Norwich School Blog

My Favourite Book: Kyriel, Senior School pupil

Tomorrow is World Book Day and we are celebrating by hearing from members across our School community who are sharing with us their favourite books. Today is the turn of L5 pupil and writer, Kyriel:

"What is your favourite book? Another generic conversation-starter amidst a back-catalogue in back-pockets: favourite food, favourite subject, what your dream job would be and so on. The expectation of choosing a ‘favourite’ book is too great. Of course, this is the point – to invite a conversation that ventures beyond the words of Harry Potter.

A well-prepared answer to the question in hand is always undermined by a recent read competing for top-drawer, so maybe I should start there. They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera is perhaps the most authentic and original novels I have ever read and an easily relatable book for teens. It handles the topics of death, loss and grief, alongside friendship and love, with a subtle and gentle hand. They Both Die at the End is a beautiful, diverse and unique book that should find itself on every keen reader’s reading list.

My next category of books is those that have convinced me to like a genre I felt hesitant about. Most recently, Unwind by Neal Shusterman introduced me to dystopian fiction and filled my head with scenarios that are perhaps best left unimagined. Leigh Bardugo’s Six of Crows is the type of book that is easy to pick up and impossible to put down; persuading me that fantasy can be something outside its well-worn boundaries, it deserves all the acclaim it receives. Douglas Adam’s The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy was so crazy and wise that I had to accept sci-fi books. Finally, exploiting their comedic geniuses, Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman made me think the angelic and demonic were equally cool!

Other contenders that must be mentioned include the verse novels One and Toffee by Sarah Crossan, for portraying emotion on a page so beautifully and for sharing with readers stories that need to be told. Noughts and Crosses by Malorie Blackman is a current and brilliant outlook on the issue of racism and division. Ruta Sepetys’ Fountains of Silence, an outstanding historical novel, is an eye-opener to the untold stories of those who lived under the Spanish dictatorship of General Franco.

However, it is ultimately the books that inspire that deserve the most credit, whether it inspires change, actions or simply a conversation. Many that I have already mentioned fit under this category, however for me it is the inspiration to write. Any selection of Roald Dahl’s adult short stories would be worthy of being on the list, for the ingenious, astute and witty perspective he takes to each unique story that made the cogs in my writing mind turn. However, for me, The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak perhaps best achieved this task. I think it is the kind of book that is best to discover by oneself, but it left me, as a writer, jealous, in awe but most of all inspired."