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Tell Me A Story June Read INTRO to One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

 




INTRO to One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

Hello Fellow Readers,

As discussed in my previous post, this month's read is a novel titled One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey.

I have been curious about this novel for some time and have seen it on one of those top books to read when I was doing my research on novels for us to focus on.  I think mental health is incredibly important and that is one of the subjects being addressed in this novel.

Some of you know that I am a teacher-- I have a MA in Education from DePaul and have taken many English lit classes at Smith College, Northwestern, Indiana University and Notre Dame.  I am NOT saying that you have to have formal training in the analysis of literature to have massive contribution and unique insights into works.  This is an introduction so just wanted to share my experiences.  

I also created this blog series Tell Me a Story because I wanted to read and analyze books with you from the perspective of a published author.

Moving on!

I am new to presenting books via public forum so the next two months may involve some experimentation.  This is a weekly blog so each Tuesday I will provide a new post.  The lesson plan will look like this:

EVERY TUESDAY

June 13      Introduction of our novel
June 20      Bio of our author
June 27      Analysis and next read

We are starting this read one week off-- my fault!  I am in the process of moving states.  The usual format with be: Week 1 Intro, Week 2 Bio of Author, Week 3 Analysis and Week 4: Wrap up and next read

This was the author's first novel published in 1961.  It is considered a, "classic" (we can have a discussion on what makes a novel a "classic" at some other point.  Some of the major characters include Randle Patrick McMurphy, Nurse Ratchner and Chief.

Note:  this book did take a while to read and is dense in description so please make sure you allow yourself plenty of time to read it.  Teaching tip:  Set a timer and see how many pages you read in ten minutes.  Then see total number of pages of book.  You can then get a sense of how long it will take you to finish the book.

Takeaway:  But I want you to ENJOY your book, not worry about how long it will take to finish it.  That tip is just a guide to reduce stress with reasonable pacing.

Please leave comments and questions below and I will answer them.  Happy Reading!

Love,
Dina









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