Hillmorton High School

103,556 pages read and 4,266 team points

Team members

Rose

13,584 pts

(11,150 pages read)

Mrs Osmond

By John Banville

2 stars

Isabel discovers her husband has shocking secrets. Banville rights descriptively, precisely nailing emotions. Rather too wordy for my liking
Sushi for Beginners

By Marian Keyes

4 stars

Such an engaging read. Clever story line. Probably the book equivalent of comfort food
Dead like you

By Peter James

4 stars

Another detective novel starring Roy Grace. Easy reading, engaging story with great twists and turns.
Excellent Women

By Barbara Pym

5 stars

A simple story about a single 30 something woman living in a flat in post war London. Her life revolves around her parish and her part time job working with ‘gentlewomen’ who have fallen upon hard times. It does not take much (new neighbours for example) for her life to be discombobulated. Pym at her endearing and charming best.
All the beauty in the world

By Patrick Bringley

4 stars

As ‘therapy’ after the death of his brother, Patrick worked as a security guard at New York’s museum of Modern Art for ten years. This book is stunning. His writing evokes the beauty of the art through the beauty of his words. He is insightful. Eg. “It feels impossibly generous of visual art to affix its strokes to a surface, making it a performance without end”
The Bee Sting

By Paul Murray

4 stars

What a read. Clever. Moving. The ending though!
The last devil to die

By Richard Osman

4 stars

Engaging story. So well written and although an entertaining detective yarn has many thoughtful and insightful moments
A Greyhound of a Girl

By Roddy Doyle

3 stars

Having read Roddy Doyle novels such as The Van, Snapper, The Commitments and Paddy Clarke ha hah ha; it was an adjustment to read a book written for children. Not a feck in sight-or any other swear word. A sweet book about four generations of women from one family- one just happens to be a ghost.
Where light meets water

By Susan Paterson

4 stars

This NZ author starts this story in London in the 1840’s. It ends on clipper sailing into Yokohama harbour from Port Chalmers, Dunedin. Tom is a sailor and a painter who marries a young woman (who also paints) from a privileged family. The story encapsulates the ability of art to transform a life.
The Hazelbourne Ladies Motorcycle and Flying Club

By Helen Simonson

4 stars

1919 and with the end of the war comes an end to the need for young women to work. However many need to and even want to work and now find themselves battling the sexism and prewar standards that many still wish to maintain. Other themes are classism (snobbery) and racism. All this wrapped up in an engaging story of a young woman who is ‘without prospects’
Dear Sam

By Peter Mahon

5 stars

“An orchestrated litany of lies” a line famously penned by Justice Peter Mahon as part of his findings when leading the Commission of Inquiry into the Air NewZealand flight that collided with Mt Erebus. Peter Mahon was an erudite, literary man who wrote wonderful letters, particularly to his son Sam. After his death at age 62 his letters to Sam along with some to his other children Janet and Tim and to colleagues and friends were published in this immensely entertaining volume. One of my favourite reads.
Some tame Gazelle

By Barbara Pym

3 stars

Having read the biography of Barbara Pym it seemed appropriate therefore to read first novel. A clever book in that Miss Pym is able to be gentle and slightly acerbic in the same breath. Some lines made me chuckle. A story about two middle aged spinsters living together in a small English village. Routine and rules are important.
The Adventure of Miss Barbara Pym

By Paula Byrne

4 stars

This is a biography of Barbara Pym who became known as one of the wittiest, best loved novelists of the late 20th century. Esteemed writer Philip Larkin (a great friend of hers) believed her to be the Jane Austen of the era. This biography chronicles her life in an engaging and sometimes moving way.
Bright Star

By Christine Cole Catley

5 stars

I can thoroughly recommend this biography of a stunning woman who has been woefully underrepresented in the annals of NZ hero’s. Beatrice Hill Tinsley was and still is-despite her death at 40-a bright star in the firmament of astronomy. A must read.
The opposite of falling

By Jennie Rooney

4 stars

Set in the 1860’s an ‘unconventional’ woman discovers that travel allows her an escape from conventional life. With a companion she encounters life changing people and ideas at Niagara Falls.
People of the Book

By Geraldine Brooks

5 stars

What a very clever book. Riveting. Spread over six centuries a modern conservator attempts to unlock the mystery behind a very special rare book.
Frozen

By Richard Burke

4 stars

A childhood friendship results in an adulthood of secrets and lies…with tragic consequences
The Covenant of Water

By Abraham Verghese

4 stars

An epic novel stretching three generations and most of a century, this novel set in South India is utterly captivating
The quiet spectacular

By Laurence Fearnley

3 stars

Usually love Fearnley but as a follow up to The Hut Builder this seemed to try too hard.
Scented

By Laurence Fearnley

5 stars

By Award winning novelist, once again Fearnley hits all the right notes (my perfume pun intended) with this evocative story of a life story told through aromas.
The Trouble with Women

By Jacky Fleming

5 stars

A quote “There were many ways of becoming Fallen, including having a side-parting, having your own mind, speaking out loud instead of just thinking, not remaining a virgin after giving birth. Only women could Fall.”
The List of suspicious things

By Jennie Godfrey

4 stars

Set during the hunt for The Yorkshire Ripper, a preteen with a penchant for lists and mystery solving, discovers more than she set out to find.
The Axeman’s Carnival

By Catherine Chidgey

4 stars

A magpie rescued as a chick becomes an internet sensation. Lives are changed. Domestic violence and the power of social media are themes
Lioness

By Emily Perkins

4 stars

An ironic look at what women see-and then unsee-as valuable in today’s world. Especially those with plenty of money …
Small things like these

By Claire Keegan

4 stars

A short, sweet Irish story about a family in the 1980’s.
Absolutely and Forever

By Rose Tremain

4 stars

A short and engaging read about a lifetimes infatuation that ends in tragedy.
The motion of the body through space

By Lionel Shriver

4 stars

A lifetime of exercise is brought to halt by worn out knees at the same time as the protagonists husband decides to take up marathons/triathlons. Tension and antipathy results.!
Year of Wonders

By Geraldine Brooks

4 stars

During the Great Plague in the 1660’s villagers in an English village chooses to isolate themselves.
Breaking Point

By CJ Box

3 stars

Another in the Joe Pickett series
Lockdown

By Peter May

4 stars

A future lockdown in London due to a virulent and deadly type of bird flu. Solving the mystery of its origins through the murder of a young child
Bewilderment

By Richard Powers

3 stars

A father managing life with an autistic child after the untimely death of his wife
Being Mortal

By Atul Gawande

4 stars

Very thoughtfully written book about the way mortality, death and dying is ‘managed’ in the modern times.

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Hillmorton High School

103,556 pages read and 4,266 team points

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