Books of the Week

Welcome back! We hope you've all had a fabulous summer, with plenty of time to relax and read, in spite of the sweltering heat.  It's the start of a new term, and here, to kick off our regular book of the week post, are some recommendations from 4C: fiction, non-fiction and a graphic novel.

 

Watership Down by Richard Adams
Recommended by Aman Bahri

Watership Down has, as a book, many different themes. It's about community, friendship, love, adventure and hope, but to sum it all up: it's about rabbits.  It magnifies the miniature world of these small creatures into a huge epic, eight hundred pages of drama and entertainment.  

The thread of the story follows Hazel, a young rabbit who wants to protect Fiver, his younger brother, a theme common in all of us, but especially for Hazel, because Fiver has a vision - that the warren in which they live will perish due to unforeseen circumstances.  And so, Hazel leads a group of brave rabbits to the outside world, where they spend years fighting for survival, going up against rival rabbit kingdoms and other species out there.

The book can be fully related to the stories of millions of refugees and migrants, who struggle to find their feet in a dangerous world. The message it gives to all of us, and all of them, is that the world is a huge, perilous place, but with community and love, there is something in it for all of us.

Overall, this makes Watership Down a symbolic, thrilling epic, of a gripping and eccentric bunch of rabbits. At times it saddnes us, at times it lifts us up, but it plays around with emotion and understanding more than many other books, by showing a strong sense of brotherhood and friendship.

The Spy and the Traitor by Ben Macintyre
Recommended by Jasper Sutton

I was in Gatwick Airport, chatting to my grandma. I can't remember what the conversation was about, but suddenly she sprang upon me the fact that I must read The Spy and the Traitor, an apparently amazing spy story about a double agent in Soviet Russia.  So after a trip to the Gatwick Airport bookshop, I started to read ...

The book is about Oleg Gordievsky, a man born and raised into the KGB.  His father was a KGB agent, his brother was a KGB agent, and he lived in a tower block entirely populated by KGB agents.  Thus, as a loyal citizen to the motherland, he was recruited to the KGB.  

However, underneath this conformist façade lay a man increasingly disillusioned with the Communist system.  

So, while posted in Copenhagen, when MI6 attempts to recruit him to fight against all the ideas he despises, he accepts, and this spins into a game of cat and mouse, as he turns between working for both sides simultaneously, while trying not to buckle under the KGB's omnipresent suspicion.

What makes this book so compelling is the way in which the author, Ben Macintyre, tells the story simply and clearly, from an impartial stance. In addition, he builds tension as the story progresses, when Gordievsky comes under increased scrutiny, as he rises through the ranks of the KGB.  Finally, the way the author uses evidence from the people in the story creates an atmosphere which draws the reader into the story. This creates a compelling and realistic book which displays the spymongering and treachery of the Cold War era. 

Watchmen by Alan Moore
Recommended by Theo Poyiadjis

It's been a scorching summer and I find myself poolside in the heart of the Cyclades, surrounded by the vast Aegean. Hoping to avoid yet another crimson-coloured torso, I decide to hide under an umbrella and pass the time by reading Alan Moore's Watchmen.

With a place in The Times newspaper's top 100 English language novels written since 1923, and the only graphic novel to feature on the list, Watchmen is a dystopian satire of the classic superhero archetype, set in an alternate future where the world is teetering on the edge of a nuclear war.  The story follows the murder of an ex-vigilante, leading to an investigation by his colleagues - Nite Owl, Rorschach, Dr Manhattan, Ozymandias and Silk Spectre - to discover who is eliminating their kind? 

What makes Watchmen so spectacular is Moore's brilliant use of parallels. Woven throughout the book is a pirate story, about a sailor using his fallen brothers as a raft to reach his homeland: interestingly, this seemingly unrelated story actually reflects the thoughts and feelings of each character.

Watchmen is a genre-defining novel, and an enthralling masterpiece, unlike the relaxing winds of the Greek Islands. It is a must-read for all eager readers, even if you have never read a graphic novel.