Author Topic: Book Thread  (Read 50047 times)

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Offline Ali the Baseball Cat

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Re: Buk Reedin' Thred (Book Thread)
« Reply #375: October 31, 2012, 11:59:55 AM »
Actually, Tom Wolfe is a solid contender for the bad nookie award.  'I am Charlotte Simmons' even had sound effects  :rofl: 

Offline tomterp

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Re: Buk Reedin' Thred (Book Thread)
« Reply #376: October 31, 2012, 08:41:29 PM »
That sounds terrible. Hope she wins the Bad Sex Award because that would be hilarious.

The aforementioned Stephen King novel was a nominee for this dubious distinction.

Offline PANatsFan

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Re: Buk Reedin' Thred (Book Thread)
« Reply #377: October 31, 2012, 08:47:44 PM »
Any suggestions on Star Wars books that follow closely with the movie series, especially the original trio?


Read the novel of Star Wars, it's actually written by George Lucas.

Offline Ali the Baseball Cat

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Re: Buk Reedin' Thred (Book Thread)
« Reply #378: November 01, 2012, 02:34:10 PM »
Didn't Carrie Fisher boink Lucas for the Princess Leia role?


Read the novel of Star Wars, it's actually written by George Lucas.


Offline Vega

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Re: Buk Reedin' Thred (Book Thread)
« Reply #379: November 24, 2012, 12:55:17 AM »
Does anyone know of any books with fantasy elements; i.e. wizards, elves, dwarves, magic, etc, in outer space?

Offline Nathan

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Re: Buk Reedin' Thred (Book Thread)
« Reply #380: November 24, 2012, 01:23:15 AM »
I was browsing amazon a few weeks ago and found something like that, but I forget what it was called.  Actually, I think there may have been some stuff like that in the box of books PA gave me, I'll have to look.

Offline Terpfan76

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Re: Buk Reedin' Thred (Book Thread)
« Reply #381: November 24, 2012, 10:21:12 AM »
Does anyone know of any books with fantasy elements; i.e. wizards, elves, dwarves, magic, etc, in outer space?

I think there was a D&D series of books based on Dark Sun. Something like that.

Offline Ali the Baseball Cat

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Re: Buk Reedin' Thred (Book Thread)
« Reply #382: November 24, 2012, 10:23:32 AM »
The Bible?
Does anyone know of any books with fantasy elements; i.e. wizards, elves, dwarves, magic, etc, in outer space?


Offline Terpfan76

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Re: Buk Reedin' Thred (Book Thread)
« Reply #383: November 24, 2012, 01:26:26 PM »

Offline mitlen

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Re: Buk Reedin' Thred (Book Thread)
« Reply #384: November 24, 2012, 02:27:56 PM »
Does anyone know of any books with fantasy elements; i.e. wizards, elves, dwarves, magic, etc, in outer space?

The Bible?


Really???? Come on man...

These exchanges made me laugh  ...  thanks.

Offline blue911

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Re: Buk Reedin' Thred (Book Thread)
« Reply #385: December 02, 2012, 11:23:01 PM »
Just bought A Confederacy of Dunces.

Offline HalfSmokes

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Re: Buk Reedin' Thred (Book Thread)
« Reply #386: December 03, 2012, 09:22:41 AM »
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/common-core-state-standards-in-english-spark-war-over-words/2012/12/02/4a9701b0-38e1-11e2-8a97-363b0f9a0ab3_story.html?hpid=z3

to me, this is sad

Quote
The Common Core State Standards in English, which have been adopted in 46 states and the District, call for public schools to ramp up nonfiction so that by 12th grade students will be reading mostly “informational text” instead of fictional literature. But as teachers excise poetry and classic works of fiction from their classrooms, those who designed the guidelines say it appears that educators have misunderstood them.

there's something to be said for getting exposed to literature in school

Offline tomterp

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Re: Buk Reedin' Thred (Book Thread)
« Reply #387: December 11, 2012, 12:57:18 PM »
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/common-core-state-standards-in-english-spark-war-over-words/2012/12/02/4a9701b0-38e1-11e2-8a97-363b0f9a0ab3_story.html?hpid=z3

to me, this is sad

there's something to be said for getting exposed to literature in school

An excerpt from the linked article:

Quote
Jamie Highfill is mourning the six weeks’ worth of poetry she removed from her eighth-grade English class at Woodland Junior High School in Fayetteville, Ark. She also dropped some short stories and a favorite unit on the legends of King Arthur to make room for essays by Malcolm Gladwell and a chapter from “The Tipping Point,” Gladwell’s book about social behavior.


"The Tipping Point" is an excellent read- provocative, informative, enlightening and not in the least bit boring.  If it were about making this sort of substitution, I'd say we need more. 

Offline Kevrock

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Re: Buk Reedin' Thred (Book Thread)
« Reply #388: December 11, 2012, 01:03:46 PM »
Hopefully they cut "The Grapes of Wrath".

