What do you think?
Rate this book
Grammar Lessons: Translating a Life in Spain
In the thirteen personal essays in Grammar Lessons , Michele Morano connects the rules of grammar to the stories we tell to help us understand our worlds. Living and traveling in Spain during a year of teaching English to university students, she learned to translate and interpret her past and present worlds—to study the surprising moments of communication—as a way to make sense of language and meaning, longing and memory.
ÌýÌýÌý Morano focuses first on her year of living in Oviedo, in the early 1990s, a time spent immersing herself in a new culture and language while working through the relationship she had left behind with an emotionally dependent and suicidal man. Next, after subsequent trips to Spain, she explores the ways that travel sparks us to reconsider our personal histories in the context of larger historical legacies. Finally, she turns to the aftereffects of travel, to the constant negotiations involved in retelling and understanding the stories of our lives. Throughout she details one woman’s journey through vocabulary and verb tense toward a greater sense of her place in the world.
ÌýÌýÌý Grammar Lessons illustrates the difficulty and delight, humor and humility of living in a new language and of carrying that pivotal experience forward. Michele Morano’s beautifully constructed essays reveal the many grammars and many voices that we collect, and learn from, as we travel.
ÌýÌýÌý Morano focuses first on her year of living in Oviedo, in the early 1990s, a time spent immersing herself in a new culture and language while working through the relationship she had left behind with an emotionally dependent and suicidal man. Next, after subsequent trips to Spain, she explores the ways that travel sparks us to reconsider our personal histories in the context of larger historical legacies. Finally, she turns to the aftereffects of travel, to the constant negotiations involved in retelling and understanding the stories of our lives. Throughout she details one woman’s journey through vocabulary and verb tense toward a greater sense of her place in the world.
ÌýÌýÌý Grammar Lessons illustrates the difficulty and delight, humor and humility of living in a new language and of carrying that pivotal experience forward. Michele Morano’s beautifully constructed essays reveal the many grammars and many voices that we collect, and learn from, as we travel.
184 pages, Hardcover
First published March 15, 2007
7 people are currently reading
151 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 37 reviews
June 15, 2009
I struggled a while to figure out how many stars to give this, but I finally settled on 3 as having one sublimely perfect essay doesn't make this book worthy of an extra star. "Grammar Lessons" is slow, so very labored, and I don't think I've ever noticed the word "I" in a book more.
"In the Subjunctive Mood" is a nearly flawless essay. Perhaps because I personally had so many problems with the subjunctive in French, or maybe just because it's so beautifully written, but I can find no error in this essay. I just wished the rest of the book followed suit.
It's split into three sections, the first of which is by far the most successful. If nothing else, it's the one that follows along with the promise of the title: these essays are all about the troubles Morano had in learning the Spanish language while living in Oviedo, Spain. Once it moves on to the second and third sections, it becomes mired in murkiness, and it is so very, very slow. The only essay I truly enjoyed from the latter 2/3s of the book is the one on Guernica, and that's probably just because I love art so much.
To take a few lines totally out of context, I think that ultimately these essays are faulty because of the following, which Morano writes in the last essay of the book: "A writer should care deeply about the precision of language, about getting things exactly right. And most of the time I do. But I'm also deeply suspicious of language, which has never seemed fully on my side" (p. 143). I'm not sure if that's why it's so hard to read these essays - they seem so very self-conscious, so very centered about Morano herself - or if it's because she still hasn't grasped the right phrasing. Either way, this was a book that I wanted to adore, but in the end just merely liked.
"In the Subjunctive Mood" is a nearly flawless essay. Perhaps because I personally had so many problems with the subjunctive in French, or maybe just because it's so beautifully written, but I can find no error in this essay. I just wished the rest of the book followed suit.
It's split into three sections, the first of which is by far the most successful. If nothing else, it's the one that follows along with the promise of the title: these essays are all about the troubles Morano had in learning the Spanish language while living in Oviedo, Spain. Once it moves on to the second and third sections, it becomes mired in murkiness, and it is so very, very slow. The only essay I truly enjoyed from the latter 2/3s of the book is the one on Guernica, and that's probably just because I love art so much.
