McCourt's long-awaited book about how his thirty-year teaching career shaped his second act as a writer.
Nearly a decade ago Frank McCourt became an unlikely star when, at the age of sixty-six, he burst onto the literary scene with Angela's Ashes, the Pulitzer Prize-winning memoir of his childhood in Limerick, Ireland. Then came 'Tis, his glorious account of his early years in New York.
Now, here at last, is McCourt's long-awaited book about how his thirty-year teaching career shaped his second act as a writer. Teacher Man is also an urgent tribute to teachers everywhere. In bold and spirited prose featuring his irreverent wit and heartbreaking honesty, McCourt records the trials, triumphs and surprises he faces in public high schools around New York City. His methods anything but conventional, McCourt creates a lasting impact on his students through imaginative assignments (he instructs one class to write "An Excuse Note from Adam or Eve to God"), singalongs (featuring recipe ingredients as lyrics), and field trips (imagine taking twenty-nine rowdy girls to a movie in Times Square!).
McCourt struggles to find his way in the classroom and spends his evenings drinking with writers and dreaming of one day putting his own story to paper. Teacher Man shows McCourt developing his unparalleled ability to tell a great story as, five days a week, five periods per day, he works to gain the attention and respect of unruly, hormonally charged or indifferent adolescents. McCourt's rocky marriage, his failed attempt to get a Ph.D. at Trinity College, Dublin, and his repeated firings due to his propensity to talk back to his superiors ironically lead him to New York's most prestigious school, Stuyvesant High School, where he finally finds a place and a voice. "Doggedness," he says, is "not as glamorous as ambition or talent or intellect or charm, but still the one thing that got me through the days and nights."
For McCourt, storytelling itself is the source of salvation, and in Teacher Man the journey to redemption -- and literary fame -- is an exhilarating adventure. Views: 510
This collection of literature attempts to compile many classics that have stood the test of time and offer them at a reduced, affordable price in an attractive volume so that everyone can enjoy them. Views: 509
Descend into the nerve-shattering realm of America’s master of horror, H. P. Lovecraft–to a dank place where gloomy maelstroms await the unwary, where the unnatural is surpassed only by the unspeakable, and where all pleasure is perverse. Take a chance. . . . All you can lose is your sanity.
The Doom That Came to Sarnath–The magnificent city had wealth beyond measure, but no riches could save it from a ghastly day of reckoning.
The Shunned House–He vowed to rid the odious structure of the brooding horror that clung to it, but evil would not go gently.
The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath–Desperate to understand his tormenting vision, one man begins a forbidden and nightmarish journey.
The Tomb–The old Hyde family crypt held a gruesome attraction for a boy, until he communed with the dead and learned their secrets.
The Shadow Out of Time–The quest to understand the devouring force that once possessed a scholar leads a man to the other side of the world, where all will be revealed in one hideous, unholy night.
PLUS ELEVEN OTHER MACABRE TALES OF PURE TERROR
From the Paperback edition. Views: 508
So I was sitting with Ned in a lecture, and then bam, Ned's in a three-piece suit, and I'm in a city hall meeting on how to get through the beginning of the Great Depression.
As in the Depression, in the 1930s.
What's more, there's a thief to track down. Someone's robbing local banks of what little money they have. Everyone's panicked about their money, so the thief could be just about anyone. But after spending just a little time in this odd place, I have a hunch there's more to it...
Bad Times, Big Crimes Views: 507
Detailed Biographical Account Included at the Start.David Herbert Richards Lawrence was an English novelist, poet, playwright, essayist, literary critic and painter who published as D. H. Lawrence.Collection of 22 Works of D. H. LawrenceAaron's RodAmoresBayEngland, My EnglandFantasia of the UnconsciousGeorgian Poetry 1920-22Look! We Have Come ThroughNew PoemsSea and SardiniaSome Imagist PoetsSome Imagist Poets, 1916Sons and LoversThe Lost GirlThe Prussian OfficerThe RainbowThe TrespasserThe White PeacockTortoisesTouch and GoTwilight in ItalyWintry PeacockWomen in Love Views: 507
This hilarious look at creative blockage and blunder is a laugh-out-loud tribute to artist procrastination.
In How to Avoid Making Art, the bestselling author of The Artist's Way delivers a (tongue-in-cheek!) guide to doing anything and everything you possibly can to avoid making art. Anyone who is engaged in a creative pursuit will no doubt identify with these wonderful cartoons by award-winning artist Elizabeth Cameron of creative wannabes doing everything except actually getting down to work.
"For most people creativity is a serious business," says Julia Cameron. "They forget the telling phrase 'the play of ideas' and think that they need to knuckle down and work more. Often, the reverse is true. They need to play." Ultimately, the characters in this book show us how we can turn our procrastination into play and our play into great work. With this delightful volume, Julia Cameron once again hits the nail on the head on the subject of creativity. Views: 507
Family relationships are at the center of *Henry IV, Part 1*. King Henry IV and Prince Hal form one major father-son pair, with Henry in despair because Hal lives a dissolute life. The father-son pair of Hotspur (Lord Henry Percy) and his father, the Earl of Northumberland, is in seeming contrast; the king envies Northumberland “his Harry,” wishing he could claim the gallant Hotspur as his own. Meanwhile, Hal has entered into a quasi-father-son relationship with a disreputable but amusing knight, Sir John Falstaff.