Offline HalfSmokes

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Re: Buk Reedin' Thred (Book Thread)
« Reply #389: December 11, 2012, 01:04:03 PM »
I'm not a glad well fan,  but he is a good writer adding that kind of nonfiction should be constant as the curriculum gets updated,  but adding a federal Reserve report from 2009,  Executive Orders and OMB regulations to ENGLISH class is absurd

Offline mitlen

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Re: Buk Reedin' Thred (Book Thread)
« Reply #390: December 11, 2012, 01:12:12 PM »
Hopefully they cut "The Grapes of Wrath".

My vote would be "Portrait of An Artist As a Young Man"    ...    Hell, anything by James Joyce.   I haven't been right since I read it.    Then again, maybe it was algebra that did it.

Offline tomterp

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Re: Buk Reedin' Thred (Book Thread)
« Reply #391: December 11, 2012, 01:14:00 PM »
I'm not a glad well fan,  but he is a good writer adding that kind of nonfiction should be constant as the curriculum gets updated,  but adding a federal Reserve report from 2009,  Executive Orders and OMB regulations to ENGLISH class is absurd

I get your point on one level, but I see the point of this guidance.  Too many students are incapable of wading through technical writing and thus aren't ready for the real world.  To draw a food analogy, they've been fed a diet of candies and desserts and not enough fruits and vegetables.

Boring or not, they should be able to read tough stuff and comprehend it.  Ask ABC, he makes a living cranking out incomprehensible (to all but a few) technical stuff by the pound.    :crackup:

Offline tomterp

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Re: Buk Reedin' Thred (Book Thread)
« Reply #392: December 11, 2012, 01:15:55 PM »
Hopefully they cut "The Grapes of Wrath".

Never read it, but I was sort of hoping to.  Is it not worth the effort? 

I started a James Joyce novel once.  I wonder how may readers got as far as I did (about 10 pages)?  Inpenetrable.

Offline HalfSmokes

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Re: Buk Reedin' Thred (Book Thread)
« Reply #393: December 11, 2012, 01:21:38 PM »
Never read it, but I was sort of hoping to.  Is it not worth the effort? 

I started a James Joyce novel once.  I wonder how may readers got as far as I did (about 10 pages)?  Inpenetrable.

Grapes of wrath is an easy read,  but Steinbeck isn't exactly subtle about his politics,  that makes it almost unreadable to me

Offline tomterp

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Re: Buk Reedin' Thred (Book Thread)
« Reply #394: December 11, 2012, 01:38:49 PM »
Grapes of wrath is an easy read,  but Steinbeck isn't exactly subtle about his politics,  that makes it almost unreadable to me

Fortunately, he was on the right side of morality in this one.    :P

Offline Kevrock

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Re: Buk Reedin' Thred (Book Thread)
« Reply #395: December 11, 2012, 01:56:04 PM »
Grapes is totally ham-fisted. The politics and the clumsy Christian themes and parallels drove me bonkers. I would have rather read a ten page essay on his political views than slogged through that book. I hated almost all of the characters, as well.

I even switched to the audio-book halfway through because I didn't want to give up.

Worst ending of any book I've ever read. What. The. Hey.

I didn't read fiction for 8 months after Grapes.

Steinbeck managed to write both my least favorite book (Grapes) and one of my favorites (East of Eden). East of Eden is not perfect but I really loved reading it.

Offline houston-nat

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Re: Buk Reedin' Thred (Book Thread)
« Reply #396: December 11, 2012, 02:12:19 PM »
As a person with a BA in English and a Master's in a dual English-history research program, allow me to explain:

- James Joyce sucks.
- John Steinbeck was a brilliant stylist with a weakness for making his messages far too obvious and preachy. But mostly his writing is no longer taught in schools, having been superceded by trendier authors like Toni Morrison.
- Malcolm Gladwell is a very successful hack.
- Non-fiction DOES absolutely belong in high school English classes. Short essays can contain some of the finest writing we have. I would be very happy if we shoved Fenimore Cooper out the window and replaced him with, say, "Up, Simba".

Offline blue911

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Re: Buk Reedin' Thred (Book Thread)
« Reply #397: December 11, 2012, 02:39:27 PM »
As a person with a BA in English and a Master's in a dual English-history research program, allow me to explain:

- James Joyce sucks.
- John Steinbeck was a brilliant stylist with a weakness for making his messages far too obvious and preachy. But mostly his writing is no longer taught in schools, having been superceded by trendier authors like Toni Morrison.
- Malcolm Gladwell is a very successful hack.
- Non-fiction DOES absolutely belong in high school English classes. Short essays can contain some of the finest writing we have. I would be very happy if we shoved Fenimore Cooper out the window and replaced him with, say, "Up, Simba".

Read Twain's critique of Cooper.

Offline blue911

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Re: Buk Reedin' Thred (Book Thread)
« Reply #398: December 11, 2012, 02:40:06 PM »
Twain should be mandatory.

Offline houston-nat

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Re: Buk Reedin' Thred (Book Thread)
« Reply #399: December 11, 2012, 02:41:41 PM »
Read Twain's critique of Cooper.
Oh agreed so hard.

Mark Twain is still hilarious. I'm convinced 200 years from now he'll be just as hilarious.