Book Clubs
Book Clubs
A great leveller in the intellectual world is the book club, not least as it is an experience in reading outside of English teachers. Here you can see some of the reviews of books I have read recently from some of my favourite book clubs.
Book Review: No Baboons in India: Frank Memoirs from an International Headteacher
The TES is a popular website for teachers. It used to host an excellent overseas forum until the community was ushered away by a bizarre redesign. Until that happened, I enjoyed reading the amusingly wry anecdotes and responses of 'Mainwaring', a secret Headteacher of...
Book Review: A Streetcar Named Desire: The Myth of Chivalry
A Streetcar Named Desire is a play I am teaching this year. Its influence in post-war literature made this a key choice in my curriculum. The power of this play stems from the collisions between the fantasy and reality of desire, centred on a failed Southern Belle...
Book Review: The Age of Innocence: What is Reality?
The Age of Innocence is a striking retrospection into the waning class-conscious of late 1800s New York. In a country defined by its assertions of freedom, this story raises questions of experience in high society, and how too much decorum risks making emotions...
Book Review: The Handmaid’s Tale: Any Questions?
The Handmaid's Tale is a story I’ve reread three times, each time slower than the last. At this time in my life I am struck by the final line of its Orwellian appendix, an academic conference that forces us to consider how to ‘explain’ the totalitarian government of...
Book Review: The Scarlet Letter: Do what you want or what you should?
The Scarlet Letter is an ambitious American classic that wants to work within multiple paradigms. The two most significant are a European literary tradition and a Puritan system of morality. This is not necessarily a fun book and is certainly not easy in its style and...
Book Review: Pride and Prejudice: Poking Fun
Pride and Prejudice is my third Austen having read Emma as a teenager (and loving its modern adaptation Clueless) and having studied Mansfield Park at A-Level. Desiring the interest of rebellion as a teenager, or at least authenticity in an industrial town, I grew to...
Book Review: The Wasp Factory: Deliciously Dark?
The Wasp Factory is a deliciously dark tale, suitably disturbing and entirely insular in its execution. It is very British. Reading this after Herland, the sense of abandonment, and its desperate consequences, struck me. I knew the twist already (thanks Godmother!)...
Book Review: HerLand: Feminist Utopia?
HerLand is a relatively unknown feminist and socialist text that has not really seemed to have stood the test of time. It is smart and provocative, though, and worth your attention, especially as just over a hundred pages. The narrative itself is minimal: three male...
Book Review: Fight Club: I am Jack’s Smirking Review
Fight Club is a book made famous by David Fincher’s excellent film of the same name. Brad Pitt’s career was revitalized by his gritty portrayal of Tyler Durden while Norton continued acting in a vein of socially provocative roles. I remember watching the film when I...
Book Review: The Buddha of Suburbia: Class or Caste?
The Buddha of Suburbia was one of the more difficult reading experiences I enjoyed this holiday. As so often is the case with a challenging read, its ideas have stayed with me more than I thought they would. I found the characterisation surprisingly off-putting. It...
