The book thread

[zigkid3]

copypasta of what i said previously in the other thread cause imn lazy:

i loved 1984 it was one of the best books that the school made you read. and one of the best i have read, it was very thought provoking. and from what i can remember i dont recall any themes about racism at all in that book either, which is why i liked it as opposed to all the other crap they made us read.
i also liked the great gatsby, and catcher in the rye, but not as much as i loved 1984, huckleberry finn (which was awesome), and ender's game.

also what i liked about 1984 was that it has a similar impact like the movie GATTACA

i hated to kill a mockingbird, fredrick douglass, i know why the caged bird sings, maya angelou, some book title about bee's (but its the 5th book about african-american racism that we had to read), Night (about jewish concentration camps, joy luck club (about some chinese old ladys). and some others.

now for other books: I loved Ender's game, the series for it is okay. The parallel novels for Ender's game and shadow series blows the Ender's series out of the water though. I also liked maxium ride series, it was nice relaxing easy read.

I do not understand the old english that shakespeare was using...for example in macbeth, the three witches were saying like fair is foul and foul is fair, and the teacher was asking us what that meant. how should i know

that's not old English, in fact that shouldn't even be confusing at all. the thing that's confusing about Shakespeare is his choice of words, old english words, the grammar, etc... most of his own dialogue doesn't even make coherent sense. In fact I'm suprised they even make us read something so outdated, Shakespeare is probably one of the worst literary works to "teach" with because it actually doesn't teach at all, it just makes things confusing and it's not even that great. people just assume it's great just because it's old, and if it's old then it must be good.

[Lyrete]

Just reading a finnish detective thing, then moving onto Che Guevaras diary.

[Tesiqurasa]

It should definitely be taught to people who are learning anything about cultural or literary history. You can't really deny that it's had an immeasurable impact on Western culture. Beyond the old word choice and grammar rules, it's not very outdated. Most literary themes now considered "cliche" have their roots in Shakespeare. It's important to pick up on how those themes gained popularity with the general public, something that was all but unheard of previous to Shakespeare.

That's also a reason why I'd still argue for the teaching of Jane Austen. Regardless of how much I hate her, she was a pioneer in writing novels, and was one of the first people to write directly toward the rising middle class.

Most people have trouble with or hate Shakespeare because it's often taught as nothing more than a glorified work of fiction (from this stems my personal belief that the works are overrated). To fully grasp the significance, it also needs to be taught as a culturally historic text. Students and teachers working solely for standardized testing often get caught up in the basic "reading comprehension" aspect of everything and miss other important aspects of the field. Literature should also be taught for the history, because many of the cultural patterns found in older works can be extrapolated or applied to very current issues. For example, the "young adult literature" boom in pop culture is very similar to the early popularity of novels (as I mentioned earlier) and even the popular plays of Shakespeare.

Beyond that, many "glorified" works have had immense political and religious repercussions as well. When really studying Paradise Lost, for example, it becomes clear that the poem has meanings beyond just semi-fictional (at the time) events. Even though it wasn't recognized then, reading it clearly lays out Milton's political ambitions for England. To put it very simply, it is something of a metaphor for his political/religious (hand-in-hand at the time) causes.

[Merciless]

anna karenina

[Luis]

anna karenina

[Lyrete]

Actually I've been thinking of reading english novels now that I've mainly read John Grishams books only. Anything good? Huge list pl0x. (I really do devour massive amounts of books when I'm in the mood.

[Areks]

Chuck Palahniuk is the sexiest writer of all time.

Everyone must read:
Surivor
Invisible Monsters
Fight Club
Lullaby
Choke

[Scritto]

Striking Thoughts: Bruce Lee's Wisdom for Daily Living - By Bruce Lee himself of course. If you're into philosophy, check it out. There's part of it on google books.

[heyt]

I read a lot of urban fantasy/sci-fi mostly. I'm about to start Divine Misfortune by A. Lee Martinez. Also, I'm on goodreads.

[zigkid3]

almost forgot lord of the flies.