13) To Kill a Mockingbird 14) The Other Boleyn Girl

13) To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

This is one of my set texts for uni this coming year. Having already studied it at secondary school for GCSE, I'm enjoying being able to read it again from  a more adult perspective. It is, and always has been an amazing book, with an important message about equality and open-mindedness. While nominally told from Scout's perspective, rather than being about her, this is a novel about her father, and his struggle for justice. It seems to me that Atticus Finch, one of the best, if not the best father in literature, is suggested to be so because of the following attributes:

1) He  is reliable and keeps his word.

2) He stands up for what he thinks is right.

3) He loves his children unconditionally.

He is a solid, constant presence in the children's lives, and throughout the narrative, reassuring us that everything will be ok, even if the world isn't a fair place to live.


14) The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory

I loved this book. I find non-fictional history really dull, and struggle to retain it, but  give it a narrative and not only do I find it interesting, but I remember it. This book tells the story of Mary, the "other Boleyn girl", and how she and her sister competed for for Henry VIII's favour.

Having just read "To Kill a Mockingbird", in which Scout is a valued member of her family, this book provided a bleak contrast on the position of women, which is summed up nicely by Anne's words: "One Boleyn girl or the other...We might either of us be the queen of England and yet we'll always be nothing to our family." Both Anne and Mary are just puppets in their father and uncle's plans, important only in increasing the family fortune, no matter what it may cost them, and cost them it does.