Comments on 'Teacher Man'

The teachers in the group connected more with this book but there were one or two non-teachers who enjoyed it.

'Frank McCourt, an inspirational teacher.'
'The development of McCourt as a teacher over fifteen years is interesting. The reader follows his naive beginnings working out how to survive in the classroom to the over subscribed creative writing classes at Stuyvesant High.'
'Some of his ideas to encourage his students to write creatively were very imaginative.'
'An easy read with little structure to it.'
'For an English teacher his sentence structure was poor.'
'I can't help but think some of McCourt's stories are exaggerated.'
'Would this book have been published if the writer had not written Angela's Ashes first?'
'I could not warm to McCourt and found him an irritating character.'

Further Reading/Listening

Radio 4 Broadcast of a meeting between Philip Pullman and his old English teacher Miss Jones.

Recommended Reading

The Boy in the Stripped Pyjamas by John Boyne

Teacher Man by Frank McCourt

Teacher Man follows on from Angela's Ashes and Tis neither of which I read and perhaps that explains why I was dissapointed with this book.
In Teacher Man Frank McCourt describes his 15 years as a public high school teacher in New York City. I suspect that you need to be a teacher to get anything out of this book.

Tony Riley

Comments on 'Villette'

This classic novel was enjoyed by the whole group.

'Charlotte Bronte writes very well about loneliness no more so than when she is describing the long summer holiday when she had to stay in the school with just one other student.'
'There are only a few characters in the book and these lead fairly dull and monotonous lives but the overall result is an enjoyable read'
'I enjoyed the book but for me a little more historical detail would have been interesting'
'It is surprising how bigoted Lucy is. She critices many religions and did not particularly like the Belgian people.'
'I found the ending unsatisfactory. We are left unsure as to what happened to the Professor.'
'When Lucy is persuaded to act in the school play she does it well. Her performance and appearance lead the reader into believing she could become a more outgoing and colourful character.'
'The legend of the ghostly nun which plays a small part of the story reflects the influence of the Gothic on novels written at the time.'
'Although the ending was not a happy one you were left feeling that the Professor's generosity to Lucy had enabled her to lead the kind of life she craved.'

Further Reading

The Professor by Charlotte Bronte

Recommended Reading

The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver

Villette by Charlotte Bronte

Villette was Charlotte Bronte's last novel. Like Jane Eyre the central character is an orphan forced to earn her living as a teacher in a school in the Belgian town of Villette. The book is apparently based on Charlotte Bronte's personal experiences as a teacher in Brussels.
I was irratated by the amount of french in the book which was particularly annoying as my copy did not have any notes offering any translation. Nonetheless an enjoyable read although I could not understand why the central character Lucy Snowe a Protestant with very strong anti Catholic feelings should choose to live and work in a Catholic country.

Tony Riley