Book of the Week

Welcome back! We hope you've all had a fabulous summer, with plenty of time to relax (and read). It's the start of a new term, and here to kick off this year's posts is our first book of the week.  

Haven by Emma Donoghue

Recommended by Miss McLaren

Holidays can be a kind of haven, and small islands are often popular destinations. No wonder - they can offer an escape from everyday routines, and a different way of being, surrounded by the beauty and tranquillity of apparently unspoiled nature, places where you can relax and unwind, freed from the pressures of the outside world. The haven at the centre of Emma Donoghue's novel is very, very different ...

Leavers' Post

It's our final post of the year, and sadly, at the end of this term, Mr Adelman, Miss Brennan, Miss Dillon, Miss Ahmed, Mr Thumwood, Mr Harris, and the mighty, mighty Dr Mayfield are leaving SPS - but they very kindly paused while packing up their books to answer the book blog's leavers' questionnaire. Dr Mayfield notes that while he can remember the three books he read for his English Literature O Level - Pride and Prejudice, Goodbye to All That and An Inspector Calls - they were possibly the last three 'friction' books he read. So he's answered the questions with classical music - a book blog first, and one we'd definitely be happy to continue.  

And if these suggestions don't give you enough ideas for summer reading, why not check out the library's Book Advisor posters, or their map of the world (outside the Kayton Library), which gives you ideas for books connected to places you might be visiting over the summer. Plus, Mr Gardner has put together an epic list of reading suggestions for the 4th, 5th and 6th forms, which you can find along with other suggestions  on the blog's reading lists page here.   Have fun choosing your summer reading!  

What were you reading when you were a teenager?

Mr Adelman: Some of the most memorable books from my teen years are Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, The Stranger by Albert Camus, The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood and my senior year term paper book, The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner. While the last one felt more like a lesson in discipline and patience than pleasure reading, each book stood out not only for its impressive writing, but for its commentary and ability to make me question my own beliefs.

World Book Day Quizzes - more answers, and the winner ...!!!

In today's post, the last post of term, we bring you the answers to the final rounds of our World Book Day Quiz: Miss McLaren's questions on women writers, and Mr Gardner's annual literary cryptic crossword.  And after that, the announcement you've all been waiting for - this year's winner ....

But quiz answers first. Round 5: women writers.

Question 1: whose first novel had an epigraph by John Milton, and was sub-titled The Modern Prometheus?  This should have been easy. And it was. Although the first edition of the novel was published anonymously in 1818, almost all of you knew the answer to this question was, of course ...

Mary Shelley. 'The Gordon Ramsay Story' was not an answer we were expecting, but the host of Hell's Kitchen undoubtedly has form when it comes to bringing fire to humanity, so yes, Atom, we can see the underlying logic there. If we squint hard enough.  

Guess Who Came to Dinner: the answers (and the winners ...!)

On the last Tuesday of term, we'll be revealing the answers to the final rounds of the Book Blog quiz, and announcing the winner. Last week, the Kayton Library also held its annual World Book Day quiz, which was as popular as ever.  In today's post, we bring you the answers, and reveal who were the winners of those elusive Nando's Vouchers.    

Guess Who Came to Dinner.

Mrs Pemberton

After the excitement buzzing around the table outside the library last week, it is time to reveal who came to dinner with The Kayton Library for World Book Day. 

This year’s clues arranged around the eight table settings certainly sparked some debate and challenged the literary brain-cells of staff and pupils alike. Thank you to all those who got involved and to the Drama Department and Mr Tretiakov for helping to deck out the table with some excellent props.

And so to the answers……..

World Book Day Quizzes: the final rounds ...

 Thanks very much to all of you who had a stab at Mr Green's anagrams yesterday: we'll be revealing the answers in a moment ...

But first, it's the final day of quizzes, and today, there are TWO rounds. It's International Women's Day on Saturday, so to celebrate this, Round 6 - see here - brings you ten questions about women writers.  

And our final round is Mr Gardner's annual, fiendish cryptic crossword: be afraid - be very afraid ... 

He's asked us to publish a disclaimer, because this one is really difficult.  But perhaps he's under-estimating you - see if you can prove him wrong? Here's the grid: and you can find the clues here - good luck!

A quick reminder that it's also the final day to enter the Kayton Library's 'Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?' quiz, and win those fabulous Nando's vouchers. Visit the table outside the library, if you haven't already done so, to see if you can identify all the literary guests, or hop back to yesterday's post here and look at the photos. 

Meanwhile, those anagrams. We have to be honest: many of you were clearly baffled.  But come on - Mr Green helped you out with the publication dates, plus occasional clues in the anagrams themselves: so they weren't entirely impossible. Just challenging. Seriously challenging.  And here are the answers.

World Book Day Quizzes: Round 4

It's World Book Day!!! And we've got an abundance of book themed quizzes for you. Thanks very much to everyone who participated in yesterday's quiz: we'll be revealing the correct answers (and some of the most inventive wrong ones) in a moment.

But first, here's a link to today's quiz questions, which have been kindly supplied by Mr Green.  He's given you some anagrams of novels related to fantasy, the supernatural and the fantastical: can you figure out their titles? Bonus points, of course, if you can also identify the author ...

You've also got one more day to enter the Kayton Library's 'Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?' quiz and win those fabulous Nando's vouchers. Visit the table outside the library, or look at the photos here, to see if you can identify the literary characters each place setting represents. You can submit your answers here.   

Here's Guest 1:

World Book Day Quizzes: Round 3 ...

Many thanks to all those of you who took part in yesterday's quiz: we'll be revealing the answers in a moment ...  

But first, here's the link to today's quiz. It's Mr Harris's regular 'can you judge a book by its cover?' round. Five book covers, titles removed - what are they? (and bonus points if you know who wrote them).  

Yesterday, Mr Hudson flummoxed many quizzers with his 'book titles that are actually quotations'.  The multiple-choice format gave you options - a 1 in 4 chance of getting it right. Sadly, that didn't help ... 

Book 1 was E M Forster's A Passage to India: