Books for the Summer V

The summer holidays are the perfect time to catch up on some reading. Here, Mrs Bell and Ms Burden reveal what books they are looking forward to this July and August. 


Mrs Bell

This summer I shall be reading The Miniaturist by Jesse Burton. I loved her second  novel

The Muse and so thought I would read this her debut novel.

I shall also be reading The Outside Lands by Hannah Kohler, a former PGS student. This novel has had excellent press.

I am also reading Burial Rites ahead of student coursework next year and I'm very interested in how the story of an Icelandic murder will unfold. 

There are also some poetry books to dip into and a really fascinating study of sexual anarchy in the Fin de Siecle era to read and ponder. That will lead to looking at novels and texts from the era, I'm sure. 

I wish everyone a summer of happy reading!

Ms Burden

I will start by catching up on some reading for age groups I teach lower down in the school, starting with two novels with wolves in the title – the classic The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, which I have not yet read, and the recently published Wolf Hollow  by Lauren Wolk. Following recommendations from a number of colleagues I will read The Essex Serpentby Sarah Perry and carry on with the Elena Ferrante Neapolitan series – I’m up to Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay. 

A non-fiction book on my list is Leviathan, Philip Hoare’s prize-winning work about whales – a good one to dip into before going to the Natural History Museum’s latest exhibition. I also plan to revisit The Elizabethan World Picture, by E.M.W. Tillyard, which I last read when I was a Sixth Former. I was supposed to be saving Picnic at Hanging Rock (Joan Lindsay), which is our staff book club choice, for the holidays, but I seem to have read already even though I should have been doing my marking.

Please could I urge anyone in Years 11 or 12 searching for a summer read to try The Sense of an Ending, by Julian Barnes, or Villette, by Charlotte Brontë, as these are our Sixth Form Book Club choices for next term! Happy reading, everyone.