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.  

The Greatest Literary Dog is ...

Thanks so much to everyone who voted in last week's poll to determine which literary dog SPS readers think is the greatest. Your votes were spread widely between the different candidates, and we'll be bringing you the results in a moment - but first of all, a role call of shame: the dogs we forgot ...

Mrs Cummings was kicking herself: 'I cannot believe I forgot about Gaspode! Terry Pratchett was famously a cat person but Gaspode is a delight. Gaspode possesses human-level intelligence and the ability to speak, as well as an extensive collection of diseases (including 'Licky end' which is only found in pregnant sheep). He is enamoured of the werewolf, makes filthy jokes and is a 'thinking brain' dog for Foul Ole Ron. A canine Dickensian urchin he appears in various books, but is best in Men at Arms.' 

Great Literary Dogs ...

This week, in a post we arrived at by a rather circuitous route*, we're focussing not on books of the week, but on dogs. We asked staff and departments to nominate their favourite dogs in literature, and here are their responses.  

Mr Hager (whose own dog, Cormac, is named after the late, great American novelist Cormac McCarthy) starts us off:  'Can I suggest Mr Bones from Paul Auster’s Timbuktu?  

It’s been ages since I read it but it’s pretty ambitious to do a whole novel from the perspective of a dog.  Mr Bones and his master (who is old and ailing) travel to Baltimore in a quest to find his master’s old English teacher.  The novel meditates upon death, the afterlife, and the state of America.'  

Black History Month

Today's books of the weeks have all been chosen in relation to Black History Month: Standing Firm in Power and Pride.

Life on Mars by Tracy K Smith
Recommended by Mr Hager

Life on Mars,Tracy K Smith’s 2011 poetry collection, is a remarkable, versatile work which takes ‘space' as its central metaphor, alongside the work of David Bowie and great science-fiction films of the past. She pushes the boundaries of what ‘space’ can mean, and sues it to ask many questions about life and death, about religion and the quest for meaning in life, about the direction that we as a human race are moving in - as well as specifically the direction of travel in America - and about the best and worst of human actions towards each other.

Devils and Angels

The Booker Prize shortlist was announced yesterday: you can find out which novels made the cut here. On 9th November, the Kayton Library is hosting our annual 'Predict the Booker' event. Six Pauline readers will be debating the merits of the books on the shortlist, and trying to win the audience vote for their selected nominee: will we agree with the Booker judges? We have a track record of 100% failure so far - but this year could be different!! You can read the report of last year's event here.  

Appropriately enough, today's post focusses on creative writing, featuring a short piece of work in progress by Harper Katz, and an extract from Alex Twinch's historical novel, Heresy of Angels, which formed the basis of his EPQ.  If you're interested in reading more Pauline creativity, here's a link to the  digital version of the most recent edition of Pandemonium, the SPS creative writing magazine. 

Leaver's Post

Surely it's too early in the term for a leaver's post? Sadly, it's not: this week we say goodbye to Mr Staniforth, our Theatre Technical Manager, who has been overseeing Pauline productions with patience and calm good humour for the last fifteen years. Mr Staniforth has also been a regular contributor to the blog, and his memorably eclectic suggestions for our annual Book of the Year posts have steered us well off the beaten path, towards many new, intriguing and excellent books and writers. We are deeply honoured that he took the time to answer the blog's questions before he departs.  

What were you reading when you were a teenager?

As an early teen I was saving pocket money to buy second hand copies of Alistair MacLean and Jack Higgins, action adventure books. These haven’t lasted, although I am not immune to the pleasure of the airport novel. 

I have kept The Way to Dusty Death and The Golden Gate on my shelves as an adult, as well as a signed copy of one of Jack Higgins’s books. I wrote to him to settle an argument I was having with a friend, who insisted that Frederick Forsyth and he were the same author writing under different names. They are not, and I have a signed letter from Mr Higgins (calling me David, curse my handwriting!) confirming such. 

Jack Higgins and Frederick Forsyth. Not the same writer.  

My mother – who is an English teacher – put Thomas Hardy and Jane Austen in my hands, but while I read them, they never really stuck.  

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.