Gr 12 ISU NOVEL SUGGESTIONS
for SPECIALIST HIGH SKILLS MAJORS (RCSS)
Please note – this list only contains novels suitable for 4U English (literary novels),
currently available at RCSS, for the 9 SHSM Majors offered at RCSS.
All novels will be found in the fiction section, sorted by the author’s last name (FIC ABC – where ABC is the first 3 letters of the author’s last name; i.e. Margaret Atwood would be ATW).
Non-fiction titles have the Dewey Decimal number listed.
Table of Contents
1. Arts & Culture 1
Film/Movies/Television 1
Performing Arts - Music/Dance/Theatre 1
Visual Arts 1
Portrait of the Artist 1
Writers & Writing 2
Pop Culture 2
Cultural Groups/Regions 2
Africa 2
Asia 2
Chinese 2
Indian 2
Japanese 2
Middle East 3
Central/South America 3
Europe 3
North America – specific regions/groups 3
Mennonite 3
Native Americans/Canadians 3
2. Business 4
3. Energy 4
Off the Grid 4
4. Health & Wellness 4
Sports/Athletes/Recreation – see Sports SHSM 4
Mental/Psychological Health 4
Abuse/Bullying/Racism 5
Depression/Suicide 5
Disease/Disability/Syndromes 6
Addiction/Alcoholism 6
Doctors/Medicine 6
Trauma/Accidents 6
Geriatrics 7
Miscellaneous 7
5. Horticulture & Landscaping 7
Agriculture 7
6. Hospitality & Tourism 8
Restaurants/Food 8
Travel/Journey/Road Trip 8
7. Information & Communications 8
8. Sports 9
9. Transportation 9
Alphabetical List, by Title 10
Last updated: May 2013
14
1. Arts & Culture
Film/Movies/Television
Amphibian Carla Gunn (environmentalists; television; pollution; anxiety)
Englishman’s Boy, The Guy Vanderhaeghe (Hollywood; Native Americans; murder; journey - pursuit)
Execution Channel, The Ken MacLeod (techno-thriller; media activism; television; terrorism)
Film Club, The David Gilmour (non-fiction 920 GLI – film)
Like We Care Tom Matthews (television; rock musicians)
River of the Brokenhearted, The David Adams Richards (film; entrepreneur; Canada – East coast)
Shanghai Girls Lisa See (Chinese-Americans; immigration; filmmaking)
Slumdog Millionaire Vikas Swarup (television game show; India; prisons)
Story House Timothy Taylor (boxing; reality television; architecture)
Too Bright to Hear Too Loud to See Juliann Garey (mental illness; movie industry)
Performing Arts - Music/Dance/Theatre
Accordion Crimes, The Annie Proulx (music; murder; immigration)
Beautiful Mystery, The Louise Penny (Gregorian chants; music; police investigation)
Black Swan Green David Mitchell (80s music; speech impediment; bullying )
Commitments, The Roddy Doyle (pop group; Ireland; Barrytown trilogy – book 1)
Complicated Kindness, A Marian Toews (Mennonite culture, 70s pop music)
Dance, Gladys, Dance Cassie Stocks (painters; dancers; geriatrics)
Fall on Your Knees Anne-Marie MacDonald (Canada - East coast; music; suicide)
Half-blood Blues Esi Edugyan (music; jazz band; Europe; racism)
High Fidelity Nick Hornby (pop music; entrepreneur)
In the Skin of a Lion Michael Ondaatje (actors; missing persons; immigration; Canadian wilderness)
Like We Care Tom Matthews (television; rock musicians)
Little Shadows, The Marina Endicott (theatre/Vaudeville; death of a parent)
Painted Girls, The Cathy Marie Buchanan (dance; visual art - Degas; death of a parent; addiction; actors)
Piano Tuner, The Daniel Mason (music; Burma; journey)
Whale Music Paul Quarrington (music – composition; suicide; rock musicians; addiction; mental health)
Visual Arts
Alias Grace Margaret Atwood (mental health; quilting)
Beauty of the Humanity Movement, The Camilla Gibb (art preservation; Vietnam war)
Dance, Gladys, Dance Cassie Stocks (painters; dancers; geriatrics)
Lacuna, The Barbara Kingsolver (Mexico; writers; artists)
Painted Girls, The Cathy Marie Buchanan (dance; visual art - Degas; death of a parent; addiction; actors)
Picture of Dorian Gray, The Oscar Wilde (painting; mental health)
Slow Man J.M. Coetzee (home healthcare; photographers; accident victim)
Still Life Louise Penny (murder investigation; artist)
Stone Carvers, The Jane Urquhart (carving; Vimy Ridge memorial)
Portrait of the Artist
Artist of the Floating World, An Kazuo Ishiguro (Japanese art theory)
Forest Lover, The Susan Vreeland (Emily Carr)
My Name is Asher Lev Chaim Potok (artist)
Painted Girls, The Cathy Marie Buchanan (dance; visual art - Degas; death of a parent; addiction; actors)
Underpainter, The Jane Urquhart (life of an artist)
Writers & Writing
Anthologist, The Nicholsan Baker (publishing; poetry)
Happiness Will Ferguson (writing)
Hour I First Believed, The Wally Lamb (mental health, school shooting—based on Columbine)
Lacuna, The Barbara Kingsolver (Mexico; writers; artists)
Possession A. S. Byatt (for the truly gifted student!)
Reinvention of Love, The Helen Humphries (on Victor Hugo)
Sutton J.R. Moehringer (banking; mobsters; bank robberies; journalists)
Sweet Jesus Christine Pountney (writers; road trip)
Three Cups of Tea Greg Mortenson (non-fiction 371.82209 MOR – Afghanistan; entrepreneur)
Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, The Rachel Joyce (road trip – walking; writing)
Warlord’s Son Dan Fesperman (journalism; war; Afghanistan)
Pop Culture
Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, The Tom Wolfe (1960s American culture; drug abuse; road trip)
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Hunter S. Thompson (1960s drug culture-for mature students only)
Cultural Groups/Regions
Africa
419 Will Ferguson (Internet scam; murder; sub-Saharan Africa)
Cutting for Stone Abraham Verghese (doctors; India; Africa)
Heart of Darkness Joseph Conrad (Congo; travel)
Little Bee Christopher Cleave (travel; Nigerians; refugees)
Poisonwood Bible, The Barbara Kingsolver (Africa; travel – missionaries)
Sweetness in the Belly Camilla Gibb (Ethiopia)
Asia
Desirable Daughters Bharti Mukherjee (East Indian-American; immigrants)
Piano Tuner, The Daniel Mason (music; Burma; journey)
Writing on My Forehead, The Nafisa Haji (East-Indians; immigrant families; journalism)
Chinese
American Shaolin: Flying Kicks, Buddhist Monks, and the Legend of Iron Crotch: An Odyssey in the New China Matthew Polly (non-fiction 796.8155 POL – kung fu; China; bullying; monks)
Bone Setter’s Daughter, The Amy Tan (Chinese American culture conflict)
Headmaster's Wager, The Vincent Lam(China; business; gambling)
Joy Luck Club, The Amy Tan (Chinese American culture conflict)
Midnight at the Dragon Café Judy Fong Bates (Chinese-Canadians; restaurant owners)
Saving Fish From Drowning Amy Tan (Chinese American culture conflict)
Shanghai girls Lisa See (Chinese-Americans; immigration; filmmaking)
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan Lisa See (China; geriatrics; farming; abuse)
Typical American Gish Jen (Chinese-American)
Indian
Cutting for Stone Abraham Verghese (doctors; India; Africa)
Dahanu Road Anosh Irani (India; farming; alcoholism; spousal abuse)
Secret Daughter Shilpi Somaya Gowda (doctors; adoption; journey; India)
Slumdog Millionaire Vikas Swarup (television game show; India; prisons)
Japanese
Electrical Field, The Kerri Sakamoto (murder; Japanese-Canadians)
Memoirs of a Geisha Arthur Golden (Japan; hospitality)
Snow Falling on Cedars David Guterson (Japanese American culture conflict)
Middle East
Kabul Beauty School (hairstyling; Afghanistan; entrepreneurship)
Kite Runner, The Khaled Hosseini (Afganistan)
Thousand Splendid Suns, A Khaled Hosseini (Afganistan)
Three Cups of Tea Greg Mortenson (non-fiction 371.82209 MOR – Afghanistan; entrepreneur)
Warlord’s Son Dan Fesperman (journalism; war; Afghanistan)
Central/South America
House of the Spirits, The Isabelle Allende (mental health; Latin American culture)
Island beneath the Sea Isabel Allende (life on a sugar plantation)
Lacuna, The Barbara Kingsolver (Mexico; writers; artists)
Europe
Commitments, The Roddy Doyle (pop group; Ireland; Barrytown trilogy – book 1)
Half-blood Blues Esi Edugyan (music; jazz band; Europe; racism)
Book of Saints, The (Italy; bullying)
North America – specific regions/groups
Accordion Crimes, The Annie Proulx (music; murder; immigration)
Alone in the Classroom (abuse; Canadian Prairies)
Confederacy of Dunces, The John Kennedy Toole (New Orleans)
Elle Douglas Glover (survival; Newfoundland; First Nations)
Fall on Your Knees Anne-Marie MacDonald (Canada - East coast; music; suicide)
Friends of Meager Fortune, The David Adams Richards (lumber industry; Canada – East Coast)
In a Glass House Nino Ricci (sequel to Book of Saints, The; farming; immigration; travel)
