Reading with Style discussion
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message 1001:
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Jayme(theghostreader)
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Sep 10, 2019 04:23PM
I am so sorry for your loss Caraline. I had a dear friend pass away from diabetic complications a few years ago.
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Coralie, I am so terribly sorry.
Goodness gracious, Coralie - how traumatic for you and your Dad. I'm so very sorry.
Coralie I am so sorry for you loss. Don I am glad that you are on the mend and feel better.
Dear CoralieI hope your memories of your mother provide comfort in your loss.
Mary
So sorry for you Coralie.... I hope you can find some comfort in short time.
Coralie, I'm very sorry for your loss of your mother and your other family members.
Coralie, so very sorry to hear about your mum (& your sister & aunt).
Coralie I am sorry for your losses. How awful for your dad. Sending thoughts of comfort and strength to both of you and your family.
Coralie, words mean so little at a time like this but I'm so, so sorry. Sending loving thoughts to you and yours.
Coralie, my heart is heavy for you and your family. In the past two years, I have had my own experience of grieving and know how it can impact your life. And, although my mom died six weeks ago, it was expected. I cannot begin to wrap my mind around the suddenness of your mother's death. May you and your father find comfort in good memories, the support of friends and family and each other.
Thank you everyone for your kind thoughts. I am really hoping that these things come in threes (but just this time) and that this will be the last for a while.
I'm so sorry to hear about this, Coralie. What a dreadful loss. My thoughts are with you xx
The last few days, I have been living with some of our past challenges. In Winter 11/12, one of the tasks had you reading from the list, Read These In School - Would Have Preferred A Root Canal.As serendipity would have it, I had to have a root canal earlier in the week. (Not a big deal, I'm just sort of amused that it came up at this time.)
I was looking at the books on the list, and think we are forced to read some of the books before we have had much life experience. I remember thinking that "Moby Dick" would never end, and feeling bored as Silas Marner counted his money when I was in high school. I'm sure I would appreciate them more now.
Connie wrote: "I was looking at the books on the list, and think we are forced to read some of the books before we have had much life experience. I remember thinking that "Moby Dick" would never end, and feeling ..."I completely agree. I hope to read The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne before the end of the year. I read it in 1979 when I was in High School. All I really remember about it was feeling guilty like I had done something wrong. I think the teacher found it a great opportunity to give some "just say no" type lectures. I do not have any clear memories of the actual book. This book deserves a second chance with adult eyes.
Lynn, The Scarlet Letter is one I should reread too. I read it in high school before half of the class had even started dating. I'm glad they have recently added some multicultural and more contemporary books to the high school book list.
Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "The last few days, I have been living with some of our past challenges. In Winter 11/12, one of the tasks had you reading from the list, Read These In School - Would Have Preferred A Root Canal.A..."
Sorry about your root canal. That is something I have yet to experience, but it sounds awful. I just read through the list. There are so many books there that I absolutely love. Some like The Pearl, Of Mice and Men, and The Good Earth are books that I read as a teenager in school, and I loved them. There are others that to this day I do not want to read like Lord of the Flies. Picking the right book is such a personal thing and it depends upon a person's place and time in life.
Right now the curriculum "experts" are trying to push The Outsiders out of the curriculum. It is beloved by so many of the students. Boys who absolutely hate reading and are going to refuse to read later in the year, will ask permission to read ahead on their own. Of course I always say! If we can't teach it in Middle School because it is "too easy" then it can never be used because the subject matter is much too mature for elementary school: murder, constant smoking, gang fights, alcoholism, and pregnancy.
It is considered too easy because of the Lexile, but it is filled with idioms that we must teach - go figure! Last week in my class we spent an entire day looking at the foundational text "Nothing Gold Can Stay" by Robert Frost, which is found in the book. We analyzed it line by line, applied the theme of the poem to the dilemma that Ponyboy and Johnny find themselves in, and finally determined whether three of the characters were static or dynamic according to their actions in the book. And the kids enjoyed it. Sigh.
