YC Reading

Welcome to  #FictionFriday, where we ask Yeovil College staff to share their thoughts, opinions and just plain random tastes in books. Each staff member selects questions to answer from a finely honed and crafted selection, designed to entertain and educate us about their reading lives.  Today we're talking to Esther Dobbs, our Print Room Assistant with a background in Creative Writing and an appreciation for a good coffee and a well written read. Esther says that Hufflepuff would be her Hogwarts house, because it sounds like fun! What's the first book you remember reading, or being read?   "The Babysitters Club books, I absolutely LOVED these books! Mary Anne was always my favourite - she was quiet and sensible." What is your favourite book of all time? " 'American Wife' by Curtis Sittenfeld. It's loosely based on JFK and the US political scene. It has everything - her writing is always fantastic." Name one book...

We read fiction for many reasons. We may read to escape, or to immerse ourselves in an imaginary world. We can explore and experience emotions, situations and places through the mindset and words of another. We may be challenged to think, or to consider things differently. And we read to learn. The pursuit of knowledge through reading is fundamental to its importance and centrality in our society. It’s yet another reason why literacy has been so vital, and the role of libraries in advocating and encouraging literacy remains a key aspect of our ethos.  A fiction book which seeks to fulfill all of these needs simultaneously aims high. You could say that this multifaceted identity is what allows us to call these aspiring books, “literary fiction.” Despite the contentious label, any book which manages to deliver on all these points is quite rightly praised. And “We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves” is one of these books.  Billed as a family drama of the cloyingly emotional...