Books of the Week

Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness by Richard H. Thaler & Cass R. Sunstein

Recommended By Cyrus Ghaffarpour

Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein are, on the surface, an unusual duo. Thaler is an economist who has since won the Nobel Prize, whilst Sunstein is a Harvard Law Professor and served in the Obama administration. Together, the two of them produce a unique mix of scholarly rigour, combined with a genuine interest in why we ordinary people make the choices we do, and it is this that makes Nudge read more like a conversation you didn’t realise you needed to be having, rather than a dry textbook.

Books of the Week

Today's books of the week have been suggested by 4EN.G and 4EN.J.  

Wild Coast: Travels on South America’s Untamed Edge by John Gimlette 

Recommended by Enzo Daoud

Wild Coast is a travel book about the author's journey through Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana. It explores isolated areas and shows the lives of its inhabitants. Gimlette’s vivid descriptions of the environment are central in making the book an engaging read. He writes about thick rainforests, gushing rivers, and remote areas, which helps the reader imagine the setting. His journey feels exciting with a hint of danger.

Books of the Week

Today's recommendations are all non-fiction books, and they've been suggested by 5EN.A.

This is Going to Hurt by Adam Kay
Recommended by Siddarth Raj Krishnamurthy

This is an autobiography, written in the form of diary entries, about Adam Kay's time as a junior doctor. It is insightful about his work, and how important the NHS is as well as why it is under so much strain. The structure of the diary entries makes the book seem more immediate and personal, making it easier to understand the author's experiences. Although it is humorous at the start, there is a more serious tone in the middle and at the end of the book as he explains how his job had a significant impact on his life. I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in medicine or hoping to become a doctor.

Books of the Week

Today's post offers some non-fiction reading suggestions from 4D.

Night by Elie Wiesel
Recommended by Neel Achar

I chose this because I wanted to gain some historical knowledge on the Holocaust. I was also interested in the father-son bond involved in this book. The book is an autobiography which explores the teenage years of the author in his journey to survive the concentration camps. The soul-crushing, depressing tone gives the book a distinctive flavour, although the constant melancholy was sometimes overwhelming, making the book unbearable to read. The author's style is extremely realistic, describing the situation from their point of view as it goes from hopeful to a dire, desperate scenario of survival. I recommend it because it educates us all on the horrors of the Holocaust, providing us with useful historical knowledge. Secondly, it explores the belief in 'God' and how an omni-benevolent being would allow such suffering to his people.

Books of the Week

Today's books of the week are recommended by 4EN.D.

Catch 22 by Joseph Heller
Recommended by Aryan Chaudhary

This is a humorous novel, and very satirical: the author writes it using shifting timelines, which can be quite difficult to follow at first. I liked the absurd aspects but did not like the non-linear structure as much. 

My favourite character was Orr, who chose to be 'insane' in order to overcome the system, and by being mad, escaped the war: he crashed many planes, but survived every time.  I would recommend this novel to people who enjoy satire, comedy and books about war, but it can be confusing at times.

Books of the Week

Today's books of the week are recommended by 5EN.A.

To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Recommended by Nico Mahoney Velez

I chose this book because it is a classic story about fairness, kindness, and growing up in injustice. It was recommended to me, and I wanted to read about how a small town deals with racism and justice during the 1930s. 

Book of the Week

The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan

Recommended by Cillian Bramham

The first thing about The Wheel Of Time that strikes many readers is the length of the series as a whole. Even if you do not count the prequel, New Spring or the cut chapters of River of Souls and A Fire Within the Ways, the 14 main novels come to around 15,000 pages in total. 

This means that the books can and will take up a significant portion of your time. It also leads to pacing issues throughout the novels. Whilst none of the books can be explicitly called boring, there is a section, dubbed affectionately by the community as 'the slog', between books 7-10 where nothing really happens as most of the time and events are being devoted to preparing for the novel's conclusion and wrapping up story lines. Fundamentally this series represents a commitment and whilst the payoff for this commitment is high, it nonetheless requires a great deal of time and effort to get to.

