When did reading become a thing to hate?

[Irridium]

simple, when computers and the internet was invented.

I do enjoy a good book once in a while, but socioty nowadays is just too stupid to enjoy decent liturature

 

[Zemalac]

I've got a couple of things to say.

BLASPHEMER! HERETIC! How dare you mock the writings of the holy Heinlein?!
/sarcasm

(grins) I was hoping I'd get one of those. Thanks, Khell.

And just in case anyone still thinks my opinions count for something, Asimov was a hack, too. A hack who advanced the genre considerably (as did Heinlein), but a hack nonetheless.

Oddly enough, a lot of "great literature" was penned by hacks. For instance, The Three Musketeers was written by some guy who was being paid by the word for pulp fiction.

I personally find Robert Jordan to be the WORST fantasy author ever.

Robert Jordan? Was he the guy who wrote the Wheel of Time series? I read the first one of those, realized that it was exactly like a thousand other books I'd read, and never bothered to read the rest of them.

As for the tangent on English class, I actually enjoy English class precisely because I can spout gibberish and get an A. So the reason that I like that class seems to be the reason that most people hate it. Though I do agree with the consensus on symbolism--even Freud once said, "Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar."

But anyway, I have some reading suggestions of my own...
Any Discworld novel by Terry Pratchet (yes, I realize that this has been said by other posters. It deserves to be said again)
A Song of Ice and Fire series by George R.R. Martin
The Name of the Wind, by Patrick Rothfuss
The Polseen War series by John Ringo
The Myth-Adventures series, by Robert Asprin

None of these have been mentioned yet, and most of them deserve to be. I could probably think of others, but this post is really long as it is so I'll stop here and let someone else talk.

 

[Saskwach]

Basically, people who think any subject is BS have the problem of spending too much time around BSers. Spend a little time reading *good* critics and you'll see that a subject can be way outside the hard sciences and still have rigorous standards.

I think you're right on this: there is such a thing as good literary criticism.

But: that doesn't make what happens in your average educational institution any better.

Not at all. And that's all about the 'average educational institution' and not at all about English.

Let's not even get started on History classes that present the textbook as some sort of gospel and not a work of scholarship that ultimately rests on interpretations of primary source material.

You know, I really enjoyed my history class. You know why? Because not only did it give us the narrative history but it encouraged and emphasised looking at sources for information, judging their reliability and so on. One or two of our assignments involved not only essay writing but a separate document listing and analysing our sources. It was thrilling to be an amateur historian and through it I actually formulated a (slightly) new theory on World War 2.
Of course this kind of thing wouldn't be for everyone.

 

[Geoffrey42]

Let's not even get started on History classes that present the textbook as some sort of gospel and not a work of scholarship that ultimately rests on interpretations of primary source material.

But it's in writing. In a book...

If that's not the definition of "gospel", I don't know what is.

 

[Fire Daemon]

Let's not even get started on History classes that present the textbook as some sort of gospel and not a work of scholarship that ultimately rests on interpretations of primary source material.

I hate nothimg more thant textbook learning, especially from old out of date text books. I'm talking USSR out of date.

Recently the Australian Government came under Fire (is that a pun?) for having a course that revolves around modern literature (movies mostly) more than the older stuff (Shakespear). What are some others opinions on this matter. I for one don't like NOT learning about Shakespear. Sure it may be old but that dosn't make it boring and it sure as hell dosn't make it worse then the things we study at the moment. Although I am glad the course is not devoted to Shakespear.

 

[stompy]

http://www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/schoolcertificate/ [this] and other stuff

... Right. Thanks for the advice, and the time. I'll have a look into it when I've finished my grade's clusterfuck of tests.

And:

We are reading To Kill A Mockingbird in my English class and I am literally one of about 4 students in all 4 of her classes that is enjoying the book. I think it is amazing.

I'm also reading the book for school. Unfortunately, while I get it, and understand why I should read it, I hate it. Don't get me wrong, I can see why you like it, but me myself, I just can't like it. Though, Atticus is pretty cool...

 

[Fire Daemon]

We are reading To Kill A Mockingbird in my English class and I am literally one of about 4 students in all 4 of her classes that is enjoying the book. I think it is amazing.

Ha I read the same thing too. I could give you some questions if you like. But what will I get in return? Hmmmm.....

 

[zebubble]

Yeah, with that To Kill A Mockingbird book, that whole symbolism and what does this represent can be annoying. My teacher will give lectures on that kind of stuff, but I just ignore her and work on the book (Gotta answer questions and write summaries for each chapter). Because of that, I'm so far ahead of the class she made me stop working >_<.

Oh, does anyone have the full name of the guy who had the quote "A cigar is sometimes just a cigar" (Probably got that one wrong). I want to spout that one onto my English teacher.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Oh, does anyone have the full name of the guy who had the quote "A cigar is sometimes just a cigar" (Probably got that one wrong). I want to spout that one onto my English teacher.

