BEGIN:VCALENDAR METHOD:PUBLISH CALSCALE:GREGORIAN PRODID:-//EVDB//www.eventful.com//EN VERSION:2.0 X-WR-CALNAME:Angela's Ashes By Frank McCourt (Southside) in Hampton Ro ads at Postal code 23602\, United States - Eventful BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART:20090108T190000 DTSTAMP:20081222T074218Z SUMMARY:Angela's Ashes By Frank McCourt (Southside) DESCRIPTION: Book Summary: Sometimes it's worth the wait. Having wait ed 40 years to tell his story\, Frank McCourt doesn't pull any punches in his story of growing up dirt poor in Limerick\, Ireland. Having em igrated to America\, McCourt's family returns to Ireland after his sis ter dies in Brooklyn. It is there that things turn from bad to worse. It is McCourt's contention that there is nothing worse than Irish Cath olic poverty\, and his book would seem to bear it out: his family move s to a row house in Limerick that is located next to the street's lava tory. However\, the book is written in a lyrical style from the point of view of Frank McCourt as a boy\, and it is still filled with the wh imsy of growing up and the natural humor of its author. While the book is often angry (at the Church\, at his father\, at his poverty\, at h is mother)\, it is also filled with forgiveness without bitterness.Cov ering the ages spanning three to 19\, Angela's Ashes is the story of F rank McCourt's struggle to escape from poverty and a tale of Ireland s till seemingly in the dark ages. Barred from the good schools because of his class\, teeth falling out from malnutrition\, and facing life w ith a shiftless alcoholic father\, McCourt nevertheless survives on hi s wits and manages to return to America to start his life over. Again. It is a triumph of both the art of memoir writing and the author's sp irit. Author Information: Frank McCourt was born in Brooklyn\, New Yor k\, to Irish immigrant parents. Unable to find work in the depths of t he Depression\, the McCourts returned to Ireland\, where they sunk dee per into the poverty McCourt describes so movingly in his memoir\, Ang ela's Ashes. McCourt's father\, an alcoholic\, was often without work\ , drank up what little money he earned and eventually abandoned the fa mily altogether. Three of the seven children died of diseases aggravat ed by malnutrition and the squalor of their surroundings. Frank McCour t himself nearly died of typhoid fever when he was ten. McCourt's memo ir describes an entire block of houses sharing a single outhouse\, gro und floor dwellings flooded by constant rain\, a home infested with ra ts and vermin. Despite the horrors of McCourt's childhood\, he tells h is story with humor\, brilliant description\, and deep compassion for his family\, even for the shiftless father who instilled in him a love of language and storytelling. After quitting school at 13\, Frank McC ourt alternated between odd jobs and petty crime in an effort to feed himself\, his mother\, and four surviving brothers and sisters. At 19\ , he returned to the United States and worked at odd jobs until he was drafted into the United States Army at the onset of the Korean War. M cCourt spent the war stationed in Germany and on his return to civilia n life was able to pursue a college education on the G.I. Bill. Althou gh he had never attended high school\, he was able to persuade the adm issions office of New York University to accept him as a student. Alth ough his childhood interest in language and storytelling were fed by c reative writing classes and his own constant reading\, he did not feel ready to pursue as career as a professional writer. On graduation\, h e went to work for the New York City Public School system\, where he t aught for the next 27 years. "I taught what they call 'Creative Writin g' though you and I know how hard it is to teach anyone anything\," Mc Court says. "Instead of teaching writing I 'conducted' writing classes . I tried to show my students the significance of their own lives whic h they sometimes thought insignificant. I hoped they'd realize the val ue of their own lives\, that they were good enough to write about. So they took the plunge and they wrote and some were willing to read to t he class and I think they were glad they did. Then they'd say to me\, 'Why don't you write something and read it to the class?' And I did -- more and more." Although McCourt spent his summers working on a novel drawing on his youth in Ireland\, he was unable to find his own voice until he retired from teaching. After years of teaching creative writ ing to young people\, McCourt determined to write his own life story. Angela's Ashes has sold over 4 million copies\, has been published in 27 countries and has been translated into 17 languages. It won McCourt the National Book Critics Circle Award\, the Los Angeles Times Book A ward\, the ABBY Award and the Pulitzer Prize for Biography. His second book\, 'Tis\, picks up the story of his life where Angela's Ashes lef t off\, with his arrival in America at age 19. It shot to the top of t he best-seller lists as soon as it was published. His 2005 memoir\, Te acher Man\, chronicles his 27-year career in the New York City school system. Like its predecessor\, it was an instant bestseller.\n LOCATION:Postal code 23602\, United States @ Newport News, Virginia 23 602 United States SEQUENCE:1229931738 UID:E0-001-018327546-3 URL:http://eventful.com/E0-001-018327546-3 END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR