The bit at the side says I'll sometimes talk about books, so here is the first one. In the real world I teach young people the joys of English and as such have developed a keen interest in books aimed at teenagers. The curious thing is that we live in a time when some of the best books being published happen to fall into this category and the work of Patrick Ness falls into this category.

The Knife Of Never Letting Go appeared last year and the premise intriqued me. A boy on the cusp of manhood lives in an all male community. Unfortunately everyone can hear everyone else's thoughts all the time, including animals, such as his dog. This is obviously very annoying and so he likes to stroll away from the community, down by the river. One day he encounters something he has never experienced before - a block of silence. He follows this strange silence and finds something else he has never seen before - a girl. This encounter is about to transform everything in his life and the story that then unravels is incredibly powerful, exciting and violent. I reached the final page desperate to know what happens next but have had to wait a whole year for the second book.

The Ask and The Answer appeared this summer and is equally brilliant. It's hard to tell you much about this one unless you have read the first book. Suffice to say terrorism, torture, space ships and radical feminist politics all make an appearance. If you read book 1 you will definitely want to read the sequel. The ideas thrown up by these books are not just for teenagers, so please treat yourself and try them. Unfortunately I now have to wait another year for the concluding book to appear. If anyone knows Mr Ness, tell him to get a move on!

Buy the books here....

The Knife Of Never Letting Go

The Ask and The Answer