It’s that time of year when a plethora of reading lists are published giving us so many recommendations of what to read it can feel daunting. There is the tension between indulging in a ‘beach read’ or challenging yourself with the literary tome you’ve been meaning to get around to. Each to their own I say – there is the perfect book for the perfect time and place and we shouldn’t be judging each other and ourselves – just enjoying time to read.

Here are some good starting points.

The Guardian 100 best holiday books This list includes fiction, non-fiction and YA and children’s books. My pageturner this summer is going to be ‘Nine Perfect Strangers’ by Liane Moriarty. I loved ‘The Husband’s Secret’ and ‘Big Little Lies’ and this one has been recommended by an English teacher.

54 Best Books from Oprah’s Book Club or here is a selection of the best women’s writing Summer 2019 (according to Oprah Winfrey)

I like Barack Obama’s reading lists. I don’t think his summer suggestions have been published yet but he has 3 recommendations from Spring. Pachinko has been on my ‘to be read’ pile so I do want to get round to that one.

I always find Bill Gates suggestions interesting. Here are 5 books he recommends this summer:

I also can’t resist a plug for Melinda’s new book The Moment of Lift. I know I’m biased, but it’s one of the best books I’ve read so far this year.

 

 

Here’s our latest cracking read recommended by a 6th form student this time. He and his friends have been racing through this series and are impatiently waiting for the 5th book ‘Dark Age’ to be published in July 2019.

Red Rising series by Pierce Brown

He writes:

Red Rising is a dystopian fantasy set in our Solar System,where humans have gained control of our genome and successfully breed new races for designed purposes. Known as “Colours”, the Gold rise to become the oligarchy of the new age humans. A “Red” from the loweest class decides to break the totalitarian system from the inside….

For anybody who loves Hungers Games, Divergent and Maze Runner it’s a great series to read.

Factfulness: The stress-reducing habit of only carrying opinions for which you have strong supporting facts.

We’ve promoted this brilliant book before – an informative and compelling read by the inspirational creator of Gapminder and Dollar Street – Hans Rosling. He was a medical doctor, global health expert and statistician who wanted to help people understand the world and data in an accessible way using graphs and visual images to cut through confusing and possibly misrepresented statistics. He also had a hobby of sword swallowing!

His TED Talk ‘How not to be ignorant about the world’ is essential viewing.

This book questions everything you think you know about the world and prompts us to look at the positive ways it is actually getting better. A great choice for Politics, Geography, Global Citizenship and everyone who wants to be better informed!

Our first cracking read of World Book Day was recommended by Geography teacher Mr Murray. He is a huge fan of Ready Player One by Ernest Cline and has been encouraging all his tutees to read it. We urge you to read this absorbing, entertaining book before you watch the film!

Here’s his review:

“ Modern technology and the laws of physics have not yet allowed for zero gravity dancing, X-Wing commuting and living out your favourite scene from 1980s movies. In the OASIS of ‘Ready Player One’ though you can. In the OASIS you can be and do anything you want in a perfectly electronically rendered version of our imperfect world. It is a book about a quest. A quest for meaning, friendship and purpose. It is also a quest for billions of dollars and control over the most influential video game of all time (not Fortnite).

I love this book because it combines a huge number of familiar and exciting references for video game fans, Spielberg devotees and anyone who enjoys the cultural artefacts of the 1980s. It is also set in a future that is looking more and more feasible. A world strangled by inequality and the impacts of climate change where nearly all of the world’s population spend most of their lives online. Virtual reality could be the saviour of the protagonist or it could be controlled by a profit seeking juggernaut. It is a book that is a love letter to the fantasy of video games, the escapism of movies and the importance of heroes and hope. It is also about friendship.

Can you complete the quest? Log into the OASIS to find out.”

You can also listen to the fantastic audio book of ‘Ready Player One’ on our new audio book ePlatform from Wheelers.

Maths teacher Mr Wells loves the novels of Scarlet Thomas. He also recommends her book Pop Co.

The End of Mr Y

What starts off as a traditional mystery around the last surviving copy of a book, soon swerves into the most unusual mash up of genres I’ve read. A mixture of Quantum physics, giant mice and Victorian Homeopathy, this is a wonderfully surreal and eclectic novel. Scarlett Thomas’ writing is full of unusual turns of phrase and unexpected phrases that make this story come alive.