To take a few lines totally out of context, I think that ultimately these essays are faulty because of the following, which Morano writes in the last essay of the book: "A writer should care deeply about the precision of language, about getting things exactly right. And most of the time I do. But I'm also deeply suspicious of language, which has never seemed fully on my side" (p. 143). I'm not sure if that's why it's so hard to read these essays - they seem so very self-conscious, so very centered about Morano herself - or if it's because she still hasn't grasped the right phrasing. Either way, this was a book that I wanted to adore, but in the end just merely liked.
July 19, 2010
This is a book of essays mainly written about the author's time in Spain as an English teacher. It's also a sort of "coming of" maturity story of a young adult. My absolute favorite part was when she traveled to Guernica - duh! I didn't even know it was a town. This charming happy Basque town of 6,000 souls was heinously leveled by German bombers on request by Franco to "practice" total annihilation - a trick that was later used as the Blitzkrieg. Although Picasso probably never was there, his POWERFUL mural was exhibited all over the world (but not in Spain until Franco blessedly passed on). Guernica resides in the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina SofÃa in Madrid.
February 12, 2013
I enjoyed this and couldn't stop reading it, though I liked the early essays better than the later ones. The early essays seemed more vibrant and lifelike -- she has an amazing gift for conveying atmosphere through detail, the vulnerability and excitement of being in a place not home. The later essays sometimes seemed forced and overly erudite; they were beautifully polished but not as fun to read. She writes about "fluency" and learning to speak "academic" after a working-class childhood; I found the essays about her earlier visits to Spain (though I don't know when they were composed) closer to the voice of a real person than that of a polished academic, and hence more enjoyable. That said, her essay about the caves at Altamira and the simulacrum for visitors that has been created to protect them was nuanced and lovely.
July 16, 2020
How comforting it is to find a kindred spirit whose courage is obvious as she tells of her experiences with living in Spain, her relationship with a man who struggled with depression, and-above all- how her relationship with words and language influence all of it.
Not everyone will be able to relate to this collection of essays; I happen to be an English teacher, someone who has felt both the ease of reading Spanish and difficulty of confident conversation once the words are off the page, someone who has lived in Granada, and someone who adores language as if its a deity - harnessing language effectively is power. Morano expresses this phenomenon beautifully in her essays. Though there was one essay I couldn't really get into, that's a reflection of my own "disinterest" in that particular topic ;) and not a reflection of Morano's writing.
Overall, I can name many favorites and wish I could share a pot of Moroccan tea (or two) with Morano and get to know more of her stories. What a gem.
Not everyone will be able to relate to this collection of essays; I happen to be an English teacher, someone who has felt both the ease of reading Spanish and difficulty of confident conversation once the words are off the page, someone who has lived in Granada, and someone who adores language as if its a deity - harnessing language effectively is power. Morano expresses this phenomenon beautifully in her essays. Though there was one essay I couldn't really get into, that's a reflection of my own "disinterest" in that particular topic ;) and not a reflection of Morano's writing.
Overall, I can name many favorites and wish I could share a pot of Moroccan tea (or two) with Morano and get to know more of her stories. What a gem.
October 29, 2023
This is my second time reading this collection of essays. The first was in Spring 2014 when I studied abroad in Spain, with a focus on literature. Coming back to this after almost a decade was more meaningful than I expected. I related to the author’s thoughts and emotions and revelations far more now—after my time in Spain is remembered in brief images and faces and memories of emotions, a few handfuls of the smallest details, than in remembering the overall landscape of my time there—than when I was living in Alcalá de Henares. Reading the same words and ideas again renewed some memories that had been fading, and I felt echoes of emotions I’d had while reading an essay for the first time. Really fun to read again.
March 25, 2025
Was hooked from the first pages of the preface, where the author described the locals in a shop singing and humming to an American song, despite probably not understanding the words. The song summoned memories for all, including the reader. And the passage captured the reasons I want to travel - observing and being in the moment, connecting in new ways.
This book was perfect for me as I am again learning to navigate solo in a series of adventures.
Despite some unevenness in the essays, the writing made it 4 stars for me.
This book was perfect for me as I am again learning to navigate solo in a series of adventures.
Despite some unevenness in the essays, the writing made it 4 stars for me.
