Great Books Week - Friday

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Friday:

When I want to give someone a special gift, I give them [name of book] because…
So here goes…

OK. This is another one of those difficult questions to answer.

It really depends on the person.

My wife is three quarters of the way to becoming the Mad Cat Lady so if I buy her a book, she gets a CAT book. In fact, the last three books I bought her were; 'Dewey - The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched The World' by Vici Myron, 'What My Cat Has Taught Me About Life' by Niki Anderson, and 'Cats' by Yann Arthus-Bertrand.

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My oldest son is a mad Star Wars Fan, so when I buy books for him, they are the latest titles in the many Star Wars sagas.

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But, I think this question is about, if you had to pick just one book to give as a gift - what would it be.

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So if I have to choose, it has to be Jay Asher's 'Thirteen Reasons Why'

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I blogged about this book earlier in the year. About why I think it is such an important book and why I believe it should be mandatory for all high school students to read.

I would hate to be in Jay Asher's shoes. For a debut novel, it is definitely going to be hard to top.

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The novel deals with teen suicide and taking responsibility for your actions. Clay Jensen, a high school student receives a mysterious package containing seven audio tapes from Hannah Baker. Only Hannah committed suicide two weeks earlier. The tapes contain her recorded message to the thirteen people responsible for the thirteen reasons why she killed herself. Clay is devastated to discover he is one of those reasons.

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The book is a transcript of those tapes and Clay's reactions to them but it is written as a mystery for the reader to work out along side Clay.
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