in for a big surprise. Her... (more)

The Uncommon Reader: A Novella

by Alan Bennett

From the author of The History Boys and The Clothes They Stood Up In A deliciously funny novella that celebrates the pleasure of reading. When the Queen in pursuit of her wandering corgis stumbles upon a mobile library she feels duty bound to borrow a book. Aided by Norman, a young man from the palace kitchen who frequents the library, Bennett describes the Queen’s transformation as she discovers the... (more)

Shelfari Book Activity

Tags: brit lit (modern)

What Was Lost

by Catherine O'Flynn

Don't Look Now and Other Echoes from the Macabre

by Daphne, Dame Du Maurier

The Graveyard Book

by Neil Gaiman

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

by J. K./ Dale, Jim (NRT) Rowling

Elementals (Thorndike Large Print General Series)

by A. S. Byatt

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

by J. K. Rowling

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

by J. K. Rowling

White Teeth: A Novel

by Zadie Smith

The Autograph Man (Vintage International)

by Zadie Smith

Can You Keep a Secret?

by Sophie Kinsella

The Mission Song: A Novel

by John Le Carre

The Meaning of Night: A Confession

by Michael Cox

On Chesil Beach: A Novel

by Ian McEwan

The Post-Birthday World

by Lionel Shriver

City of Tiny Lights

by Patrick Neate

The Wedding Officer: A Novel of Culinary Seduction

by Anthony Capella

Remember Me?

by Sophie Kinsella

The Uncommon Reader: A Novella

by Alan Bennett