And of course, like a true teacher, one of the first things I read is a book about teaching. It's Your Time You're Wasting is subtitled A Teacher's Tales of Classroom Hell and is a memoir about teaching teenagers in inner-city Britain. Now, I don't teach teenagers (thankfully, I would be awful at it), but I teach in inner-London and sometimes I honestly feel as though I am banging my head against a brick wall with the behaviour problems and hostility, from parents as well as teachers. It's Your Time You're Wasting wasn't a remarkable book, it was heavily biased and quite defeatist in tone, but I recognised myself and my job in lots of it. I love being a teacher and I love my school (wouldn't exchange it for a leafy suburban school for the world) but my job is a lot harder than a lot of people realised, and it was a bit nice to see that acknowledged in book form.
I also used part of my holiday to catch up with my guilty pleasure: the Sookie Stackhouse series. In Definitely Dead Sookie has to travel to New Orleans to put her vampire cousin Hadley's estate in order. There are of course life-or-death moments and sinister plots and most of the book revolves around the werewolf rather than vampire community. For me personally, this isn't as interesting but the book was still lively and pacey and simply fun. Can't wait to read the next one!
I liked Definitely Dead, but the next one, All Together Dead is exciting, especially the end.
ReplyDeleteI fancied reading the teacher book, but I was concerned it would be too much one sided and painted to much of a bad picture.
ReplyDeleteAlthough one review on Amazon, said to buy it, read it and then post it to your MP. That certainly piqued my interest.
"Definitely Dead" Sounds like a much more enjoyable read. Defeatist attitudes need to be checked at the door!
ReplyDelete@Loni - I'm glad the series picks up a bit in the next book. I'll definitely be reading that one soon :)
ReplyDelete@Elsie - The Sookie Stackhouse series is great fun (and I'm a paranormal romance hater!). They are definitely worth a read.
I think Sookie appeals to a wider audience than just the people who like paranormal romance. There's always some kind of mystery that needs to be solved, Sookie has to figure something out and get out of the trouble that mystery usually brings.
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