In the Skin of a Lion Michael Ondaatje (actors; missing persons; immigration; Canadian wilderness)
Lakeland Allan Casey (non-fiction 971.073 CAS – preserving land and lakes in Canada)
River of the brokenhearted, The David Adams Richards (film; entrepreneur; Canada – East coast)
Road to Bliss Joan Clark (runaways; cults; Canadian Prairies)
Surfacing Margaret Atwood (survival; Northern Ontario)
Two Solitudes Hugh MacLennan (French-English Canada; business people)
Mennonite
Age of Hope, The David Bergen (Mennonite family in Winnipeg)
Complicated Kindness, A Marian Toews (Mennonite culture, 70s pop music)
Irma Voth Miriam Toews (Mennonites in Mexico)
Peace Shall Destroy Many Rudy Wiebe (Mennonite culture)
Russlanders, The Sandra Birdsell (Mennonite culture)
Native Americans/Canadians
Elle Douglas Glover (survival; Newfoundland; First Nations)
Englishman’s Boy, The Guy Vanderhaeghe (Hollywood; Native Americans; murder; journey - pursuit)
Indian Horse Richard Wagamese (residential school; hockey)
Keeper'n me Richard Wagamese (Native Canadian; foster homes; substance abuse)
Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse, The Louise Erdrich (Ojibway; gender identity)
Living, The Annie Dillard (settlement of Washington state; frontier life; Native Americans)
Monkey Beach Eden Robinson (Native family in B.C,
Three Day Road Joseph Boyden (Northern Ontario; Native-Canadian; racism; traditional healers; addiction)
Through Black Spruce Joseph Boyden (alcoholism, drug abuse)
2. Business
Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, The Mordecai Richler (real estate, film making)
Color Purple, The Alice Walker (tailoring)
Headmaster's Wager, The Vincent Lam (China; business; gambling)
High Fidelity Nick Hornby (pop music; entrepreneur)
Kabul Beauty School (hairstyling; Afghanistan; entrepreneurship)
Mount Pleasant Don Gillmor (finance; investment)
Payback Margaret Atwood (non-fiction 306.3 ATW – money and the idea of reciprocity/nemesis )
Salmon Fishing in Yemen Paul Torday (sport fishing; entrepreneurs)
Story of Edgar Sawtelle David Wroblewski (family business; survival runaway; murder)
Sutton J.R. Moehringer (banking; mobsters; bank robberies; journalists)
Three Cups of Tea Greg Mortenson (non-fiction 371.82209 MOR – Afghanistan; entrepreneur)
Two Solitudes Hugh MacLennan (French-English Canada; business people)
3. Energy
Amphibian Carla Gunn (environmentalists; television; pollution; anxiety)
Golden Spruce, The John Vaillant (non-fiction 333.75 VAI – B.C. lumber industry)
Lakeland Allan Casey (non-fiction 971.073 CAS – preserving land and lakes in Canada)
Oryx and Crake Margaret Atwood (post-apocalyptic survival; environmental degradation; biotechnology; farming)
Solar Ian McEwan (global warming; solar energy)
Year of the Flood, The Maragaret Atwood (natural disaster)
Off the Grid
Elle Douglas Glover (survival; Newfoundland; First Nations)
Far North Marcel Theroux (journey – survival; Arctic; society structure)
Heart of Darkness Joseph Conrad (Congo; travel)
In the Skin of a Lion Michael Ondaatje (actors; missing persons; immigration; Canadian wilderness)
Into the Wild Jon Krakauer (non-fiction 917.98045 MCC-K – survival; Alaska)
Into Thin Air Jon Krakauer (non-fiction 796.52209 KRA – climbing Mt. Everest; survival; post-trauma)
Life of Pi Yann Martel (survival on the sea)
Living, The Annie Dillard (settlement of Washington state; frontier life; Native Americans)
Navigator of New York, The Wayne Johnston (exploring the North Pole; expeditions)
Old Man and the Sea, The Ernest Hemingway (fishing; survival on the sea)
Our Lady of the Forest David Guterson (survival; lumber industry; abuse victims)
Outlander, The Gil Adamson (mining; survival travel; murder)
