[bookshare-discuss] Re: a fun topic, summer chunksters

From: "Rose Combs" <rosecombs@xxxxxxxxx>
To: <bookshare-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Fri, 15 Jun 2007 18:50:26 -0700
We read Lord Of The flies in high school.  I don't know exactly why we did,
but it went on in sophomore English classes for years.  I suppose it was to
help us see how depraved humans can become.  

We also read The Bridge Of San Luis Ray by Thornton Wilder and discussed
fate.  Then there were some of Shakespeare plays and Chaucer.  

I read a lot of Charles Dickens on my own too.  

One book I can still remember vividly from my high school days circa 1970 is
A Tree Grows In Brooklyn.  I don't know why but occasionally I think of
Francine and how sad it was that she had to forget going to college so her
brother could go, and the poverty of the family, I don't know, it may be
that at the time I read the book I was on Christmas vacation and my
stepfather was tying on a pretty heavy drunk but scenes from that book
occasionally haunt me.  

The Thornbirds the book was great for the movie sort of left me depressed
for a few days and I could not pinpoint why.  




Rose Combs
rosecombs@xxxxxxxxx 
-----Original Message-----
From: MissWings [mailto:misswings@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx] 
Sent: Friday, June 15, 2007 12:05 PM
To: bookshare-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx; bookshare-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [bookshare-discuss] Re: a fun topic, summer chunksters

I had to read A Farewell to Arms last semester in my college English lit
class, andI for one didn't like it.  It was too depressing for me and too
slow on top of that.  I had to force myself to read about the last two
thirds of it the day before a test, and it turns out I didn't get to take
the test on the same day the rest of the class did so I didn't have to hurry
through it anyway!  The teacher kept forgetting to send the test over to the
testing center, so I didn't get to take it until the week before finals, and
that was about a month and a half after the rest of the class took it.  I
thought about rereading it again just to refresh my memory but I didn't do
it.  I think I still did fine on the test though.

One book I liked was To Kill a Mockingbird which I had to read my freshman
year of high school.  The Shakespeare play for that year was Romeo and
Juliet, and Julius Caesar for tenth grade.  I think we read the Black Pearl
by Steinbeck that year too.

MissWings

At 01:44 PM 6/15/2007, Estelnalissi wrote:

