Jump to content

Books that made an impact. Or, books that you couldnt quite finish


ChiliIrishHammock24

Recommended Posts

QUOTE (Middle Buffalo @ May 10, 2013 -> 12:40 PM)
I like reading, but I never liked trying to figure out symbolism, etc. I just like reading a book for enjoyment. I sometimes wonder if teachers assign meaning to things that the author never intended.

FWIW a high school teacher is going to be falling back on typically a lot of academic literary criticism and not discovering the symbolism for themselves. There's a school of thought that authors say many things without consciously meaning to.

 

edit: the whole "Death of the Author"/postmodern deconstructionist movement

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_the_Author

 

No I don't actually understand any of that.

Edited by StrangeSox
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 88
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

OTOH Nabokov included some statements at the end of Lolita, or at least later editions of it, where he lambastes reviewers who take it as an allegory for the US being violated by Old Europe or vice-versa; he's taking a stance that his work means what he says it means and that reading all that extra stuff into it is nonsense.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ May 10, 2013 -> 08:16 AM)
Lord of the Flies was the s***. Also, for those that liked The Outsiders, how did you not immediately follow that up with "That was Then, This is Now"

Oh ya I forgot about Lord of the Flies, that was another good book and movie combo.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ May 10, 2013 -> 01:15 PM)
I think reviewers treat books a lot like reviewers treated Lost. You throw enough s*** in there and someone will make weird connections that were never intended, but the author will take credit for looking like a genius.

True. For some authors the "imagery" was something they did on accident because thats how they were feeling when the wrote a book and then the reader/teacher looks into that emotion and makes a whole topic out of it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

QUOTE (Iwritecode @ May 10, 2013 -> 11:59 AM)
When I was in HS I remember having to read:

 

12 Angry Men

To Kill a Mockingbird

Romeo and Juliet

The Crucible

Great Expectations

 

Those last two I remember almost nothing about them.

 

A few other stories I remember reading in school are: Something for Joey, Where the Red Fern Grows, Soup and Me.

 

Some of the "classics" I've never actually read:

Of Mice and Men

The Great Gatsby

The Scarlett Letter

Lord of the Flies

The Lottery

Catcher in the Rye

 

I'm currently reading Mary Shelly's Frankenstein, Bram Stoker's Dracula and Robert Louis Stevenson's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. They are all put together in a single paperback.

 

I'm only halfway through Frankenstein and having only a vague knowledge of the story based on movies and other pop culture, it's not what I was expecting at all.

 

Shelly's Frankenstein is great, but it is very challenging Elisabethan language and even for a short novel it was challenging reading.

 

Stoker's Dracula is my absolute favorite book ever after LotR. The perfect gothic horror novel that all others aspire to but fall short.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ May 10, 2013 -> 01:18 PM)
OTOH Nabokov included some statements at the end of Lolita, or at least later editions of it, where he lambastes reviewers who take it as an allegory for the US being violated by Old Europe or vice-versa; he's taking a stance that his work means what he says it means and that reading all that extra stuff into it is nonsense.

 

The Jeremy Irons movie really makes you feel bad for Humbert, even though he's a pederast.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ May 10, 2013 -> 10:55 AM)
Animal Farm was just a pro-Trot allegory for the rise of Lenin and then the Stalin-Trotsky conflicts. I think a lot of people read their own ideas into that story.

 

I understood that even at age 13.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I went to a Birmingham, Alabama (Magnet) public high school, so the required reading was all horsesh**. Cold Sassy Tree, The Mayor Of Casterbridge and what not. Had to do my own reading, I tested out on a college reading level at age 12.

Edited by JPN366
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.

×
×
  • Create New...