AGS Book club

Parents, come and join our staff and student book club. All you need is a book nomination for a book that you have either read and think everyone else should, or one that you are dying to read. You don't to need to be an English teacher or to study English-you just need to be an avid book worm. This is your opportunity to hear what other people think about the texts that you either love or loathe and to make sure that your voice is heard too.

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1st February 2012

Thank you for eveyone who joined us to discuss 'The Book of Lost Things' by John Connolly on Wednesday 1st February. It was great to see how many different interpretations people had for the novel and its meaning as well as the variety of elements of the story that had stood out in people's minds. A definite recommended read from our AGS book club.

This month's nominations were:

'Veronika Decides to Die' - Paul Coelho

'The Fault in our Stars' - John Green

'House of Leaves' - Mark Z. Danielewski

'The Book Thief' - Markus Zusak

'Pigeon English' - Stephen Kelman

'When God was a Rabbit' - Sarah Winman

'The Switch' - Elmore Leonard

'The Kite Runner' - Khaled Hossein

View covers

Our winning nomination was 'Pigeon Hole' by Stephen Kelman, nominated by Mrs. Napier and shortlisted for the 2012 Man Booker prize.

We will be meeting in the English pod armed with opinions, cake and a new nomination each on 3rd March (World Book Day). Please come and join us.

Synopsis:

Newly arrived from Ghana with his mother and older sister, eleven-year-old Harrison Opoku lives on the ninth floor of a block of flats on an inner-city housing estate. The second best runner in the whole of Year 7, Harri races through his new life in his personalised trainers – the Adidas stripes drawn on with marker pen – blissfully unaware of the very real threat all around him. With equal fascination for the local gang – the Dell Farm Crew – and the pigeon who visits his balcony, Harri absorbs the many strange elements of his new life in England: watching, listening, and learning the tricks of inner-city survival. But when a boy is knifed to death on the high street and a police appeal for witnesses draws only silence, Harri decides to start a murder investigation of his own. In doing so, he unwittingly endangers the fragile web his mother has spun around her family to try and keep them safe. A story of innocence and experience, hope and harsh reality, Pigeon English is a spellbinding portrayal of a boy balancing on the edge of manhood and of the forces around him that try to shape the way he falls.

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7th December 2011

Hello all,

Thank you to everyone who joined us to discuss '1984' by George Orwell at our last book club. It was really fascinating to draw parallels between the writer's nightmare vision of the future with our own turbulent times.The following novels were all nominated and offer great recommendations for Christmas holiday reading or last minute Christmas gifts. They may even be available in the school book fair beginning next week at break and lunchtimes - definitely worth a visit for lots of great books. view

• 'The Blood Meridian' - Cormac McCarthy
• 'Wuthering Heights' - Emily Bronte
• 'The Outsider' - Albert Camus
• 'The Line of Beauty' - Alan Hollinghurst
• ''The Sense of an Ending' - Julian Barnes
• 'A Tale of Two Cities' - Charles Dickens
• 'Tess of the D'Urbervilles' - Thomas Hardy
• 'The Handmaid's Tale' - Margaret Atwood

 

If you would like to join us for our next book club then we will be meeting in the English pod on Wednesday 1st February  and discussing 'The Book of Lost Things' by John Connolly at 3.10-4.10pm. We have biscuits, a love of books and strong opinions. Come join us with your own views on this modern classic and a nomination for a book that we should all read. Mrs Slade 7th Dec 2011

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20th September 2011

This month's nominations were:

'The Book of Lost Things' -  John Connolly, 'Nineteen minutes' - Jodi Picoult, 'A Thousand Splendid Suns' - Khaled Hosseini, 'Catcher in the Rye'- J.D. Salinger, 'Animal Farm'  - George Orwell, 'Fight Club'  - Chuck Palahniuk, 'Love Affair ' - Leslie Kenton, 'The Snowman' - Jo Nesbo, 'The Angel's Game' - Carlos Ruiz Zafon, 'The Reluctant Fundamentalist' - Mohsin Hamid, 'The Wilderness' - Samantha Harvey,

The winning book was 'The Reluctant Fundementalist' by Mohsin Hamid. We will be discussing this on Wednesday 9th November 2011 in Learning 9 - all staff and sixth form are welcome. Cakes and biscuits will be available to help fuel our discussion.  Mrs. Slade 20/9/11