Offering guidance to teachers on including character education within their lessons, this book shows how teachers can provide an encounter with literature that enables students to be more responsive to ethical themes and questions.

“Reading How Literature Saved My Life is like getting to listen in on a really great, smart, provocative conversation. The book is not straightforward, it resists any single interpretation, and it seems to me to constitute nothing less than a new form.” ––Whitney Otto In this wonderfully intelligent, stunningly honest, painfully funny book, acclaimed writer David Shields uses himself as a representative for all readers and writers who seek to find salvation in literature. Blending confessional criticism and anthropological autobiography, Shields explores the power of literature (from Blaise Pascal’s Pensées to Maggie Nelson’s Bluets, Renata Adler’s Speedboat to Proust’s Remembrance of Things Past) to make life survivable, maybe even endurable. Shields evokes his deeply divided personality (his “ridiculous” ambivalence), his character flaws, his woes, his serious despairs. Books are his life raft, but when they come to feel un-lifelike and archaic, he revels in a new kind of art that is based heavily on quotation and consciousness. And he shares with us a final irony: he wants “literature to assuage human loneliness, but nothing can assuage human loneliness. Literature doesn’t lie about this––which is what makes it essential.” A captivating, thought-provoking, utterly original way of thinking about the essential acts of reading and writing.

THE IRISH CULTURE BOOK Elementary/Pre-Intermediate is a book of activities designed to foster discussion on aspects of Irish culture. It can be used by anyone with an interest in exploring Irish culture, most especially in a learning, multicultural environment. The book is aimed at students of English as a Second Language (ESL) at A1/A2 level and can be used as part of a language course or as a self-access book. The book can help develop speaking skills and improve fluency. The conversations deepen critical thinking skills essential for success in a new culture and also for studying in university programs. The book is full of interesting and thought-provoking activities and gives users great opportunities for comparative reflection on their own cultures. There are over 350 questions, over 100 quotations including Irish proverbs; as well as questionnaires, matching and correcting exercises; quizzes and creative problem-solving tasks. All listenings are available to download for free at: irishculturebook.com