 

 

For books on a scientific theme Mrs Patterson Head of STE recommends:

Rosalind Franklin: The Dark Lady of DNA by Brenda Maddox

In 1962, Maurice Wilkins, Francis Crick, and James Watson received the Nobel Prize, but it was Rosalind Franklin’s data and photographs of DNA that led to their discovery. Brenda Maddox tells a powerful story of a remarkably single-minded, forthright, and tempestuous young woman who, at the age of fifteen, decided she was going to be a scientist, but who was airbrushed out of the greatest scientific discovery of the twentieth century.

 

 

Ms Gutulan, Head of English, recommends:

 Bookworm: A memoir of childhood reading by Lucy Mangan

Lucy Mangan’s memoir Bookworm, a ‘witty and gloriously opinionated love letter’ to the books that saw her grow up, will appeal to anyone who, as a child, spent days glued to a book (or sneaked the torch to read under the covers past bedtime!). Bookworm is a comforting read that revives childhood memories as only a truly good book can do and is set up to become a classic in itself. Give it a try!

I could also have recommended The Children’s Book by A.S. Byatt, a coming-of-age, richly visual novel, in which the creativity in many guises anchors the predicament of children from three families belonging to contrasting social classes but connected in surprising ways. The narrative is set at the pivotal time that saw the Victorian era slowly turn towards Modernity: symbolically, the story begins in the early days of the Victoria and Albert Museum and ends with the Great War. It is an evocative yarn that weaves the delights of the Arts and Crafts Movement, storytelling, adventure, social consciousness and sacrifice, leading to an ending you will struggle to forget.

 

Here are a few top picks proving popular this week.

Our 6th form students are going mad for Sally Rooney’s novels. We have a waiting list of boys wanting to read ‘Normal People’ and students who’ve read this are choosing her debut novel ‘Conversations with Friends’ to read next. They love her clear, crisp writing and her believable, likeable characters. No wonder Waterstones chose ‘Normal People’ as their book of the year 2018.

If you like non-fiction and you missed Mrs McColl’s talk on Monday about introverts and extroverts you can borrow the book she mentioned. ‘Quiet’ by Susan Cain is sub-titled ‘The power of introverts in a world that can’t stop talking’. This book champions the importance of listening and the value of introverts and challenges us all to see things differently.

Head of Percussion, and avid library user and reader, Mr Smith, can’t recommend ‘Munich’ by Robert Harris highly enough. He is a big fan of Robert Harris’ well-written historical thrillers and this one is a massive page-turner. Set during Chamberlain’s negotiations with Hitler before the outbreak of World War ll this is a tense political thriller and spy novel with great attention to historical detail but with interesting fictional characters added.

Synopsis:

September 1938. Hitler is determined to start a war. Chamberlain is desperate to preserve the peace.

The issue is to be decided in a city that will forever afterwards be notorious for what takes place there: Munich.

As Chamberlain’s plane judders over the Channel and the Fuhrer’s train steams relentlessly south from Berlin, two young men travel with secrets of their own. Hugh Legat is one of Chamberlain’s private secretaries; Paul Hartmann a German diplomat and member of the anti-Hitler resistance. Great friends at Oxford before Hitler came to power, they haven’t seen one another since they were last in Munich six years earlier.

Now, as the future of Europe hangs in the balance, their paths are destined to cross again. When the stakes are this high, who are you willing to betray? Your friends, your family, your country or your conscience?

Sounds like a perfect half-term holiday read!

 

 

 

 

Encouraged by our English teacher who is continuing to ‘Read around the World’, we are enjoying diversifying our library stock and discovering new authors. We’ve just focused on broadening our range of books from various African writers, with special emphasis on African women writers. Gary Younge’s article in The Guardian from December 2018 was particularly helpful with numerous recommendations. We already had a reasonable number of books from writers around the world but have added less obvious choices and the brilliant graphic novel trilogy ‘The Arab of the Future’ by Riad Sattouf.

Have you ever stopped to think how broadly you read? Do you tend to stick to one favourite author or genre? If you have a Good Reads account (or keep a paper record) you can do a yearly audit to see how many women, men or BAME authors you have read.

Every term we put a small collection of library books in boarding houses. These mini-libraries are a way of providing a varied selection of books – including fiction non-fiction and graphic novels to the students where they live and enjoy their free time. At the very least it reminds our students about the library and encourages them to pick up a book and dip in or have a quick browse of the collection and often starts a conversation about reading with their peers and staff. Whilst chatting to a Y11 student about project research I was delighted to hear that she had borrowed ‘Brown Girl Dreaming’ by Jacqueline Woodson  from her House library and was loving it.

