Killthepopular's comments (member since Jul 04, 2009)

Killthepopular's comments from the The Next Best Book Club group.

Mari Anne wrote: "How about some exciting memoir type books for the boys, i.e. Krakauer's "Into Thin Air" or "Into the Wild" or adventure books like "Three Cups of Tea" or "Shadow Divers". Maybe books with movie ti..."

The stand? Lord of the rings? The count of monte cristo? You're suggesting she gets 10th graders to read books that are over 1000pp long? I think thats probably why people don't mention those books...

Might be worth taking a look at this list as a clue to what books would be better avoided:
http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/534.R...

I personally loved lord of the flies but i suppose most kids don't get it.

When i was at school i was in the top of the 5 english class divisions at an above average school and as far as i was aware i was the only kid there who actually read for pleasure, or who at least read anything other than just YA lit. Even in good classes, it's unlikely that 90% of kids will be able to appreciate the literary masterpieces theyre forced to read, which is the reason why fantastic books like the call of the wild and lord of the flies get such bizzarrely low scores on this site.

So probably best to keep your selections short, simple and trashy. They mostly aren't gonna get something like Animal Farm, so just get them to read some YA garbage like twilight or harry potter. They'll certainly appreciate it more.

Also, to some extent it's difficult to enjoy any book when you study it at school. I read both "of mice and men" and "animal farm" for my own enjoyment a couple of years before we read them in class and i enjoyed them both, but found them both to be very flat and tiresome when we came to study them in class. Being surrounded by students who didn't enjoy the books churning out cookie-cutter answers to stock exam questions really saps the joy out of any book.
The whole education system is designed to make kids pass exams regardless of whether those exams truly represent any meaningful understanding of their subject matter. English, in my experience, is the worst subject in this respect. Curriculums are designed to be entirely useless and to alienate children from every subject. You've got to be a really special teacher to make kids enjoy a subject under pressures like that.

I only buy second hand books. I guess this year i've bought something like 25 books at an average of £1.70 per book which is £42

WHat? Limeys is a well-known nickname for the brits, deriving from the fact tht we supposedly ate loads of limes at sea to stave off scurvy. It's certainly not an offensive one. Just vaguely derogatory. Like "yank".

Svetlana wrote: "Journey into the Whirlwind

War and Peace

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone[bookco..."

Never thought i'd see Rowling and tolstoy sitting side by side.

In no order:
1. Mockingbird

2.

3.

4.

5. Down and out in Paris and London By George Orwell

6.

7.

8. War and Peace

9. Catch-22 by joseph heller

10. All Quiet on the Western Front

Maybe i am a list junkie. Either way, it just goes against my own sense of propriety tht there should be these other lists and not an american one when probably most of my favourite books have come from america.

And re: list junkie; the fact that this group has 2 separate discussion forums dedicated to lists suggests tht i'm not the only person around here who likes lists.

charity shops and bargain bookstores. Never had enough disposable income to just go throwing it all away on full price books, but it's nice to own a book so if you like it you can keep it, if you don't you can give it to a charity shop and continue (inadvertently) helping out ppl less well off than yourself, simply by pursuing your own interests.
Also there's the thrill of coming across totally random stuff in charity shops. Strolling along the alphabetically ordered, extremely well stocked and generally pricey shelves in waterstones just isn't the same.

Then again, once you've bought all these books you need to find somewhere to store 'em; A problematic issue that the bulging shelves and several feet high pile of books in my room will attest to.

Usually a combination of reputation and synopsis. I'd never rent or buy a book I'd never heard of. First i find books that are well known or highly rated somewhere or other then if the synopsis appeals to me i read it. Sometimes length is a factor though. Much less likely to read anything over 500pp.

This approach means i've been reading a lot more sci-fi recently. Most sci-fi novels have really interesting synopses whereas many classic novels its like "spoilt rich girl needs to get a job", "buttoned down, henpecked middle age man leaves his wife", YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWWWWNNNNNNNNNN.

I made 2 lists just for this very purpose.
http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/2438....
http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/2437....

