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David Hargreaves's Top Book Recommendations

Want to know what books David Hargreaves recommends on their reading list? We've researched interviews, social media posts, podcasts, and articles to build a comprehensive list of David Hargreaves's favorite book recommendations of all time.

1

Goodbye, Mr Chips

Mr. Hilton's classic story of an English schoolmaster.

Mr. Chipping, the classics master at Brookfield School since 1870, takes readers on a beguiling journey through the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Sometimes Chips, as he is affectionately known, is an old man who dreams by the fire; then he's a difficult young taskmaster schooling his students, or a middle-aged man encountering the lovely Katherine, whose "new woman" opinions work far-reaching changes in him. As succeeding generations of boys march onward through Chips' mind, Hilton's narrative remains masterful. He...
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Recommended by David Hargreaves, and 1 others.

David HargreavesChips is the perfectly crusty teacher at the perfectly picturesque English school who yields to the perfectly complementary heart-warming wife. (Source)

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2

The Land of Spices

Mere Marie-Helene once turned her back on life, sealing up her heart in order to devote herself to God. Now the formidable Mother Superior of an Irish convent, she has, for some time, been experiencing grave doubts about her vocation. But when she meets Anna Murphy, the youngest-ever boarder, the little girl's solemn, poetic nature captivates her and she feels 'a storm break in her hollow heart'. Between them an unspoken allegiance is formed that will sustain each through the years as the Reverend Mother seeks to combat her growing spiritual aridity and as Anna develops the strength to resist... more
Recommended by David Hargreaves, and 1 others.

David HargreavesSupremely and magnificently instructive because it contains all the love which I think is appropriate; the dignity and detachment of the teacher’s position are not compromised. (Source)

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3

Nicholas Nickleby

Our hero confronts a large and varied cast, including Wackford Squeers, the fantastic ogre of a schoolmaster, and Vincent Crummles, the grandiloquent ham actor, on his comic and satirical adventures up and down the country. Punishing wickedness, befriending the helpless, strutting the stage, and falling in love, Nicholas shares some of his creator's energy and earnestness as he faces the pressing issues of early Victorian society.

About the Series: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the broadest spectrum of literature from around the globe. Each...
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Recommended by David Hargreaves, and 1 others.

David HargreavesDeeply frightening. Dickens captures something here that is absolutely essential about our choices and our obligations in the world. (Source)

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4

To Serve Them All My Days

"R.F. Delderfield is a born storyteller." -- Sunday Mirror

To Serve Them All My Days is the moving saga of David Powlett-Jones, who returns from World War I injured and shell-shocked. He is hired to teach history at Bamfylde School, where he rejects the formal curriculum and teaches the causes and consequences of the Great War.

Eventually David earns the respect of his students and many of his fellow teachers, against the backdrop of a country struggling to redefine itself. As David falls in love and finds himself on track to possibly take on...
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Recommended by David Hargreaves, and 1 others.

David HargreavesI admire the book so much because it goes so deep into the life of a particular kind of school. (Source)

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5

Decline and Fall

Expelled from Oxford for indecent behaviour, Paul Pennyfeather is oddly unsurprised to find himself qualifying for the position of schoolmaster at Llanabba Castle. His colleagues are an assortment of misfits, including Prendy (plagued by doubts) and captain Grimes, who is always in the soup (or just plain drunk). Then Sports Day arrives, and with it the delectable Margot Beste-Chetwynde, floating on a scented breeze. As the farce unfolds and the young run riot, no one is safe, least of all Paul. Taking its title from Edward Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Evelyn Waugh's first,... more
Recommended by David Hargreaves, and 1 others.

David HargreavesWaugh is so good at this business of letting us imagine that life goes arse-over-tip and then seeing what happens. (Source)

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