"But...but...you HAVE to help me!"

[ArcticChicken]

I was in the first group of students to go through the new curriculim which mean four years in a row all fo the courses were new to the teachers.

That right there is why I dropped out of highschool and got my GED.

I was kinda pissed when I discovered I didn't need anything I'd been taught since the seventh grade in order to pass the test.

[Ghel]

I can’t believe I sat here and read 20 pages of this thread instead of eating breakfast, getting dressed, and generally getting on with my day. But you guys are all so awesome!

I gladly stand up and be counted as a fellow bibliophile!

I’ve never counted my books, but my guest bedroom doubles as a library. I’ve also got 5 boxes of paperbacks (mostly sci-fi, some fantasy) up in my attic that I was given by a friend that I’ve been meaning to go through and read.

The only book that I started reading and never finished was the second in the Gor series, Outlaw of Gor. I could understand the author saying that all women being slaves was a cultural anomaly, but when he tried to say that all women being slaves was how nature intended it, I couldn’t read any more.

Other than that, I finish every book I read, and I reread many of them. I have a stack of books on top of my bookshelf that is my “reading list.” I haven’t had a lot of time to read lately, but those are ones that I want to read soon, most of them from the 5 boxes that were given to me.

In addition to science fiction and fantasy, I also enjoy reading popularized science and philosophy, especially Richard Dawkins. I’ve read The Selfish Gene and The Blind Watchmaker each twice. I want to get A Devil’s Chaplain. I recently purchased On the Origin of Species, but I’m having trouble staying with it. The funny thing is I keep going back to it.

I’m so glad my high school had an honors program. I loved math classes. Doing a year’s worth of a math class each semester was awesome. The honors English classes were great, too, just not as memorable. The only classes I found boring were those that didn’t have an honors equivalent.

My college British Lit. teacher was awesome. He handed out 3x5 cards at the beginning of each class and asked us to write questions about the day’s discussion, which he would answer at the beginning of the next class. The most interesting question I asked was whether Chaucer’s Knight was intended to be a parody of contemporary mercenaries. That sparked a discussion that filled the rest of the hour.

[Broomjockey]

This thread hasn't been about SCs for a while, so it's been moved to Off Topic.

[Caveat Emptor]

"Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life, son."

I got an Associates degree from a business college because I wanted to improve my resume. I already had a BA and an MLS. Some of my classmates would complain on how tough it was. *Life's* tough. And if you want to transfer to a 4-year after this, you better get your rear in gear, 'cause if you think *this* is tough, it's *nothing* compared to some (most?) 4-year schools out there.

My U/G freshman roommate wound up with a 1.8 GPA because of him pledging a fraternity and stumbling in drunk almost every night.

[AdminAssistant]

I'll be working on reading all of this thread in sections, methinks.

My sister could read at 3. My great-aunts didn't believe my Mom when they saw Sis reading the comics. So they pulled out a random book for her to read, and she did. I could read at 4, not sure why I took a little longer, shorter attention span, Mom had more to do with two kids, etc. But I consistently read 2 or 3 grade levels above my actual grade and was thoroughly bored through most of elementary school, with the exception of math classes. I've never liked math, never been good at it.

I don't do much "fun" reading nowadays. When I'm reading 200-350 pages a week for classes, and much of that dramatic criticism, theory, or philosophy...I don't want to read for fun. If I do read, it's something very light, like George Carlin, Bill Maher, Jon Stewart, or Alan Alda. Or Dilbert books.

I do occasionally sit down with a play, just for the exercise of reading them. Reading dramatic work is very different than reading a novel, which is why it really irks me when dramatic literature courses are taught in English departments instead of Theatre departments. My favorite is Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand, translation by Anthony Burgess (yes, that Anthony Burgess). Closer runner-ups: Ruy Blas and Hernani by Victor Hugo and Anthony by Alexandre Dumas, pere (I do love me some French Romantics).

[EricKei]

...which is why it really irks me when dramatic literature courses are taught in English departments instead of Theatre departments.

Perhaps both teach it -- the Theatre Dept wants people to understand the characters and how to ACT OUT the play. The English Dept wants you to understand every tiny little possible nuance -- preferably, the ones espoused by that particular teacher/school, system...and yes, if you have a valid point but you disagree with their view, you're WRONG. By doing so, English teachers see to it that many children will never want to read them again.

I used to loooooove reading. I should really get back into it in depth again. I couldn't tell you the last time I read the H2G2 "trilogy". I used to read it every single year at a minimum.

[AdminAssistant]

In one of my classes, the students only had to read two plays: Oedipus Rex and Macbeth. After we read each of them, we watched a tape of a production (note: not films). Oedipus Rex at the Guthrie Theatre eons ago, and the RSC production of Macbeth with Ian McKellan and Judi Dench. I had one student who just whined that "I HATE Shakespeare! It's so boring!" After some discussion, sure enough, some lame-ass English teacher had bored her to tears doing an in-class read through of King Lear. These are the same people that perpetuate the myth that "Shakespeare" was William Shaxper, an illiterate actor and second-rate businessman from Stratford-upon-Avon. After reading the play, watching the film, and having a discussion, she told me, "Well, this wasn't boring at all!!"

There are classes that I've taken that deal with the specific structure of plays, how to read them, different modes of text analysis, what makes a 'good' play, etc. All of it with the realization that they are meant to be performed and heard, not read, and how the text tells you how to perform it.

And don't get me started on the people who call it "drama" or actually spell it "theater". That is a sign of someone with no professional experience that thinks that Oklahoma! is a really good musical.

[earl colby pottinger]

Walking Reader here

The costs of books has forced me to move to electronic versions, notably all the free stuff on Baen and Gutserberg(sp) sites.

But the laptop really gets heavy after a two hour+ walk. I am now trying to decide on a Netbook to use for walking and reading.

[EricKei]

. After reading the play, watching the film, and having a discussion, she told me, "Well, this wasn't boring at all!!"

What can I say -- I LOVE reading Shakespeare in the original Klingon

ecb: Might you mean Project Gutenberg, perhaps? I love that site