>Dear Cindy, Katie
>
>The blanks are to prevent spoilers.
>
>By all means skip "The Old Curiosity Shop," which had Dickens sobbing 
>loudly in the streets, "I've killed blank blank! I've killed blank blank!"
>I love and cry through Nicholas Nickleby as much as Amy, so you'd best 
>stay clear of that one, too!
>
>Katie, I'll be curious to hear how you like the drama and historic 
>setting of, "The Robe." The writing tone is already dated, but that's 
>part of the charm of books for me. I love hearing voices and 
>perspectives from current to way back. This is part of the reason I'm 
>such a supporter of book preservation. Deceased authors speak to any of 
>us interested enough and lucky enough to find their books.
>
>Old movies are similar and include visions as well as voices of the past. 
>I really appreciate almost any kind of historic preservation. I feel 
>Bookshare lets me take part in preserving books, one at a time. I still 
>gnaw on the worry of who can and will preserve Bookshare's massive archive.
>
>Rick, are any animals killed in Billy Budd? I ought to read something 
>by Melville, and since I can't read about killing a whale, maybe I 
>could get through Billy Bud.
>
>Casandra, Sherry and other lovers of Shakespeare, I'm with you. I can't 
>think of a Shakespeare play I don't like, but McBeth, The King Henrys, 
>King Lear and Twelfth Night are way up there.
>
>My take on required reading is that it's one of the functions of 
>education to expose students to ideas and material they might not 
>discover on their own. I don't need a teacher to require me to read 
>books I already know I'll like and read school or no school. Because I 
>really like classics, I didn't mind being required to read them. It's 
>unrealistic to expect every student will like every book that's 
>required reading. I was shattered by The Red Badge of Courage. I would 
>never have read it unless I had to, but it forced me to think seriously
about the nature and consequences of war.
>I might resent being required to read a half dozen books about war, but 
>reading one book about it helped expand my awareness and forced me to 
>grow up a little more.
>
>Another point in favor of required reading is that sometimes students 
>discover they really like a book they'd have never considered reading 
>themselves. They discover authors or genres they will go on to seek out 
>in their free reading time.
>
>With a book the whole class is required to read teachers can give 
>students ideas about identifying writing style and literary devices 
>like word use, characterization, elements of plot, etc. They give them 
>experience on being more observant of what they are reading, putting 
>the book in historic context, applying its contents to themselves and 
>their present culture and expressing their opinions about it.. If 
>teachers present a variety of kinds of books than I would hope not all 
>of the students would like all of them. Reading what they don't like 
>helps kids define their personal taste.
>
>I sound like an education apologist, don't I? I also sound as if I've 
>forgotten I'm retired. Please don't mind me. You know books and 
>teaching are close to my heart and that I really respect everyone's 
>right to read what they like.
>
>Because I proficiencied  English in college and Kiddie lit was my only 
>required English class, I didn't take any college lit. If college was 
>cheap enough, I'd love to take some lit classes now. Amy, I'd take a 
>Faulkner class or two from you.
>
>Thank you Amy, Susan L,  and Shelley for the encouragement to read 
>Bleak House which I downloaded last night.
>
>Shelley, I expected I'd like "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and was 
>surprised when I didn't enjoy it. Is the Lightning you like, the book 
>by Dean Koontz? If so, I liked it too, and also liked Strangers by him 
>and loved Watchers.
>
>Can you tell us who wrote, "Night," and, "The True Confessions of 
>Charlotte Doyle," and a little more about them?.
>
>I've downloaded Islandia which Brian Miller recommended. The synopsis 
>says the author was a lawyer who unexpectedly wrote this novel about an 
>elaborate invented society in the southern hemisphere protected by 
>mountains. It's history, and culture are so well developed that the 
>author is compared with Tolkien. Except that the place and society are 
>invented, I don't think this a fantasy or quest novel. I get the idea 
>that the man who discovers Islandia wants to stay there.
>
>Rick, even though you didn't like it, I have to read Barnaby Rudge , to 
>meet the blind villain. Really, Dickens wrote so many memorable 
>villains, I think it's kind of cool he gave blind fictitious characters 
>an equal opportunity to be bad guys.
>
>Mitchner's Texas was an entertaining read. What I learned was that 
>pecans don't just grow in Mississippi! Cindy Ray, I think I'll try his 
>Alaska, next. Since I love the cold so much, it will comfort me during 
>Ohio's hot, humid, summer. Since Bookshare's copy is only rated good, 
>I've added a request for a BSO of Alaska to the wish list.
>
>According to Booksharian suggestions I've also downloaded Mrs. Mike and 
>its sequel Memoirs of Cleopatra, Desiree The Fourth World, Suggested by 
>Pennina
>
>
>
>----- Original Message ----- From: "Grandma Cindy" 
><popularplace@xxxxxxxxx>
>To: <bookshare-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>Sent: Friday, June 15, 2007 2:02 AM
>Subject: [bookshare-discuss] Re: a fun topic, summer chunksters
