13 replies to this topic

[kspr]

i never really liked catcher in the rye nearly as much as i was told i was supposed to. still, its nice and ironic how everyone is lining up to pay their respects and talk about how great a book sold that we were forced to read sophmore year. salinger would lol.

[Maelstrom]

Haha! I never read it! Nor Les Miserables! I've pulled a few over on the education system. =D

[Monkeydog]

I was never forced to read Catcher in the Rye. I wish I was earlier. I love the book, and own about everything I can of his. I think I kind of like Franny and Zooey more, but Catcher is just something that means a lot to me.

I'm really kind of mixed about his death. He was old, I'm surprised he was still alive after all this time, and now we can finally get all the stuff he's been writing the past like 60 years. But it's still all very sad that he's dead.

And Catcher in the Rye didn't sell well because of schools. It's sold more that the freaking Dictionary and really common books like 1984, Great Gatsby, Lord of the Flies, Catch 22...I think it's one of the best selling fiction books of all time, just trumpted by things like LOTR, Tales of Two Cities, and And Then There Were None.

And Les Miserables is pretty alright, I don't understand the pride in not reading books.

[Maelstrom]

Les Miserables was long as all hell and reading it and all the literary stuff they made students here do for it... it made THEM miserable too.

[Monkeydog]

Yeah but most people are stupid.

Les Miserables is good, despite being long.

[kspr]

i guess it was ok on its own, but throw in a school of teachers who try to convince us that it's the "instruction book" for how teenagers should act, and throw in a grade full of english students in an environment where they're all alike to begin with (the abercrombie crowd) then it can be either a very sad, or very amusing scene when the preppy kids talk about how theyre all tortured and misunderstood. yep, that's why theyre all a big popped collar circle jerk, because nobody understands them.

les miz is boring, and i even saw the play. waaaay too long. Dumas>Hugo

[Monkeydog]

les miz is boring, and i even saw the play. waaaay too long. Dumas>Hugo

I agree it can be boring due to the length, but it certainly isn't a bad book in any regard.

[Maelstrom]

I take pride in not being forced to read books, though often I come to see why they're awesome to read. Other times I prowl around the library and look for suitable books.

After watching Gankustuou, I want to read the count of monte christo. One of the original vengeance-bites-you-in-the-ass stories?

[Monkeydog]

I never really read the books I was forced to in High School. I tended to never read anything unless I was already interested in it. Stuff like Hamlet, Candide, The Great Gatsby, and Death of a Salesman. Which may be the only four books I finished in High School (other than 1984 which I had already pretty much read anyways before I was asked to read it for class). All of which I greatly enjoyed.

[Maelstrom]

Funny. I read the Great Gatsby and Hamlet for class and enjoyed neither. 1984 on the other hand...

[Monkeydog]

Hamlet we read as a play, in class, and Gatsby I already had. I loooooooooooooved Gatsby, crazy for not enjoying it.

Certainly I didn't do any work for Gatsby, reading it was enough work. So I never felt like the book itself was work, and I enjoyed it a lot.

[kspr]

I take pride in not being forced to read books, though often I come to see why they're awesome to read. Other times I prowl around the library and look for suitable books.

After watching Gankustuou, I want to read the count of monte christo. One of the original vengeance-bites-you-in-the-ass stories?

do it. just make sure you get the unabridged version. barnes and noble sells this great dumas 3 volume that has the three muskateers and the man in the iron mask along with monte cristo. all unabridged.

[Maelstrom]

Sweet! Now I gotta remember where the local B&N is at...

[Stars]

Catcher in the Rye was probably my favorite book to read back in high school. RIP JD Salinger.