If you knew you were to be stranded on a desert island and you could take 5 books (not including the Works of Shakespeare and the religious text of your choice), 1 CD and 1 luxury item, what would you take? This is the question we ask in our new column, based on Radio 4's Desert Island Disks. Each week a member of staff, a student or a person of interest will put forward their choices.
Sophie McKenzie, author of The Medusa Project series and Girl Missing has chosen her desert island reads. Sophie would also like to say hi to all those girls she met when she came to visit us a couple of years ago.
1. Little Women by Louisa M Alcott One of my favourite books as a child. I named my son, Joe, after the main character (though he wasn’t very pleased when he found out the ‘Jo’ in the story was a girl!)
2. The Kingdom by the Sea by Robert Westall I read this YA novel after I started trying to write my own books and before I got published. It begins and ends brilliantly and I still find it truly inspiring.
3. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen I’ve re-read this many times and always adore it. When I was younger I was mainly drawn to the romance between Elizabeth and Darcy but now I enjoy the economy and wit of Jane Austen’s writing just as much.
4. The Secret History by Donna Tartt This is one of my comfort reads! It’s a modern tale about a group of students who become embroiled in a murder. I love the believable characters and gripping plot.
5. Pretties (Uglies Quartet) by Scott Westerfeld The start of a great sci-fi adventure series that makes you think about society’s obsession with youth and beauty. Like all the books here, this one really challenged some of my preconceived ideas about life and writing.
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My luxury would be my computer (and an endless supply of electricity to power it!) so I could keep writing stories.
I wouldn’t need a CD because if I had my Macbook with me, I’d have access to its entire music library!!!
Sophie McKenzie's website (from where I borrowed the pictures) is: http://www.sophiemckenziebooks.com/
Her books are available in the school library.
If you would like your choices to be posted in this column you can email them to me at:
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