I Haven't Been a 15 Year Old Boy Since...Never

[Seshat]

I stated simply that I 'have no interest reading books that are written on a 4th grade reading level.'

Since my niece and nephew were born, I've been revisiting children's books. Some of them are great! You can convey a great many philosophies, ideas, and concepts with quite a limited vocabulary - but only if you're a good author with philosophies, ideas and concepts to start with.

Or you can just write a crackin' good story.

But I do agree that books written for adults should be assuming a decently large vocabulary and the ability to comprehend grammatical structures like the subjunctive.

[Shabo]

I love reading. I will read *anything* that is available if I have nothing better to do. Even if it's a picture book. I've walked away from one book that I ended up reading later for a class, and really enjoyed it the second time around.

My mother adores murder mysteries. She has a special obsession with Lisa Scottoline, and went to a book signing once where she kindly picked up a book for me that she had signed. So, after having it sit on my shelf for a year and a half, I finally picked it up and started reading it. Wow. What a mistake. If that's how Lisa writes, OMG I will never touch another book of hers with a ten foot pole. But props to anyone who likes reading that stuff. Just not my taste. So, not really knowing anything about the genre, I picked up the newest James Patterson book for her. I don't know if she started reading it yet or not, but it's probably right up her alley.

However, I *despise* murder mysteries. But I certainly wouldn't even tell anyone that they suck because they don't like what I like.

On a happier note, the "His Dark Materials" trilogy by Philip Pullman wasn't bad for a kids book. The movie looks like it is going to be amazing! It's called The Golden Compass, due out in December.

[Mark Healey]

On a happier note, the "His Dark Materials" trilogy by Philip Pullman wasn't bad for a kids book. The movie looks like it is going to be amazing! It's called The Golden Compass, due out in December.

I HATE it when they change titles for different countries with the same language. "The Professor and the Madman", "The Golden Compass" and the first Harry Potter book are examples that come to mind.

[Starlord]

When I was in high school a thousand years ago, the textbook for Spanish was 'El Camino Real,' or, as I understand, The King's Road. I wanted to take German, but the teacher who was supposed to teach it pulled out and left town just before the semester started. The language teaching company someone suggested is interresting, especially since their website says they have no products now. I have been seeing an outfit called 'Rosetta Stone' that claims to be the company that the US State Department, among others, uses, and claim to have more language courses than anyone else.

[Pagan]

When I was in high school a thousand years ago, the textbook for Spanish was 'El Camino Real,' or, as I understand, The King's Road.

Actually, "Royal Road". Heh, it just clicked that the apartment complex next to mine is Camino Real. How a bunch of buildings can be a royal road, I don't know....oops, sorry about the tangent.

This http://education.nmsu.edu/webquest/w...no/camino.html would have been a hell of lot more interesting than a textbook!