Book of the Week

Fortunata and Jacinta by Benito Perez Galdos
Recommended by Mr Hager

Set in late 19th Century Madrid, this 1887 novel follows the lives of two extraordinary women of different classes, both linked by their love for the same man, the spoiled and self-indulgent Juanito Santa Cruz.

Jacinta is Juanito’s husband (and cousin) and their seemingly idealistic marriage is soon complicated by Jacinta’s discovery that Juanito had a pre-marital dalliance with the impossibly beautiful Fortunata, before growing bored of her, leaving her pregnant and destitute.  The shadow of Fortunata looms over Jacinta as she becomes increasingly desperate for a child herself, prompting her to take drastic action that will see her becoming involved with the poorer echelons of Madrilenian society, thrusting her into Jacinta’s orbit.

The life of mercantile Madrid is wryly catalogued in this realist novel which is regarded as Galdos’ masterpiece, and which rivals War and Peace in length.  He is spoken of in the same breath as Dickens (whose Pickwick Papers he translated in 1868), Balzac and Tolstoy.  If you enjoy novels that range across the social spectrum and which consider the lives of an enormous and memorable cast of characters, then this is the book for you.

Book of the Week

Welcome back, and Happy New Year! We hope you've all enjoyed a relaxing Christmas break, with plenty of reading. New Year is often a time for resolutions, and today's book of the week is sometimes viewed as a classic of the self-help genre.  But does its reputation do it justice? Read on and find out.

How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
Recommended by Mr Preece-Smith

This book has been around for generations — it was already well-established when I was at school — but for years I avoided it. The title suggested something slightly sinister, as if it were a handbook in social manipulation. Who would want to be spotted reading what looked like 'The Beginner’s Guide to Gaslighting'?

Book of the Week

The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes
Recommended by Allen Li

‘We imagined we were being responsible but were only being cowardly.’ This line from Julian Barnes’ The Sense of an Ending captures the essence of the story, as the narrator’s carefully constructed sense of self begins to crumble. What he once believed to be a stable, ordinary past is overturned by fragments of memory that he has forgotten or purposefully cast aside. 

Play of the Week: Hamlet

In today's post, Miss Mazur introduces the senior school production of Hamlet by William Shakespeare.

Books of the Week

Today we have several recommendations, kindly suggested by Mr Hager and Theo Katzenellenbogen.

Endeavour by Peter Moore 

Recommended by Mr Hager

This is an amazingly readable non-fiction work centred around the ship Endeavour and Captain Cook’s extraordinary voyage to the Pacific Ocean in 1769, and his role in the exploration of Tahiti and Australia. 

Book of the Week

Next Monday, the Kayton Library is hosting its annual 'Predict the Booker' Event. Six Pauline readers explore and appraise the shortlist for this year's Booker Prize for Literature, before the audience vote on which novel they think will win: you can find out more about the event here, and the shortlisted novels here, and we'll be reporting on the event in next Wednesday's post.  

Meanwhile, today's book of the week - a classic of the horror genre - is perfectly poised between two significant dates: last Friday's Hallowe'en, and next Saturday's anniversary of Bram Stoker's birth in 1847.  Yes, our book of the week is Dracula - recommended by Tom Ritchie.  

Book of the Week

If you love books, there's a lot going on this term that you might want to get involved in. This week's meeting of the Senior English Society takes place today at 12.55 in E1, with Mr Hager, and the Milton Society, a new Junior English Society, run by Mr Gardner also has its first meeting this lunchtime, at 12.55 in E4. Mr Gardner writes: 

'The Milton Society is a society open to anyone in the Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Forms who is interested in literature. We will meet weekly in E4 (Wednesdays, 12.55-1.30pm) to explore great works of literature across the ages. This term, we are going to focus on Shakespeare’s Hamlet. We will read extracts from the play and watch videos of performances, and there will also be the chance to join a school trip to the National Theatre later in the term. You will also have the chance to watch the SPS Drama production in December! Come along to discover what Hamlet is so upset about, and decide for yourself whether this play deserves its reputation as one of the greatest things ever written.'