Just bumping this thread back up. There's still only like 14 voters on this list in comparison to the British list (106 voters), the russian list (162) and the French list (141).
Is this the way you guys represent your nation's literature? Hm? is it? Gonna let those Limeys, Russians and Frenchies beat you after all the trouble you've had with them in the past?

J.G.Ballard
George Orwell
Oscar Wilde
Alan Moore
H. G. Wells
Britain's OK but america has definitely produced more great writers.

10th grade boys? I guess something like harry potter or His dark materials would be the obvious choice. I remember everyone in my year going crazy for the Harry potter books when i was in the 9th or 10th year.

If you want lit tht would specifically appeal to the male psychology:
The Postman Always Rings Twice
Ham on Rye A Novel
Ask the Dust
Catch-22
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Fight Club A Novel
Lord of the Flies (i read this when i was in year 9 and was blown away)
I Am Legend

Vicki wrote: "Hi all, this year is going to be my first year teaching American Literature (10th grade) in a large, extremely diverse, suburban/urban district. I am teaching an honors class, two standards and one..."

The scarlet letter and the red badge of courage are 2 of the most notoriously boring novels for a school student to read. Catcher i personally have never been hugely impressed by.

Everyone loves to kill a mockingbird so that's always a good bet.
And fahrenheit 451 and the old man and the sea are short, easy to understand exciting thrillers. So go with those 3.

also, regarding the other users recommendations, If you're gonna read dostoevsky (which you should) start with Crime and punishment as it's widely considered to be his best and is about half the length of the bros karamazov.
The count of monte cristo is an overlong pulp thriller with a fantastic story but little substance, which is OK if that's your sort of thing.
War and peace is a longer and more trying reading experience than Anna Karenina but is unquestionably the superior novel.

why do they need to be classics? Are great novels that don't have 101 english courses based on them not worthy of your attention? And how exactly are you defining "classic" anyway?
Here are the best, most famous books I've read:

The Picture of Dorian Gray
Crime and Punishment
War and Peace Though this is like over 1000p long. Incidentally, why suggest Tolstoy yourself and THEN ask for no books that are too long? Sure it's long but it's also probably the greatest novel ever written. Too many ppl avoid it because it's too long. War and Peace is tragically under-read amongst goodreads users.
Catch-22
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
All Quiet on the Western Front
The Grapes of Wrath
Fahrenheit 451
Lord of the Flies
One Hundred Years of Solitude

EDIT: sorry, you have read more modern books than the great gatsby. Wasnt paying attention.

Fairly instantly. Don't really see why you would wait... Sometimes i skim through a book tht i've enjoyed after i've finished it but before i start another, just to solidify some of the action and details in my memory, particularly if its a library book tht i have to return. Otherwise i don't wait to start then next book. Why would you?

Oscar wilde short stories. When i was like... 12.

Sounds like you want something relaxing and not distracting. Those many bogus "classical chillout" cds that line bargain bins are the way go for mellow unarresting guff.

Mozart and bach are pretty good bets but Beethoven is pretty striking (distracting).
Minimalism would be a good bet. Try steve reich's music for 18 musicians and arvo part's "passio".
Pre-baroque choral music would be a good bet too. Thomas tallis... hildegard von bingen, guillame de machaut, Carlo Gesualdo...

Actually the baroque period in general is pretty good for unarresting music that can sit in the background without you noticing it. Bach, Purcell, Vivaldi, Scarlatti, Handel...

Really if you dont know anything then just look for classical chillout albums. That'll suffice.

Internet is best for looking for specific books. Otherwise i mostly just like to browse secondhand/bargain bookshops and pick up any books i've heard of that look good.

Petra X wrote: "This came from the Guardian newspaper, 20 June 2009.

It is the full list of the 100 best works of fiction, alphabetically by author, as determined from a vote by 100 noted writers from 54 countr..."

22 books. Pedro Paramo was the worst, war and peace the best.

Mildred Pierce
Camilla Lopez from Ask the Dust
Ma Joad from The Grapes of Wrath
Clarisse from Fahrenheit 451. I met this girl who i totally fell for a few years back and my first thought was "she reminds me of clarisse".
the three sisters from dostoevskys The Idiot.
Esmaralda from The Hunchback of Notre-Dame