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Teacher's bookshelf: A post-apocalyptic novel blending life and literature
Reader Submission / Short articles
Authors: Ben Tiffen
Rows of grounded planes in Hong Kong – one of the eerie similarities with Emily St John Mandel's novel. ©heychli/Shutterstock
For senior secondary English teachers, a sign of success that goes well beyond study scores is to hear students still talking about texts years after studying them.
I was honoured to once receive an email from a former student who was visiting Iceland and had been inspired to retrace the steps of the protagonist from Hannah Kent's Burial Rites, four years after completing Year 12. In a similar way, I felt a guilty sense of pride earlier this year when invited into a social media conversation between some of last year's graduates. They were proclaiming that 'Station Eleven is becoming real!' and analysing the eerie similarities between Emily St John Mandel's post-apocalyptic novel and human behaviours observed in recent months in Melbourne and around the world.
In the 2014 novel, the fictional Georgia Flu is brought to Toronto by a plane full of passengers from Moscow and its escalation catches the world off-guard. The first indicator of its impact is from a panicked doctor who phones his friend, Jeevan, warning him of the inadequacies of the healthcare system to handle such a crisis. There are not enough beds and ventilators to deal with its growth, he is told, and he should 'stock up on food and stay in your apartment'. At first Jeevan finds this hard to believe. It's the 21st Century after all. But soon he fills as many supermarket trolleys as he can, including one that 'was all toilet paper'.
A confronting novel for current times
Well before COVID-19 began dominating the news, many VCE (Victorian Certificate of Education) English students had already been engaged in a world in which an even more brutal pandemic swiftly eliminates a vast majority of humanity, creating a divide between the pre-collapse world of freely available travel, concerts, supermarkets, social media and technology and a post-collapse world in which survival is a daily objective. While this may still seem far-fetched, my former students noted that as recently as February, so too would be supermarket customers physically fighting over toilet paper. Station Eleven is a novel that positions us to consider what we take for granted in a society of overindulgence, all the more confronting as we reflect on the closure of our restaurants, bars, gyms, theatres and our regular way of life.
For one of my graduates, the starkest image so far has been the lines of planes grounded at airports around Australia as borders closed and skies fell silent. Likewise, Mandel uses imagery of planes sitting dormant for years to highlight a loss of human connectivity after the pandemic, and also the irony of the modern day connectedness that enabled the virus to spread so rampantly in the first place. The novel suggests there is a self-defeating nature to technology. Its most tragic image is of one final plane that lands and is moved away from the terminal and left on the tarmac, like a cruise ship full of passengers unable to disembark. 'No one goes to meet it.'
Prophetic? Probably not. But definitely cautionary as to society's reaction to such a pandemic.
Importantly, Station Eleven  is not a typical apocalyptic novel. There are no zombies here, except for the 'iPhone zombies' that Mandel implies wander brainlessly across the pre-collapse world. While the novel covers several time periods, its central narrative takes place 20 years after the collapse and its storyline focuses predominantly on how humankind recovers. Survival of individuals is important, but survival of culture, art and 'what's best about the world' is even more so. Readers are invited to consider what they would save if the responsibility was theirs to rebuild humanity.
An opportunity to draw on students' contextual experiences
It's been reaffirming to see that many of my most recent graduates, millennials with no memory of a time that preceded scrolling through 'photographs of lunches (and) relationship-status updates' can readily connect with the criticism Mandel offers of the modern world. One student recalled a VCE essay she wrote regarding the ways in which the bravest characters in Station Eleven are those of the Travelling Symphony who risk their lives to bring Shakespeare and Beethoven to some of the remaining pockets of humanity. Crossbows in one hand, playscripts in the other, they traverse the wasteland with the mantra 'Survival is insufficient' – a quote Mandel openly admits she borrowed from Mr Spock in Star Trek.
Fortunately, here in Australia we are not so apocalyptic. And hopefully we stay that way. But senior secondary students writing about Station Eleven at present should at least take advantage of this current blending of life and literature. Remember that Mandel does not create a novel about how to survive an apocalypse, in fact she implies that individual survival is random and meaningless, as explored through the survivor's guilt felt by Kirsten, another key character. Rather, she holds up a mirror to modern society and questions what is worth saving.
