What PGS Teachers Are Reading This Summer: 3

 Ruth Richmond

A Razors’ Edge – “the sharp edge of a razor is difficult to pass over; thus the wise say the path to Salvation is hard “ 

The book I will be starting to re-read during the first week of the summer break is A Razor’s Edge by W.Somerset Maughan. Anyone, I suggest, that reads one of Maughan’s works will be drawn to all the others as he is a great story teller who is able to get to the heart of the characters  so that the reader invests in each one of them and their experiences. A Razor’s Edge tells the story of Larry Darrell, an American pilot traumatized by his experiences of World War 1 and the loss of a comrade, and looks more closely at the meaning and direction of his own life. Maughan is able to draw his readers into sharing Larry’s journey as he rejects a conventional existence in search for this meaning. He chooses to earn little money and asks his fiancé to join him in Paris where he can live a bohemian life. His travels take him from Paris to India and then back to Paris. Professional and personal relationships take on a tragic turn but I will leave it to you to find out what happens; suffice to say, there is murder and betrayal and you will read through the night to find out what happens next! There is a happy ending for Larry but it is not how you would imagine.

Jo Morgan

This summer I’ll be reading Men Who Hate Women by Laura Bates. I've already listened to this on Audible but want to take the time to read the hard copy and take notes. This book is a shocking insight into the terrifying world of Incels and other men who hold a violent hatred towards women. I would recommend this as essential reading for everyone but be prepared, it’s pretty disturbing. 

 

James Burkinshaw

For our family holiday to Crete, this year, I am taking The Greeks: A Global History by Roderick Beaton, which explores the extraordinary impact of Greek culture over the past three millennia, from Homeric epic, Aeschylean tragedy, Platonic philosophy and Aristotelian science to Byzantine Christianity, the Ottoman Empire and the twentieth century Greek diaspora. I am also going to re-read John Fowles' enigmatic novel, The Magus, set on the fictional Greek island of Phraxos, in which a naive Englishman is lured into a labyrinthine, mythic game where truth and illusion become increasingly difficult to tell apart. Several people have recommended Piranesi, by Susanna Clarke, which, in the tradition of Greek myth, explores the dangerous seductiveness of the Monster in all of us.

I am also hoping to have time to read John Murray's A few short notes on tropical butterflies, which chronicles the experiences of migrants and others facing dislocation and deracination in the modern world, as well as Haruki Murakami's Kafka on the Shore, a Japanese novel that re-imagines the ancient myths of Odysseus and Oedipus in the light of the Kafkaesque nightmare of the twentieth century.  

Laura Burden

On Audible, I have been listening to Balanced and Barefoot: how unrestricted outdoor play makes for strong, unrestricted and capable children by Angela J. Hanscom – she argues that many of the problems faced by young people today, such as myopia and ADHD, could be mitigated by more time spent outdoors in early childhood. On a similar note, I am currently reading Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature Deficit Disorder by Richard Louv. Also on my list for the summer is The Secrets of Bryn Estyn, a non-fiction work about the failings of the legal system, and the novel The Mermaid of Black Conch, which one of my A Level pupils has opted to write on. I plan to do the Portsmouth public libraries’ Summer Reading Challenge for the first time with our children: they currently love the series featuring The Runaway Pea.