Daily reading Challenge

Wednesday
Finding it difficult to concentrate on reading during these uncertain times? Enjoy a challenge? Today read either a complete Shakespeare sonnet or the first three pages of any Shakespeare play. You should be able to find many places online where you can access Shakespeare's work for free. Try - Google Books
or Complete Works of Shakespeare
If you enjoy what you are reading but do not want to read the whole play check to see if the play you have chosen is being shown over the internet for example
The Globe Theatre
Royal Shakespeare Company
I am going to read the first few pages of Romeo and Juliet.

My daily reading challenge

Accepting my own challenge I decided to read the first and last chapters of 'Mortal Engines' by Philip Reeve. It has been a few years since I read it although I saw the movie a couple of months ago. Forgot how much I enjoyed the book and may read the whole novel again. I do remember being drawn in by the first sentence:
 "It was a dark blustery afternoon in spring, and the city of London was chasing a small mining town across the dried-out bed of the old North Sea."
Intriguing!
This is a brilliant dystopian/steampunk adventure story where cities move across the globe on caterpillar tracks hunting each other for power, resources and supplies. The heroes Tom Natsworthy and Hester Shaw are brave and resourceful as they need to be against their enemies the Stalkers and Shrike in particular. This is a thrilling fast-paced adventure which is thoroughly enjoyable.

Daily Reading Challenge

Lock Down seems like the ideal time to catch up on some reading. I know my TBR (to be read) pile consists of dozens of books. But with so much happening in the world it can be difficult to concentrate. I have put at least five books aside, unfinished, because I know the endings are going to be sad and I can't deal with that right now.
If you are finding it difficult to read, for whatever reason, try a small daily challenge. Today -Tuesday- read the first and last chapters of one of your all time best loved books. If you want share what that book is on the Library Twitter page @IchsLibrary

Welcome back!

In these difficult times I have brought back the Library Blog to provide information and inspiration whilst we are away from school. Never before has the quote below been more apt:

West Lothian History

BBC 2 programme 'Scotland's first oil rush' presented by Professor Iain Stewart told the story of the shale oil industry in West Lothian. West Lothian was the home of the world's first true 'oil rush' when James "Paraffin" Young developed a process which refined lighting fuel from shale. As a result of this discovery West Lothian became the centre of the shale oil industry for nearly one hundred years and saw the population of the region boom. The huge success of the industry was not without it's tragedies - in 1947 an explosion at the Burngrange mine near West Calder saw the loss of 15 men.

If you would like to know about this period in the history of west Lothian copies of 'Shale voices' by Alasdair Findlay (who featured in the programme) are available for loan from the School Library.