8 Responses to “so what do you think?”

1. Regan Leigh says:

   November 13, 2009 at 7:24 pm

   Amanda said: “If the students have a high frustration level because they are lacking said fluency, then there is no way they will ever be able to appreciate quality literature, even as adults.”

   Yeah, what she said. :D

   Amanda said: “If it makes you feel any better, I was at the store the other day and they had some Jane Austen, Emily Brontë, etc. displayed next to Twilight because Bella’s favorite book is Wuthering Heights. Interestingly, the covers really resembled the Twilight series’, but hey, whatever works, right?”

   DOESN’T make me feel better. I LOVE Wuthering Heights, but it is not a real love story and I could give a crap if Bella liked it. :) Actually, it’s annoying that she does. :) Hey, Twilight was a good idea and good storytelling, but not good writing IMO. I liked it for what it was, but when it started recovering Wuthering Heights?? ANNOYED.

   :) And my rant is over.
2. Amanda Plavich says:

   November 13, 2009 at 7:50 pm

   I’ve never read it, but it sounds like the opinions on it are as strong as one’s on Twilight. Ya either love it or hate it. : -P
3. BigWords88 says:

   November 13, 2009 at 9:04 pm

   I’ll point any child (of Twilight-reading age) in need of reading material in the direction of Hemingway, Mark Twain, Joseph Conrad, Aldous Huxley, Kafka (children will appreciate his work), Conan Doyle, and even Shakespeare. I had experience of reading all of those authors before I hit high school, and the foundation which such authors can provide young readers is amazing. There are others who should be taught in schools, but those are the big guns. I’m not a book snob, and I have no vested interest in the continued appreciation of those authors works, but it seems to me that they encapsulate so much of what has followed, that understanding where we are can ony be attained by understanding what has gone before.

   Just to balance that out, I’ll add this – Back when I discovered Harry Harrison, George MacDonald Fraser, Ray Bradbury, Michael Moorcock, and all the strange stuff which had emerged during the years before my birth, I was probably only fifteen or sixteen. Without going through the ‘essential reading’ lists in magazines, books and television documentaries and picking up the books regarded as being beyond comparison, I wouldn’t have found my taste in words. I needed the mental stimulation that can only be provided by the very best authors who were writing at the height of their power. Is Meyer there yet? No. Will she improve? Different question, but an open mind can always expand. I hope she reads some stuff being said about her books and decides to improve, really I do.

   The junk food equivelant (ooh, where to start… Ron Goulart? D** B**** even?) isn’t necessarily a bad thing if there is balance. I like pizza, and curry, and all kinds of cholestorol-packed crap, but I’m not dumb enough to have my culinary intake consist solely on the ‘treats’ at the exclusion of what I know is better for me. Reading Twilight should be a treat, and not the main course. There are better things to read, sure… Just as long as the principals of a good reading foundation are laid with material which nourishes the reader, anything else can be seen as a reward. And yeah, I have quite the collection of books which would be regarded as trashy and uncultured, but they are not read in isolation.
4. Amanda Plavich says:

   November 13, 2009 at 10:01 pm

   Fair enough! I just worry about those kids that can’t read those authors you mentioned because they are above their ability level. It really doesn’t have to do with age, but just capabilities. Heck, I was high-average and it was hard for me to appreciate them in high school and having them forced on me left a bad taste in my mouth for reading at the time. When teaching children an appreciation of literature, you have to walk such a fine line. There is so much that goes into it that it is hard to summarize in such a short space, but I think they should be exposed to it, talked to about quality literature and its merits (and we should model our love and appreciation for it), but they shouldn’t be made to feel like they are inept readers if they can’t enjoy it. Does that make sense?

   Now, there were some that I enjoyed when I was younger, Capote, Ray Bradbury, Pearl S. Buck, etc., but like you said, I needed the balance of some fluff in there, too. :-)
5. BigWords88 says:

   November 14, 2009 at 1:55 am

   Capability plays a part, sure. But if a person can glean something from Twilight they ought to be able to get a teeny tiny fraction of why certain authors are held in such high regard. I’ve heard a lot of people point out the problems in their own reading experiences with ‘difficult’ books as teenagers, but I always looked for portions of commonality in the characters. I was a precocious reader, so my tastes developed quicker than others. Paradoxically, I completely missed the stage where most people read and re-read a particular book around the age of 10 / 12, obsessing over a character. I have heard so many people talk about ‘the book’ (the first one to speak to them) yet I can’t remember ever feeling so closely bound to a character.

   On the point of readers feeling they aren’t getting anything from an author (and yeah, I know what that’s like too – James Joyce’s Ulysses in my case) I normally ascribe it to a deficiency on the part of the author rather than my lack of ability to gain anything from the text. Massive ego +10. Stepping down from one book to a similar but simpler rendering of the text to highlight the main points the author is trying to get across works wonders. I’ve shared out copies of Classics Illustrated in the past to people who don’t read much, and after they ‘get’ the story, I then try to convince them to read the full text. Film adaptations might serve a similar function.

   There was an article in one of the writing magazines earlier in the year about poor levels of literacy amongst children, so I’m surprised to see the sales figures of books such as Twilight being what they are. As a gateway to other things I suppose we ought to be celebrating the book. To many young readers Twilight will be ‘their book’. The one they obsess over. If that pushes them on to read more complexly structured narratives and emotionally rounded works it will be worth suffering the ‘sparkly’ fad. Jeez, I just paid Meyer a compliment – It’s one of the signs of the apocalypse… :)
6. Amanda Plavich says:

   November 14, 2009 at 12:51 pm

   You would like my classroom, then. I’ve got a whole set of Great Illustrated Classics and my kids enjoy reading them. ;-)

   It seems we actually do agree that these books as gateways are a good thing. Heck, my kids got excited to read my Great Illustrated version of Bram Stoker’s Dracula because of the vampire craze (they are too young for Twilight per se, but they see the cultural phenomenon). I love that series because it does get the story told on their reading level, which is the point I was trying to make, though not very eloquently.

   And you paying her a compliment means I need to start building my bunker. Maybe 2012 really will be the end? lol
7. BigWords88 says:

   November 14, 2009 at 7:34 pm

   The Dracula CI is one of the old Nestor Redondo ones… Brilliant artwork.

   If you can find it, there is a Great American Stories hardback from the late fifties with Pathfinder reprinted from the Dell (?) run. Very cool.

   The second sign of the apocalypse is a brilliant Michael Bay movie, so we needn’t rush to build shelters yet. :D
8. Amanda Plavich says:

   November 14, 2009 at 10:29 pm

   I’ll have to search it out. We’ve got an awesome used book store about 30 minutes away. I’ll look for it there, if nothing else. :)

   And I think if that is the final indicator of the end of the world, we will be safe. Phew! I was getting worried for a minute!