EPTI never much liked anything I read in school, just the books I read outside of school.
What Are You Reading 2013 - Page 39
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sam!zdat
United States5559 Posts
I never much liked anything I read in school, just the books I read outside of school. | ||
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Surth
Germany456 Posts
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sam!zdat
United States5559 Posts
I had reading modeled for me at home from a young age, so for me that was what adults did: they read a lot of books. obviously most families are not like this | ||
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corumjhaelen
France6884 Posts
 that sucks.Things I've read in French class : The Martian Chronicles LoTR La Princesse de Clèves (which included 2 hours of explanation of a scene which has a pretty interesting sexual signification), La Curée by Zola (I believe it's his best work and the pitch is... interesting. basically a bored high society girl living among rich perverts sexually dominates her son-in-law out of boredom...) Ondine by Giraudoux, Journey to the Night's End (that's a dangerous book if I ever read one) If This Is a Man Electra by Giraudoux (in this modern readaptation of the play, Electra is histerically in love with Orestes and fantasises on his ears) Les Fleurs du Mal (that's some pretty dangerous poetry right there) Balzac, Flaubert and Racine are often read in good classes, and there is a lot of Molière read too, but usually his bad plays. The only sad thing is that we never read Shakespeare. Sucks really hard | ||
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sam!zdat
United States5559 Posts
that's a nice list though. I'm sure French education is quite superior to ours in many ways. We don't really have any kind of humanities curriculum in our school - just multiculturalism brainwashing. | ||
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corumjhaelen
France6884 Posts
On February 22 2013 03:51 sam!zdat wrote: Well, I dislike shakespeare, so I don't feel like you're missing out that's a nice list though. I'm sure French education is quite superior to ours in many ways. We don't really have any kind of humanities curriculum in our school - just multiculturalism brainwashing. Tsss, Hamlet too good. I love Shakespeare, but I had to read it outside of class. I was raised in a wealthy area though, I'm pretty sure in poorer places they have trouble making children read anything :/ Edit : and we have a Philosophy class in high school, which is a pretty good idea I think. Edit 2 : I also read The Trial because it was required reading for the literrary curriculum of my year. And teachers usually made you read a bit of Pascal and Montaigne during your scolarity. Far from perfect, but i'm happy with that in a way. Also I had a scientific cursus in which I was required to read Don Quixote, Proust, Marx, Chateaubriand, Augustine of Hippo... | ||
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sam!zdat
United States5559 Posts
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corumjhaelen
France6884 Posts
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ZapRoffo
United States5544 Posts
On February 22 2013 03:36 sam!zdat wrote: The books that you read in english class are not very good, because good books are dangerous, and they don't want you reading dangerous books (and they can't really have any sex or drugs in them, which makes it hard to pick books). they also have to cater to a lowest-common denominator (we are not a very literate society, kids will complain if they have to read more than a handful of pages for one assignment). I never much liked anything I read in school, just the books I read outside of school. IMO you can't be in denial about where the non-advanced kids are, I really think they should be reading stuff that at least gets them excited about reading, and I think you can teach English just as well from it (actually better since it doesn't alienate them and go over their heads). Popular literature, stuff like The Hunger Games. They can actually get into discussions on their level about theme, imagery, characterization, all of it. And you can even point out or develop ideas of where there is strong writing vs. weak writing using contrast (which is really absent in class). Then maybe if they build more enjoyment of reading, they have kids that start reading earlier, if we think long term like that, which is the only term in which anything could change anyway. | ||
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sam!zdat
United States5559 Posts
Like everything, though, if parents don't read, kids won't read. I think it might really be as simple as that, for the most part. Giving kids video games to play with doesn't help. | ||
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Xiphos
Canada7507 Posts
On February 22 2013 03:36 sam!zdat wrote: The books that you read in english class are not very good, because good books are dangerous, and they don't want you reading dangerous books (and they can't really have any sex or drugs in them, which makes it hard to pick books). they also have to cater to a lowest-common denominator (we are not a very literate society, kids will complain if they have to read more than a handful of pages for one assignment). I never much liked anything I read in school, just the books I read outside of school. I'm not exactly sure where that thought of yours came about but in my High School English classes, we had some great English literature books to be discussed. We read stuff like Catcher in the Rye, a book about a runaway teenagers which contained prostitution and the boy drinking an unusual amount of alcohol. Then there was A Streetcar Named Desire, powerful man getting the best of the women that he come around sexually and physically abused his wife. Despite these, he still emerged as a winner in the finale. There was Hunger Games which you can argue about rebellion and such. The last I remembered reading then was actually Mein Kampf, which I suppose is very known work by Hitler. Personally I think those are very well written and contain many violent acts that excited me a lot. It must have been your school(s) then. | ||
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Lokj
Netherlands439 Posts
On February 22 2013 05:55 Xiphos wrote: I'm not exactly sure where that thought of yours came about but in my High School English classes, we had some great English literature books to be discussed. We read stuff like Catcher in the Rye, a book about a runaway teenagers which contained prostitution and the boy drinking an unusual amount of alcohol. Then there was A Streetcar Named Desire, powerful man getting the best of the women that he come around sexually and physically abused his wife. Despite these, he still emerged as a winner in the finale. There was Hunger Games which you can argue about rebellion and such. The last I remembered reading then was actually Mein Kampf, which I suppose is very known work by Hitler. Personally I think those are very well written and contain many violent acts that excited me a lot. It must have been your school(s) then. Mein Kampf discussed in a class about English literature? What? Besides being a German book, i've also heard it's not well written, but just interesting to read because it's written by Hitler. Sorry for derailing the thread | ||
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sam!zdat
United States5559 Posts
edit: anyone ever read DeLillo's White Noise, though? this makes me think of "hitler studies" | ||
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DoctorHelvetica
United States15034 Posts
The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon By Blood by Ellen Ullman Yesterday I bought The Windup Bird Chronicles by Murakami and Moby Dick. Also, has anyone read Mo Yan? He won the Nobel for literature last year and perusing his book "Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out" tempted me to pick it up. Also up for any good mystery (particularly murder) or sci-fi recommendations if anything good has come out in the last few years. | ||
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sam!zdat
United States5559 Posts
On February 22 2013 06:27 DoctorHelvetica wrote: sci-fi recommendations if anything good has come out in the last few years. I'd recommend China Mieville's two newer books, The City & The City and Embassytown | ||
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ngri
Luxembourg136 Posts
![[image loading]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51gR1pyryKL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU02_.jpg){kind=icon} | ||
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skzlime
Hungary462 Posts
On February 22 2013 06:27 DoctorHelvetica wrote: Also up for any good mystery (particularly murder) or sci-fi recommendations if anything good has come out in the last few years. In case you haven't read it yet, Black Man by Richard Morgan is exactly what you're looking for. | ||
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sam!zdat
United States5559 Posts
![[image loading]](http://craphound.com/images/futureideascover.jpg) edit: "it would be crazy to sell the sidewalks; it would be crazy to nationalize GM" lessig, writing in 2001... LOLOLOLOLOLOL | ||
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Azera
3800 Posts
Currently reading Orwell's Down and Out in Paris and London. | ||
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xDaunt
United States17988 Posts
Any suggestions? | ||
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