What were you reading when you were a teenager?
Mr Edwards: Harry Potter was a staple - I was nine when the first came out so we were roughly the same age. In early teens I read all the Willard Price books; I confess my mid teens were a bit of desert partly as my school decided in some millennial wisdom to sell all their books and replace with six desktop computers; in later teens I went through a Raymond Chandler phase.
Mr Jacoby: I remember having a very serious list of books to have read before starting secondary school, from the Odyssey to Rebecca. However I wasn't really a fan of classical literature and must admit I spent my teenage years reading Tolkien!
Mr Williams: Orwell, Buchan, Dylan Thomas, PG Wodehouse, Graham Greene? As a teenager I was an avid reader, voracious and a frequent user of the public library, but apart from some wonderful A Level set texts (Hamlet, Under Milk Wood, The Power and the Glory, Tonio Kröger, Andorra, Les Mains Sales and others which sparked an interest in ‘serious’ reading) memorable reading really started in my gap year and through university.
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| The final scene from Mr Williams's production of Hamlet, with Will Attenborough in the title role |
Mr Kerr: I always loved reading. I got hooked on Stephen King novels. I remember having an argument with my English teacher as he said he wasn't a proper writer! I picked up his On Writing last summer- highly recommend these inspirational words for all future Pauline authors.
Dr Mitchell: The pile of books to read is growing every day. I am currently working my way through a series of crime novels by Nicola Upson in which the main character is Josephine Tey, herself a crime writer of the 1930's and 1940's. The fourth and fifth out of eight are waiting! Having just read and thoroughly enjoyed The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker, I now have Life Class on my list. For non fiction, Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E Frankel and Tough Choices by Daniel Sokol are close to the top of the pile. Both come highly recommended by colleagues and friends.
Mr Williams: First finishing Anthony Doerr’s All the Light we Cannot See, then in no particular order, EM Forster’s The Machine Stops, Mandela’s The Long Walk to Freedom, Suite Française by Irène Némirovsky, Edouard Louis’ History of Violence and Michael Ondaatje’s Warlight.
Mr Kerr: Moby Dick. Mr Hager said it was his favourite book. I feel I should have read it by now, and if we manage to escape to Cornwall, the seaside seems a perfect backdrop to the tale!
Mr Jacoby: AS Byatt’s Possession is my favourite book. Not only is she able to tell an intriguing story but the layers of literary knowledge and associations flow easily through it.
Mr Kerr: On the Road by Jack Kerouac. Mum gave it to me when I was a teenager and it fuelled four road trips across America
Mr Jacoby: So hard. I think perhaps Nausea by John Paul Sartre seems appropriate for the times we are living through. Certainly a wake up and smell the coffee call to action.
Dr Mitchell: Being Mortal: illness, medicine and what matters in the end by Atul Gawande.
Mr Williams: In the Time of our Singing by Richard Powers. As the author Frederick Busch said: ‘Richard Powers is a genius and he fears nothing. He has dared to write a great American novel about family love, music and race. No: he has sung this thrilling book.’
Mr Kerr: Oh, the Places You'll Go! by Dr Seuss
What are you planning to read this holiday?
Mr Edwards: The Book You Wish Your Parents Had Read, by Philippa Perry. Hopefully will give me some sound guidance.
Mr Edwards: The Book You Wish Your Parents Had Read, by Philippa Perry. Hopefully will give me some sound guidance.
Mr Jacoby: Holiday? I am currently reading A Place of Greater Safety by Hilary Mantel. A fictionalised retelling of the French revolution. Quite a tome at 850 or so pages and I am a rather slow reader. Still really enjoying her fleshing out of the characters, and learning some history to boot.
Dr Mitchell: The pile of books to read is growing every day. I am currently working my way through a series of crime novels by Nicola Upson in which the main character is Josephine Tey, herself a crime writer of the 1930's and 1940's. The fourth and fifth out of eight are waiting! Having just read and thoroughly enjoyed The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker, I now have Life Class on my list. For non fiction, Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E Frankel and Tough Choices by Daniel Sokol are close to the top of the pile. Both come highly recommended by colleagues and friends.