>
>
>>I'm glad to hear so many good things about Bleak House. I haven't read 
>>that, or the Old Curiosity Shop.
>>The only Dickens book I liked were Great Expectations and A  Tale of 
>>Two Cities. The others were too sad and, perhaps the word is  grimy, 
>>for me. I like books set in older centuries but the ones that deal 
>>with the upper classes and nobility. Ordinary, and especially lower 
>>class life, make me too sad and uncomfortable.
>>sigh
>>
>>Cindy
>>
>>--- "Shelley L. Rhodes" <juddysbuddy@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
>>wrote:
>>
>>>Bleak house was fantastic, I read it on cassette in High school.
>>>
>>>
>>>Shelley L. Rhodes M.A., VRT, CTVI
>>>and Judson, guiding golden
>>>juddysbuddy@xxxxxxxxxxxx
>>>Guide Dogs For the Blind Inc.
>>>Graduate Alumni Association Board
>>>www.guidedogs.com
>>>
>>>More than Any other time, When i hold a beloved book in my hand, my 
>>>limitations fall from me, my spirit is free.
>>>- Helen Keller
>>>
>>>----- Original Message ----- From: "Estelnalissi" 
>>><airadil@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>>>To: <bookshare-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>>>Sent: Thursday, June 14, 2007 6:03 PM
>>>Subject: [bookshare-discuss] Re: a fun topic, summer chunksters
>>>
>>>
>>>Dear Casandra, Amy and Summer Readers,
>>>
>>>Casandra, I hoped it was a matter of time until David Copperfield  
>>>was mentioned. I read it for fun in seventh grade. Then it was the 
>>>longest book I'd ever read. It was 10 volumes and in an English 
>>>edition which had larger pages than the NLS books. I was enthusing to 
>>>a sighted friend that I was reading a book that was, I think, about 
>>>1200 pages long in braille and she said in a bored voice, "Why would 
>>>you want to do that?" It really brought home to me how people's 
>>>reading and minds run along such different tracks.
>>>I agree with Amy that "The Old Curiosity Shop is really worth 
>>>reading. Have you read that one yet?
>>>
>>>Dickens is one of my very favorite authors. If you are interested in 
>>>him as an individual or artist, you might want to try the book I 
>>>validated, "The Mutual Friend," by Frederick Busch. It's pretty 
>>>literary, gritty, poetic in a ruthlessly realistic vein, informative 
>>>about Dickens' time and haunts, and is irreverent to say the least, 
>>>but, for a Dickens fan, it was never dull and it's yet another book 
>>>I'll never forget.
>>>
>>>Amy, I haven't read Bleak House, yet. I hope Bookshare has it so I 
>>>can read it in braille. For the first time I've topped out my 
>>>download quota, so Bleakhouse will have to be July reading which is 
>>>no problem because I already have way more than I can read in the 
>>>meantime.
>>>
>>>If you and Kenneth ever run out of books about Faulkner to submit, 
>>>keep in mind I'd love to read anything you scan or validate about 
>>>Dickens.
>>>
>>>Always with love,
>>>
>>>Lissi
>>>   ----- Original Message -----   From: Amy Goldring Tajalli
>>>   To: bookshare-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>>>   Sent: Thursday, June 14, 2007 5:27 PM
>>>   Subject: [bookshare-discuss] Re: a fun topic, summer chunksters
>>>
>>>
>>>   If you haven't already read them you might also give The Old 
>>>Curiosity Shop and Bleak House a look.  But then, I am working on the 
>>>complete Dickens. I am Making up for years lost.
>>>
>>>   Amy
>>>     ----- Original Message -----     From: Kasondra Payne
>>>     To: bookshare-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>>>     Sent: Thursday, June 14, 2007 12:50 PM
>>>     Subject: [bookshare-discuss] Re: a fun topic, summer chunksters
>>>
>>>
>>>     I read David Copperfield on my own during the summer after my 
>>>freshman year of high school.  I loved it!  I still love long classic 
>>>books like that.  I am the same person who read the entire Bible from 
>>>cover to cover in two weeks when I was fifteen.  I have thought of 
>>>reading War and Peace or the entire Lord of the Rings series on my 
>>>bus trip to the NFB convention.
>>>First I have to finish the three books I am reading.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>     Kasondra Payne
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>     No virus found in this outgoing message.
>>>     Checked by AVG Free Edition.
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>>>- Release Date:
>>>6/14/2007 12:44 PM
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
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>>----------
>>>
>>>
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>>>
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>>>
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>>
>>
>>
>>
>>______________________________________________________________________
>>______________ Boardwalk for $500? In 2007? Ha! Play Monopoly Here and 
>>Now (it's updated for today's economy) at Yahoo! Games.
>>http://get.games.yahoo.com/proddesc?gamekey=monopolyherenow
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>Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.472 / Virus Database: 
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References:
- [bookshare-discuss] Re: a fun topic, summer chunksters
  - From: Grandma Cindy
- [bookshare-discuss] Re: a fun topic, summer chunksters
  - From: MissWings
[bookshare-discuss] Re: a fun topic, summer chunksters

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