TGS is a community of readers. Inspired by similar reading challenges offered to students, this year teaching and support staff have been invited to participate in Staff Library Bingo and challenged to read from each of the 20 categories on the below card.
Here’s what some of our fellow colleagues are reading.
And if this lists is not enough check out the Librarian Recommendation blog!
Kim Cook, Teacher | TESS EAL/D Specialist (Primary) says:
“I would recommend ‘488 Rules for Life’ by Kitty Flanagan – good for a laugh in the midst of these difficult times and easy to pick up and put down whilst we’re all busy with Remote Learning”
Heidi Broadbent, Teacher (Secondary Mathematics) | Housemaster – Senior School (School) has you covered for Historical fiction with:
The Paris Secret by Natasha Lester
Nadene O’neill, Teacher Primary School shares two recommendations:
“‘The Yield’ by Tara June Winch. I really enjoyed this one in audio book because it is narrated by an Aboriginal man so hearing the Indigenous language spoken felt much more valuable than me trying to pronounce words myself”
“I also just read Pachinko by Min Jin Lee which provided me with a window into the experience of Korean people living in Korea and Japan. It is a region I knew surprisingly little about given our connected history and our large Korean community in Sydney. It also provided me insight into the history of Japan’s homogenous culture and their goal for a more ‘equal’ Tokyo Olympics, particularly in their choice of Naomi Osaka in lighting the torch.”
Nathan Lee, Assistant Chaplain Senior School shares his most recent recommendation:
‘The Surprising Power of a Good Dumpling‘ by Wai Chim (who is a contestant in the current season of Australian Survivor!). This book hit close to home for me, and not just because it’s set in Ashfield! There was much I recognised on the pages: the characters, the relationship dynamics, the hopes, fears, and misunderstandings that come with being Chinese-Australian, and the devastating impact mental illness can have on a family. Written with sensitivity and compassion, the author also makes use of the Jyutping romanisation system for Cantonese language, which includes numbers representing tones.
Kate Morgan, Head of Strings has a few recommendations to share:
I loved this book, full of wonderful characters, funny and an easy enjoyable read, but also compassionate with an underlying sadness and reflexion on what brings people to do the things they do. I wept at the end, particularly when I read the Author’s first thanks…
Unputdownable! A one sit read. A must read for all as a perspective on so many current issues. Beautifully written, so sad and yet giving voice to victims and banishing glorification of perpetrators.
A beautiful book with loveable characters, another one sit read.
A bit slow to get into but beautiful images of Italy and Florence, made me desperate to go (sigh) Lovely characters.
A really great read, Outback crime with an Asian Australian detective. Realistic characters with a good depiction of outback life and the prejudices that are unfortunately all too common.
Just finished the audiobook of Still Life by Sarah Winman. Outstanding! For those of you who loved A Gentleman in Moscow, you’ll love this, too.
Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng
This book was a real page turner. Engrossing read with complex characters creating twists to their lives that I didn’t see coming. I stumbled across the series on Amazon which was reasonably true to the book.
This is Going to Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor by Adam Kay
Funny, laugh out loud diary entries making it very easy to read. A book to escape for a laugh, although some stories were horrifying and heartbreaking.