Job Discussion Forums

basiltherat · Joined: 04 Oct 2003 Posts: 952

seeing the poll for music reminded me of how important reading material is to me when im off teaching.
what particular titles and authors have you read or are you going to read.
i can recommend the pelzer series, michael moore's books and andy mcnab books. keeps me sane here. oh and, while i dont like john simpson as a personality, his books can be very revealing ( done a bit arrogantly, mind you).
basil

dreadnought · Joined: 10 Oct 2003 Posts: 82 Location: Sofia, Bulgaria

I tend to take science and history books with me wherever I go. I think this is because they last a lot longer as my mushy, vague, addled brain needs to keep rereading them to make sure I understood.

I particular like Steven Pinker and Richard Dawkins. 'The Language Instinct' and 'How the Mind Works' by Pinker are excellent, as is 'The Blind Watchmaker' by Dawkins. I also take them in the vain hope that beautiful women might be impressed if they see me thumbing through one of them in a cafe. Hasn't worked so far, I must admit.

Like a lot of TEFLers, I find myself reading lots of books I would never touch back home, especially given the limited choice in some countries. I'm almost ashamed to admit how many John Grisham novels I've read.

FGT · Joined: 14 Sep 2003 Posts: 762 Location: Turkey

Terry Pratchett, Douglas Adams (RIP), Michael Moore (newly discovered - well worthwhile), Bill Bryson, Jean M. Auel, Lisa st Aubin de Teran, Jane Austen, Elizabeth Jane Howard, etc. Books are important!

denise · Joined: 23 Apr 2003 Posts: 3419 Location: finally home-ish

I have always been lucky to have well-stocked libraries nearby. Prague's British Council has a nice library, and my school here in Japan has one too. I have been trying to catch up on all of the literature that I should have read in high school/college but somehow never did.

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shmooj · Joined: 11 Sep 2003 Posts: 1758 Location: Seoul, ROK

I'm getting more and more into reading stuff I can download online. There is a ton of stuff out there that is copyright free and very well worth reading. Most of the free stuff consists of classics that I should have read but haven't so it is good education for me.

Also, I love to highlight and underline and scribble in books I read, and probably the thing I hate most in the world is having to leave behind a stack of well marked books each time we move on. With e-books I can do all that and take hundreds of books with me wherever. Aaahhhhh...

Will. · Joined: 02 May 2003 Posts: 783 Location: London Uk

Currently going through a Pratchett stage, Eoin Colfer is a good laugh too.
Chaucer awaits me on the bedside table. Plenty of SF. Anthony Burgess..once... Romantic poetry. James Michener always leaves me with the impression of having learnt something in the process. Jean Auel has a similar effect but her latest efforts lack the punch of earlier work.
Let's be honest, if you are abroad and going through written word withdrawal anything printed in English or left laying around the staff room is worthwhile reading as long as it is not Mills and Boon.

ha'anala · Joined: 25 Sep 2003 Posts: 19

although I'm not currently abroad, I'm always interested in what people are reading.

I can't wait until Neil Gaiman puts out a new book(I'm not talking about comics) I've read everything he's written so far.

FGT - It's great to see another Terry Pratchett and Douglas Adams fan. Have you read The Salmon of Doubt?

If anyone is looking for a great book about being thrust into an unusual culture, you should check out The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell...it's one of my favorites.

Has anyone here every tackled the book Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace? I started it several years ago, but only made it through about the first 350 pages or so...I've been reading how great it is supposed to be and considering trying to make another go of it.

SueH · Joined: 01 Feb 2003 Posts: 1022 Location: Northern Italy

I'm hoping to make the move abroad next year - and one of the many problems is what do I do with all the books when I let the house out. I'll give some away to friends and the local charity shop, a few I'll take and the rest I suppose can go in the loft.

Perhaps we should start an adopt-a-teacher scheme whenever we are in our home countries and send vital parcels of books to pining teachers in remote places abroad. I instinctively dislike Martin Amis so here's a copy of London Fields to start with.

Hmmm.. thinking of the postage, I think I'd stick with the Gutenberg Project.