And for teachers considering text selection for 2021, when coronavirus is hopefully viewed only in hindsight, this is a unique opportunity to draw upon students' own contextual experiences in exploring a novel. The fact that mine are still talking about it today as avidly as we did last year reminds me that what we teach through text response can, and should, make an impact that lasts well beyond an exam.
What is your process for text selection and how do you anticipate student engagement with texts?
What strategies do you apply to help students make connections between the ideas explored in texts and their own lives?
Teacher's bookshelf: Creating reading spaces
Most borrowed books in Australia
Instilling a love of reading


Jean Chatzky is the financial editor of NBC's Today Show and hosts the podcast Her Money — but you might also remember her from an unexpectedly viral November 2017 tweet in which she stated that 30-year-olds should have 1x their income saved for retirement.
When we discussed that tweet on The Billfold, I noted that, at age 35, I had managed to save up one year of post-tax income, or roughly $40K. A little less than two years later, my net worth has grown to $103,608.10, which I achieved through the magic of increasing my income, reducing my expenses (primarily by moving from Seattle to Cedar Rapids and cutting my monthly rent by half), and increasing my savings. Will I hit 3x post-tax income by age 40? We'll see.
But the tweet sparked ire because, for many people, those kind of financial benchmarks are more laughable than relevant. College debt, credit card debt, healthcare debt, low salaries, stagnant salaries, high housing costs, etc. etc. etc. make it very difficult for people to save.
I even did the math, on The Billfold, to prove just how hard it was to set aside a year's worth of salary in savings by the time you turned 30.
Everyone shared Chatzky's tweet specifically because it wasn't applicable to everyone. Her new book, Women with Money: The Judgment-Free Guide to Creating the Joyful, Less Stressed, Purposeful (and, Yes, Rich) Life You Deserve, is also not for everyone — but if it's the type of financial advice you need right now, it is well worth reading.
Notice how these words are nearly all subjective (my definition of joyful might be different from yours) and emotion-based. This book is not a guide to increasing your net worth or getting out of debt or asking for a raise, even though all that information is present in the text. Instead, this book is about how to feel better about your money.
If that's the book you need right now, go get yourself a copy. Chatzky liberally peppers the text with case studies and conversations with real women, so you'll get to learn how other people feel about their money — and what they did when they realized they weren't happy with where their money was going. You'll also read about plenty of journeys towards joyful, less-stressed, purposeful (and yes, rich — or at least richer) lives.
I recently started reviewing books for Reedsy Discovery, and here's my first review, for Jessica Lincoln's Freak, Geek, Goddess; Tales of Survival From Trust Fund High.
Riley is worried about high school. Nobody likes her new haircut, she doesn't know how to get to class, and her best friend Kaitlyn is obsessed with the Dukes and Duchesses — high school royalty. Kaitlyn wants Riley to skip fifth period and drive around with a couple of Dukes who tell sexist jokes and keep lumps of chewing tobacco in their mouths. Riley wants… well, she wants to be herself, but she's afraid that it'll make her look like a freak.
While Freak Geek Goddess could be the type of coming-of-age story appropriate for fans of Kody Keplinger's The DUFF, be aware that Lincoln's novel goes a little darker than comparable titles. Early chapters find Riley getting pressured into a navel piercing that promptly becomes infected, and earning a poor grade on a project after skipping class. By the end of the book Riley has experienced alcohol poisoning and sexual assault.
The story, told through Riley's voice, is engaging; a reader may correctly predict that Riley will overcome her insecurities and triumph, but the path Lincoln takes to get there is not so predictable — and, in some ways, more realistic than similar high school narratives.
The book's biggest flaw? Riley is just as judgmental as the Dukes and Duchesses. Readers who prefer their protagonists not crack jokes about "over-eager anorexics," "popularity whores," or "gender confusion issues" may want to look elsewhere; readers who want their heroines to show as much compassion to others as they wish they had been shown will be disappointed by Riley's lack of character growth. Being true to yourself doesn't always mean being a good person.
