Teacher Man by Frank McCourt 5+

 

Written in 2018:

 "If I could travel to my twenty-seventh year, my first teaching year, I'd take me out for a steak, a baked potato, a pint of stout. I'd give myself a good talking to. For Christ's sake, kid, straighten up. Throw back those miserable bony shoulders. Stop mumbling. Speak up. Stop putting yourself down. In that department the world will be happy to oblige. You're starting your teaching career, and it isn't an easy life. I know. I did it. You'd be better off as a cop. At least you'd have a gun or a stick to defend yourself. A teacher has nothing but his mouth. If you don't learn to love it, you'll wriggle in a corner of hell."                         -Frank McCourt, from the memoir

I fell in love with Frank McCourt's writing after I read Angela's Ashes a few months ago. I was lucky enough to listen to a good portion of it narrated by the author, his Irish brogue greatly enhancing the story of his youth in Limerick. It didn't take long for me to find his second memoir, 'Tis in which McCourt describes his return to the U.S. where he was born. I was delighted to find Teacher Man in  both the audio and print versions. Though I enjoyed the first 2 books immensely, this one may be my favorite. Could it be because I taught school 37 years?

As the quote indicates, Frank McCourt began his teaching career at age 27 and for 30 years taught in several New York high schools. Even though I taught elementary school I could totally relate to many of his experiences. Some were laugh-out-loud funny like the sandwich-throwing incident. Many others were quite touching like Kevin's and Serena's stories.

I was impressed by McCourt's teaching strategies---unorthodox, very creative, motivating and relevant to his students' lives. The lesson in which he had students writing excuses for historical figures is a great example. He was the kind of teacher I aspired to be (and hopefully was, at least at times).

On a scale of 1-5, I want to give Teacher Man a 6! I don't often reread books but I can see myself picking any of McCourt's memoirs up again in the future. Since he began his writing career late in life, his body of work is limited. I read Angela and the Baby Jesus, a very short illustrated children's book about his mother as a child "rescuing" the baby Jesus figure from a church nativity. The only other McCourt books are co-written with his brother Malachy like A Couple of Blaguards. I'll find it soon!

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I reread this memoir (October, 2025) and loved it just as much the second time! And here I am having read it for the THIRD time! I enjoyed it just as much but after reading my post from 2018, I can't think of much to add. I think I'll reread Angela's Ashes soon!

Something to Look Forward To by Fannie Flagg 3

"He also observed that most of the humans he met had an opinion on everything and were happy to tell him what it was, even though he hadn't asked. And the interesting thing to him was they all believed that they were right."               -Special Agent William Frawley

I am quite a fan of Fannie Flagg and have enjoyed several of her novels, but this one was quite different---a collection of short stories with a theme of the resilience of the human spirit in handling life's unexpected curves.

The series started with the leader on Planet 8676 sending Special Agent William Frawley to Earth to report on what was going on down there. He lands in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where he learns how good ice cream is and lots more including how the people on earth behave (see quote). 

Another of the 30 stories tells of great-grandmother Velma in Cottonwood, Kansas trying to understand her daughter Cathy and granddaughter Tracie Ann who live in California. Their story continues in a few more segments through the book.

Another interesting character is Helen who finds a clever way to get even with her husband for dumping her for a younger woman. The ending is surprising along with the ending of one where a man tells how he got shot being a hero in foiling a robbery when the truth is.....? I'll not spoil it for you,

The book was well-written with some of Flagg's signature humor and some surprises, as I mentioned but I am rating it a 3 since I just don't find short stories as compelling as a full novel. I liked it, didn't love it.

The Book Club for Troublesome Women by Marie Bostwick 4

 

"Books sprung from an author's imagination can be just as meaningful as those based on facts, figures, and events, or even more meaningful. Novels force you to think---to make your own conclusions about characters and themes and decide if they're valid or relevant or true or good, or the opposite, or maybe somewhere in between. My personal preference is for in between. I don't think I've ever met anybody who was all one thing or the other, have you? Most people are a walking bundle of contradictions."

    -Helen Babcock, bookstore owner to Margaret

This was our Page Turners book club selection for October. I didn't like it at first but about halfway in I got to know the characters and could relate in some ways. I've rated in a 4.

In the 1960's Margaret Ryan, a Virginia housewife and mother, becomes interested in Betty Friedan's book The Feminine Mystique and decides to invite 3 of her neighbors in Concordia to form a book club. Vivian Buschetti, Bitsy Cobb and Charlotte Gustafson agree to read the book and meet to discuss it. They soon decide to call themselves the Bettys.

Two of the women have marriage problems and all have dreams and ambitions deferred as a result of being a woman and particularly being married. Margaret wants to be a writer, Viv misses her time as a nurse during the war, Charlotte is an artist and Bitsy had wanted to become a vet. Friedan's book inspired them to try again to achieve their goals. I could identify with the women because when I went to college in the mid-60's, women were expected to get their MRS degree.

In "A Letter to Readers," the author explains which characters are fictional and which are historical figures, like Katherine Graham, the first female newspaper publisher (Washington Post) and First Lady Jackie Kennedy, who had been a journalist before marriage.

The quote above reminded me of how I have become so fond of historical fiction because you learn what people of a certain time may have been thinking and feeling.

I enjoyed the mention of book titles---all of which I've never read. I think after reading this book and seeing how it changed these women's lives, I might need to find The Feminine Mystique. 

The Midwife: A Memoir of Birth, Joy, and Hard Times by Jennifer Worth 5

 

"Questions, questions---you wear me out with your questions, child. Find out for yourself---we all have to in the end. No one can give you faith. It is a gift from God alone. Seek and ye shall find. Read the Gospels. There is no other way. Do not pester me with your everlasting questions. Go with God, child; just go with God."