If we only go by Lexile then large groups of classics can never be used in classrooms: The Outsiders, To Kill a Mockingbird, Of Mice and Men. Fahrenheit 451, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, the entire Sherlock Holmes canon, and The Catcher in the Rye. It's idiocy. They then say "find a contemporary book with a high lexile to use". We all say "Good luck". The contemporary books coming out are mostly Hi/Lo. That means High interest but low Lexile. So there is my work related rant. We literally wasted 6 hours in an all day "literacy" meeting about this issue last year, and now we must have another in two weeks. A literate population should actually read literature.
If you check the lexile on adult oriented books many of them are very low, for instance most of Agatha Christie and even The Handmaid's Tale is 750, the exact level as The Outsiders.
The goal for 8th grade lexile is 900 - 1200. All of our texts for the rest of the year meet that mark, with the exception of The Diary of Anne Frank: And Related Readings, which will probably be next on the chopping block. All the other texts are short stories or informational texts.
Yes, indeed. Lexile looks only at vocabulary and sentence structure. It has no method of looking at content. I'm glad you're seeing boys of that age willing to read at all and I applaud you for finding titles that will interest and encourage them.I freely admit I had never even heard of Lexile before coming to this group. Our founder was a grade 9/10 English teacher, but this group is for adults. Many of the readers in the group we came from were YA readers and he felt some threshold should be established. I'm glad he did that, but again, we are adults. You can read the lower Lexile titles, they just don't qualify for extra credit.
And just a note: To Kill a Mockingbird was too new to have been taught when I was in high school. However, as controversial as it was at the time - pre-civil rights legislation - I'm guessing we wouldn't have been exposed to it anyway.
Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Yes, indeed. Lexile looks only at vocabulary and sentence structure. It has no method of looking at content. I'm glad you're seeing boys of that age willing to read at all and I applaud you for fin..."My rant at the school strictures does not reflect on group rules at all.
Lynn wrote: "My rant at the school strictures does not reflect on group rules at all."Oh, and I didn't take it that way. I thought perhaps a bit of background for the group might be of interest. As I said, Lexile was an entirely new concept for me. Added to this is our choice of BPL as the arbiter. None of us wanted nor felt qualified to say what is YA and what is not. A former moderator lives in Brooklyn and we found that library - which serves 2.5 million people and has a large holding - had a YA shelf/designation. It includes books that are taught in classrooms. Together with the Bloom's Western Canon list, our using it has proved very helpful to choosing which books we even look at for a Lexile score.
I cannot even imagine your frustration. Not every student is able to read at grade level. I think it is important - perhaps even more important - to find materials that will reach some of these students while still interesting those who can read far above grade level.
Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Lynn wrote: "My rant at the school strictures does not reflect on group rules at all."Oh, and I didn't take it that way. I thought perhaps a bit of background for the group might be of interest. ..."
: )
Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Rebekah wrote: "to my mother, (God bless her soul) for reading to us every night, every time I was sick and just because."This is the best part, and just because."
❤️
Thank you applauding my speech. I was in a silly mood that night although it happens more nights than not
Don (The Book Guy) wrote: "I just made my first posting since sometime in May. I went in for what I though would be a test and maybe a couple of days off. After going through bypass heart surgery, I didn't feel like doing mu..."OMG! I am so GLAD you are back! How scary that must have been! Good thing you got it taken care of. Stay healthy now, you hear?
I just finished a book published in 1944 and I was sooooo ready for it. It was so gentle compared to what I’ve been reading. I know a lot of people are nostalgic for that simpler time, but of course most that are were children then so of course it seemed more innocent and golden. Myself remember the 60’s and 70’s that way but I’m sure my parents thought it was a coming apocalypse with drug culture, Vietnam, Watergate, oil embargo etc...However they seemed to write stories that were more about the characters and making them real life and common everyday problems before the 70’s. This book had the word “Damn” about twice and both times, someone was highly offended by it.
It seems like since the 70’s, harsh words especially referring to women and their body parts, are obligatory to every conversation. And apparently a book of fiction can’t sell or be published without weird sex/rape, graphic violence with a bit or torture, lots of greed and self interest and at least one or more disturbing sociopaths in the mix.
