What books/literature should be read as part of the UK GCSE curriculum?

[mudsticks]

Cider with Rosie* was a set text for my O-level. I can't remember what the others were. I do remember the wonderful Mrs Griffiths (always 'Ma'am') introducing us to all kinds of literature outside the syllabus (Sherriff's Journey's End; EE Cummings' poetry; etc.), explaining odd bits that didn't make sense because they'd been bowdlerised for school use.

*I later lent it to my grandmother who was dying (not that I knew at the time). She thoroughly enjoyed it.

Oh I did CwR for Eng Lit too.

I was living, and doing O levels not far from the Slad Valley, so the atmosphere was very relatable.

Really enjoyed it, and other Laurie Lee books too.

Canterbury tales in the original Middle h'English too - entertaining to read aloud.

And Richard 111 as well - bit dull at the time 😇

In an alternative life I might have pursued languages more formally.

But it's not as if you can't use it creatively in most other fields of endeavour 🤔

 

[glasgowcyclist]

Another vote here for Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales.

 

[mudsticks]

Another vote here for Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales.

I expect it was our reading that that really embedded the whole 'woke lefty' indoctrination. 😇

 

[Hitchington]

The Anarchist Cookbook, then Pride and Prejudice.

 

[Fab Foodie]

Posters are reminded of the necessity of good English and orderly presentation.

I remember a YT piece during the Boris Johnson wars where a lecturer in English had read all the books that would have been set for Johnson in his early school years, including the one he got the word piccaninny from. The books children read can have an ongoing affect - for good or ill - on the adult.

@Fab Foodie I hope this thread will kindle an interest in reading ...

No problem with the interest in reading, far from it, I have pile of books ready to be digested..what I lack is time :-(
Currently wading my way through 'No dig gardening' at bedtime....

 

[mudsticks]

No problem with the interest in reading, far from it, I have pile of books ready to be digested..what I lack is time :-(
Currently wading my way through 'No dig gardening' at bedtime....

Please bear in mind that there is a such a thing as 'too much mulch' with the 'no dig' methodology.

Soils can become 'obese' with an oversupply of certain nutrients eg nitrogen, which in term locks up the availability of others.

Otherwise with certain caveats the 'no dig' method is pretty sound on a smaller scale 👍🏼

 

[Fab Foodie]

Please bear in mind that there is a such a thing as 'too much mulch' with the 'no dig' methodology.

Soils can become 'obese' with an oversupply of certain nutrients eg nitrogen, which in term locks up the availability of others.

Otherwise with certain caveats the 'no dig' method is pretty sound on a smaller scale 👍🏼

Layers of upside down turfs interspersed with cardboard, then filled-in with topsoil, then a mulch/compost layer then a topsoil cover. Finally - topped-off with a cardboard sheet and weed prevention gauze-stuff. Left now to simmer over the winter.

 

[mudsticks]

Layers of upside down turfs interspersed with cardboard, then filled-in with topsoil, then a mulch/compost layer then a topsoil cover. Finally - topped-off with a cardboard sheet and weed prevention gauze-stuff. Left now to simmer over the winter.


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Very nice .
Sometimes known as 'lasagne' beds..

Quite effective, but I would recommend nighttime mollusc patrols with head-torch and scissors 😇 in spring.

As they make wonderful slug and snail hotels..

 

[glasgowcyclist]

I expect it was our reading that that really embedded the whole 'woke lefty' indoctrination. 😇

My brother gave it to me to read when I was about six or seven years old. I remember finding it a little tricky at first but I soon worked it out. I must look it out again and see if I can still decipher it.

 

[mudsticks]

My brother gave it to me to read when I was about six or seven years old. I remember finding it a little tricky at first but I soon worked it out. I must look it out again and see if I can still decipher it.

Look out though 👀it's got some rather lewd passages therein.. !!!

 

[Mr Celine]

There were several novels I had to read at school but the only ones I remember were Cider With Rosie and Sunset Song.

For poetry everyone had to learn Tam O Shanter. I can still recite the entire poem from memory (with the occasional prompt).

Every year there was one Shakespeare play and one more modern. Look Back in Anger and the Winslow Boy are the only titles I remember.

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

We read Cider with Rosie when I was at school - but English Literature was actually not even allowed on the sylabus

We went through several books in "English" but the only relevant "O" level that was allowed was English Language
The excuse we were given was that the cost in books was too high and the money was better spent on other things

Weird thing is that it was one of the best Independent school in the country (Not - not at all like Eton and the like)

You could do Eng Lit at "A" level

I do remember in the last year of Primary (called "PREP" where I was - yup - it was posh!) we had to read a book a week and write up a synopsis of it
I remember "Moonshine" being dreaded because it was so long but i loved it and read it in about 1 day!

We also had Kidnapped on that list which I also remember as being good!

The encouragement to read dropped off at secondary school - but I carried on anyway because I'm like that!

 

[Ian H]

View: https://twitter.com/DExInstitution/status/1709917982267212102

 

[Rusty Nails]

View: https://twitter.com/DExInstitution/status/1709917982267212102

For a moment I though it was @mudsticks's latest post about life on the farm.

 

[Badger_Boom]

World literature: Africa, Indigenous American/Australian, Chinese. Let's step away from the suffocating pink map of literature written by the likes of Graham Greene, Jane Austin and John Betjeman

Of the modern books we read when I did A Level English in the late 1980s, the only one that stuck in my mind was Staying On by Paul Scott. It’s the sequel to his Raj Quartet which at the time had only recently been dramatised as The Jewel in The Crown.

Its set in the 1970s and looks at how life, the end of the British Empire, and Partition has treated a couple of the minor characters.