July 8, 2022
These essays on learning Spanish by living in Spain and relationships were particularly meaningful to me because I spent my junior year in college there more than 40 years ago and love the country. The award-winning essay on the subjunctive is certainly the standout, but the collection is excellent.
March 12, 2021
A collection of essays published separately elsewhere. Doesn't hold up as a book, even in three parts. Final essay, on "Fluency" was particularly interesting in that the writer recognized the impact of having grown up "working class" on her vocabulary (or lack thereof).
December 19, 2021
In , discusses how language informs our world view and that is one of my absolutely favorite ideas. This book fills me with intrigue for idioms, by the ways language limits what we say and how we say it, and how complexities of one language's nuances and intricacies can shape the way we think. She also writes about "fluency" and learning to speak "academic" after a working-class childhood; I found the essays about her earlier visits to Spain (though I don't know when they were composed) closer to the voice of a real person than that of a polished academic, and hence more enjoyable. Morano's voice is both humorous and reflective.
September 13, 2011
I found this book through the chapter "In the Subjunctive Mood" from the Best American Essays 2006 volume. I reviewed that chapter before and then discovered the book. The chapter a fantastic walk through of the subjunctive mood of the Spanish language. It's a mood that expresses doubt, judgment, and many other feelings. Morano talks through the different elements of the subjunctive in order to demonstrate her emotions and feelings towards her flailing relationship. It's well done. If you are interested in writing, this is a creative chapter that you should dig in to.
The rest of the book is strong too. It's very well written and makes me long for Spain. Having traveled for longer periods of time elsewhere, I can say that this is a great take on living, speaking, thinking, feeling, eating, and just all around being abroad. What's great is that this isn't simply based on a short study abroad trip. It's based on a study abroad trip, a return year long trip to gain perspective on life and love, and a return research trip. These trips span around 15 or so years of the author's life, which creates an interesting relationship between the author and Spain and between the author and being abroad.
If you've lived abroad, you should read this. If you haven't, I think your interest in foreign travel would be piqued by this book. It's a short read that is designed as a collection of essays but makes the most sense to read straight through due to the chronology.
The rest of the book is strong too. It's very well written and makes me long for Spain. Having traveled for longer periods of time elsewhere, I can say that this is a great take on living, speaking, thinking, feeling, eating, and just all around being abroad. What's great is that this isn't simply based on a short study abroad trip. It's based on a study abroad trip, a return year long trip to gain perspective on life and love, and a return research trip. These trips span around 15 or so years of the author's life, which creates an interesting relationship between the author and Spain and between the author and being abroad.
If you've lived abroad, you should read this. If you haven't, I think your interest in foreign travel would be piqued by this book. It's a short read that is designed as a collection of essays but makes the most sense to read straight through due to the chronology.
June 20, 2011
This is a little book - only 160 pages and narrower than standard - but it took me a long time to read. When I read the preface, I was really excited. The author talks about how language informs our world view and that is one of my absolutely favorite ideas. The book is about her year-long stay and other travels in Spain - short essays really - and I was expecting examples such as those given in the preface on language and thought. The essays are not bad, and some of them are pretty nice, but I was so disappointed that she rarely talks about language and world view and generally when she does mention it, it is only in passing. Her essay on the subjunctive is a wonderful exception. I also enjoyed her essay on Guernica where she mentions a bit about the Basque language Euskara. Not a bad book but my expectations were way too high.
October 1, 2012
Absolutely breathtaking prose. A must-read for anyone who loves language or who would like to travel vicariously to Spain. You can practically taste the wine and mussels as you read. But the story is not just a travelogue - it's also the tale of a struggle to separate from a dysfunctional relationship back home. Many readers can relate, I'm sure. I am a bit biased because the author visited our class and treated us to a Q&A. She was so generous with her time and advice. The first and second parts of the book feel a bit disconnected, but as the author says they were written at different times. This should not be a deterrent from reading the book.
January 23, 2012
"There's no way around this, I told myself. If you move about in the world, if you live fully and fall in love- with friends and acquaintances and places and periods of time- your heart is going to break again and again. Each time you say good-bye, you'll feel the ache of impermanence, of inevitability, of your own terribly finite days." In "Grammar Lessons" the author cleverly weaves her experience learning Spanish and teaching English with her life in Spain and all the emotions and magic that come with living abroad on a very intimate level.
