Tag: summary

August Wrap-Up and September TBR

It’s been another busy month on the blog…soon to be scuppered by my return to work in September.

Once I’m back teaching full time, there’s no way I’ll be reading as much!

Still, for now, let’s look at what I read last month and what I’d like to read in September.

I read 14 books this month and am now on 80/100 on my Goodreads challenge.

AUGUST’S READS

‘The Child Who Never Was’ by Jane Renshaw

This twisty psychological thriller about a missing child and mental health was the focus of my first ever blog tour for Damp Pebbles Tours. You can read my review here.

‘Evil Things’ by Katja Ivar

Gifted to me by Bitter Lemon Press, this is an excellent historical crime novel set in 1950s Finland. The bleak and remote conditions of Lapland make an eerie setting and Inspector Hella Mauzer is one to watch! You can read my review here.

‘The Betrayals’ by Bridget Collins

A fabulous historical novel with a similar feel to Collins’ first novel, ‘The Binding’. Far too intricate to do justice here, I’ll be reviewing this on the blog closer to the publication date in November.

‘Their Silent Graves’ by Carla Kovach

The latest installment of the excellent police procedural series featuring DI Gina Harte. This one is all-out scary as a serial killer starts to bury the inhabitants of Cleevesford alive at Halloween! This is to be published on 17th September so my review will be on the blog then.

‘Longhand’ by Andy Hamilton

This is for a blog tour in early September for Random Things Tours, so watch this space for my review of this funny, poignant, bizarre and truly wonderful novel.

‘People of Abandoned Character’ by Claire Whitfield

This is a brilliant take on the Jack the Ripper story set on the streets of Victorian London. Refreshingly focused on the plight of the women and with a strong heroine, this is one to watch for. Due for publication on October 1st so review will follow closer to that time.

‘The Quickening’ by Rhiannon Ward

A gorgeous, gothic tale of séances and spookiness! The dual narrative flits between 1896 and 1925 with a story about a crumbling family estate and the pregnant female photographer who has been commissioned to work there. You can read my review here.

‘The Watcher’ by Kate Medina

Another blog tour read (for Random Things Tours) so watch this space for my review of this tense and terrifying crime novel!

‘The Great Godden’ by Meg Rosoff

A lovely coming-of-age novel in which the narrator grapples with an obsession with the glorious Kit Godden over a long, hot beach summer.

‘Shakespearean’ by Robert McCrum

One of the many books to be released on 3rd September, this one is a lively and informative jaunt through Shakespeare’s plays and the legacy of the man himself. Packed with historical context and literary criticism, this book also details the way that McCrum turned to Shakespeare in the aftermath of his stroke. Review to follow on the blog this week.

‘State of the Union’ by Nick Hornby

This was (I think) the only Nick Hornby book I haven’t read so thought I had better complete the set! It follows ten conversations between a couple who meet in the pub before their weekly marriage guidance sessions in which they are working through some big issues. As with all Hornby’s writing, it is relateable and witty.

‘A Girl Made of Air’ by Nydia Hetherington

Another one of the huge number of books due for release on 3rd September, this one is about a circus performer on a quest for a missing child in post-war England and America. It is an immersive and engaging read and my review of it will be on the blog next week.

‘Women Don’t Owe You Pretty by Florence Givens

I’m always up for a feminist tome and this one is fabulously illustrated. As someone of the *ahem* slightly older generation of feminists, there wasn’t much new here for me, but this would make excellent reading for all young women.

‘A Chip Shop in Poznan: My Unlikely Year in Poland’ by Ben Aitken

Ahead of the publication of Aitken’s new book ‘The Gran Tour’ next week (review to follow), I thought I’d read this one which was given to me as a birthday present. It’s an interesting and engaging insight into Poland and its people as Aitken spent a year in the country.

SEPTEMBER’S TBR PILE

I find it really hard to commit to a selection of books as I’m very much a mood reader. However, these look amazing and I really want to get through them (if my workload permits!)

‘Unto This Last’ by Rebecca Lipkin

This MASSIVE novel about John Ruskin is for a blog tour so I’ll definitely be reading this one soon. It sounds perfect for me – a Victorian setting, Pre-Raphaelite art and the promise of an insight into this intriguing figure from history.

