Challenge: 50 Books discussion
2010
>
Melissa's list... Starting in May 2010
date
newest »
newest »
message 1:
by
Melissa
(last edited Apr 15, 2010 07:29AM)
(new)
Apr 15, 2010 07:28AM
I am going to start my challenge in May when I graduate from college, but before I begin, I would like to get a list of some really fabulous books that everyone should read. I'm thinking along the lines of Jane Austen and Charlotte Bronte, and the classic books that you're supposed to read in high school but most people skim through like Lord of the Flies. I would like to create of list of books to read. So please, let me know what books you think everyone should read at some point in their life. I welcome little kid books as well, I have a three year old niece and would love to be able to point out some good ones for her as well. Thanks everyone... let the reading begin...
reply
|
flag
When my son was a boy, we had a specific bedtime ritual. Every night I would read to him a chapter from the book Dr. Doolittle by Hugh Lofting. This was the original printing before the movie made Doolittle into a handsome, sexy Rex Harrison. The Dr was a short, balding, middle-aged man who could talk to animals and understand them. The concept was easy to understand for my young son, so he could follow the storyline from night to night. Recently I wanted to buy that book for HIS son, (my grandson), so when I came to visit I could read him a bedtime story, kind of carry on the ritual. I looked for the book at bookstores and found out that it has been reprinted in shorter, what they call 'classic' versions, very much thinner than the original. I was very disappointed, but perhaps if I look on the Amazon Used Book page, I can find a copy of the original words of the author, one that isn't dumbed down into paraphrasing.Another book we 'read' together was Mary Poppins, original print of course. My grandkids loved 'Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs', or so my daughter says. And Winnie the Pooh books are a favorite with young kids. I always chose books to read to him that I hadn't read in MY childhood. So we did not read Alice In Wonderland, and I'm not sure that it would be something a three-year-old would understand, but maybe...
Things you should've read in high school? To Kill a Mockingbird (that's a book everyone should read), A Seperate Peace, Jane Eyre, Johnny Got His Gun, The Outsiders, everything by Hemingway and Shakespeare. For the niece? At three my goddaughter's favorite was The Pokey Little Puppy, but I'd start collecting the Little House books. She'll be ready to snuggle in & read along soon. What little girl wouldn't see herself running barefoot through the praire grass? And the Oz books - yes, there's more than one - were my all time favorite before I discovered Laura Ingalls Wilder.
Little House...and Oz...I'd forgotten how much I enjoyed them both...as an adult, too. Over ten books in each series, so you won't run out too fast. Actually I wouldn't mind another trip through the Oz books myself, the original print that is. There are some books out there that are too stripped down for my taste.
Thank you so much for your help! These are fantastic ideas!
Carol wrote: "When my son was a boy, we had a specific bedtime ritual. Every night I would read to him a chapter from the book Dr. Doolittle by Hugh Lofting. This was the original printing before the movie mad..."
This is part of the reason, as stated in Wikipedia:
"The books have been accused of racism, due to their usage of derogatory terms for and depiction of certain ethnic groups, in both the text and illustrations. Editions in the United States sometimes had alterations made from the 1960s, but the books went out-of-print in the 1970s. In the United Kingdom, the unexpurgated books went out of print in 1981.
In 1986, to mark the centenary of Lofting's birth, new editions were published which had such passages rewritten or removed (sometimes called bowdlerisation). Offending illustrations were either removed (and replaced with unpublished Lofting originals) or altered."
This is part of the reason, as stated in Wikipedia:
"The books have been accused of racism, due to their usage of derogatory terms for and depiction of certain ethnic groups, in both the text and illustrations. Editions in the United States sometimes had alterations made from the 1960s, but the books went out-of-print in the 1970s. In the United Kingdom, the unexpurgated books went out of print in 1981.
In 1986, to mark the centenary of Lofting's birth, new editions were published which had such passages rewritten or removed (sometimes called bowdlerisation). Offending illustrations were either removed (and replaced with unpublished Lofting originals) or altered."
Thanks, Peg. That clears it up somewhat as to the politics...many other 'beloved' stories went the way of the censor also since I was younger. Personally what I think we have left is a blander mish-mash. At least now I know where I have to go back to to start looking.
