Reader's Notes

This edition, I interviewed Mr Biggs, one of our wonderful English Teachers who teaches VCE English Language class and Year 9-10 English Elective classes,.  He inspires creative and immersive thinking in creative ways like having some country music on in the background. 

What book are you currently reading, or did you last read?

I've just finished Waiting for the Barbarians by J.M Coetzee, a story about a magistrate who has his eyes opened to the experiences of colonised peoples and works to redeem himself. Not quite as good as Disgrace by the same author, but fantastic nonetheless.

What was your favourite book as a kid?

As a history nerd, I could not get enough of Colleen McCullough's Masters of Rome series, and especially the first book The First Man in Rome. If we're talking primary age, the entire Asterix series of comics were constantly with me.

If you were stuck on a desert island, and were told that your only entertainment was an unlimited supply of books, but they had to remain in the same genre, what genre would you pick and why?

Historical non-fiction, definitely.

What book have you been putting off to read, or is next on your TBR list?

I've had Donal Ryan's Strange Flowers on my Kindle for the last year and have committed to reading the first chapter the next time I pick up a new book. He is a former Booker Prize winner and part of the new wave of incredible Irish writers, so I'm expecting quality.

If you were Prime Minister and had to mandate a specific book that was compulsory for all of Australia to read, what book would you choose?

It's hard to go past Marcus Aurelius's Meditations; the personal thoughts of the Roman emperor and Stoic who considered a good life to consist of virtue, mindfulness and service.

What book trope automatically makes you slam a book closed to never be reopened again?

Anything to do with a character being 'the chosen one' or fulfilling a prophecy. 

Katherine Styles

Year 11 & English Captain

Book Club