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The premise of the novel is boring: it’s a classic coming of age novel where two teenagers, Connor and Marianne, struggle to find themselves and their place in the world in the transition years from high school to university to adult life. It relates a series of minor ups and downs, and the ways that […]
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It has been more than 50 years since the publication of S.E. Hinton’s first novel ‘The Outsiders’. Set in 1960s Oklahoma, ‘The Outsiders’ is a moving coming-of-age story surrounding the gang rivalry between lower-class ‘Greasers’ and upper-class ‘Socials’. Given the big societal changes that have happened since then and how dated, for example, the social […]
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For a newly-launched non-profit, founded and run by two Oxford students, entirely through one social media platform, we were overjoyed to have received 70 donations for our first ever book drive: as Homeless Oxford Literature Drive (HOLD) approaches its second drive this MT19, we hope to raise many more books, and want to encourage as […]
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Image Description: “The Boulevard Montmartre at Night’ by Camille Pissarro This little novel by Zola (published in 1878) begins in the cloistered luxury of a bourgeois bedroom, bathed in blue light. It is here we encounter Hélène, the hero of the story, who is deep in a heavy, drowsy sleep. Hélène is suddenly woken by […]
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Image description: Plath’s gravestone, vandalised in 2012 Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes are undoubtedly two of the 20th-century’s most celebrated poets. However, in the decades following their death, it seems that the public increasingly disregard their verse in favour of a deep fascination with their married life. Decades after Hughes’ death – and almost 60 […]
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Image description: Agatha Christie’s desk at Greenways Almost anybody would be able to call to mind a number of famous titles from the canon: Jane Eyre, War and Peace, To Kill a Mockingbird, etc., etc. … Because of our acquaintance with these famous works, most people are desensitised to the titles themselves. When one actually considers […]
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‘This morning I’m bored shitless by poetry’ declares Simon Armitage in one of the poems compiled in his latest collection, ‘Sandettie Light Vessel Automatic’, named after the weather station of the same name. It’s a bold line – especially considering his recent appointment as the new Poet Laureate – but is equally one which showcases […]
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The sea is nature’s greatest gift to artists and writers. The mystery of what hides in its depths allows it to stand for the unknown, as does the fact that it separates the continents, making distant lands into a mystery. Something that can represent the unknown can be used to represent everything and anything; that […]
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Upon a brilliant expanse of midnight blue lies a single, gold-leafed tree standing atop a great white hill. The words The Buried Giant are printed boldly underneath. Simple, but elegant. Uncomplicated, by mystical. Seemingly ordinary, but entirely unprecedented. My first expression of Kazuo Ishiguro and his masterpiece was powerful, and ever since I have remained […]
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Five years ago Christ Church student Scott Whitehead started writing his now finished novel ‘The Light Beyond the Garden Wall’. Set in the Middle East in 700BC, the story is a part historical, part inspirational fiction which follows the prophet Isaiah and the challenges involved in his coming of age. Going through an extremely difficult […]
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Much has been made of the announcement this week that hedge fund Man Group, the primary sponsor of the Man Booker prize is pulling its funding of £1.6 million from the award, terminating its almost 20 year long relationship in favour of spending the money on efforts to “promote and improve diversity and inclusion at […]
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There is a wide range of podcasts out there, and it should come as no surprise that a sizeable number of podcasts are concerned with books. As a devoted bookworm and podcast enthusiast, I have pored over lists of “the best podcasts” and tried numerous programmes, coming to establish my own favourites. These podcasts are […]
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1.Cane, Jean Toomer (1923) – Harlem Renaissance author Toomer beautifully interweaves lyric, prose and drama in this series of vignettes written about the cultural history and experiences of African Americans in the United States. These stories are often pervaded by nauseating violence, such as cruel ostracisation in “Becky” or sexual violence in the “Box Seat”, […]
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Travel is a beautiful distorting mirror, one in which we can look back at ourselves and at different places, just like in books. Yet, this becomes even more spine-tingling when done through the lens of another age, through another’s eyes – this was my impression when I entered the world of Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage by […]
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Independent bookshops are a dying race, callously destroyed by online purchases and dooming their owners to disillusioning profit losses. However, on 25 Walton Street, a survivor determinedly battles on. The Last Bookshop, providing quaint mint-green tables outside for those who wish to read with a coffee, and a perpetual deal of two books for five […]
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It was recently reported that Jojo Moyes, author of Me Before You, has stepped in and put up £360,000 of her own money to ensure that the adult literacy campaign Quick Reads is able to continue. The scheme had got into trouble when funding from both its long-term sponsor Galaxy, and the Arts Council, dried […]
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Reading juvenilia can often seem part of a contrived, even pathetic, attempt to make some profound statement about how an author’s childish scribblings – no matter how underwhelming – actually demonstrate the emergence of later genius. Jane Austen is not one of those authors. Her three surviving notebooks containing novellas, epistolary fiction, and plays written […]
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Over the past few years there has certainly been no shortage of Middle-earth inspired projects for fans to get excited about. From the controversial Shadow of War video game series to the upcoming biopic starring Nicholas Hoult, Tolkien’s cultural influence is showing no signs of slowing down. Now, from out of the blue, HarperCollins has […]
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A recent Twitter challenge to “describe yourself like a male author would” has gone viral, with women satirising the sexual objectification and tired clichés found in much of contemporary fiction. The challenge was instigated by Whitney Reynolds (media personality and television talk show host) in response to a tweet from Gwen C. Katz, who had […]
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