           -Sister Monica Joan

When I knew that this was Book One of a trilogy that inspired the TV series "Call the Midwife," I downloaded it right away. I have been a fan of the PBS series for a couple of seasons. I didn't know at first if I was going to like the book because it didn't grab my interest immediately. However, it didn't take long to get emotionally involved with the characters and the stories. I have rated it a 5.

Author Jennifer Lee Worth was a nurse in the 1950's before going to live in a convent to train as a midwife. She meets the most amazing characters---the nuns themselves, including the inimitable and highly quotable Sister Monica Joan, and the patients. The most memorable story was that of Len and Conchita Warren. At the age of 41 Conchita was expecting her 25th child and spoke no English! 

The memoir is beautifully written and at times humorous, touching and spiritual. The Cockney accents were a bit challenging even for the author according to the Appendix of the book. My husband and I were recently exposed to the Gullah language in South Carolina which we found difficult, as well.

I may soon look for Book Two, Shadows of the Workhouse.

We Fed an Island: The True Story of Rebuilding Puerto Rico, One Meal at a Time by Jose Andres 4

 

"Hello, people of America, people of the world. Today: big news. Twenty-one days in this beautiful island of Puerto Rico, and I can tell you at the World Central Kitchen Chefs for Puerto Rico initiative, we are about to reach today one million meals cooked by the men and women of Puerto Rico. Big day. I love you all."

       -Chef Andres, from a press release video, 2017

I might not have read this book except that it was suggested for a multigenerational group of which I am member. It was very enlightening as to what happened in Puerto Rico in 2017 after Hurricane Maria. Chef Andres and his World Central Kitchen crew arrived 4 days after the storm and proceeded to find ways to help the people who were suffering so much. He was immediately focused on getting food and water to all the islanders he could reach. As the book title suggests, he fed hundreds of thousands of people, 

He had a good bit to say about the failings of the US government, specifically the president and FEMA, and some of the nonprofit organizations we would expect to be helpers after a disaster. Along with criticism, he had ideas about how some of the mistakes made in Puerto Rico could be avoided in the future.

I learned that Puerto Ricans, although they have been US citizens since 1917, have never had the respect or equality of the mainlanders. I find it very sad. 

I have rated the book a 4. Long chapters and somewhat repetitive but otherwise a worthy read.

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford 4

 

"Time and space is a hard one to deal with, let me tell you. Moving all the way up here from the South, I can testify to that one. People relations is hard business. Hard to keep that going. But don't give up, something good will come of it all---things have a way of working out just fine, you'll see."      -Sheldon Thomas, advice to Henry

In 1986, Henry Lee learns of a discovery in the old Panama Hotel, a Seattle landmark: abandoned belongings of Japanese families evacuated back in 1942. Henry is grieving the recent loss of his wife, Ethel, and reminiscing about a beloved friend of his youth, Keiko Okabe, a Japanese American. There is a souvenir of that long ago relationship that Henry feels may be in that collection in the hotel and he has a great desire to find it.

The story is told in a split narrative, past and present. In 1942, Henry, a Chinese American boy, and Keiko meet as scholarship students in a white school. They both work in the kitchen to earn their tuition, and both are bullied. They become very close and when Keiko's family is relocated after Pearl Harbor, Henry is devastated. They promise to wait for each other and write letters. And Henry's good friend, Sheldon, a sax player takes him to the internment camp in Idaho to visit her.

They lose touch over 40+ years, each moving on with their lives. And I will let you predict the ending or read the book to find out.

The book was well-researched, a sad reminder of an ugly time in American history, but I enjoyed it all the same. My rating is 4. I learned some things about Asian cultures and I liked the characters, Henry, Keiko and Sheldon, and even Henry's once-estranged son, Marty.

The Wager A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder by David Grann 3

 

"No man will be a sailor who has contrivance enough to get himself into a jail; for being in a ship is being in a jail, with the chance of being drowned."

         -Samuel Johnson

In 1740 during a war with Spain, the HMS Wager with several other ships, left Portsmouth on a mission to capture a treasure laden Spanish galleon. The subtitle of the book provides more than a hint to the outcome. 

While attempting to sail around Cape Horn, an area known for dangerous weather, Wager is badly damaged and runs aground near Patagonia. The crew, greatly diminished by scurvy and starvation, lapses into anarchy. Captain David Cheap is seen as a tyrant, blamed for the wreckage and accused of murder, which brings on a mutiny led by the gunner, Bulkely and others.

After 5 years a small percentage of those sent out have returned to England in a few different groups. The survivors of one group are casting blame on the others and a court martial is held in 1746.

I didn't particularly enjoy The Wager but I found it interesting enough to rate it a 3. I read Killers of the Flower Moon by this author a couple of years ago and gave it a 4; a more relatable story to me but one that made me angry and sad.

I learned a few things about sailing in the 18th century that I didn't know like why British  sailors are referred to as "limeys," how the ship was known as a "wooden world," where the expression "under the weather" originated and the meaning of "walk up Ladder Lane and down Hemp Street" (to face hanging as punishment).

There were many quotes for me to choose from, the one I began with and this from Herman Melville: "Impracticable Cape! You may approach it from this direction or that---in any way you please---from the east or from the west; with the wind astern, or abeam, or on the quarter; and still Cape Horn is Cape Horn....Heaven help the sailors, their wives and their little ones."

I would recommend this nonfiction to readers who have experience sailing the ocean.