Reading authors from a wide range of countries or books set in different places can be a great way to learn about cultures, history, societies, politics and more in an accessible and often exciting way. We have a wide ranging collection of graphic novels on historical themes – often memoirs – for example: ‘Such a lovely little war’ by  Marcelino Truong, Guy DeLisle’s comic books on Burma, North Korea, Jerusalem and more, and Marguerite Abouet’s ‘Aya’ books set in the Ivory Coast.

Try something new in 2019!

Despite being into the second week of the new year I am unable to curb my interest in lists from 2018! Here are a few interesting statistics:

Inspired by New York Public Library here are our Top Ten Most Popular books of 2018.

• The Territory: Escape (Book 2 in the trilogy) by Sarah Govett
• After the Fire by Will Hill
• The Territory by Sarah Govett (book 1)
• The hate u give by Angie Thomas
• Where the world ends by Geraldine McCaughrean
• Factfulness:ten reasons we’re wrong about the world – and why things are better than you think by Hans Rosling
• Wonder by R. J. Palacio
• The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
• Moonrise by Sarah Crossan
• Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng

Most Popular Authors 2018

• Sarah Govett
• Robert Muchamore
• Pittacus Lore
• Will Hill
• Celeste Ng
• Madeline Miller
• Philip Reeve
• Geraldine McCaughrean
• Yuval N. Harari
• Khaled Hosseini

A big thank you to Sarah Govett, last year’s visiting author for inspiring our Y9s to read for pleasure and eagerly devour your dystopian trilogy.

It is interesting to see that Y12  were our most enthusiastic borrowers in 2018, followed by Y9, then Y13. The House which borrowed the most books is the Wellesley followed by the Hardinge. This is not taking into consideration size of houses or number of students in the year groups.

 

Looking for novel inspiration this Christmas holiday?

Here are the favourite fiction choices of our students and staff. All the books were read during 2018.

Circe by Madeline Miller

After the Fire by Will Hill

The Shepherd’s Hut by Tim Winton

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

The Lost Words by Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris

Good Omens – Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman

The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari by Robin Sharma

Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick

Mortal Chaos by Matt Dickinson

Brave New World by H. G. Wells

Othello by William Shakespeare

Kingdom of Ash by Sarah J. Maas

Milkman by Anna Burns

Their Lost Daughters by Joy Ellis

Small Great Things – Jodie Picoult

Lord of Shadows (The Dark Artifices, #2) by Cassandra Clare

Small great things / Handle with care by Jodi Picoult

Slapstick or Lonesome No More – Kurt Vonnegut

I am Legend by Richard Matheson

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly by Jean-Dominique Bauby

Invasion: A Military Action Thriller by D C Alden

The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

The Martian by Andy Weir

Eragon by Christopher Paolini

Circe by Madeline Miller

The Food of Love by Anthony Capella

Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith

Dracula by Bram Stoker

Cherub series by Robert Muchamore

W S Graham Selected Poems

The Territory by Sarah Govett

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami

Chaos Walking by Patrick Ness

My sister’s keeper by Jodi Picoult

The Sport of Kings by C.E. Morgan

Carrie by Stephen King

No hero for the Kaiser – Rudolf Frank

A Rising Man by Abir Mukherjee

Stoner by John Williams

Dead Man’s Blues by Ray Celestin

All the light you cannot see by Anthony Doerr

Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker

Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut

 

 

Reading Times 2018

It’s arrived the annual treat from Helen Smith, Librarian at Eckington School.  Every year she works hard to create her guide to all the festive TV viewing based on books. I’m particularly looking forward to the BBC adaptation of ‘The Long Song’ by Andrea Levy. You can view a trailer here

Helen explains more about her guide:

Behind many good films, there’s often a great book.
This guide to films that are based on books on TV this
Christmas gives a glimpse of the breadth of the human
imagination in the stories that we tell: stories that
comfort and inform us, that entertain and thrill us, that
keep us on the edge of our seats or up late into the night
as we read just one more page… stories that make us
think about ourselves and others, and most often, about
our place in our friendships, our families and society itself.

Your librarians are the real superheroes –
making sure that you are surrounded by stories that can
transport you to new worlds and different times, make
you laugh out loud, scare you silly or even make you cry
(if that’s what you want). Why not go along to your
library and borrow a book for the holidays?
If you’re not sure what to pick, just ask
your librarian for help.

Happy viewing – and reading!

Mrs Smith
Librarian, Eckington School