‘The Devil and the Dark Water’ by Stuart Turton

Highly anticipated book from the writer of ‘The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle’ which I loved! I have a NetGalley copy, but I’ve also pre-ordered the gorgeous hardback with sprayed edges from Forbidden Planet. That’s how confident I am that it’ll be good!

‘And Now for the Good News’ by Ruby Wax

I chose this because we all need good news right now! Although it was written before the pandemic, Wax offers us a cheerful view of the world and the progress humanity has made.

‘Pandora’s Jar’ by Natalie Haynes

Carried over from last month’s TBR but still there! I love a myth retelling so am excited to read this.

‘Maiden Voyages’ by Sian Evans

Thanks to Erwan Hesry for sharing their work on Unsplash.

This looks to be fascinating – an account of a selection of the women travelling by ocean liner during the interwar years. I love history and even more so when it focuses on women’s lives so I am looking forward to reading this.

‘The Sanatorium’ by Sarah Pearse

This one isn’t due out until 2021 but it has rocketed up my TBR pile because it looks brilliant! A thrilling mystery set in a remote hotel (ex-sanatorium) high in the Swiss Alps…what’s not to like?

With thanks to NetGalley, Random Things Tours, Damp Pebbles Tours, Bitter Lemon Press and my friends and family for keeping me in books! As always, opinions are entirely my own.

Header photo with thanks to Nong Vang for sharing their work on Unsplash.

Shakespeare Summer Reads for Teachers

After publishing yesterday’s review of the absolutely brilliant ‘This is Shakespeare’ by Emma Smith, I had a think about books that have really helped me to get my head around Shakespeare for teaching.

As a self-confessed Shakespeare geek, it’s fair to say I’m not short of a Shakespeare book or two. However, few make it into my teaching toolkit.

I thought I’d share some of my favourites in case anyone is brushing up their Shakespeare this summer.

‘Essential Shakespeare Handbook’ by Leslie Dunton-Downer and Alan Riding (published by Dorling Kindersley) is always my first go-to when I’m approaching any Shakespeare play or production. It’s so clearly presented with scene-by-scene breakdowns of the play, plot summaries, character information, key quotations, context…if I had to pick one book only for my Shakespeare information, this would be it! ‘The Shakespeare Book’ (again published by Dorling Kindersley) does something similar with some lovely infographics.

For more detailed analysis into individual plays, I’m sure I don’t need to tell you about the York Notes for GCSE and A Level series which are brilliant for students. For an engaging jaunt through the plays for you though, I’d recommend Ben Crystal’s series, ‘Springboard Shakespeare’. There’s separate books on ‘Macbeth’, ‘Hamlet’, ‘King Lear’ and ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ and they are suitably detailed and very readable. Ben Crystal’s ‘Shakespeare on Toast: Getting a Taste for the Bard’ is another accessible but really useful guide.

Rex Gibson’s ‘Teaching Shakespeare: A Handbook for Teachers’ has also proved useful to me over the years, especially in terms of approaching Shakespeare as plays to be performed rather than texts to be read. It has lots of ideas about how to bring Shakespeare alive for pupils.

If you’re more interested in reading around the subject of Shakespeare to give you a boost in the classroom, I can recommend Bill Bryson’s ‘Shakespeare’ and Catharine Arnold’s ‘Globe: Life in Shakespeare’s London’. Both are extremely engaging and full of snippets of information that will definitely help you in contextualising Shakespeare.

Finally, for your entertainment (but not for the faint-hearted or easily embarrassed), Pauline Kiernan’s ‘Filthy Shakespeare: Shakespeare’s Most Outrageous Sexual Puns’ is worth a look. It will help you understand all those double entendres and lurid allusions that are often lost on modern audiences – but probably isn’t one to use in the classroom! Great background knowledge though!

I hope you’ve found this useful – I’d love to hear your own Shakespeare recommendations too on my Twitter account @thequickandthe4 as I’m always looking for ideas.

My cat, Ivy, helping with this post