• What were you reading when you were a child, and when you were a teenager?
Mr Hager: To be honest, not as much as I should have, and certainly nothing literary. It was more adventure stories or spy thrillers. I don’t remember reading ‘proper’ literature, really, until I was maybe sixteen. My A-level teachers would talk about great books they’d read and that inspired me to try them out. I remember buying The Brothers Karamazov because of a philosophy of religion lesson, and taking forever to read it, but it started me off reading quite a lot of other Russian literature from the 19th century which I really loved. I realised that books were much more interesting than pretty much anything else. I read quite a bit of Victorian literature after that, as well as more modern American stuff; Paul Auster was, I think, the first writer whose work I tried to read in its entirety when I was still at school.
• What are you planning to read this holiday?
Mr Hager: I’ve just started Tom Holland’s Dominion, so that’s probably first on the list. I’m halfway through Shuggie Bain, so I should finish that. I also need to return to Elena Ferrante’s The Lying Life of Adults which I got about 50 pages through before my toddler hid it somewhere back in October, and which I’ve only just found.
• What/who is your all-time favourite book/writer?
Mr Hager: Moby Dick is, without doubt, my favourite novel. But my favourite thing to teach would probably be King Lear. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is something I’ve loved since first reading it at university.
• Who’s your favourite fictional character?
Mr Hager: Possibly John Grady Cole in McCarthy’s Border Trilogy. The final book, Cities of the Plain, is one of the few novels that has made me cry.
Miss Ramsay-Overall: Although he can be rather pleased with himself at times I do love Sherlock Holmes. I’ve always found crime (and true crime) fascinating so he appeals to my inner-wannabe-detective!
Miss Ramsay-Overall: “I have been bent and broken, but - I hope - into a better shape.” – Great Expectations
• If you had to recommend one book that everyone should read, what would it be?
Mr Hager: It might have to be Pride and Prejudice. It’s just so well written.
Mr Hager: To be honest, not as much as I should have, and certainly nothing literary. It was more adventure stories or spy thrillers. I don’t remember reading ‘proper’ literature, really, until I was maybe sixteen. My A-level teachers would talk about great books they’d read and that inspired me to try them out. I remember buying The Brothers Karamazov because of a philosophy of religion lesson, and taking forever to read it, but it started me off reading quite a lot of other Russian literature from the 19th century which I really loved. I realised that books were much more interesting than pretty much anything else. I read quite a bit of Victorian literature after that, as well as more modern American stuff; Paul Auster was, I think, the first writer whose work I tried to read in its entirety when I was still at school.
Miss Ramsay-Overall: I was really big into Harry Potter (I actually still have my crisp first edition Philosopher’s Stone from 1997… I refused to bend the spine, even at 8)
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| A signed first edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, sold at auction in 2017 for £85,000 |
• What are you planning to read this holiday?
Mr Hager: I’ve just started Tom Holland’s Dominion, so that’s probably first on the list. I’m halfway through Shuggie Bain, so I should finish that. I also need to return to Elena Ferrante’s The Lying Life of Adults which I got about 50 pages through before my toddler hid it somewhere back in October, and which I’ve only just found.
Miss Ramsay-Overall: I usually have a couple of non-fiction on the go so I’ll be diving into Mixed/Other: Explorations of Multiraciality in Modern Britain and The Spectrum of Sex. I also like to use the holidays to read a little fiction so I’ve also got The Axeman’s Jazz and The Thursday Murder Club lined up.
• What/who is your all-time favourite book/writer?
Mr Hager: Moby Dick is, without doubt, my favourite novel. But my favourite thing to teach would probably be King Lear. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is something I’ve loved since first reading it at university.
Miss Ramsay-Overall: I don’t really have an all-time favourite but I would say the book which had the biggest impact on me was The Holocaust by Martin Gilbert. It’s incredibly moving and vivid and completely changed the way I understood the Holocaust and its repercussions.
• Who’s your favourite fictional character?
Mr Hager: Possibly John Grady Cole in McCarthy’s Border Trilogy. The final book, Cities of the Plain, is one of the few novels that has made me cry.
Miss Ramsay-Overall: Although he can be rather pleased with himself at times I do love Sherlock Holmes. I’ve always found crime (and true crime) fascinating so he appeals to my inner-wannabe-detective!
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• Do you have a favourite word/favourite line from a book?
Mr Hager: That’s hard. Maybe “Good, better, best, bested”, George’s cynical ‘declension’ in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf. Although you could open that play up at pretty much any page and find a wonderful line.
Mr Hager: That’s hard. Maybe “Good, better, best, bested”, George’s cynical ‘declension’ in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf. Although you could open that play up at pretty much any page and find a wonderful line.
Miss Ramsay-Overall: “I have been bent and broken, but - I hope - into a better shape.” – Great Expectations
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| Jean Simmons as Estella in David Lean's film adaptation of Great Expectations |
• If you had to recommend one book that everyone should read, what would it be?
Mr Hager: It might have to be Pride and Prejudice. It’s just so well written.
Miss Ramsay-Overall: I absolutely loved reading The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper and have not stopped going on about it so absolutely read, read, read!
The book blog totally agrees: many thanks to Mr Hager and Miss Ramsay-Overall for generously taking the time to answer our questions. We wish them all the best in life after SPS, and to everyone else, have a fabulous summer (and read, read, read!!!).
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