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Post by En on May 21, 2003 21:05:35 GMT -5
Yeah, I kind of look at Catcher the same way that I do Frankenstein or Steppenwolf-- it's an important book, and the story is interesting, but I don't personally like the main (human) character. I'm glad I read it, though, because now I have that common ground with people who have also read it. Kind of like--sometimes I watch movies I don't like, just because movies are something lots of people can talk about, and I like being able to talk to people about things they know and like.
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Isbister15
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Mmmm...chocolate
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Post by Isbister15 on May 21, 2003 21:19:31 GMT -5
Exactly, En. I think I might actually have been the only person in high school who didn't have to read this book in any English class, so it felt kind of odd not knowing anything about it. Never really bothered me that much, but I figured reading it on my own couldn't hurt and then maybe I'd see what the whole appeal was. Of course, it's probably a good thing I never had to read it for class because I'm sure I would have written a really nasty paper about it which the teacher would have undoubtedly been offended by. (Yes, this has happened to me. ;D) And I sometimes read or watch things that I know I won't like just so I can add more details to my criticism of it. That's horrible, I know. (Although sometimes I am pleasantly surprised. )
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Post by En on May 21, 2003 21:24:11 GMT -5
And I sometimes read or watch things that I know I won't like just so I can add more details to my criticism of it. That's horrible, I know. (Although sometimes I am pleasantly surprised. ) Me too, me too... I think it's really important to be able to back up my opinions, you know? Plus, a little friendly disagreement with someone over what's good can be fun.
I didn't have to read Catcher either. It was probably because my teachers had their own specialties in literature -- John liked Dickens and Cather, LoAnn liked The Great Gatsby and The Scarlet Letter (eeew), and Keith just liked watching kids come up with weird and funny projects demonstrating their understanding of The Odyssey and so forth.
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Post by Ritsu on Aug 16, 2003 17:10:46 GMT -5
Whatever you do, avoid Lorna Doone. I hated it so much I can't even remember the author. It's like . I accidentally picked it while searching for "The White Oleander" on mum's shelf and.... okay, I really really didn't like it.
I've been trying to read D. H. Lawrence's Sons and Lovers. I don't know why I'm not liking it. Maybe because it's an abridged version ((the sort of books I read when I was in 6th grade ))... because it's got lots of things to be a good novel. So maybe I'll just have to buy the complete version because... the abridged one sounds too weird and fast and everything. One day he's 6, the other day he's already making love to Clara and Miriam. *shakes head* Just weird.
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Post by En on Aug 18, 2003 15:53:42 GMT -5
The weird thing with Lawrence is the verbal rhythm -- I dunno if everyone would think this, but -- I read a story by Lawrence once and hated it, and then I heard someone read part of it aloud and I loved it. Weird. It drips off the tongue. But when I'm looking at it on a page, it seems disjointed.
Fodor's travel guides. They stink. They're so... so... plebian. Bleah.
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MagPie
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Post by MagPie on Nov 12, 2003 20:41:57 GMT -5
Doesn't get En's Toad reference but still loves their album Fear.One book that I absolutely hate, which I only read because so many people seem to love it, is The Catcher in the Rye. Yep. Hated it. Never had to read it in high school, as I know most people do. From what I'd heard about it, I expected something much more than what I got from reading it. Holden seemed like an overly whiny, ill-tempered kid from a privileged background who is just looking for more things to complain about. I didn't look at his rambling thoughts as "deep," but as annoying, pointless diatribes that never seemed to end. Ok, I have to just say I didn't even read the rest of this thread b/c I HAD to stop here! I feel the need to come to Holden's defense. Izzy, I won't be hard on you b/c it is very difficult to like Holden Caulfield if you are reading the book for the first time when you are over the age of 15 or 16. I'm reminded right now of how I felt about Harry while reading Order of the Phoenix. I know this is the Restricted Section but it's such a good comparison. I really did not like Harry very much at all. He was whiny and poor me and pushing people away who just wanted to help him. My sister, LOVED the book a lot more b/c she is 15 and could relate a lot better than I can at 24. So the older you are the harder it is to like Holden. But I just LOVE that book! The way he is with Phoebe is great...when he's watching her on the merry-go-round...tugs on my heartstrings like you can't believe! I'm on the verge of tears right now! When I was in H.S. I did a lot of underlining in my books and that is by far the most underlined book I own. Anyway, I just think it's somethng you should maybe give another chance...it's not like it's a hard read. And maybe keep 15 year old Harry in mind. Anyone reading this who is still in high school, I urge you to read it while you might still relate. I actually have been thinking lately about how much I wish I had time to read it again... Oh, yeah, and dont' read TEXTThe House on Mango Street TEXT En, I am sure you'll have something to say about that as you recommended it to someone in the Pharmacy...I honestly don't remember anything about the book except my extreme hatred of it.
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Post by En on Nov 13, 2003 12:07:05 GMT -5
It's fair if you didn't like it, MagPie, but I'm curious, what didn't you like about it?
Mm. Agreed on the Holden/Harry comparison; that's a good way to look at it. They are from a time of life when those questions are urgent and pressing, and I'm from a time of life when those questions are... not part of my life. So it's a bit like me reading a book about life in, say, Athens 5th century BCE or something; it's like looking at a different culture that I remember stuff about but don't really want to live in anymore.
