04-11-2004, 11:02 PM
I'm becoming a reading fiend as goes on. Today, I read about 120 more pages into my book, which is quite a feat considering how much shit goes on during a regular day here at school. I've never really been so gung-ho about reading and I think I know exactly why:
Back a long time ago, when I was a wee lad in Elementary school, I read quite a bit. Usually a Goosebumps book could be read in the amount of time school takes (a 7 hour period of time with class), and I would visit the library and get novels that librarians would reccomend or read hardy boys books (those were always my favorite), which was all fine and good, until sometime around 6th grade when I was relegated from the fun and easy literature of a young kid to the more "mature" reading material of the middle to high school level.
I think this is from where most people dispise reading. THe problem with the books they give us in this time period would have to be because of many different reasons. First of all, they don't have the childish mirth and easy situations that most early books contain (Hardy Boys books bordering on the line). However, they don't really contain the violence or interesting situations that most good novels contain considering they have to be decent (all except for Lord of the Flys, however, that's another story...). I remember more often than not, most of the books were dry reads about nothing in particular, as well as having us write up ditto sheets about the book... Everyone likes to read at their own pace and no one wants to be forced to answer stupid questions about the book.
THen came other factors. Reading short stories and learning about all the different types of writing styles (none of which were really distinct from each other, or stood out very well) as well as symbolism. Reading the Lord of the Flys is most teacher's forays into teaching Symbolism to students, which is awful, since if the book is actually symbolic of anything, it's so open-ended, that it doesn't matter what you say. The lesson plan for symbolism might as well just say: "attach random garbage to anything and claim it as 'deeply symbolic'". I will admit that I have found symbolism in things I've read (whether it's musical lyrics, poetry or a book), however, it's usually pulled from references that aren't quite so open-ended, or open to a wide interpretation.
I will admit that I had read a good book here or there, but the only one I can really remember is Things Fall Apart, which was totally sweet at how our hero Okonkwo goes from a man with everything to a shallow husk with nothing. All the literature I enjoyed while I was in middle school and high school more or less came from my own spare time, which were usually fantasy or sci fi novels which was also rather small since most of my lit classes had me reading their boring stuff.
Then came college. I was more or less free from reading crappy books for class. It was during my second semester in school that I decided to bring 'Brave New World' (which I found lying around somewhere) with me to dinner to read. Before I knew it, I was hooked. It took me a while to read that book since I had to get drawn into the book and want to read the book more and more. I've since read a lot more books than I usually would or ever would have read.
I blame school for my previous lack of a desire to read. Whether it's just shitty books, or the constant badgering for dittos is up in the air (probably both), I was always rather apprehensive of picking up a book I heard nothing of, especially ones with daunting page counts (the one I'm on now is 782 pages, and I'm on page 542). If there is anything to pull from this post, it's that reading is not bad as so many of my friends and I have felt for quite some time. It's just picking the right books of the genre, and not relying on the classics to really entertain us, if at all.
Back a long time ago, when I was a wee lad in Elementary school, I read quite a bit. Usually a Goosebumps book could be read in the amount of time school takes (a 7 hour period of time with class), and I would visit the library and get novels that librarians would reccomend or read hardy boys books (those were always my favorite), which was all fine and good, until sometime around 6th grade when I was relegated from the fun and easy literature of a young kid to the more "mature" reading material of the middle to high school level.
I think this is from where most people dispise reading. THe problem with the books they give us in this time period would have to be because of many different reasons. First of all, they don't have the childish mirth and easy situations that most early books contain (Hardy Boys books bordering on the line). However, they don't really contain the violence or interesting situations that most good novels contain considering they have to be decent (all except for Lord of the Flys, however, that's another story...). I remember more often than not, most of the books were dry reads about nothing in particular, as well as having us write up ditto sheets about the book... Everyone likes to read at their own pace and no one wants to be forced to answer stupid questions about the book.
THen came other factors. Reading short stories and learning about all the different types of writing styles (none of which were really distinct from each other, or stood out very well) as well as symbolism. Reading the Lord of the Flys is most teacher's forays into teaching Symbolism to students, which is awful, since if the book is actually symbolic of anything, it's so open-ended, that it doesn't matter what you say. The lesson plan for symbolism might as well just say: "attach random garbage to anything and claim it as 'deeply symbolic'". I will admit that I have found symbolism in things I've read (whether it's musical lyrics, poetry or a book), however, it's usually pulled from references that aren't quite so open-ended, or open to a wide interpretation.
I will admit that I had read a good book here or there, but the only one I can really remember is Things Fall Apart, which was totally sweet at how our hero Okonkwo goes from a man with everything to a shallow husk with nothing. All the literature I enjoyed while I was in middle school and high school more or less came from my own spare time, which were usually fantasy or sci fi novels which was also rather small since most of my lit classes had me reading their boring stuff.
Then came college. I was more or less free from reading crappy books for class. It was during my second semester in school that I decided to bring 'Brave New World' (which I found lying around somewhere) with me to dinner to read. Before I knew it, I was hooked. It took me a while to read that book since I had to get drawn into the book and want to read the book more and more. I've since read a lot more books than I usually would or ever would have read.
I blame school for my previous lack of a desire to read. Whether it's just shitty books, or the constant badgering for dittos is up in the air (probably both), I was always rather apprehensive of picking up a book I heard nothing of, especially ones with daunting page counts (the one I'm on now is 782 pages, and I'm on page 542). If there is anything to pull from this post, it's that reading is not bad as so many of my friends and I have felt for quite some time. It's just picking the right books of the genre, and not relying on the classics to really entertain us, if at all.