When I was a 9th grader I read " One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich " by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn I had to hide it from my parents . Got it on my own at the Cincinnati Public Library . Was a big change from the Hardy Boys and Tom Swift .

Which one of his novels would you recommend to start with?

 

I've only read a few (and he only has a dozen or so novels), but I started with "After Dark" and really liked it.

 

He has a great nonfiction work called "Underground" about the 1995 Tokyo subway Sarin gas attack that is comprised of interviews with both victims and members of the group that carried out the attack. It's really interesting stuff and he takes some serious jabs at Japanese society (like people not helping those that were hurt but waited for some authority figure to step in and tell everyone what to do). Really stunning book.

One take....

 

Romeo and Juliet = sex out of wedlock and not listening to parents

Great Expectations = consorting with convicts and befriending a woman who pimps out a girl she has adopted

The Scarlet Letter = more sex out of wedlock

Les Miserables = the main character is a convict

Of Mice and Men = murder and vulgarity

 

Even Green Eggs and Ham deals with bestowing immense peer pressure on someone and making them do something they dont want to do.

 

Am I really that extreme? No. But you can pick the gnat excrement out of the pepper in just about any book

Tweak (Growing Up On Methamphetamines): Features drug use and a gay orgy.

 

Probably adding Tweak to my personal reading list after this thread.

What sealed the deal, the drug use or the gay orgy? :sssh:

I am curious why we have not heard any further passionate opposition in this thread. Is it because the synopsis of the book reveals a different look into the novel than the original link portrayed?

What sealed the deal, the drug use or the gay orgy? :sssh:

I'm a sucker for a good gay orgy. What can I say?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Truthfully. I'm a huge fan of Breaking Bad so a book about a meth head sounds very interesting.

Are we trying to make sure these kids never want to read a book again? :lol: There aren't very many high-schoolers at age 18 that I would suggest sit down and hack through Joyce.

 

James Joyce almost ruined me for reading. Thankfully, I persevered.

I say we take all the books with content we don't like and burn them. Then we won't have to worry about people getting crazy ideas found in them.

This article doesn't make the whole story clear. Are these books that were included on a list of books to choose from or were the students actually required to read those books? What little it does say, I get the feeling that the students were required to read a number (not sure what) of books from the list, but that they had a choice. That's how all the required reading lists I've ever experienced work. I think either at Trinity or Assumption there was one required book and the student had to choose an additional book from the list. But I can't quite remember.

If I were a student, my only question would be, "Are the Cliffs Notes explicit, too?"

tolerance shoved down our throat, it is ok to be gay now days, it is what is cool.

tolerance shoved down our throat, it is ok to be gay now days, it is what is cool.

 

Did you even read the synopsis of the story?

tolerance shoved down our throat, it is ok to be gay now days, it is what is cool.

Is tolerance not an acceptable thing to teach?

tolerance shoved down our throat, it is ok to be gay now days, it is what is cool.

 

Ironically, tolerance cannot be forced upon one.

Is tolerance not an acceptable thing to teach?

 

 

I, like most, find James Joyce pretty much intolerable. My son the English professor loves him, however. To each his own.

 

I'm not missing your point, however.