Psst, MagPie, if you replace the word "TEXT" with what you want to put in italics -- between the [ i] and the [/i] -- that's how that works.[/size][/color]
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MagPie
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Posts: 449
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Post by MagPie on Nov 13, 2003 16:27:37 GMT -5
Well, like I said, I don't really remember the book at all. I had to read it in high school and I just remember having to FORCE myself to get through it. In the school I work in, there's this one hallway with all these pics of authors on the wall and that author (name escapes me now and I know it's going to come back the second I hit "post") is one of them. I get...I don't know, bitter or something every time I walk past it. I think I remember being bored.
Thanks for the italics tip...how do I shrink the font size? That stuff is so much easier on AIM!
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Post by En on Nov 13, 2003 17:15:41 GMT -5
Hm. I think boring-ness is usually more a factor of the book not catching the reader in the right tone at the right time. For example, the Lord of the Rings trilogy bores the pants off some people, but when the same people watch the movies, they love them. Or, another example, I have a friend who hated Lord of the Flies with a passion, and then one day he'd been telling his son how important it was to read the course books for English and the kid had to read Lord of the Flies, and he dared my friend to read it too -- and the kid hated it, and my friend loved it. Same book, 35 years later, and he loved it. *shrug*
(Oh, if you want to do the shrinky thing, type [ size = 1 ] (without the spaces) at the start and [/size] at the end. If you use 3 or 4, that makes the text bigger; default is 2.)[/color]
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MagPie
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Post by MagPie on Nov 13, 2003 17:28:58 GMT -5
Yeah, I can see that, which is also what fueled me to comment on [/i]Catcher in the Rye[/i] (did that work?)...I know it's hard to relate to the older you get but I just feel a need to recruit fans
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Ceridwen
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Honi Soit Qui Mal Y Pense
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Post by Ceridwen on Nov 14, 2003 9:10:18 GMT -5
Gack. Lorna Doone? Hated it. The only good thing I got from it was the word 'blunderbuss'. I tried to read 'Mein Kampf' one time because a friend had been really 'dangerous', 'daring' and 'cool' and had ordered it with his mother's credit card. I found it (or, at least, the seven pages I managed to stomach) to be utter hogwash. That and 'Dianetics' by L Ron Hubbard, supplied by the same mad friend. I think I managed the first chapter, and that was a stretch.
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Post by En on Nov 14, 2003 12:33:16 GMT -5
Oooh, Dianetics really chaps my hide. When I think of all those poor people out there pouring their money into what is basically a great big pyramid scheme with some invented articles of faith... ugh.
And I never made it through Mein Kampf either. I tried, but I found Hitler to be a whiny, selfrighteous dunderhead, and that was before I got to the supposed justifications for his fascism and genocide. For the sake of knowing, I should probably read it, but as there's enough for me to breathe fire about with the present "president" of my own nation...
[tangent]From a Slate article by Michael Kinsley about W's speech on freedom: "The eloquence would be more impressive if there were any reason to suppose that Bush thinks words have meaning." *laughs hirself silly but doesn't really think it's funny* [/tangent]
O, well, speaking of, anyone try to read that unbelievably hyped-up report Bush made to the UN back at the beginning of this mindless bloodbath? Apparently none of the US legislature did, because they all supported the "war".... The rhetoric was crammed with logical fallacies and emotionally charged words; I would have expected better out of a 19th-century Dr. Moneypenny's All-Purpose Powder salesman. Politicians these days; didn't they learn proper public speaking in school? Why, the school system ought to flunk them all for not reading their Marcus Aurelius...
Aaanyway. I will add to my list of don't reads anything that has "soul" and some word for "darkness" in the title, unless someone can think of a good one.
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Post by Valkyrie on Dec 9, 2003 2:01:06 GMT -5
I absolutely despise Lady Chatterly's Lover. I didn't find the whole love story believable and there was something so disturbingly voyueristic about the whole thing... I don't know. I can't even explain it. There are other books I haven't liked, there are books I haven't finished because I disliked them so much... But I'd honestly never hated a book before I read that one. Which made me sad inside.
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Ceridwen
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Post by Ceridwen on Dec 9, 2003 5:24:46 GMT -5
Hey, yeah! I remember when I was teaching classes last year my students asked me about Lady Chatterley's Lover, (because of the *erm* 'Anglo-Saxon' words found in it) and I had to tell them to avoid it like the plague. It's genuinely a bad book, which is a pity, because I really like DH Lawrence's other stuff, particularly his collection of short stories called 'The Mortal Coil and Other Stories'. I hated it, too, which is unfortunate, because I'm sure Lawrence would be saddened to think the book most people remember him for is total rubbish.
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Post by Valkyrie on Dec 9, 2003 15:51:13 GMT -5
Okay, who feels better that a teacher agrees with them about this book? Me! Yeah... definitely did it for an outside reading project my senior year of high school. And I read in class all the time (only when we weren't doing stuff.... really...)... That wasn't awkward, no, not at all. I really do need to get over my prejudice against Lawrence and read some of his other stuff.
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