With the dawn of a new millennium about to break, the Nineties was a strange, floating decade of positivity, hope and something called the World Wide Web. 

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Reading lists

Books that defined the 1990s

The Tesseract

The highly acclaimed second novel from the author of the cult hit, The Beach

Astonishing . . . A brilliantly structured, surprisingly compassionate novel, disguised as an exotic, speedy thriller

Proves defiantly that Garland is far from a one-hit wonder

A powerful narrative drive, exotic locations that unfold like a corrupt and mysterious flower, and a moody intelligence that holds everything together

Alex Garland was born in London in 1970. He has written two novels, The Beach (1996), The Tesseract (1998) and an illustrated novella, The Coma (2003), in collaboration with his father. He has also written two screenplays, 28 Days Later (2002) and Sunshine (2007).

In less than an hour, Sean has a meeting with a mestizo gangster. On the other side of town, Rosa listens for her husband&rsquo;s car, and thirteen-year-old Vincente is watching for the man who pays money for street-kids&rsquo; dreams. Tonight, these disparate lives will violently collide . . .

Travels in the Heart of Africa

The Weekenders

A wonderful collection of short stories and travel writing from some of Britain's best writers

What would happen if you took some of Britain's best writing talent, put them on a plane and flew them to one of the most extraordinary and inaccessible places on the planet? What would happen if you took Irvine Welsh from the streets of Edinburgh and showed him a remote, dangerous village in Africa? Or if you flew Alex Garland into one of the world's most hazardous war zones? And how would Tony Hawks react if you dragged him away from his tennis and asked him to write a song with a Sudanese tribesman? With Victoria Glendinning, Andrew O'Hagan, Giles Foden and WF Deedes, these writers have experienced for themselves one of the most beautiful and yet troubled lands in the world - Sudan. This remarkable collection of short stories and evocative travel writing is their response - as diverse and unpredictable as the country itself.

Alex Garland

The classic coming of age novel about paradise found - and lost. 
 
Backpacker Richard lands in East Asia in search of an earthly utopia. In Thailand, he is given a map promising an unknown island, a secluded beach - and a new way of life. What Richard finds when he gets there is breathtaking: more extraordinary, more frightening than his wildest dreams. 
 
But how long can paradise survive here on Earth? And what lengths will Richard go to in order to save it?

Alex Garland

The Beach

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