Mr Williams: First finishing Anthony Doerr’s All the Light we Cannot See, then in no particular order, EM Forster’s The Machine Stops, Mandela’s The Long Walk to Freedom, Suite Française by Irène Némirovsky, Edouard Louis’ History of Violence and Michael Ondaatje’s Warlight.
Mr Kerr: Moby Dick. Mr Hager said it was his favourite book. I feel I should have read it by now, and if we manage to escape to Cornwall, the seaside seems a perfect backdrop to the tale!
What/who is your all-time favourite book/writer?
Mr Edwards: East of Eden, by John Steinbeck, is probably the book I have re-read the most, or White Teeth, by Zadie Smith.
Mr Edwards: East of Eden, by John Steinbeck, is probably the book I have re-read the most, or White Teeth, by Zadie Smith.
Mr Jacoby: AS Byatt’s Possession is my favourite book. Not only is she able to tell an intriguing story but the layers of literary knowledge and associations flow easily through it.
Mr Williams: Dante – the genius of the Divine Comedy is both inexhaustible and approachable
Mr Kerr: On the Road by Jack Kerouac. Mum gave it to me when I was a teenager and it fuelled four road trips across America
Who’s your favourite fictional character?
Mr Edwards: George Smiley, perhaps. The world’s least dramatic spy.
Mr Edwards: George Smiley, perhaps. The world’s least dramatic spy.
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| Alec Guinness as George Smiley |
Mr Jacoby: I am a big fan of Rebus, of the Ian Rankin novels. He is a very imperfect hero.
Mr Williams: This is far too hard! I would struggle to limit it to ten!
Mr Williams: This is far too hard! I would struggle to limit it to ten!
Do you have a favourite word/favourite line from a book?
Mr Edwards: ‘the city was still there’. Blindness by José Saramago - appropriate book for these times.
Mr Edwards: ‘the city was still there’. Blindness by José Saramago - appropriate book for these times.
Mr Jacoby: Gandalf: [to Frodo] ‘Pity? It was pity that stayed Bilbo's hand. Many that live deserve death, and some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them, Frodo?’
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| Ian McKellen as Gandalf |
Mr Williams: ‘Ich stehe zwischen zwei Welten, bin in keiner daheim und habe es infolgedessen ein wenig schwer.’ [I stand between two worlds, am at home in neither and as a result find things a little difficult.] from Tonio Kröger by Thomas Mann
Mr Kerr: For some reason, I always remembered the first line of Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad:‘The Nellie, a cruising yawl, swung to her anchor without a flutter of the sails, and was at rest.’
If you had to recommend one book that everyone should read, what would it be?
Mr Edwards: Hmmm - there are too many books to claim any must-reads, I think, but if I had to I might suggest Light in August, by William Faulkner.
Mr Edwards: Hmmm - there are too many books to claim any must-reads, I think, but if I had to I might suggest Light in August, by William Faulkner.
Mr Jacoby: So hard. I think perhaps Nausea by John Paul Sartre seems appropriate for the times we are living through. Certainly a wake up and smell the coffee call to action.
Dr Mitchell: Being Mortal: illness, medicine and what matters in the end by Atul Gawande.
Mr Williams: In the Time of our Singing by Richard Powers. As the author Frederick Busch said: ‘Richard Powers is a genius and he fears nothing. He has dared to write a great American novel about family love, music and race. No: he has sung this thrilling book.’
Mr Kerr: Oh, the Places You'll Go! by Dr Seuss
Many thanks once again to Mr Edwards, Mr Jacoby, Dr Mitchell, Mr Williams and Mr Kerr for taking the time to answer our questions, and we wish them all the best for life beyond St Paul's (oh, the places they'll go! indeed). And to everyone else, have a wonderful summer and see you next term!
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