What are you reading??? - Page 216

ajstudies · #**2151** 06-15-2009, 10:10 AM

Finished Martin Chuzzlewit and Twilight since last posting. Also The Priest by Francine Rivers, and The Shack, both in audio.

Have not started a new audiobook but am currently reading The Second Summer of the Sisterhood. Then my daughter is bugging me to start New Moon.

Twilight was ok, although a bit too predictable when you finally got to the meat of the story. I can see why the young girls like it, but I don't get why so many adult women love it. For me the main reason to like it is that my daughter enjoys it so much. I love discussing books and movies with her.

ajstudies · #**2152** 06-15-2009, 10:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nobody22

Little Brother - Cory Doctorow
A 1984 remake. Uses current issues (and a plethora of pop-culture references) to really drive the point home to today's youth. Good book, but also filled with liberal/left slant. If the author could've just filtered out some of his own bias/views and stuck with the central Libertarian ideal of maximising freedom, it would be better. I also have a concern that his target teen audience will not fact check reality from the novel (he references Gitmo, waterboarding, patriot act). I felt 1984 left you to your own conclusions as to what real-life government policies to oppose, Little Brother tries to make those decisions for you...

I liked it, although I didn't feel compelled to take anything he said as gospel. It's been too long since I read 1984 to make any comparison at all, although I might put that on my list for a reread now that you mention it. I thought the technology that can read stuff like credit card info was interesting, and I know it exists, but I just don't have time for that sort of paranoia in general.

Good story though. I guess I don't worry too much about the influence on the teen audience unless those teens are residing in my home.

Swan · #**2153** 06-15-2009, 12:07 PM

Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad.

I'm only a few pages into this novella and already I find myself bound by a spell that can only be cast by writing of the absolute highest caliber. And it is truly amazing that the writing of Joseph Conrad is the writing of a man who did not learn to speak English until he was twenty-one, and to the end of his life spoke it with a thick foreign accent.

Here's my favourite passage from the text so far:

Quote:

It's queer how out of touch with truth women are. They live in a world of their own, and there had never been anything like it, and never can be. It is too beautiful altogether, and if they were to set it up it would go to pieces before the first sunset. Some confounded fact we men have been living contentedly with ever since the day of creation would start up and knock the whole thing over.

Nobody22 · #**2154** 06-15-2009, 02:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ajstudies

I guess I don't worry too much about the influence on the teen audience unless those teens are residing in my home.

Certainly, this is the best policy when it comes to child-rearing, IMO. I guess while I was reading I was thinking "This would be a good book for teens to read in school" (in-leau of/addition to 1984) but given the author's slant, I guess it won't happen.

I tried to read Catcher in the Rye, but it didn't get me by chap 4, so I'm not going to waste my time.

On to: Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom - Cory Doctorow

ajstudies · #**2155** 06-15-2009, 03:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nobody22

Certainly, this is the best policy when it comes to child-rearing, IMO. I guess while I was reading I was thinking "This would be a good book for teens to read in school" (in-leau of/addition to 1984) but given the author's slant, I guess it won't happen.

I kind of thought the same thing. My teen is fairly young so we'll see. Although our district is pretty conservative, so the language itself might rule it out as school reading. I considered giving it to her myself, but I didn't think she'd be interested at the time. It is not in the middle school library but I didn't check the high school.

punmanbowler · #**2156** 06-15-2009, 03:39 PM

The Road - Cormac McCarthy

About 40 pages in. Boring so far.

Patience · #**2157** 06-15-2009, 03:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nobody22

Finished Flowers for Algernon - Daniel Keyes
Fiction about a clinically retard kid getting surgery to make him smart, he has to deal with a new understanding of himself, his history, his future, and life. Good thoughts on some big life questions. Applied to us: How should you and your actuarial-ego deal with other departments?

Its been quite a while, but I thought Charlie was an adult

Quote:

Originally Posted by Swan

Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad.

I'm only a few pages into this novella and already I find myself bound by a spell that can only be cast by writing of the absolute highest caliber. And it is truly amazing that the writing of Joseph Conrad is the writing of a man who did not learn to speak English until he was twenty-one, and to the end of his life spoke it with a thick foreign accent.

Here's my favourite passage from the text so far:

That is Apocolypse Now isn't it?