Revelling in Reading

9D English

The Value of Reading

• "Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body" -Sir Richard Steele.

• Neil Postman, media critic and author (Amusing Ourselves to Death and Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business) pointed out the ways that reading teaches us to think in a logically connected way. It cultivates a sustained attention span. Readers learn to think in terms of abstract ideas, objective truth and sustained reflection.

Enjoying Reading

We live in a Golden Age-never before have so many books been within easy reach. But when anything is possible, choice becomes torture. What to pick? Where to start? This one? That one? How about this-and that? What will I like? What’s worth my time? (J. Peder Zane)

The Top Top Ten List• Anna Karenina – Leo Tolstoy• Madame Bovary – Gustav Flaubert• War and Peace – Leo Tolstoy• Lolita – Vladimir Nabokov• The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

– Mark Twain• Hamlet – William Shakespeare• The Great Gatsby – F Scott

Fitzgerald• In Search of Lost Time – Marcel

Proust• The stories of Anton Chekov• Middlemarch – George Eliot

Read! Read! Read! Read for pleasure, for thrills, for escape, for ideas. Read books that make you laugh and cry and wonder and think. Read for yourself and not for others. But share books too, with friends, teachers and family. The best kind of recommendation is from someone whose opinion you trust or whose tastes are similar to yours.

(Agnes Nieuwenhauizen)

Survey Results 9D

• My reading habits:• I enjoy reading and I read

quite a lot 12• I enjoy reading but I don’t

get much time to read13

• I only read what I have to for school 1

• I really don’t like reading 2

Comments

• I am usually running out of books though I love reading. I could read all the time if I was allowed.

• I only read a book when the front cover appeals to me

• I only like some books and if the beginning is interesting.

Genres that interest me:• Teen life 26

• Historical 6

• Fantasy 15

• Adventure 15

• Crime 7

• Family/relationships 16

(Other: sport, young adults, real life shocking stories, mystery)

Series

Harry Potter*Twilight*Vampire Academy (1,2,3,4)House of Night (1,2,3,4,5)The Mortal Instruments

series*The Confessions of Georgia

Nicolson *The Bitterbynde Trilogy*The Crowthistle Chronicles*Inkworld trilogy*Cherub series*The Inheritance Cycle *

True BloodTomorrow When the

War Began series*Matthew Reilly series*Lemony SnicketGirlfriend seriesArtemis Fowl *The Evil Genius series *The Gossip Girl seriesThe Clique series

The Inheritance Cycle *

Alex RiderGarth Nix novelsAgatha Christie novels

OTHER SUGGESTIONS

Janet EvanovichAlexander McCall-

SmithMy StoryFashionistasScott Westerfield

Individual titles• When the

Hipchicks went to War

• Lirael• Kiss My Book• Book of Lies• Master of the

Book• Matilda• On the Jellico

Road• Watership Down

• Dreamland• Just Listen• Grief Girl• Once• Then• Driving Cassie

Crazy• Truth or Dare• Dogtales• Basketball Star• Surf Chick• Hoop 2 Hoop

• Book Mark Days• Losing It• Gone• Tea Rose• Posse• The Boy in the

Striped Pyjamas• Guantanamo Boy• Amulet of

Samarkand• Being Bindy• Sophie’s Journey

The Name of the Wind

Fire PonyThe Red NecklaceFool’s GoldThe Christmas DollThe BeckonersThe Lion, The Witch

and the Wardrobe

A Puppy Called AeroA Letter to SophieSoloSealed With A Kiss

Often Mentioned Authors• Roald Dahl• Jodi Picoult• Ann

Brashares • Paul

Jennings• Morris

Gleitzman• Meg Cabot• Tamora

Pierce

Biographies and Autobiographies

Most have been shelved at 920

Sometime in the late twentieth century the book died. Sherman Young, passionate book lover and a consumer and producer of digital technology, is on a mission to make book culture matter again. Shirking nostalgia and without apology, The Book is Dead (Long Live the Book) investigates the economics and technological demands of publishing, making a case for books and reading all the while. His bold and exciting book will inspire readers, non-readers and publishers to put books centre-stage again, even if they’re not books as we now know them.