4. What PGS Staff Are Reading This Summer

Daryl Ager

This summer I've got Julia by Sandra Newman lined up, a companion piece to 1984. I really enjoyed one of her previous books, The Heavens, and I'm a big fan of dystopian fiction so this novel should be perfect for me. 

I've done my homework and read 1984 again recently; I last read that when I was at college so I definitely needed a refresher. There's so much about Julia we don't know about, so I'm looking forward to reading about her story. 

After I've finished that, I'm not sure what I'll move on to. My eldest son's partner is an English teacher so I expect I'll get some recommendations from her!

 Louisa Burton

I’m going to be reading The Red Tent by Anita Diamant. It has been on my suggested reads from Goodreads for quite a while, and I find that the algorithms for recommendations are usually spot on! I love historical fiction but usually go for books set in the 19th and 20th centuries. This book is about Dinah, a woman from the Book of Genesis in the Bible, with a focus on womanhood in ancient times. As such, it will be very different to anything I have read before.

I find non-fiction much harder to routinely read but use the summer break as an opportunity to further skills. I think I’ll go with The Wisdom of the Bullfrog, recommended by Mr Seddon, which centres around leadership lessons. I’ll also be dipping into Visualising Physical Geography which is about improving the use of diagrams to teach complex geographical concepts. Quite a niche topic which I don’t think I’ll necessarily be recommending beyond the department! 

Jock Peebles

As if I didn’t have enough diffident trauma to contend with in having my own teenagers at home over the holidays, I’ve decided to read The Catcher in the Rye again, for the first time in 35 years.

I read it first on my train commute during my early years of teaching and at the time, its protagonist Holden Caulfield really infuriated me;  I felt he was blowing every chance in life with his self-absorbed way of just walking away from the demands of his school rather than trying to conquer them. Of course, that’s the point to some extent.

However, when I read it initially, I hadn’t appreciated the emotional disconnect and damage that the central character was undergoing – mostly linked to the sternness of his teachers at school as well as the absence of a connection he had with his family.

I’m hoping I can begin to like Holden again.

Simon Lemieux

I'm planning to read Deterring Armageddon, A History of NATO by Peter Apps. A very kind gift from one of my Y13 students. It seems particularly apposite at the moment...