For our final post of the term, Mr Littlewood, Mr Deakin and Dr Burke, all three of whom are (sadly) leaving SPS this year, very kindly answered our questions about the books they enjoy. Here, to inspire you with ideas for summer reading, are their responses.
Thursday, 30 June 2016
Tuesday, 28 June 2016
Areo
By Fahad Al-Amoudi, Andrew Farry, Andre Hirschler and Nikita Lysyuk
The June issue of Areo has now been published: read it online here.
There isn’t an editor’s foreword in the magazine so we thought this would be a good opportunity to thank everyone for their contributions to this immense piece of work. Firstly, we are very grateful that the book blog have agreed to host the online copy of the magazine in time for official release. Those who do not do English are not often aware of the magazine's existence and so we hope to attract more readers to this under-appreciated and under-rated aspect of St Pauls. We also want to extend a thanks to Mr Broughton who has allowed us to revive a largely forgotten publication and for giving us free rein to revolutionise it into our image. The people who deserve the most praise, however, are the incredible writers and artists who have populated the vessel of the publication with such vivid and complex characters. We are very proud to be the editors of this magazine and we hope that our example will inspire future editors to take up the torch and light the flame of future creativity.
Tuesday, 21 June 2016
Book of the Week
More Than This by Patrick Ness
Recommended by Dominic Lewisohn
After drowning in the sea alone in his final moments Seth wakes up, bruised and battered but alive. How can this be? And where is he?
As Seth begins to discover where he is, does he dare hope that this might not be the end? Might there be more to come after death? The story continues and Seth begins to meet others like him, hiding from something out there in this desolated world. What will they find together? What links them? And why were they chosen?
The main character Seth, is interesting and from the beginning you do not truly know who he is and what he has done. The book develops Seth’s character until by the end you truly know everything that has happened to him and made him like he is. The book has funny dialogue and it is strangely real drawing on topics that surround us today like 'What is after death?'
Recommended by Dominic Lewisohn
After drowning in the sea alone in his final moments Seth wakes up, bruised and battered but alive. How can this be? And where is he?
As Seth begins to discover where he is, does he dare hope that this might not be the end? Might there be more to come after death? The story continues and Seth begins to meet others like him, hiding from something out there in this desolated world. What will they find together? What links them? And why were they chosen?
The main character Seth, is interesting and from the beginning you do not truly know who he is and what he has done. The book develops Seth’s character until by the end you truly know everything that has happened to him and made him like he is. The book has funny dialogue and it is strangely real drawing on topics that surround us today like 'What is after death?'
Tuesday, 14 June 2016
Book of the Week
I, Claudius by Robert Graves
Recommended by Harry Shaw
I, Claudius by Robert Graves is a novel written about the life of Tiberius Claudius from his birth to the moment he becomes the Roman Emperor.
It is written as if it was an autobiography, so it contains more factual information than most novels would, especially in the first chapter of the book where he is describing his family.
Recommended by Harry Shaw
I, Claudius by Robert Graves is a novel written about the life of Tiberius Claudius from his birth to the moment he becomes the Roman Emperor.
It is written as if it was an autobiography, so it contains more factual information than most novels would, especially in the first chapter of the book where he is describing his family.
Tuesday, 7 June 2016
Book of the Week
Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha by Roddy Doyle
Recommended by Frank Milligan
Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha tells the story of Patrick 'Paddy' Clarke, a ten-year-old boy from Dublin in the 1960s, told entirely from his perspective. Roddy Doyle takes us on a journey into Paddy’s mind as he recounts the events of an important year in his life.
Essentially a coming-of age story, Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha depicts a year in which Paddy matures quite substantially, as his parent’s relationship slowly deteriorates. What makes the novel particularly interesting is how Doyle accurately manages to replicate the thoughts of a ten-year-old, repeatedly showing Paddy’s youthful innocence as he fails to understand exactly what is happening around him as he experiences his rite of passage.
However, the book does not really have a 'plot' in the traditional sense of the word. Though it does have a story, Doyle writes the novel as a series of vignettes, some of which might not have any or much relevance to the story, not following any real form of chronological order, precisely capturing and replicating the stream of consciousness of a ten-year old boy, darting from scene to scene, place to place, whilst Doyle still manages to maintain a coherent story.
Overall, Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha is a very entertaining and cleverly written bildungsroman, one that manages to perfectly capture the innocent ignorance and confusion of a young boy, whilst telling an interesting and engaging story.
Recommended by Frank Milligan
Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha tells the story of Patrick 'Paddy' Clarke, a ten-year-old boy from Dublin in the 1960s, told entirely from his perspective. Roddy Doyle takes us on a journey into Paddy’s mind as he recounts the events of an important year in his life.
Essentially a coming-of age story, Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha depicts a year in which Paddy matures quite substantially, as his parent’s relationship slowly deteriorates. What makes the novel particularly interesting is how Doyle accurately manages to replicate the thoughts of a ten-year-old, repeatedly showing Paddy’s youthful innocence as he fails to understand exactly what is happening around him as he experiences his rite of passage.
However, the book does not really have a 'plot' in the traditional sense of the word. Though it does have a story, Doyle writes the novel as a series of vignettes, some of which might not have any or much relevance to the story, not following any real form of chronological order, precisely capturing and replicating the stream of consciousness of a ten-year old boy, darting from scene to scene, place to place, whilst Doyle still manages to maintain a coherent story.
Overall, Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha is a very entertaining and cleverly written bildungsroman, one that manages to perfectly capture the innocent ignorance and confusion of a young boy, whilst telling an interesting and engaging story.
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