Another strand of action centers on still more family relationships. Hotspur’s stand against Henry focuses on Hotspur’s brother-in-law, Mortimer. Mortimer, who fought against the Welsh magician Owen Glendower, was defeated and captured and has married Glendower’s daughter. King Henry pronounces Mortimer a traitor whom he will not ransom. Hotspur, in declaring war on Henry, sees himself as fighting for Mortimer, his wife’s brother.
The authoritative edition of *Henry IV, Part 1* from The Folger Shakespeare Library, the trusted and widely used Shakespeare series for students and general readers, includes:
-Freshly edited text based on the best early printed version of the play
-Full explanatory notes conveniently placed on pages facing the text of the play
-Scene-by-scene plot summaries
-A key to the play’s famous lines and phrases
-An introduction to reading Shakespeare’s language
-An essay by a leading Shakespeare scholar providing a modern perspective on the play
-Fresh images from the Folger Shakespeare Library’s vast holdings of rare books
-An annotated guide to further reading
Essay by Alexander Leggatt
The Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, DC, is home to the world’s largest collection of Shakespeare’s printed works, and a magnet for Shakespeare scholars from around the globe. In addition to exhibitions open to the public throughout the year, the Folger offers a full calendar of performances and programs. For more information, visit Folger.edu.
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"The Runaway Skyscraper" is a science fiction short story by Murray Leinster that first appeared in the February 22, 1919 issue of Argosy magazine. "The Runaway Skyscraper" concerns Arthur Chamberlain, an engineer who works in a midtown Manhattan office building called the Metropolitan Tower. When the sun suddenly begins moving backwards in the sky, setting rapidly in the east, he is the only one to realize what is actually happening: a flaw in the rock beneath the building has caused it to subside, but instead of moving in space, the building is falling backwards into the past. When the subsidence finally ends, the building is located several thousand years in the past, and its 2000-odd inhabitants find themselves stranded in pre-Columbian Manhattan. Chamberlain also realizes that the same seismic forces that caused the building to drop back into the past can also be used to return it to the present, but that doing so will require several weeks of intensive work by the building\'s inhabitants, and in the meantime they must concentrate on feeding themselves. Chamberlain convinces the president of a bank on the first floor that he can return them to the present, and together they are able to organize the other inhabitants into hunting and fishing parties. Two weeks later, Chamberlain is ready to implement his plan. He forces a jet of soapy water into an artesian well beneath the building, and this allows the pressure that has built up in the rock to be released. The building travels forward in time again, returning to the exact moment when it began to travel into the past. Views: 506
Operation: Midnight Tango by Linda Castillo released on Sep 13, 2005 is available now for purchase. Views: 505
Named U.S. Poet Laureate for 2004-2006, Ted Kooser is one of America's masters of the short metaphorical poem. Dana Gioia has remarked that Kooser has written more perfect poems than any poet of his generation.In Flying at Night: Poems 1965-1985, Kooser has selected poems from two of his earlier works, Sure Signs and One World at a Time (1985). Taken together or read one at a time, these poems clearly show why William Cole, writing in the Saturday Review, called Ted Kooser "a wonderful poet," and why Peter Stitt, writing in the Georgia Review, proclaimed him "a skilled and cunning writer. . . . An authentic 'poet of the American people.'" Views: 503
P. N. Elrod's novels of The Vampire Files blend the seductive shadows of classic noir into a sanctuary for a most unusual private investigator-vampire Jack Fleming. In Elrod's newest novel, Jack is under the gun when the New York mafia wants his hide, and the love of his life is wanted for murder. Views: 503
When Charlene Mitchell waves goodbye to the glitter of LA and moves to a small Californian beachside town, she is charmed by its close-knit community - until she makes out with a local firefighter and becomes the subject of gossip. Soon, it seems that everyone in the town knows about Charlene's scandalous sex life. Unable to squash the rumours, Charlene takes matters into her own hands. If the residents of Raysville thought a passionate firestation kiss was hot news, they will be blown away by what she has in mind... Views: 502
Barry did a masterful job of drawing you into the world of Tommy Sands. Told in a conversational style, one becomes immersed in the world in which the child grows up. The book starts with a young Tommy living in the slums of London. Soon a baby sister appears, Elspeth. Living under such harsh conditions could harden a child, but instead Tommy becomes an empathetic figure, developing the ability to put himself, on an emotional level, into another person\'s shoes. We are told the story of Tommy and his sister as they relocate to Thrums, Scottland, after the death of their mother, taken in by the man scorned by their mother many years ago. Tommy\'s imagination and ability to create fantasy worlds for them to live in aid in their survival. Just as Barry\'s imagination ability draws you into the world of Sentimental Tommy. Views: 502