310 of the current 13,093 words. ALL OF THESE WORDS ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE.
I haven't named Ellen's Slack friends yet. But I have begun to suss out their personalities.
If you're already familiar with Seth Godin's blog, or have already read any of his bestselling books — Linchpin, Purple Cow, etc. — you already know a lot of what he's going to tell you in his newest book, This Is Marketing: You Can't Be Seen Until You Learn to See.
Make a product that solves a real person's problem.
Get really specific about what kind of person you're targeting and what problem you're trying to solve.
Don't be a brown cow (boring, typical), be a purple cow (unique, remarkable, phenomenal).
So I wanted to focus on just one section of this book that happens to be particularly relevant to creative career types (aka "the kind of person this blog is targeting").
On the left are the hits. There aren't as many of them, but they each sell a lot. In fact, number one sells ten times as many copies as number ten, and a hundred times as many as number one hundred. A hit is magical.
On the right are the rest. The long tail: good products of specialized interest. Each, by itself, doesn't sell many copies, but taken together, the long tail sells as much as the short head.
Half of Amazon's sales are books that are not in the top five thousand. Half!
Half of the music consumed on streaming sites isn't available in stores. Not half the titles, half the volume.
Amazon can do great with this strategy since they sell all the available books. Each author, though, is in pain: selling one to two books a day is no way to make a living.
If you've spent any time on Amazon recently, you've probably noticed that a lot of indie genre fiction authors have started using specific genre keywords in their titles. We've got Gloria King's Love Thy Neighbor: Steamy Older Woman Younger Man Romance, for example, or A.R. Winters' Cooks, Crooks and Cruises: A Humorous Cruise Ship Cozy Mystery (Cruise Ship Cozy Mysteries Book 2). They want readers to know exactly what they're getting, so the readers who want exactly what they're offering will be incentivized to purchase.
The other way to get around the "can't make a living selling two books a day" thing is to find ways of earning money besides selling books.
Because you'll be making the art that only you can make, telling the stories that only you can tell, etc.
And, in a world where other people are competing to be the best at a certain set of keywords, this kind of unique creative work can really stand out.
Of course, you still have to figure out how to market it.
*One of my most popular freelance articles, which still gets retweeted and shared at least once a month even though it was published in 2015, is Check Yourself Before You Wreck Yourself With A/B Testing at Unbounce. This is a perfect example of using a freelance career to solve someone else's problems (both Unbounce's problem of needing a guide to A/B testing, and the readers' problem of… also needing a guide to A/B testing). When I teach my "how to freelance" classes — and I'll be teaching another one this summer, so check back later for dates — I get a lot of students who want to build careers as travel writers or celebrity profile writers or writers of stuff that sounds interesting to them. You can absolutely get paid to write about travel (I've done it) but you'll get paid a lot more money if you're also able to write about A/B testing.
When I read Grant Sabatier's Financial Freedom: A Proven Path to All the Money You Will Ever Need three times in a row and decided to go after the financial independence thing, I pulled up this memory of watching this television miniseries, with my family, about a woman who had all the money she would ever need.
I know that particular detail because I had to ask my parents what the title of the movie meant. Of course, I couldn't remember the title (was it A Financially Independent Woman?); only the moment where my parents explained that the woman in the movie would never need to earn money from a job.
So I looked it up. The 1995 six-hour (with commercials) miniseries A Woman of Independent Means, starring Sally Ford as the titular Woman, was based on the 1978 Elizabeth Forsythe Hailey novel A Woman of Independent Means, which was in turn inspired by Hailey's grandmother's life.
The novel is epistolary and written entirely from the perspective of Bess Steed Garner, who learns at a young age that an inheritance has made her financially independent. The book begins as a deceptively quick read — the first few pages take Bess from age 9 to age 20 — but becomes more detailed and immersive as Bess grows in both experience and writing talent.
It also packs in a wealth of advice about both investing and living — but since Bess is constantly maturing and changing, there's a question of whether the reader should take her insights at face value.
Your letter brought me the first bright day I have known since Rob died. The thought of joining you in Vermont for the summer fills me with delight! What a reprieve from the terrible reality of my life just now!
