| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
Sashadroogie
Joined: 17 Apr 2007
Posts: 11061
Location: Moskva, The Workers' Paradise
|
 Posted: Sun Jun 08, 2014 12:50 pm Post subject: |
 |
|
Dear Johnslat
Still doing a lot better than me. I've not read a single line of this South African/Australian writer...
With Communist greetings
Sasha |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
scot47
Joined: 10 Jan 2003
Posts: 15343
|
| Posted: Sun Jun 08, 2014 3:27 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| In the old days it was book-burning. Now they just close the public libraries. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Steinmann
Joined: 17 Mar 2009
Posts: 255
Location: In the frozen north
|
| Posted: Wed Jul 23, 2014 4:32 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| sparks wrote: |
| Oh, Lord of the Flies as well, I don't think you can escape the Am. school system without reading it. Well, actually, nowadays you probably can. |
Not in my classroom.  |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
HLJHLJ
Joined: 06 Oct 2009
Posts: 1218
Location: Ecuador
|
| Posted: Thu Jul 24, 2014 4:06 am Post subject: |
|
|
| johnslat wrote: |
Dear HLJHLJ.
I have my doubts just how far my personal experience can be generalized, but I know that WAY back when I was in high school, almost all of my reading was "extra-curricular." We'd get "reading lists" for the summer, and I'd reluctantly get around to doing the minimum required. But most of my reading consisted of my own choices.
So, I have to wonder if it isn't a case of those who get bitten by the reading bug discovering their own variety versus those who are not (and may never be) bitten not doing so, no matter what is in the curriculum.
Regards,
John |
That may be true to some extent. However, the situation is often a lot more complicated. In any age group there are children who love to read and children who hate it. There are probably many reasons why they end up in either camp, but the bigger concern are the ones in the middle ground. These are the children who enjoyed reading in primary/elementary school, but hate it by the time they finish secondary. It's particularly an issue for boys.
Again, there are many reasons for it; they have other interests, reading isn't 'cool', there is a lack of good material for boys in that age range. It's also when school work starts to get harder and there is a lot more emphasis on reading to study rather than reading for pleasure.
If nothing changes during that period, most of those children will never read extended text for pleasure as adults, again especially the boys. So for those kids, the novel they study at GCSE level may be the last book they ever read. In the UK it's the education system's last chance to rekindle the spark, or at least not to extinguish it entirely. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
mitsui
Joined: 10 Jun 2007
Posts: 1562
Location: Kawasaki
|
| Posted: Sat Jul 26, 2014 1:53 am Post subject: |
|
|
Pathetic. In New York we just read British lit in 11th grade.
In 10th grade it is only American lit. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
MuscatGary
Joined: 03 Jun 2013
Posts: 1364
Location: Flying around the ME...
|
| Posted: Sat Jul 26, 2014 9:03 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Looking like an even more stupid decision now that the MAN Booker prize is open to novelists from the USA! |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
natsume
Joined: 24 Apr 2006
Posts: 409
Location: Chongqing, China
|
| Posted: Sat Jul 26, 2014 1:57 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| MuscatGary wrote: |
| Looking like an even more stupid decision now that the MAN Booker prize is open to novelists from the USA! |
As an American, my (admittedly selfish) reaction is "what a shame"!
Booker prize winners and nominees have made up a majority of my literary "pleasant surprises" over the years. That designation usually assured me of a certain level of quality and ingenuity in the writing that would almost always be unique and above average, and also often exposed me to writers I otherwise would not have found. I enjoyed the fact that it was not "diluted" by Americans.
Of course, I'm hoping their standards will not change. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
MuscatGary
Joined: 03 Jun 2013
Posts: 1364
Location: Flying around the ME...
|
| Posted: Sat Jul 26, 2014 2:43 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| natsume wrote: |
| MuscatGary wrote: |
| Looking like an even more stupid decision now that the MAN Booker prize is open to novelists from the USA! |
As an American, my (admittedly selfish) reaction is "what a shame"!
.......... I enjoyed the fact that it was not "diluted" by Americans.
Of course, I'm hoping their standards will not change. |
I was worried that the USA by it's sheer scale would dominate but the longlist isn't too bad: 13 books by six Britons, four USA, two Irish writers and one Australian.
Looks like the Commonwealth writers have been squeezed though. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
spiral78
Joined: 05 Apr 2004
Posts: 11534
Location: On a Short Leash
|
| Posted: Sat Jul 26, 2014 3:37 pm Post subject: |
|
|
No Canadians??!! C'mon, Marley Fowat, everybody knows (or should) 
Margaret Atwood? |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
MuscatGary
Joined: 03 Jun 2013
Posts: 1364
Location: Flying around the ME...
|
| Posted: Sat Jul 26, 2014 3:46 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| spiral78 wrote: |
No Canadians??!! C'mon, Marley Fowat, everybody knows (or should)
Margaret Atwood? |
Fowat didn't publish between 2010 and dying so couldn't be in the list. Atwood isn't there this time but has been plenty of times before and even won it once for The Blind Assassin! |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
natsume
Joined: 24 Apr 2006
Posts: 409
Location: Chongqing, China
|
| Posted: Sat Jul 26, 2014 4:32 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Looks like the Commonwealth writers have been squeezed though.[/quote]
That is exactly my concern. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Dedicated
Joined: 18 May 2007
Posts: 972
Location: UK
|
| Posted: Sun Jul 27, 2014 8:58 am Post subject: Man Booker prize |
|
|
The Man Booker prize awards consider authors from anywhere in the world, but stipulate the work must be in English and published in the UK.
It is not the author's nationality that counts but where the book is published. That might be problematic for some writers. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
MuscatGary
Joined: 03 Jun 2013
Posts: 1364
Location: Flying around the ME...
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
johnslat
Joined: 21 Jan 2003
Posts: 13859
Location: Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA
|
| Posted: Sun Jul 27, 2014 1:37 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Why the 'where the book is published" rule, I wonder. That seems to me to be irrelevant, having nothing to do with a book's merit - except, perhaps, from a financial angle.
Regards,
John |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
MuscatGary
Joined: 03 Jun 2013
Posts: 1364
Location: Flying around the ME...
|
| Posted: Sun Jul 27, 2014 4:43 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| johnslat wrote: |
Why the 'where the book is published" rule, I wonder. That seems to me to be irrelevant, having nothing to do with a book's merit - except, perhaps, from a financial angle.
Regards,
John |
Maybe because Booker-McConnell, who started it, was/is a British firm and so is the Man Grouo who took it over? In the former case the company had an authors division so you're probably right in the financial argument angle. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Usergroups
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
