New books for English teachers

Shakespeare and The Nature of Women , first published in 1975, inaugurated a new wave of feminist scholarship. It claimed that Shakespeare's plays offered a sustained critique of inherited male thinking about women, theological, literary and social. The book argued that the presence of the boy actor in Shakespeare's theatre created an awareness of gender as performance. Almost thirty years on, it continues to be the corner-stone of writing about women in this period and the spring-board for new research.Read more 822.33 DUS

Adaptation constitutes the driving force of contemporary culture, with stories adapted across an array of media formats. However, adaptation studies has been concerned almost exclusively with textual analysis, in particular with compare-and-contrast studies of individual novel and film pairings. This has left almost completely unexamined crucial questions of how adaptations come to be made, what are the industries with the greatest stake in making them, and who the decision-makers are in the adaptation process. The Adaptation Industry re-imagines adaptation not as an abstract process, but as a material industry.Read more 801 MUR

Finding the right monologue can often be a frustrating task. Too frequently, monologue books rely on time-worn staples that have been heard a million times before, or are padded out with aimless, insipid pieces that often aren't even taken from actual plays. In Monologues They'll Remember You By you'll find 80 (40 male, 40 female) fresh, engaging monologues from award-winning playwright Andrew Biss that allow you to create memorable character portraits of depth and vitality for that all-important moment in the spotlight.Read more 808.82 BIS

Monologues are a crucial element of theatre, for actors and students alike. From high school study to professional auditions and performances, the monologue exposes the heart of a play and the capacities of the performer. The monologue should be relevant to the performer, and a revelation to the audience. This new collection brings together 30 monologues from contemporary Australian plays. From ages 14 to 84, from the 1880s to the near future, these voices showcase the best of our national writing for the stage. 808.82 SMI

To Read Aloud consists of 75 extracts of an average 1000 words each, from writers ranging from Cicero to Lewis Carroll to Robert Macfarlane (alongside less familiar names). It is arranged under nine thematic chapters: Love, Loss, Lightness, Pleasure, Work, Nature, Change, Chaos and Wonder. A literary toolbox for well-being, To Read Aloud invites you to to take just ten minutes off, sit down with somebody you care about and share a passage of writing. Read more 808.88 DIM

Chloe Chard assembles fascinating passages from late eighteenth-century and early nineteenth-century accounts of travel in Italy, by Northern Europeans, writing in English (or, in some cases, translated into English at the time); 'Tristes Plaisirs' includes writings by Charles Dupaty, Maria Graham, Anna Jameson, Sydney Morgan, Henry Matthews and Hester Lynch Piozzi. 942.082 CHA

Roy Hattersley argues that the Edwardian era was the beginning of the modern world. He's mostly convincing - but it's the wealth of anecdotes that makes his book so striking, says Peter Preston Read more 942.082 HAT

Victorians and Edwardians abroad: the beginning of the modern holiday reveals a story never told before: the early years of one of Britain s leading modern travel agencies, the Polytechnic Touring Association (PTA). Created in 1888 within Britain s first Polytechnic, the PTA was an emblem of the era. It served a growing mass of middle-class and lower middle-class consumers, who found for the first time that they had the time and money to take extended holidays, often abroad. This book explains the creation of the Polytechnic and the PTA, charting the expansion of the travel agency into continental Europe and beyond. 942.082 MAT

‘I need to be a writer,’ Ruth Park told her future husband, D’Arcy Niland, on the eve of their marriage. ‘That’s what I need from life.’
She was not the only one. At a time when women were considered incapable of being ‘real’ artists, a number of precocious girls in Australian cities were weighing their chances and laying their plans.
A Free Flame explores the lives of four such women, Gwen Harwood, Dorothy Hewett, Christina Stead and Ruth Park, each of whom went on to become a notable Australian writer.
They were very different women from very different backgrounds, but they shared a sense of urgency around their vocation – their ‘need’ to be a writer – that would not let them rest.
Weaving biography, literary criticism and cultural history, this book looks at the ways in which these women laid siege to the artist’s identity, and ultimately remade it in their own image. A823.3 PRI

The year is 1846. In a cold parsonage on the gloomy Yorkshire moors, a family seems cursed with disaster. A mother and two children dead. A father sick, without fortune, and hardened by the loss of his two most beloved family members. A son destroyed by alcohol and opiates. And three strong, intelligent young women, reduced to poverty and spinsterhood, with nothing to save them from their fate. Nothing, that is, except their remarkable literary talent. Read more HISTORICAL KOH

A rifle-shot of a novel – crisp, fast, shocking – The Shepherd’s Hut is an urgent masterpiece about solitude, unlikely friendship, and the raw business of survival. Read more SENIOR WIN

'Holly Ringland is a gifted, natural story-teller and her novel is truly a light-giving, tender thing. A vivid, compelling, utterly moving debut.' Brooke Davis, bestselling author of Lost & Found Read more SENIOR RIN

Featuring 25 of the greatest Australian writing names from UQP’s past and present, this unique publishing project will showcase specially commissioned fiction, non-fiction and poetry by Australia’s finest writers on themes such as legacy, country, vision and hope. The introduction has been written by literary critic, academic and author, Bernadette Brennan. Participating authors include Larissa Behrendt, Lily Brett, Peter Carey, Steven Herrick, Sarah Holland-Batt, Nicholas Jose, Mireille Juchau, Julie Koh, Melissa Lucashenko, Josephine Rowe, and Ellen van Neerven. SHORT REA

In accessible language and with periodic references to Star Trek, motorcycle daredevils, and near-classic movies of the '80s, developmental molecular biologist John Medina, author of the New York Times best-seller Brain Rules, explores the neurological and evolutionary factors that drive teenage behavior and can affect both achievement and engagement. Then he proposes a research-supported counterattack: a bold redesign of educational practices and learning environments to deliberately develop teens' cognitive capacity to manage their emotions, plan, prioritize, and focus. Read moreSTA 370.15 MED

With Doing Poorly on Purpose, veteran educator James Delisle dispels the negative associations and stereotypes connected to underachievement. By focusing on smart kids who get poor grades—not because they're unable to do better in school but because they don't want to—Delisle presents a snapshot of underachievement that may look far different from what you envision it to be. Read more STA 371.285 DEL

What does rigor, a word that frequently pops up in conversations about education, really mean? More specifically, what does it mean for literacy instruction, and how does it relate to challenging standards-based assessments? In this informative and practical guide, literacy expert Nancy Boyles uses the framework from Webb's Depth of Knowledge (DOK) to answer these questions, offering experience-based advice along with specific examples of K–8 assessment items. Read more STA 379.2 BOY

A handful of dust: After seven years of marriage, the beautiful Lady Brenda Last has grown bored with life at Hetton Abbey, the Gothic mansion that is the pride and joy of her husband, Tony. She drifts into an affair with the shallow socialite John Beaver and forsakes Tony for the Belgravia set. In a novel that combines tragedy, comedy, and savage irony, Evelyn Waugh indelibly captures the irresponsible mood of the "crazy and sterile generation" between the wars.
Evelyn Waugh's acidly funny and formally daring satire, Vile Bodies reveals the darkness and vulnerability that lurks beneath the glittering surface of the high life. In the years following the First World War a new generation emerges, wistful and vulnerable beneath the glitter. The Bright Young Things of twenties' Mayfair, with their paradoxical mix of innocence and sophistication, exercise their inventive minds and vile bodies in every kind of capricious escapade - whether promiscuity, dancing, cocktail parties or sports cars.