What PGS Teachers Are Reading This Summer III

The summer holidays are the perfect time to explore new books, writers and ideas. Portsmouth Point asked PGS teachers to reveal what they are going to be reading over this summer. 

Mr Sadden

The authors I have chosen are both white, male and Oxford-educated, though that was not my starting point in choosing them.

My first summer read is a volume of diaries by “the nicest man in comedy”, Michael Palin. His one-man show at the Kings Theatre on Saturday was a sell-out and there was a selection of signed books for sale in the lobby. I went for the first volume of his diaries covering the years 1969-79, The Python Years, despite an endorsement from the Daily Mail on the cover.  Palin and the Python team were at the cutting-edge of comedy fifty years ago, but now, at 77, he is a “national treasure”. It was an evening of good company, whimsical humour and warm nostalgia.

It will be interesting to compare the diaries of the young Palin with the author of my second (charity shop) book, Content Provider by “the nastiest man in comedy” who, according to the Daily Telegraph’s endorsement on the cover “is not funny and has nothing to say”. Stewart Lee is at the cutting-edge of comedy today – inventive, ironic, intelligent. He “sprays his audience with caustic bile” and is potty-mouthed but not gratuitously so. Every word is carefully chosen for effect. “Content Provider” is a series of prose articles written for various publications between 2011-16.

Mrs Thomas-Snell

Unsurprisingly, I quite like a good book so this Summer’s intended book menagerie is:

Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men Caroline Criado-Perez. I chose this as a work related read but already have found so many bananas facts that have such wide reaching implications; this has certainly become an all-encompassing life read.

The Rules of Life Richard Templar. I have read this book every year since my late teens: some rules are great, others less so. It’s a super way of reacquainting yourself with your purpose and ideals.

The Hiding Game, Naomi Wood and The Salt Path, Raynor Winn are my two casual reads. They are very different but both look utterly brilliant. The latter has the opening line, ‘There’s a sound to breaking waves when they’re close, a sound like nothing else.’ Is there a line that resonates of Summer more than that?

For my son it will be Donaldson, Seuss, Story Orchestra (Katy Flint), Kerr and some random tales about dogs.

I will also enjoy a little trip to Blackwell’s in Oxford and Octavia’s Bookshop in Cirencester. Should you find yourself in the locality, I would urge you to go for a browse!


Dr Webb

I suspect my plans are somewhat over-ambitious as I hope to read a lot! I heard the author Kate Mosse talk recently and I am inspired to pick up The Citadel which is about French women resistance fighters in World War II.  Recommendations are so helpful and I have a pile of books as a result including The Nine Tailors by Dorothy L. Sayers, The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry and The Bride's Farewell by Meg Rosoff.  Reviews for Emily Wilson's translation of Homer's The Odyssey have been fab and this is the chosen read for both parent and staff reading groups so an absolute 'must'!  I want to finish J.G. Farrell's trilogy about the impact of the British Empire on the countries it colonised which concludes in The Singapore Grip.  I began reading these because my A Level History teacher recommended them. Better really late than never, I guess 😉

Ms Hart

Hopefully, along with some others, here are a few books I plan to read this summer. It is going to be a busy one but I hope to squeeze in some well-earned reading.  I have already started Haddon’s The Porpoise and it is a very strange narrative with an unsettling subject matter that caught me unawares a few nights ago.  Not a lighthearted read, I suspect! I love Pat Barker so I am thrilled that she has released another book this year; The Silence of the Girls is about giving a voice to the women in the Greek stories about the Trojan Wars.Lastly, I went on a course just recently about memory retention and Dual Coding with Teachers was highly recommended to me; I hope to use some of the techniques in my teaching next year. Happy reading!