January 31, 2012
The book itself is slim (fewer than 200 pages) but rich with description and well-woven narratives. Morano's voice is both humorous and reflective. I annotated heavily as I read, and I expect to refer back to those notes when I'm struggling with my own writing. If you love language, with all its intricacies and nuances, you'll love this book.
It was a real treat to read this while also taking a travel writing class with the author, Michele Morano. She practices what she preaches (and she doesn't put her own book on her syllabus -- though maybe she should!).
It was a real treat to read this while also taking a travel writing class with the author, Michele Morano. She practices what she preaches (and she doesn't put her own book on her syllabus -- though maybe she should!).
Read
May 25, 2007Reading this book is filling me with wanderlust and bringing on an intense desire to live in Spain. Anywhere where dinner begins at 11 p.m., and where having a mid-day rest is not a sign of laziness but sanity. The essays, linked, are lovely. If you are intrigued by idiom, by the ways language limits what we say and how we say it, by the complexities of one language's nuances and intricacies and the way those can shape the way we think, you will love this book.
March 25, 2008
I'm in love with Spain (and I admit, grammar) so that was what drew me to the title. This is a collection of essays that are personal, moving, and sometimes profound. Some of them are travel-related, but you don't have to know Spain to appreciate them. My favorite essay called, "In Praise of Envy," was not travel-related, but it was inspiring. This is a book to read in a relaxed state; it's like strolling through someplace far away yet very familiar. It's a small treasure.
July 20, 2007
bought this book for the essay "In the Subjunctive Mood" from Best American last year--really stunning way of thinking about language. The rest of the essay are a mixed bag, I think. Some really gorgeous, and others trying to twine a few strands together and slightly missing the mark. Or maybe I just need to go to Spain. That must be it.
August 27, 2011
Michele Morano, a professor of English, braids together memories of her time in Spain, the account of a dying relationship, and musings on the ways language structures the way we relate to the world around us.
The connected essays in this book are finely wrought. Reading them, I was transported to my years living in Europe.
The connected essays in this book are finely wrought. Reading them, I was transported to my years living in Europe.
July 4, 2011
4.75 stars. A series of essays, lyrically and beautifully written about interesting topics and themes. My favorites were "Authenticity and Artifice" and "The Impossible Overcome." The last essay, "Fluency," tied everything together well. My main critique is that small portions of the essays were repetitive, and they could have been integrated more fluidly.
September 4, 2011
I'm glad I happened upon this book while perusing the Spain travel section at the library. The essay on the subjunctive was particularly creative. I was skeptical when I saw there was a chapter on life after Spain. "Who cares? Isn't this a book about life IN Spain?" It was actually very good, though, and made me appreciate the book and author more.
May 28, 2008
Michele goes to Spain not once, but twice, to study Spanish. It makes me jealous to think of the opportunities she had. She does explain the subjunctive well, something I will have to copy when I am teaching it.
June 15, 2008
A book/set of essays about a woman who lives in Spain for a year. It's a beautiful portrayal of Spain, the Spanish people, and living in Spain. If you've been there, you'll enjoy reading about her experiences.
February 22, 2009
I've been studing spanish for two and a half years now and have fallen in love with the spanish language. So I read this book thinking I probably wouldn't like it all that much but after reading it I couldn't help but be tottally in love with Spain and have decided to move there imediatly.
March 22, 2013
Beautiful, seamless prose and reflections - I've never wanted to live abroad so much, these people and places are captured so subtly and fully. The last two essays, though, not so good. As in, why are they here?
November 10, 2020
It's perfect.
Want to read
June 29, 2007Another recommendation.
November 7, 2007
makes you think about the beauty of language. written by one of the best professors at depaul.
January 5, 2008
This book was written by one of my very favorite professors. Her writing is wonderful and these essays stick with you.
Want to read
April 4, 2009I stole this from Jen's "to read" list. Since I've just began a (surely) never-ending attempt at pulling together my random essays on living in Spain, I thought this might be inspirational.
December 15, 2011
I had the pleasure to work with Michele Morano on my undergraduate thesis, and she is brilliant. She's one of those rare writers who makes writing look entirely effortless.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 37 reviews
Can't find what you're looking for?
Get help and learn more about the design.