Once we decided to close the St. Louis office of the company, I knew I had no choice but to sell my house here and move back to Dallas — but to return without a husband and with less money than when we left is an unbearable admission of defeat. And I will postpone it as long as possible.
Your invitation for the summer is such a tangible offer of comfort at a time when words of sympathy ring hollow in my ears. I am so weary of people asking if there is anything they can do for me. Of course I always answer with a polite no, and they go away satisfied at having done their duty. If only one dared answer in the affirmative. But nothing frightens people more than undisguised need. I have kept all my old friends through this difficult time by never demanding the dues of friendship. Not that I doubt they would be paid — but only once. Friendship to me is like a capital reserve. It pays dividends only so long as the principal remains intact. Whatever personal sacrifice is required, I am determined to come through this experience without spending my principal — on any level.
The children are very excited at the thought of a trip east. We are all eager for the sight of a landscape without memories. How I look forward to holding the baby — and you, Please thank Dwight for his share in your kind invitation.
Is Bess "right" about the nature of friendship? Is she "wrong?" I'm not sure that's the question we should be asking. A Woman of Independent Means invites readers to observe Bess as she observes the world, and take from it whatever lessons are most relevant to our own lives.
In my case, the biggest lesson I took from this book is that whenever Bess works to meet her own needs, her life — and her family's life — improves. Whenever she does something that she believes is in the best interest of someone else's needs without asking them first, especially when her actions go against her own needs and desires, her life and her family's life and the life of the person on whom she's acting get worse.
I suspect that if I read this book again in a few years, I might take a different lesson from it — because, like Bess, I would have the advantage of a few more years of life experience.
If you've read A Woman of Independent Means — or have some vague recollection of the miniseries, like I did — I'm curious which aspects of the story stood out to you. Despite the strong financial component of this book, for example, I don't think it prompts most of its readers to get into investing.


"Anna was the most sweet, talented professional we worked with throughout our wedding planning process and we couldn't be happier to have had her photograph our engagement pictures and wedding day. We get compliments daily on how beautiful her work is, and we can't thank her enough for helping us create the most beautiful memories! She kept in such great contact from day one helping us plan every detail of the wedding day, and was extremely personable making our time with her the most enjoyable! I can't say enough good things about Anna, but certainly would recommend her to anyone seeking extraordinary photography!"
"If you're looking for a kind, creative, flexible, and passionate photographer, Anna is the one for you! I had no idea what to expect but she had so many great ideas for us and made us look like naturals. She made sure we got all of our must have shots and so many more. I am so thankful we have such a nice selection of pictures to remember every detail of our beautiful night! Even though it rained all day Anna was accommodating, still smiling all day, and really made the rain work for us! We couldn't be happier with the results!"
"Anna Markley is remarkable! Anna cared so much about showing the story of not only our wedding but the story of us as a couple. Anna was so organized, she kept constant contact with me in the months leading up to our wedding. She found out everything that I wanted and she definitely delivered! ... At the end of our experience, we felt like we had friends who captured our beautiful day, not just photographers!"
"Anna is absolutely amazing! Not only is she the sweetest person alive, but she makes you feel like you're the only couple she's working with. Her attention to detail and artistic eye are only two of the reasons why anyone would be crazy not to book her! She produces work that absolutely stunning, and I feel so lucky that she was part of our big day!"


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New or Changed Borders
Russian Empire
Programmatic Documents
The Peace Treaty
World War I in 1918
Romania and the regional alliances after the First World War
by Ciprian Stoleru | Sep 12, 2019 | Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Yugoslavia
To ensure its security, Romania sought immediately after the end of the First World War to conclude a series of regional alliances. The Little Entente and the alliance with Poland were subsumed to this objective. The First World War did not end for Romania in November...
How World War-I shaped India's fight for freedom
The peace treaty of Trianon
The Great Powers and Hungary at the Paris Peace Conference
Romania, the Republic of Councils in Hungary and the Great Powers
February 1919: The discussion of the union of Transylvania with Romania at the Paris Peace Conference
University of Bucharest (Romania)
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