Dr Pryce's creative writing society continues on Monday lunchtimes, and the Kayton Library will be hosting its annual 'Predict the Booker Prize' event later in the term (more about both of these in a later post). In the meantime, here's today's Book of the Week:

Indignation by Philip Roth

Recommended by Rohan Pillai

Indignation, written in the 21st century, is set in 1951, against the backdrop of the Vietnam War, and is narrated in the first person by a nineteen year old named Marcus Messner, who details his experiences at a college in Ohio. The plot revolves around how small actions can have severe consequences, especially in an environment where the main character’s views are in contrast with the rest of society, as well as the effect of the past on current events.

Book of the Week

All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque

Recommended by Rayyan Nasir

'Our knowledge of life is limited to death' - Erich Maria Remarque

Remarque's novel All Quiet on the Western Front is a powerful piece of historical fiction, vividly depicting the horrors of the First World War through the eyes of a German serviceman, Paul Baumer, who in stark contrast to the typical war hero stories of the Great War is only a misled young serviceman, as were many of the soldiers consigned to life in the trenches.

Books of the Week

Today's books of the week are recommended by Freddie Hammond Giles.

Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen

Northanger Abbey, completed by Jane Austen in 1803, was her first fully finished novel. Austen always features ironic, sometimes mocking undertones in her works, and this novel is no different, featuring Gothic satire, particularly referencing the works of Ann Radcliffe. 

Books of the Week

Today's books of the week are both by the Russian author Nikolai Gogol.  

Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol
Recommended by Theo Brovin

Dead Souls follows the journey of Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov. Having recently arrived in town, Chichikov quickly makes a name for himself among the inhabitants of Town N as a likeable, knowledgeable man. Soon enough, Chichikov embeds himself within the upper ranks, revealing his aptitude for persuasion, and gets to know some of the wealthier inhabitants. Once a little time has passed, our hero begins to receive letters of invitation from his new acquaintances, asking him to experience their hospitality.

Books of the Week

Happy New Year, and welcome back! Our first post of 2025 features reading recommendations from 5J.

Catch 22 by Joseph Heller

Recommended by Julian Bone

Catch 22 chronicles events in the life of Captain John Yossarian, a US airman who is stationed on the imaginary Mediterranean island of Planosa during the second world war.  Yossarian is honest, and against what people usually think of war. Many of his friends die and in a desperate attempt to stay alive, Yossarian tries to be certified as ‘insane’ but is caught in a paradox called Catch-22. 

Book of the Week

11/22/63 by Stephen King

Max Clapham

Stephen King’s 11/22/63, a novel about a man who attempts to stop the assassination of John F. Kennedy, by entering 1958 America through a portal in the back of a burger restaurant, is as far removed from reality as any other time-travel story. Despite being mainly a science-fiction novel, however, the story can also be viewed as part historical fiction and part alternate history, bringing with it some fascinating insights into the nature of historical memory. 

Book of the Week

The Sea by John Banville

Recommended by Sasha Georget-Roukline

The Sea is a hauntingly introspective novel; Banville transports us to the foggy memories and twisted corridors of Max Morden’s inner psyche, exploring grief, the grip of the past and the complexity of remembrance. Winner of the 2005 Booker Prize, Banville showcases his masterful control of prose, indulging in lyrical and rich language at the melancholic rhythm of Morden’s narration.

A recently widowed art historian, he returns to the seaside village of his childhood vacations in order to confront and rediscover the traumas of his past. An anonymous coastal town, it becomes alive in both Morden’s present and in his memories, a character in its own right that embodies the untamed and dangerous beauty of the sea.