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    The Roedean Blog

    August 2010

    Mrs King's poolside reading

    The best books are usually the ones which, having read them, you can never find again. You have enjoyed them so much that you lend them out to friends who have do exactly the same once they finish them. This makes writing about some of the books I read over the summer break a little difficult as they have already changed hands.

    Andrew Marr's bestseller A History of Modern Britain was a substantial tome to start my holiday reading but proved to be a real page turner. The subject: the history of Britain from 1945 to the present day. The theme: the victory of shopping over politics and how the glorious post war vision of a better future was defeated by the culture of consumerism.

    Throughout, Britain is a country on the edge - first of invasion, then of bankruptcy, then on the vulnerable front line of the Cold War and later in the forefront of the great opening up of capital and migration now reshaping the world.

    So, a great introduction to understanding recent British history and, thereby, understanding the present better. Taken by my daughter.

    The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver required a total cultural shift as we follow one evangelical family from the American Deep South to the heart of Africa.

    Told by the wife and four daughters of the fierce missionary, Nathan Price, we are plunged deeper and deeper into the beauty and yet the strangeness of the Congo. The father’s reluctance to step outside his own world picture leads the family to disintegration; it is  then up to each individual to make sense for themselves of their African experience.

    A brilliant portrayal of the danger of ignoring another culture. Lent to Africa-enthusiast Miss Marlow.

    What Next? by Chris Patten was an unusual choice for a poolside break in Corfu, as it is a serious read, but it was gripping.

    Patten tackles huge world issues such as the role of the nation state, globalization, what happens when the oil runs out, who controls the drugs trade, and makes them accessible. Whilst he does not offer a final solution to the book’s subtitle, “Surviving the Twenty First Century”, Patten sets out the problems in a rational and orderly manner and indicates a way forward, based on trust in the power of humanity to find a way through this century’s challenges.

    An excellent introduction to Roedean’s guest speaker at Speech Day this year. Currently in the laundry cupboard drying out after its poolside abuse, prior to being offered out on loan.

    By Frances King, Headmistress at Wednesday, 25 August 2010

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