ENRICHMENT
SHSG English Recommends playlist
This final playlist is a little different to the others. It contains some personal recommendations from teachers in the SHSG English department. These are books not featured elsewhere in our playlists but which we each consider to be a worthwhile read for any student who wants to move beyond reading books for children and into reading more complex and interesting books for adults instead. These texts are all very readable and appropriate for secondary school students from Year 9 onwards.
SHSG English Recommends
Melmoth by Sarah Perry. Astonishingly dark, rich storytelling exquisitely balanced between gothic shocks and emotional truth. Recommended by Mr Andrews.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey. Set in a mental institution, follow rebel Randle McMurphy as he challenges the authority of the tyrannical Nurse Ratched. Recommended by Miss Bond.
All The Light You Cannot See by Anthony Doerr. The story of two teenagers during World War II, one a blind girl in Nazi-occupied France, the other a German orphan boy pressed into service by the Nazi army. Their paths collide as both try to survive and hold on to what is right and good in a time of conflict. Recommended by Miss Butler.
Wise Children by Angela Carter. Twin sisters, dancers from the music hall and of 1930s Hollywood fame, discover their Shakespearean roots and explore their identify as the illegitimate children of high art. Recommended by Ms Haywood.
Z for Zachariah by Robert C. O'Brien. Set in a dystopian world, this novel explores the nightmare faced by two people who believe they’re the last humans left on earth. Recommended by Mr McGarvey.
Faith Healer by Brian Friel. The story of a travelling showman who occasionally heals people, told through a series of different viewpoints. Recommended by Mrs Killi.
The World’s Wife by Carol Ann Duffy. Classic poetry collection in which Duffy imagines the lives of marginalised women from throughout history. It’s always clever and usually funny. Recommended by Mrs Neill.
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig. A popular writer on mental health, in this book Haig compassionately handles how to find meaning and direction in life, through a story of hope and second chances. Recommended by Mrs Osborn.
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Annie Barrows and Mary Ann Shaffer. The internationally best-selling epistolary novel of hope and love set in 1946 in the aftermath of the Nazi occupation of Guernsey. Recommended by Ms Wilkins.