Words Cannot Describe

Books that might change your life.

And then he looked at me again in his funny doggy way, and he said You’ll get used to it. Which was strange too, because I hadn’t said anything out loud.

Funny and heartbreaking and scary and … it’s the ultimate in “words cannot describe”. Just go and read it. Trust me.

How silly Grace is, thought Mary. She is always making things up. How could I be dead? Here I am. I am here, lying on the floor in my blue dress that’s getting too small for me, in front of the dolls house, alive.

Where is Abyssinia? And who are these strange girls? And which ones are the girls, and which ones are dolls in the dollshouse?

'Tony wanted to know what they was gonna do with Ratter, see. And the nurse says, Well, she’s going to sleep too, just like when you do. And Tony says, You’re gonna kill her, en’t yer? I know you are. We all know that’s what happens.'

Fantasy, religion, daemons, giant bears, witches, hot air balloons. I found this series one of the most profound things I have ever read. Start with Northern Lights.

My name is Christopher John Francis Boone. I know all the countries of the world and their capital cities and every prime number up to 7,507.

Christopher doesn’t like being touched, or people who tell jokes, or the colour yellow. When he finds a dead dog in his neighbour's backyard, he resolves to find the murderer, but he ends up discovering much, much more.

She walked the way you walk on the tar, except without the arms balancing. She nearly fell from a stumble once, but Mumma hulooed to her, and she straightened and walked upright out to the very middle, where she slowed and stopped.

This is the book of short stories for people who think they don’t like fantasy. Or think they don’t like short stories. Or think they don’t like writing for young people. Black Juice will change your mind.

I was feeling I could have been a tree myself, and though it was almost the finest feeling I’d ever had I made myself look down at my shoes so that I’d stop brimming with treeness, in case I looked funny and Harry might think I was a nut case, not a tree.

Mannie Clarkeson is looking for something. But she doesn’t know what it is. So she’s running away from home. She has a long red dress and an address in her pocket. Who know’s what she’ll find?

He was lying there in the darkness behind the tea chests, in the dust and dirt. It was as if he’d been there forever. He was filthy and pale and dried out and I thought he was dead. I couldn’t have been more wrong. I’d soon begin to see the truth about him, that there’d never been another creature like him in the world.

Michael’s baby sister is in hospital, barely alive. What can Michael do to save her? Can Skellig (the man? owl? angel?) do it? Or Mina, the strong-willed girl who draws birds?

Everybody leaves me. I'm not allowed to be anywhere.

Three missing children. Abandoned Adrian. The wild Horsegirl. Sad. Poignant. Beautiful.

I couldn’t be president of course; no one my age could. The Constitution was quite clear that you had to be thirty-five to serve. But there was nothing in that document that said I couldn’t raise issues or voice my opinion.
Absurd?
You bet.

Larry/Josh is back. And he’s got his sights set on the highest seat there is. Funny, exciting, with dollops of scary and romantic. Plus it has a Message! Voice of Youth, hurrah!

The sulphur cloud contracted into a thick column of smoke that vomited forth thin tendrils… There was a barely perceptible pause. Then two yellow staring eyes materialized in the heart of the smoke.
Hey, it was his first time. I wanted to scare him.

This is the story of Bartimaeus, a 5000-year-old djinni, and Nathaniel, a young magician’s apprentice bent on revenge. Set in a modern-day London controlled by magicians, this is fantasy at its very best.

^ Books marked with a ^ contain content suitable for older readers