For those of you who don't know my relationship with Diana, it probably sounds creepy that I keep mentioning her in all my blog posts, but a simple explanation is she's my sorority sister, college friend, and secret Hispanic girlfriend (novia), which comes from a long story about a bar night last September and a pilot named Javier wanting to take us flying. I'm laughing while typing this, she's probably laughing while reading it, and the rest of you are probably confused. That's okay. We all have best friends that mean the world to us, and although I count myself lucky enough to have more than one -- and my lovelies know who they are -- since she's in France and we've been having an awful lot of book talk recently, she's been on my mind. Also we're facebook chatting right now, so get over your jealousy.
All digressions aside, the International Reading Club came from her journey to France (I've linked her blog about her teaching experience in Dijon in the post below, so check it out) and I spent some time yesterday searching for a book she wanted but couldn't really find. The best part about it is I can read the book first, and then send it her way, and she won't mind. I'm often guilty of that. If I've ever bought you a book that I hadn't read previously, if you notice the spine was slightly creased, I probably read the book before you received it. Sorry I'm not sorry about it.
The book she was looking for was A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway, an author I absolutely love (and love to hate), but I've actually never read the book. It's ridiculous that I haven't, though, because it's Hemingway -- love -- it's a memoir -- love -- and it's from my favorite period of American Literature: the Modern period. My favorite class to teach (when I was teaching, in Maryland) was Modern American Literature. Mostly 11th graders, so that perfect age range of a-hole and hilarious. Seriously, I get why people don't care for high schoolers because they are frustrating and horrendously annoying at times, but MAN are they funny. And bright, when you put them in the right context.
So finally, we get to Hemingway. Hemingway is one of my all-time favorite authors to teach, because he resonates so well with adolescent readers. If you've never had the pleasure of reading Hemingway, his writing style is very straightforward and sparse. There's not a lot of unnecessary 'stuff' thrown in; descriptions are limited; if we don't need to know what color hair a character has, why tell us? And truthfully, the simple style and limited vocabulary is what makes him an easy author to teach. No offense to any students who may be reading, but sometimes big words and scary sentences are intimidating. Hemingway is an author who, when you put some work in, makes any reader look and feel intelligent.
I also do not believe in the New Criticism idea of the work being separate from the author, so I always teach about Hemingway's life before we read any of his works, so I start out by saying "Ernest Hemingway is a drunk, misogynistic author that I love." And it's true. He hates women and he shot himself, but MAN did he has an interesting life. I can't wait to read A Moveable Feast, then send it off to Diana, and then discuss. Isn't that what friendship is all about?
Remember, our International Reading Club is currently reading One Day by David Nicholls, and you can join the discussion at our LibraryThing group page. We currently only have 2 members, but our facebook page has more, so be sure to log in to the website. It's really a great site for anyone who enjoys books.
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