0 I Love Books So Why Did I Hate English Literature? - Julie Sykes

It often surprises people to learn that I gave up English at 16. As someone who earns a living from writing, and a keen reader too, I'm expected to have at least an A ‘level in the subject.

The reason I don’t is simple. You couldn’t study English Language at my sixth form college. It was English Literature or nothing. I hated English Literature, so I opted for nothing.

Shakespeare left me cold. It still does. If I want to read in a foreign language then I’ll learn something useful like German.

At 16, Thomas Hardy and Steinbeck depressed me. Chaucer, Hemmingway, Gerald Manley Hopkins…no thanks!

There, I’ve said it. My guilty secret is out. Please don’t yell at me. I can’t help what I like and it’s not that.

I’m not alone either. A few months ago, Orli Vogt-Vincet (the 15 year old book blogger) wrote for the Guardian, ‘I Love books so why do I hate studying English GCSE?’ 

Orli argues that, ‘We need a bigger variety of fiction, modern and classic that have themes that can be translated and can be relevant to teenagers today...’ She also says, ‘we need books that bring up intense messages of modern themes: sexism, racism, homosexuality. It’s not even like these books don’t exist…’

I couldn’t agree more.

I’ve talked to other teenagers about the books they’ve read in school. Joe told me that his class spent a term studying Holes by Louis Sachar. He loved it the first time they read it. He’d quite enjoyed it the second time, too. But after a term spent re-reading, dissecting and analysing the text Joe confessed that he hated not just Holes but reading full stop!

Can you blame him?

Reading is an essential life skill. It’s something that can be taught.

Reading for pleasure, encouraging children to become lifelong readers can’t be. That takes encouragement, enthusiasm and above all passion.

It’s about time we listened to the young. Ask them what they want to read. What they’d like to see on the English Literature curriculum. It doesn’t matter if it's comics, magazines, fiction, non- fiction or the manual that comes with the PlayStation. If it has words then it counts as reading.


You’d never force an adult to read a book they’re not enjoying. Why then, if we want to encourage more children to read for pleasure, do we force books on them and then over analyse the content?

What my 13 year old self thought of 'The Old Man and the Sea' by Ernest Hemingway

Detail: I Love Books So Why Did I Hate English Literature? - Julie Sykes

0 Promoting a book with gifts: Julie Sykes

(Many thanks to Julie Sykes for this guest post. Julie will join us as a regular contributor on 26th April.)

It’s no secret that I’m a massive fan of Ally Carter. Her Gallagher Girls spy school series is top of my list of ‘things to take if ever stranded on a desert island’. I loved Heist Society too. So when I heard about Ally’s new series, Embassy Row, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on the first book.

Note the word book!

For reasons to do with space and convenience I’ve turned to the dark side and buy most of my books on an e-reader. Real book buying is a luxury restricted to favourite authors or books with brilliant illustrations.

So, early one Saturday morning, after my weekly trolley dash around Waitrose, I ran into Waterstones with the sole aim of buying a copy of All Fall Down before my frozens melted in the boot of my car. But as I reached out to swipe a copy from the promo table I found myself drawing back.

What was that thing attached to the book with shrink wrap?

A mascara wand. Really?But I only wanted the book. I started to go through the pile to see if I could find a book without added mascara before I realised I was wasting my time. Disgruntled, I took the book (and free mascara) to the check out desk.

Driving home, I thought about the reasons why publishers feel the need to entice readers to buy a book with free gifts. Thousands of new books are published every year. Children and young adults all lead busy lives. There’s a whole other world out there in cyber space competing for their free time. It’s small wonder then that publishers, marketing gurus and authors too, have to be as creative in the promotion of their book as in the actual writing of it.

Then I remembered something! When my own Silver Dolphins series launched my publisher gave away a free silver dolphin necklace with book one, The Magic Charm. 

Hadn’t I been thrilled at the time, wearing my necklace 24/7 for the first month? Didn’t I almost go into melt down when fans of the new series emailed to tell me how much they loved their free necklace because it made them feel as it they might be a Silver Dolphin too!

Is it so very wrong to entice book readers with free gifts? What do you think? What makes you buy one particular book over another? Do you even buy real books anymore?  

Detail: Promoting a book with gifts: Julie Sykes