It's attributed to Sigmund Freud, though there's no evidence. Possibly not the greatest man to quote.

 

[cleverlymadeup]

I'm also reading the book for school. Unfortunately, while I get it, and understand why I should read it, I hate it. Don't get me wrong, I can see why you like it, but me myself, I just can't like it. Though, Atticus is pretty cool...

i think i hated every book i read for school, i found it way to dry and boring

to kill a mockingbird was boring, then all the fire and rioting happened, it became cool, then died off again

grapes of wrath was really dry, i would have had more fun getting a root canal without anesthetic while being kicked in the groin over and over

the great gatsby was ok, still boring tho

anthem was actually one of the few i liked, i read it in one sitting my teacher didn't like that cause i had to make all these journal entries, first one was "read the book from cover to cover, it was good" she didn't like that

tess of the d'urbervilles was GOD AWFUL, it's so full of crap and everything else but it's got "all this symbolism" cause the author was being paid by the chapter and so put tons of fluff and filler in it, tho it did have the happiest and nicest sounding rape scene i've ever come across

animal farm was ok but a heavy read and still kinda boring and way over analyzed

a clockwork orange wasn't required and was actually real horrorshow, had to do it for my final essay in english, was an elective book my teacher recommended to me and tho a heavy read i enjoyed it

i still enjoy reading for pleasure, tho haven't read a lot of fiction lately

 

[Anarchemitis]

Books are always interesting because you typically only read stuff you're interested in. [Textbooks exempt] And my say in Sib's dilemma with Online Gamers Against Reading (OGAR), it shouldn't be such a worrysome situation if another person you're playing with is illiterate*.


*Severe verbal burn

 

[Rolling Thunder]

I hate Sigmund Freud. He believes every man wants to sleep with his mother... I have no interest in his mother, she was a bag.

I like this man. He talks sense. Personally I think Freud really wanted to sleep with his mother, and interpreted his evidence accordingly.

And I can understand why the Americans hate doing English. They, after all, have no decent literature to study from. (JOKEJOKEJOKEJOKE) *Dives for cover in anticipation of wrath*

And what is this new theory on WW2, Saskwatch?

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

I hate Sigmund Freud. He believes every man wants to sleep with his mother... I have no interest in his mother, she was a bag.

Siggy's just this guy, you know?

Look at it this way. His entire psycho sexual studies were done whilst he was sleeping with 3 women going through the menopause; whilst taking cocaine, which makes you paranoid and impotent.
And he was once hailed as the Father of Psychiatry. Makes Jack Thompson look positively normal.

I'm quite a fan of Nietzsche, before his work was taken by a certain National Socialist party.



Regarding Literature (and American literature especially), with the re-make of League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, does anyone, apart from me, think that Mark Twain was actually a good addition?
(Given there's a psychopath, a sociopath, a gestalt personality, a white supremacist and a blood sucking fiend on board already?)

 

[Anarchemitis]

Is this thead devolving into a list of burns against reading?

 

[PedroSteckecilo]

I was always getting in trouble during Junior High and High School for reading in class. And the answer to the thread topic? There seems to be a bit of an anti-intellectual movement going on right now, a reversion to 1950's sensibilities where you should be "playing sports instead of reading books, reading books isn't normal" but the mass proliferation of things like videogames, movies and TV make reading less appealing to many. Often some people find it "too much work".

Personally I'm a mass consumer of literature.

Current favorites are...
The Bas-Lag books by China Meiville
The Mortal Engines Quintet by Phillip Reeve
The Age of Unreason by Gregory Keyes
The Master Li/Number Ten Ox series by Barry Hughart
The Thursday Next and Jack Spratt Mysteries by Jasper Fforde
The Didius Falco novels by Lindsay Davis

and a vast selection of internet public doman books including...
The Arsen Lupin books by Maruice Leblanc
Everything Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas
The Solomon Kane stories by Robert E. Howard.
King Solomon's Mines by H. Rider Haggard.

 

[Saskwach]

Regarding Literature (and American literature especially), with the re-make of League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, does anyone, apart from me, think that Mark Twain was actually a good addition?
(Given there's a psychopath, a sociopath, a gestalt personality, a white supremacist and a blood sucking fiend on board already?)

I think every liberty the movie took was a bad decision. But hey, that's me.

 

[PedroSteckecilo]

Regarding Literature (and American literature especially), with the re-make of League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, does anyone, apart from me, think that Mark Twain was actually a good addition?
(Given there's a psychopath, a sociopath, a gestalt personality, a white supremacist and a blood sucking fiend on board already?)

I think every liberty the movie took was a bad decision. But hey, that's me.

Agreed. Though Alan Moores continued obsession with kink and sex is getting on my nerves and I think there's far too much focus on that in The Black Dossier, and not enough focus on deepening the League universe or telling a good story.