It’s bad enough I’ve been reading a lot of NF about Palestine and the ME, pollution, disease, extreme poverty, murders, wars, massacres, child abuse, racism , immigration, current politics, sexism, and current politics but my last few fiction books have burned me out, The Sellout, Bliss, Pines and Radiance of Tomorrow. I actually had to stop A Brief History of Seven Killings, it was too much for now and it was time for one of those books that feel like an old favorite quilt your grandmother made you, in a big overstuffed chair.
Does anybody else have “comfort books” for when realism gets to be too much?
Valerie wrote: "Rebekah wrote: "VALERIE!!4 books in 3 days?! You’re making the rest of us look lazy! ;-)"
Well, they were short (really short in the case of the play) - let's be honest. Also, I found the three n..."
I understand. Once we had a sub challenge by number of pages. I think the first was even 75-100 pages, then increments of 50 on up. I got the first three of the shortest done right quick, but people who didn’t know the challenge that I took speed reading courses!
Rebekah wrote: "I just finished a book published in 1944 and I was sooooo ready for it. It was so gentle compared to what I’ve been reading. I know a lot of people are nostalgic for that simpler time, but of cours..."I tried to respond to this last night and literally fell asleep with the lap top in my lap. I will start over. Yes, my concerns mirror your. We are reading The Outsiders in my class right now - serious teenage angst. Then all of December will be Anne Frank - evil, death, and destruction. I am ALWAYS trying to find books that lighten the mood a bit. For me, the comfort books are silly Science Fiction and Fantasy. A perfect example of that would be my John Carter Barsoom #1-3 I read this summer.
An Australian classic that was used in their classrooms for a long time is My Brilliant Career. In a way it is an Outback Anne of Green Gables - but still very different. I enjoyed it. If you want to cry buckets about dogs try A Dog's Purpose or any of his series of dog books. Marley and Me: Life and Love With the World's Worst Dog is also fun but sad. Double Indemnity and The Postman Always Rings Twice by James M. Cain have professionally done audiobooks available on Youtube which are fun. Finally, I read an excellent book by Sommerset Maugham this summer The Razor's Edge which I really enjoyed. I then watched the Bill Murray film version as well as the old 1930s or 1940s version on Amazon Prime. It was great! My final solution for too much harsh reality in reading is to reread a childhood classic like Heidi. I read Heidi last spring when we were in the middle of high pressure state testing.
Oh, if you have never read or watched Poldark, there is a twelve book series - I read #1-2 this summer. There are also PBS/BBC series of the books.
Lynn wrote: "Rebekah wrote: "I just finished a book published in 1944 and I was sooooo ready for it. It was so gentle compared to what I’ve been reading. I know a lot of people are nostalgic for that simpler ti..."Oh, Lynn! Heidi is my special book! When I was in 2nd grade, I got 3 Day measles and the wisdom of the day was that the patient mustn’t strain their eyes so no TV and no sunlight or bright lights. So to keep me entertained, my mother started reading an old, large edition from the 1910’s. I was well enough to return to school before the book was finished and my Mom went back to her job, but since I could “use my eyes” now, I was too impatient and finished the last couple of chapters myself. Of course I cried! When I got some birthday money, I bought this easier to read version, my first book purchase!
And read it like 3 times! Then I took it to my 3rd grade teacher to read to the class. When I took a trip to Frankfurt, I found a beautiful leather bound German edition and I just had to buy it as a gift for my Mom. When I read it to my kids, I still cried when Heidi was so distressed about not seeing her Swiss Alps from the tower of the church! My 1st chapter book that got me into reading!I’ve never heard of Poldark. I’ll have to look it up. A couple of challenges ago I read Master of the Grove that an Ozzie friend of mine said had been her childhood favorite. It’s not always easy to get Australian books here unless it’s pretty new or is Peter Carey. I still haven’t been able to find a copy of Voss around here.
