...and Shawshank Redemption

Definitely. I loved the Narnia books and made sure that both my sons read them too. I bought the first book of Anthony Horowitz's Alex Rider series for my younger son last Christmas and he couldn't put the book down - and when that was finished he went down the library and got all the rest. He loves spy books now.
ScottishCelts, your son is about the same age as mine (age 11) isn't he? If he is, I strongly recommend the Alex Rider series.

Yup

Yes he is - 11 in Feb! i've never heard of them - should i have? we are all big readers in this house, im surprised i haven't came across them yet. I'll have a look on Amazon and check em out!

Just checked em out, gonna buy some!

My son likes Goosebumps and Captain Underpants etc, crazy stuff like that, so it'll be interesting how he takes to something different. I'll let you know

and Mario Puzo's The Godfather!

The DaVinci Code is a poor example, book was brilliant, film was crap.

Mine has read Captain Underpants. Goosebumps: I'm not sure.

I'm sure he'll enjoy it. All my son's classmates are reading them now too.

I usually get them the first book in the series and if they like it encourage them to go to the library to get the rest. I find this approach works well because they often return with other books too.

The Tom Sharpe books: "Riotous Assembly", "Indecent Exposure", "Wilt", etc; They're a hoot!

Ben Elton books - pretty good too!

Especially Popcorn - so funny.

just read Salvation Creek by Susan Duncan , and the sequal House at Salvation Creek. Both fantastic books.....

I'm an avid reader and this one wouldn't usually be my thing but I can honestly say that it's the most thought provoking book I've ever read. It's called 'Mutant Message Down Under' by Marlo Morgan who is an American journalist who went walkabout with a tribe of Aborigines about 20 years ago. If you google it you'll see that it's a pretty contentious book in Oz and it has been released as both fiction and non-fiction. Either way, it's truly incredible and very humbling - I would highly recommend it to anyone.

http://quanta-gaia.org/reviews/books/mutantMessage.html

The Island by Victoria Hislop
Hannah's Gift by Maria Housden, truly inspirational!

SS.

Kate Morton is from Brisbane and "The Forgotten Garden" is set both here and in the UK - I really enjoyed it and at the time was in a book club and I think everyone enjoyed it. Also for some light reading but some insight into country Australia and the history of kelpies Rachel Treasure's (from Tasmania) books are good - Jillaro, The Stockman etc.

These threads are great - I read some Bryce Courtenay books and Ken Follet's Pillars of the earth after the last thread - great reads so I'll be following up some of the recommendations this time around.