Month: December 2019

Hi everyone,

I must say that our final book club meeting for the year was a lot of fun! We shared an earnest conversation about books we have loved and enjoyed. Many past book club favourites popped up plus books that are generally popular in the collection. Our discussion reminded me a little of a pinball machine, where we conversations and comments kept bouncing across the table about books, but in a good way. Apologies to anyone who cannot follow the entire audio conversation (you kind of had to be there to understand all of it, I think!).

 

Broadly (and I use the term loosely), we discussed the following: 

• Books we have read recently
• What we are planning to read during the holidays
• Genres – suggestions about genres to read in 2020.

As we discussed so many books, I am not going to write about each one. However, for any students still wondering about what to read for the holidays, I think this discussion by our book club will give you a great reading list to start with (in no particular order):

• The Cruel Prince by Holly Black

  

• James Patterson books
• Leigh Bardugo books (eg Shadow & Bone)
• Words in deep blue by Cath Crowley
• We were liars by E. Lockhart
• Genuine fraud by E. Lockhart
• The fault in our stars by John Green
• Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell
• Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell
• Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas
• Percy Jackson series
• This adventure ends by Emma Mills
• First & Then by Emma Mills
• Foolish hearts by Emma Mills
• The School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani
• One of us is lying by Karen M. McManus
• Two can keep a secret by Karen M. McManus
• The Perfectionists by Sara Shepard
• The maze runner by James Dashner
• All the bright places by Jennifer Niven

The meeting also included interesting discussions about:

• Being in a reading slump and looking for that great next book to read
• Reading on a Kindle vs iPad vs print (general consensus was that ‘flipping pages is still better’)

We also discussed authors reading their own books or other creative works. Mrs Sylaprany spoke about Hugh Mackay reading his book, Australia Reimagined, and Ms McNamara spoke about the poet, Dylan Thomas, reading his poetry aloud (Ms McNamara has donated a CD recording of Dylan Thomas’ poetry to the library for students to borrow). 

This discussion started a further interesting conversation about audio books in general. In summary, book club members felt that:

• Authors can read their own stories but they have to be able to read well
• Students love hearing Miss Young reading poetry aloud
• Morris Gleitzman is amazing to listen to when he reads his books (e.g Once, Then etc)
• Many book club members expressed that they prefer to read on their own books
• Some members felt that they can’t always comprehend when teachers read at a slower pace (for the rest of the class)
• Therefore, book club members enjoy reading on own (if the class is going too slow)

In terms of genre preferences for 2020, we have the following list to get started with:

• Mystery
• Romance
• Murder/Crime/Thriller
• Low fantasy or urban fantasy? (newly published books)

If there is any other genre or book you would like to include, please add it to this list or let Mrs Sylaprany know.

We look forward to hearing about what you have read over the holidays in Term 1 next year. Until then, happy summer holiday reading! 

Mrs Sylaprany, Mrs Ryan & Mrs Hanratty