Final post of term ...

Sadly, Mr Shouler is leaving St Paul's - but he very kindly paused in the middle of packing up all his books to answer the book blog's questions:

Q: What were you reading when you were a teenager?
A: In my early teens, not much. Doing Tess of the d'Urbervilles for GCSE made me want to do English A-level, and then I didn't look back. An unhealthy cocktail of DH Lawrence, EE Cummings and Martin Amis when I was about 16 or 17.

Q: What are you planning to read this Christmas?
Graham Swift's Mothering Sunday and Julian Barnes's The Noise of Time.

I'm also planning to read and read about Matthew Arnold, the Victorian poet, sage and school inspector whose cry out against philistinism and boorish parochialism seems more pertinent than ever at the end of 2016.

Q: What is your all-time favourite book/writer?
I'd have to (boringly) say Shakespeare for the writer.

Q: Who’s your favourite fictional character?
Elizabeth Bennett

 Q: If you had to recommend one book that everyone should read, what would it be?
To Kill a Mockingbird would be high on the list. So would Middlemarch.

Thanks again for answering our questions, and have fun at MCS!