Poetry – TS Eliot The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock and The Wasteland: Moving, plaintive and beautifully mellifluous
Play – Miss Julie by Stringberg: Intense and slightly bonkers – in a good way
Novel – Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov: A classic – strange, compelling, disturbing tale of taboo
Mr O’Brien
Play – Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett: Utterly mad, but will leave you feeling like you have also been waiting for Godot (whoever that is?)
Poetry collection – Essential Bukowski poetry: Visceral, provocative and at times brutally honest. Bukowski’s words create a terrible wreck, but beauty can be found in the power of truth
Novel – Lorna Doone by R.D Blackmore: A perfect read for anyone who likes a good romantic hero, the English countryside and unresolved conflicts
Mr Hawkins
Novel – The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald: Manages to combine both the failure and importance of dreaming and for its sheer linguistic craftsmanship
Poetry – Philip Larkin: Expresses profound human truths about ageing, death, disappointment, fear and failure in a deceptively simple, comprehensive form
Plays – Miller’s ‘The Crucible’
Mr Karimjee
Poetry – The Fire People, Lemn Sissay: A collection of contemporary poetry that has reggae, hip-hop roots. Introduced by Lemn Sissay
Play – Waiting for Godot; S. Beckett
Novel – The Buddha of Suburbia. Hanif Kureishi: Funny/tragic story of boy growing up in Brixton with Indian father and English mother
Mrs Morris
Novel – Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, Gail Honeyman: Eleanor Oliphant leads a simple life. She wears the same clothes to work every day, eats the same meal deal for lunch every day and buys the same two bottles of vodka to drink every weekend.
Poetry – Sylvia Plath: Sylvia Plath was one of the most dynamic and admired poets of the 20th century. By the time she took her life at the age of 30, Plath already had a following in the literary community
Play – The Ferryman, Jez Butterworth: A shattering tale and violent tale
Ms Griffin
Novel – Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte: The action of the story is chaotic and unremittingly violent, but the accomplished handling of a complex structure, the evocative descriptions of the lonely moorland setting and the poetic grandeur of vision combine to make this unique novel a masterpiece of English literature
Poetry – Robert Browning: Browning understood the corruption of man’s heart
Play – Richard II, William Shakespeare: A story of power and plotting
Mr Raybould
Novel – We Need to Talk About Kevin – Lionel Shriver: A horrifying, original, witty, brave and deliberately provocative novel
Poetry – E E Cummings – Anyone Lived in a Pretty How Town
Play – Noises Off, Michael Frayn: Hailed as one of the funniest plays of all time