Books

[papercrane]

Oh, I loved Life of Pi! Such a very good book.
*must escape one-linerness*
Hmm...I guess I'm insane or something, because I've actually gotten some good reading out of AP Lit. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, for example. And Tess of the D'Ubervilles. Although, to be fair, I started Tess before I knew it was assigned.

The important thing about adventures, thought Mr Bunnsy, was that they shouldn't be so long as to make you miss mealtimes.
-- (Terry Pratchett, The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents)

[Birdhead]

I've had some good stuff too, and personally it didn't bother me all that much to study them- things like Lord of the Flies, Pride and Prejudice (though I'd already read that one, too..)Jane Eyre... I can definitely see To Kill a Mockingbird as being ruined, too, though I'd already read it when we did it, so was lucky.

"We are philosophical geniuses [sic] who will one day rule the world!"
--Agent M
Ahahahaha, Ahahahaha, Ahahahaha!
Still the Typo Queen

[Agent M]

[meteorite]

[librarianship tirade]
We have been discussing that very problem in my library science class. It does very little good to assign a "classic" if people are only reading it under duress, and don't get anything out of it. The main thrust of librarianship, especially for children and young adult readers, should be finding things that will make them want to read, not scare them away from it. There may be a gearhead in English who couldn't parse a sentence if his life depended on it, but plop a Chilton's manual (car repair manual) in front of him and ask him to diagnose a problem with a car's electrical system, and watch him go! Unless he secretly confessed a real like for Dickens, I wouldn't assign him David Copperfiend, but I might send him to a book about racing; I know of several books that might appeal to him more than one of the "classics". [/librarianship tirade]

Heh. I was rereading my post before submitting it, and noticed a typo. David Copperfiend, indeed!

"Thus is Balance maintained." A Wizard of Earthsea
"Condensing fact from the vapor of nuance." Neal Stephenson, Snow Crash

[Birdhead]

Eh, yes, precisely. Admittedly, I shouldn't really be put off, and by this point we've had ample opportunity to find out if we hate reading (I, er, don't), and I should be stretching myself- but the whole form is studying this, and people really aren't getting on with it. >.<
Copperfiend.... hah!

"We are philosophical geniuses [sic] who will one day rule the world!"
--Agent M
Ahahahaha, Ahahahaha, Ahahahaha!
Still the Typo Queen

[Rysade]

I can think of two possible solutions to the bored students problem. In my experience, in senior english class, we read 2 books, both of which we got to choose from a large selection. The first was new fiction, and I chose Chrichton's The Terminal Man. Loved it. Later in that class, we got a choice between some books that seemed to be books that weren't new, weren't fiction, and weren't nonfiction. Hard to say how the second set of books were picked, actually. Anyway, I got Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig. Both books I enjoyed.

The other solution is to assign books that aren't your typical choices, something they're surprised by. In 7th grade, I was startled to find that we would be reading Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card. I had already read it twice before, so I was extatic. Very unexpected surprise. And this was in the same year we read the So-Very-Done-Before Diary of Anne Frank.

--Dai Stihó

ha (hä) interj. [echoic] an exclamation variously expressing wonder, surprise, anger, triumph, etc.: repeated (ha-han. the sound of this exclamation or of a laugh
-Webster's New World Dictionary of the American Language, Second College Edition

[Birdhead]

Choose-your-own? Why don't we get to do that??? Waaaah!

Oh, man. You studied Ender's Game? ENVY, complete and extreme. Funny, though, we've never studied Anne Frank, I guess because it's not fiction, and that's what all our assessments are one, pretty much.

"We are philosophical geniuses [sic] who will one day rule the world!"
--Agent M
Ahahahaha, Ahahahaha, Ahahahaha!
Still the Typo Queen

[meteorite]

Among the things we were allowed to choose from for our next library science assignment were such divers books as Ender's Game; The Serpent's Shadow; Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging; and Son of the Mob. Even at my age, it's nice to find a cool instructor.

I get to booktalk Mercedes Lackey. Not quite as nice as discussing DD, but you takes what you can gets.

"Thus is Balance maintained." A Wizard of Earthsea
"Condensing fact from the vapor of nuance." Neal Stephenson, Snow Crash

[Birdhead]

Neato!

Hey, how's it going with that? I mean, the course? What exactly do you do???

"We are philosophical geniuses [sic] who will one day rule the world!"
--Agent M
Ahahahaha, Ahahahaha, Ahahahaha!
Still the Typo Queen

[Quill]

kli6--somehow I missed your post earlier. As regards the news--

I hope this one is a little more cheerful than the last, though. And right now, I wish I lived a lot closer to San Diego!

(Heck, I wish that most of the time anyway.)

Thanks!

[Rysade]

Ok, is it just me, or are those smileys bouncing in a wave? Doesn't seem possible. They should load all at the same time...



y =? sin(x)

Man I'm bored!!! I should finish reading what I've got...

--Dai Stihó

ha (hä) interj. [echoic] an exclamation variously expressing wonder, surprise, anger, triumph, etc.: repeated (ha-han. the sound of this exclamation or of a laugh
-Webster's Dictionary of the American Language, Second College Edition

[meteorite]

The title of the course is Literature and Media for Young Adults. We talk about what are good books for young adults (henceforth referred to as YA), criteria for determing them, how to reach a YA audience, popular or significant authors, writing devices (plot, conflicts, style...) as applied to YA literature, etc. etc. I'm having fun with it.

The course is being taught via teleconferencing. The instructor is on Oahu, and there are students scattered across the rest of the Hawaiian islands. We all meet at our local community colleges every Saturday at 10:30 for "class" in one of the media labs. The Maui group is pretty boisterous and outspoken. We are usually the ones that tell the professor that such-and-such a resource is difficult to get on the outer islands (any island other than Oahu) and will she accept an alternative? If the only place you can get a current copy of English Journal is in Hamilton Library on the University of Hawaii campus on Oahu, and it is required reading, but you live on another island, it costs $85US for a one-way ticket between islands, and the assignment is due in a week, you get creative pretty darn fast!

"Thus is Balance maintained." A Wizard of Earthsea
"Condensing fact from the vapor of nuance." Neal Stephenson, Snow Crash

[meteorite]

Nope, Rysade, the smileys may have initially been bouncing in sin(x), but now they are back to a linear function. They have normalized.

(only one smiley, so it will not bounce as f(sin x).

"Thus is Balance maintained." A Wizard of Earthsea
"Condensing fact from the vapor of nuance." Neal Stephenson, Snow Crash

[Kathy Li]

Going way-back to the Laurie R. King info, the book is due out in June (but Amazon says August), it's called Califia's Daughters and she'll be using the pen name "Leigh Richards." Quill--the full signing tour includes some places that aren't California.

I loved Folly as well, but haven't been able to sit down with the sequel for some reason.

[db_pr]

Hey I'm reading John Grisham's The Chamber. Anyone read that one?

"If you think me to be your enemy, command me, and I will gladly take my life"
"Does the walker choose the path, or the path the walker?"