Maps and Books

What a strange coincidence…tonight in the conversation class we discussed the maps of the heart i found in the book Personal Geographies.

I have just discovered that one of the maps was use a front cover for a book by Jonathan Franzen – The Discomfort Zone…according to one review…

he Discomfort Zone reflects the values and contradictions of the American midwest in the 1950s. Franzen holds up Charlie Brown from the Peanuts cartoons as an exemplary representation of life of the American middle class in the author’s home town of Webster Groves, Missouri, and countless similar towns. Values such as the love of nature are represented as being related to traditional Protestant values and as becoming less firmly rooted in society because of the waning importance of traditional religious beliefs

If you dont know Franzen’s books i recommend them – we already discussed one of his books of essays – How to be Alone – which is a good read too.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time

We started to read this in class a couple of weeks ago…

If you are interested it appears to be available from amazon in the uk for as little as 70p – less than 3Reals – you would have to pay packaging but maybe you can find a company that delivers quite cheaply 

if anybody finds a good option please share with the rest of us!

 

Here below is the vocabulary from that class and the listening from the British Council can be found here 

and if you click here there is a transcript and some activities based on the listening

Vocabulary for listening 

adolescence (n): period of a person’s life between childhood and adulthood

avid (adj): extremely eager or interested

challenge (v): to invite someone to compete or take part, esp. in a game or argument

circuit board (n): a small electronic circuit which consists of a lot of small parts made on a piece of semiconducting material

fateful (adj): very important because of its, often negative, effect on the future

historical figure (n): a person famous in history

intellectual (n): a highly educated person whose interests are studying and other activities that involve careful thinking and mental effort

learned (adj): acquired by learning or experience

pamphlet (n): a thin book with only a few pages which gives information or an opinion about something

peer (n): a person who is the same age or has the same social position or the same abilities as other people in a group

pleasure (n): (something that gives) enjoyment, happiness or satisfaction

profound (adj): showing a clear and deep understanding of serious matters

radical (adj): believing or expressing the belief that there should be great or extreme social or political change

rig up (v): to fix (a piece of equipment) in place

scour (v): to search (a place or thing) very carefully in order to try to find something

simultaneously (adv): in a way that happens or is done at exactly the same time

world-view (n): a way of looking at or considering the world