Road, The Cormac McCarthy (survival road trip; post-apocalyptic)
Roughing it in the Bush Susanna Moodie (autobiography—pioneer)
Surfacing Margaret Atwood (survival; Northern Ontario)
Wild Trees: a story of passion and daring Richard Preston (non-fiction 585.50979 PRE – forests; naturalists; wilderness survival)
4. Health & Wellness
Sports/Athletes/Recreation – see Sports SHSM
Mental/Psychological Health
Also see “Disease/Disability/Syndromes”
Alias Grace Margaret Atwood (mental health; quilting)
Amphibian Carla Gunn (environmentalists; television; pollution; anxiety)
Audience of Chairs, An Joan Clark (mental health)
Beloved Toni Morrison (sanity)
Catch 22 Joseph Heller (mental health)
Dinner, The Herman Koch (mental health; sociopathic behaviour)
Gathering, The Ann Enright (sexual abuse, grief)
Hour I First Believed, The Wally Lamb (mental health, school shooting—based on Columbine)
Hours, The Michael Cunningham (mental health)
House of the Spirits, The Isabelle Allende (mental health; Latin American culture)
We Need to Talk About Kevin, The Lionel Shriver (mental health; school shooting)
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest Ken Kesey (mental health)
Outcast, The Sadie Jones ( trauma after mother’s death; mental health)
Piano Man’s Daughter, The Timothy Findley (mental health)
Picture of Dorian Gray, The Oscar Wilde (painting; mental health)
Pilgrim Timothy Findley (mental health)
Road to Bliss Joan Clark (runaways; cults; Canadian Prairies)
Room Emma Donaghue (mental health; kidnapping)
She’s Come Undone Wally Lamb (diet; mental health)
Too Bright to Hear Too Loud to See Juliann Garey (mental illness; movie industry)
Unless Carol Shields (mental health)
Whale Music Paul Quarrington (music – composition; suicide; rock musicians; addiction; mental health)
Abuse/Bullying/Racism
Alone in the Classroom (abuse; Canadian Prairies)
American Shaolin: Flying Kicks, Buddhist Monks, and the Legend of Iron Crotch: An Odyssey in the New China Matthew Polly (non-fiction 796.8155 POL – kung fu; China; bullying; monks)
Black Swan Green David Mitchell (80s music; speech impediment; bullying )
Book of Ruth, The Jane Hamilton (spousal abuse)
Book of Saints, The (Italy; bullying)
Dahanu Road Anosh Irani (India; farming; alcoholism; spousal abuse)
Gathering, The Anne Enright (sexual abuse, grief)
Half-blood Blues Esi Edugyan (music; jazz band; Europe; racism)
Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, The Rebecca Skloot (non-fiction 616.02774 LAC-S – tobacco farming; doctors; racism; genetics)
Island beneath the Sea Isabel Allende (life on a sugar plantation)
Lullabies for Little Criminals Heather O’Neill (drugs; sexual abuse)
Our Daily Bread by Lauren B. Davis (alcoholism, sexual abuse/incest, drug abuse; police; social services)
Our Lady of the Forest David Guterson (survival; lumber industry; abuse victims)
Purple Hibiscus Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (child abuse)
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan Lisa See (China; geriatrics; farming; abuse)
Tell it to the Trees Anita Rau Badami (child and wife abuse)
Three Day Road Joseph Boyden (Northern Ontario; Native-Canadian; racism; traditional healers; addiction)
Woman Who Walked into Doors, The Roddy Doyle (alcoholism, spousal abuse)
Depression/Suicide
Bell Jar, The Sylvia Plath (mental health; depression; suicide)
Elegance of the Hedgehog, The Murial Barbary (12 yr old contemplates suicide)
Every Last One Anna Quindlen (gardener; violence; depression)
Fall on Your Knees Anne-Marie MacDonald (Canada - East coast; music; suicide)
Prozac Nation Elizabeth Wartzel (non-fiction 616.8527 WUR – clinical depression)
School of Essential Ingredients, The Erica Bauermeister (restaurant; cooking class; grief; depression)