School books you remember

Zumeira · 15-10-2020 2:42pm

Re the LC English book of prose with essays by Hazlitt, Lamb, Stephenson and Burke. Hear hear - if anybody has a copy of the book with those essays, or has the complete title and authour, please pass it on, would love to read it again, and would probably appreciate it more now.

spurious · 15-10-2020 5:37pm

I believe it was 'Exploring English 2 : an anthology of prose for Intermediate Certificate'by James J Carey.

Jellybaby_1 · 15-10-2020 7:40pm

I've just been re-reading this thread after a very long time and have to say excluding my own posts of course, there are a lot of very eloquent posts which are worth reading again and again.

looksee · 15-10-2020 10:12pm

I have also just read the thread and since it started my husband, who at various times taught French, English and Geography passed on. I have since moved house and an attic full of old French books and tapes, ancient exam papers and assorted text books of other subjects were all finally thrown out. I could not believe how many variations on french text books there were, there must have been a new book issued every year. What an expensive waste! A few books have survived, some with his notes in them written in the old Irish script, and a thesis (through Irish) typed on a typewriter with the old Irish script typeface - I can't read it but it is very pretty!

Exiled1 · 15-10-2020 10:47pm

Coming at the subject from two angles.
I loved Exploring English 1,2,3 for Inter Cert. Perhaps they helped make me an English teacher.
I always felt the Inter Cert anthologies 1,3 were packed with some of the very best short stories and poems written in English. Exploring English 1, the short stories anthology illustrates how we Irish produced several generations of truly wonderful short story writers, Liam O'Flaherty (The Trout), Frank O'Connor (Guests of the Nation), James Plunkett (Janey Mary) and Mary Lavin among others. Remember 'The story of the Widow's Son' by Lavin? It made a huge impression on my teenage mind.
'Soundings' will stand the test of time as one of the very greatest poetry anthologies despite including only one living author when it was first published in 1967. If you haven't read it... get out there and buy a copy.
But for giving students a taste of what is wonderful in English Literature through the ages, there is no better. 'Soundings' went off the Leaving Cert course in 1998/9, I think. It was replaced by a collection of PC poets, many of whom are quite mediocre but politically acceptable.
I can only pity the modern student who has missed on being able to read from Chaucer, Wordsworth, Keats, Milton, Dickinson and so many more towering writers ... not to forget an annual visit to the minds of Yeats and Kavanagh.
If you tested Soundings on a current LCHL student s/he couldn't cope with anything other than the very easy poems, never mind the 55-58 that there on the exam course. The old Inter Cert poetry book Exploring English 3 would challenge any good LC student today.

Several contributors have mentioned a book of prose extracts for LC by James J Carey. This was really heavyweight stuff. Newman's 'Idea of a University' and Hazlitt's literary criticism were far above the heads of the best and brightest. but RL Stevenson's 'An Apology for Idlers' was a rare treat among the wickedly difficult stuff.
Good memories.

16-10-2020 7:41pm

Incite and Excite by Lourda Shepperd. Wish I'd kept it too.

A Concise History of Irish Art by Hugh Leonard.

byhookorbycrook · 10-11-2020 11:45pm

The Tom and Nora readers edged out Peter and Jane. History book wise I remember "From Grattan to Lemass" as being seen as a "modern" textbook. Previous to that, we used "The Living Past" series, which had the harrowing story of the Great Famine from An t-Athair Peadar's book "Mo Scéal Féin" about the family dying.

paperdaisy · 29-08-2021 12:13pm

This is a long shot, but I wonder if any oulwans or oulfellas out there might have - stored in at attic or basement - a box of primary school books from the late fifties early sixties? I remember, aged four (sixty one years ago) opening the very first page of my very first Irish language schoolbook, and the thrill of this first brush with formal education. I remember the picture, and the three words on the page. It showed a little boy standing beside a tree with one yellow apple. The three lines of text said: Úll; Úll mór; Úll mór buí. I don't know the title or publisher of the book, but presumably the same book must have been in use throughout Ireland at the time. This lockdown has given me too much time to think! 🤔

Jellybaby_1 · 30-08-2021 8:11pm

Sorry I can't help you. I'm a child of the 50's and 60's myself but I can't remember this. Am I reading Úll mór buí correctly as Big Yellow Apple? Could that be right? I'd have thought glas or dearg would have been more applicable colours for an apple! Not that it matters here though, it's the book you want. Maybe someone else can help you. It's taking some of us a while to find our way back here but someone may be along soon. 🙂

PMBC · 05-10-2021 12:32pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/86736214#Comment_86736214

Yes it was. Just sent a message to a friend looking for the tilte of the prose book for LC end of the 60s - do you happen to know the name. Thanks

Exiled1 · 05-10-2021 1:59pm

Leaving Cert Prose book from 1950's to late 1970's was Leaving Certificate English Prose by James J Carey. A huge tome from which students were expected to study 10-12 heavyweight pieces. RL Stevensons inputs were light relief against Francis Bacon or Newman.

cml387 · 06-10-2021 1:42pm

From the Inter Cert prose book, one of my favourites was "A, Band C, the human element in mathematics" by Stephen Leacock

Like many of those older prose pieces it can be found online. Here's the Leacock piece, I still think it holds up today.

School books you remember

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