books Archives - Page 3 of 12

Introducing 2023’s Standout Reads

"2023 was truly a year of amazing writing, and I am so grateful to have explored such a wide variety of literature and non-fiction."

Sir Philip Pullman receives the Bodley Medal

Sir Philip Pullman has been awarded the Bodley Medal in a ceremony at the Sheldonian Theatre. The medal is awarded by the Bodleian Library “to...

What can books say that we can’t?

As people, we love to talk - to other people, to ourselves, to the mirror (don’t lie, everyone does it!) We all have opinions...

Harry Potter as Therapy

'I am 25 years old, and I have reread the Harry Potter books 10 times, but in this review I want to introduce you to something truly special'

Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying: Tracing the Atmospheres of the 1918 Influenza Pandemic

'When the pandemic hit Ontario, William Faulkner was a cadet in the Canadian Royal Air Force. Writing home to his parents, he would bemoan the lengthiness of his base’s lockdown, and the protracted sense of time it engendered.'

Embracing the Echoes: The Significance and Allure of Literary Retellings

'The concept of reimagining an existing story is relatively new in the context of storytelling, emerging more prominently in recent years.'

Rabelais’s Gargantua: Formulating Free Will in the Twenty-First Century

"It can feel, at times, that various sources are all fighting to influence you. Not Rabelais."

Give a Book, Give a Smile!

"If it were up to me, I would make every day International Book Giving Day."

Dahl in the Dock; or, the publishing industry and its consequences

"Modern editors aim to unanchor texts from their historical moorage."

The Death and Resurrection of Z-Library

"Z-Library opened up doors for people who were barred by too many locked doors."

Of Libraries, With Love

"Here we are in a city of libraries, and it is never enough."

My Favourite Childhood Book: Anne of Green Gables

"Anne is such an iconic figure in children’s literature that I’m sure many relate to my enjoyment of her character"

Babel, or the Beauty of Multilingualism

Emerald Ace-Acquah reflects on the complexities of language, colonisation, and power, as explored in R. F. Kuang's new novel.

Beyond the Etonians: Simon Kuper’s Chums in today’s Oxford

"If the structure of undergraduate life then had such adverse outcomes and is so worthy of condemnation – and the structure fundamentally hasn’t changed – what does that imply for Oxford now?"

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