10. What PGS Staff Are Reading This Summer

Jon Andrews

My first reading task for the summer is to finish The Great Crashes by Linda Yueh. It is a book I started at half term which covers financial market crises in modern economic history. So far I have read about the Wall Street Crash, the US Savings & Loans crisis of the 1980s, Japan’s property market implosion of the 1990s and the Eurozone meltdown of 2010-12. The commentary is concise and littered with anecdotes from key players – it is well researched like much of Yueh’s analysis.

My beach reading this summer is John le Carre’s A Perfect Spy. I am working my way through le Carre’s novels and having recently watched an old BBC dramatisation of this one decided it should be next on the list. The book is written in a different non-chronological format so I am particularly looking forward to reading it by way of comparison to see whether it makes you feel differently about the main character. The protagonist, Magnus Pym, is based in part on le Carre himself – whilst le Carre’s father was a conman – as he wrote for Pym – there were, however, no allegations of le Carre being a double agent working simultaneously for MI6 and the Czech secret service!

I am also hoping to get going with Burr by Gore Vidal – which was recommended by Mr Burkinshaw. I bought the book several months ago but haven’t started it properly yet. The appeal of this book is that it sought to do for Aaron Burr what the musical Hamilton did more recently for Alexander Hamilton’s reputation. Both make us consider who the history and values of the US revolution belong to and highlight how easily the narrative can be influenced by contemporary interpretation.   

 

Mike Murray

I will be reading Revolutions of the World in Simple Spanish. Graded readers are a great way to improve one ability in a language, and I have used them for Latin, Ancient Greek and Spanish. It is even better if you can find a graded reader that covers an interesting topic and this book is excellent in that respect. I have already read the first chapter, about the English Civil War. I look forward to reading about the French, American and Russian revolutions all in accessible Spanish. I very much recommend the writer Olly Richards, who writes grades readers about many topics such as Western Philosophy, World War Two, The Human Body and also a variety of short stories!

Revolutions of the World in Simple Spanish: Learn Spanish the Fun Way with Topics that Matter (Topics that Matter: Spanish Edition): Amazon.co.uk: Richards, Olly: 9798367405385: Books

Sam Haslam

This term I’ve been visiting university open days with my daughter and this has got me thinking about my own university days.  One of my favourite books from my degree is “Effi Briest” by Theodor Fontane.  The heroine, Effi, is married to a baron against her will and struggles to find her place in the new society she finds herself.  She makes one mistake and is ostracised, eventually falling so ill that she dies.  It’s the only book that’s ever made me but, on the other hand, it’s very uplifting to see how far we have come as a society in the last century in terms of equality.  I’ll be reading it in German, but English translations are available.

Keeping with the German theme, I’ll also be rereading “The Tattooist of Auschwitz”.  I first read this a couple of years ago and bought it for my Mum for her birthday a few weeks ago, so want to re-read in order to be able to discuss it with her.  It’s a tough read in places, as you might expect from the title, but is ultimately a lesson to us all in finding happiness and hope in each and every situation.