Georgia Clark is the author of futuristic fantasy novel Parched, a story of robots, renewable resources, and romance. After the death of her scientist mother, sixteen-year-old Tessendra decides to join a rebel group and risk her life to bring justice to the people living outside the utopian city of Eden.
Georgia is also a teen and lifestyle journalist who's written for Cosmo, CLEO, Daily Life, Sunday Life, Girlfriend and more, and an Australian who is now based in New York. She's a travel enthusiast (having visited fourteen countries) and studies improvisational comedy. Pretty cool, right?
I'm thrilled to be hosting her today on the blog to talk about her favourite and most compellingly page-turning adventure novels!
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The Hobbit, by
JR Tolkien
This was one of the
first ‘adult’ books I read as a young girl. I remember being
thoroughly enchanted by the cover, which promised otherworldly
adventure, and the size of the sturdy little paperback: at four
inches thick, this would be no small feat! The Hobbit is
simply marvellous: a true adventure novel in every sense of the word:
entirely unique with breath-taking action, high stakes, unforgettable
characters and lore that has stood the test of time. One ring to
rule them all… Wonderful!
The Dark is Rising
series, by Susan Cooper
Another beloved staple
of my childhood, consumed when my imagination was such a ripe and
fertile thing that it really felt like I was there, alongside the
Drew family, searching for the legendary Holy Grail in the windswept
hills of Cornwall. I have vivid memories of the Greenwitch, Will
Stanton, the Things of Power; the mix of myth, magic and memory that
all good fantasy-adventure stories possess. Being an Aussie, I was
raised with equal parts American and British culture, and thus feel
quite fond of UK classis such as The Five Children and It,
the Narnia chronicles and the Famous Five. But The
Dark is Rising was always my favorite, kicking off a lifetime
love of action and adventure!
The Hunger Games,
by Suzanne Collins
They could have called
this The Hunger Game-CHANGER because that’s what it was.
Never have I turned pages so quickly as when Katniss first enters the
arena, waiting during the countdown for the bloodbath to start….
Argh! And even though our heroine isn’t on a literal quest, she
does embark on a harrowing journey through changing landscapes, so I
think we can call this adventure. I’ve read HG multiple
times, and used it as something of a handbook when writing the action
sequences of Parched (Hint: keep your sentences short and
sharp. Invoking a sense of smell or taste also puts a reader in the
hot seat)
Jurassic Park,
by Michael Chricton
I bought Jurassic
Park when I received a book voucher for coming first in something
in Grade 10 (English? I can’t remember), and was so excited to buy
the just-released, much-hyped Jurassic Park. Funnily enough,
by the next year I’d come to see this purchase as embarrassingly
popular and not in line with my growing love for clever, wordy
intelligent art: Grade 11’s voucher was used to purchase a
biography of Woody Allen. Now, taste (and my concern with how its
perceived by others) has come full circle, and I am happy to say:
this is a fantastic book, made into one of my all-time favorite
Spielberg rollercoasters. If you liked the movie, try the book!
Glamorama, by
Bret Easton Ellis
Okay,
now I’m rrreeeaaaallly stretching the definition of ‘adventure’,
but it’s worth it and here’s why. Glamorama is a monster
of a book. A snarling, terrifying, truly impressive monster.
Definitely NOT YA, definitely NSFW. This brutal, startling novel is
Bret in full control of his literary ability, flexing like a jungle
cat looking to intimidate his prey. The story follows achingly hip,
intensely vacuous Victor Ward, who accepts a mysterious offer to
leave New York for London to track down a college friend, Jamie
Fields, and return her to America. This plan quickly goes awry, and
Victor’s shallow, simple life of parties, paparazzi and posing
nosedives into something much more serious and threatening. Equal
parts satire, thriller and post-modern exploration, this very funny,
very dark story is one of my all-time faves. High recommended!
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Thanks, Georgia! For more info about Parched and Georgia Clark, check out www.georgiaclark.com.
