Miles Weder, student at Erasmus University College and fellow librarian, tells us all about the reading challenge at his Adelaide primary school, where students who read enough books got to shake hands with South Australia’s Premier. Of course, we talked about the books Miles brought:

The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry – Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck – All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque

We mention Australian authors Tim Winton who’s book Breath Miles recommends; Steve Toltz, and poet Les Murray. Other titles that we talk about: All the Pretty Horses and No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy, East of Eden and The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess. Miles also mentioned the English radical publishing house Verso Books.

Miles’ tip is The Passenger by Cormac McCarthy, and our tip for him is the Dutch writer Maria Dermoût’s The Ten Thousand Things.