Rebekah wrote: "Lynn wrote: "Rebekah wrote: "I just finished a book published in 1944 and I was sooooo ready for it. It was so gentle compared to what I’ve been reading. I know a lot of people are nostalgic for th..."So glad we could connect on Heidi
I loved "Heidi" too. I saw the Shirley Temple version when I was younger on TV.
Lynn wrote: "An Australian classic that was used in their classrooms for a long time is My Brilliant Career. In a way it is an Outback Anne of Green Gables - but still very different. I enjoyed it."ah! Never thought of it like that - supposed it is in a way. There's another book which I found closer to Anne though: The Green Wind (The Robinson Family #1) set after WWII so even if the girl isn't an orphan, I found in everything else she's basically Anne...
Rebekah wrote: "I just finished a book published in 1944 and I was sooooo ready for it. It was so gentle compared to what I’ve been reading. I know a lot of people are nostalgic for that simpler time, but of cours..."Yes, definitely is the answer to the comfort book question! For me it is Golden age British mysteries, 'vintage'/classic science fiction or fantasy novels. Very (very) occasionally a straight ahead romance novel will sneak in there.
When things get tough, the tough turn to Agatha Christie....... ha, ha!
I don't know if Beth ever looks in this thread, but I had to say.....This is the best and most accurate description of the two Pynchon novels I've read (Gravity's Rainbow + The Crying of Lot 49):
'I could look at it at any given moment and have a few paragraphs in a row make sense, but if I let my eyes or attention expand, things started looking really very surreal and confusing." (from her review at post 326).
Well put, Beth!
Our annual Friends of the Library book sale is this weekend and I was there bright and early yesterday. I love this event, where I not only get to see a vast array and wide variety of books, but also other enthusiastic Ketchikan readers. I had no problem finding books that needed my good home. I'm not exactly having buyer's remorse, mind you, but I had to get creative about finding places for my acquisitions. I have been ignoring the explosion of the number of my onhand/unread books, but I'm afraid I really must start paying attention. I'll not disallow the purchase of books, but I might have to set some sort of restriction such as "you must read X number of books you already have before you can purchase just one."
Good luck with that, Elizabeth! :)
LOL. Well, I made a tiny step this morning and chose to leave unread the emails I get about Kindle specials. One day does not a new habit make, and we'll see how long I can keep it up.
Isn't it amazing how the discovery of a book you didn't know about or a book that fits a task perfectly that the library doesn't have can break down the resolve not to buy more? At least that always happens to me;)
I have to be honest and say that happens largely because I decide to do the sub-challenge, but I'm short just one book (sometimes two). If the moderators would just write tasks that perfectly fit what I already have, it would be less of a problem. Or so I think today anyway.
Karen Michele wrote: "Isn't it amazing how the discovery of a book you didn't know about or a book that fits a task perfectly that the library doesn't have can break down the resolve not to buy more? At least that alway..."Oh my goodness..... yes! That explains a lot in my overflowing TBR 'shelf' (which is really the floor!).
Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "I have to be honest and say that happens largely because I decide to do the sub-challenge, but I'm short just one book (sometimes two). If the moderators would just write tasks that perfectly fit w..."Ha, ha.... those mods.....
Ha Ha! I went to a used book sale at a local church having a chocolate festival. Two things I cannot miss - books and chocolate.Well, I only came home with one book, but I was excited to have found it...only to get on GR to register it and find that I have already read it! Guess I will move it on to my library's book sale.
Bea wrote: "Ha Ha! I went to a used book sale at a local church having a chocolate festival. Two things I cannot miss - books and chocolate.Well, I only came home with one book, but I was excited to have foun..."
I've done that before! Now I take my phone with me so I can look ones I'm unsure about up.
So... I found out there are some audiobooks on spotify & started listening to DublinersI was so confused as I can't seem to make heads or tails of the book. I know it's a collection of short stories but still there should be some sort of sense...
Errr... I've got 'shuffle play' on! ha ha ha ha... restarting from the beginning lol
Reminder!The cut off for group rewards is November 1 this season. While that's still 3+ weeks away, you might use the early date to decide which books to read and post between now and then.
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