Are you as well-read as a 10th grader? - Page 4

pidgeon92 · 02-06-2013, 05:10 PM

Many on the list were short stories, not novels. I remember reading a lot of short stories in high school, but there's no way I'd remember the names of the vast majority of them.

JSWolf · 02-06-2013, 05:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HomeInMyShoes

I hate CSM. It takes too long to process the quizes and it kills Internet Explorer most of the time. I restarted it three times and couldn't get through it. I was doing pretty good. I got to about 27 the one time. I had read 25% and heard of all but three.

I've dumped MSIE for Firefox and never looked back. I took the quiz without a problem. It's not the site, it is MSIE that's the problem.

teh603 · 02-06-2013, 05:20 PM

Quote:

You could probably hold your own in a literary conversation, but perhaps not with today's 15-year-olds.

Uh, right.

Has the author of the quiz actually talked to a fifteen year old? I have to every time I go to work, and I'm lucky to not get verbally abused. They aren't talking about books and litfic criticism; they're talking about lowriders, pimping and hoes, how to crack software and do DOSA takedowns, which teachers they want to get fired, and just about everything BUT their literature assignments.

Edit: They also left Ralph Waldo Emerson, Robert Frost, Mark Twain, Edward Albee, Thackeray (sp?), the Bronte sisters, von Daniken, the Gawain-Poet, Snorri, James Joyce, T.S. Eliot (sp?), and a whole bunch of other authors off the list.

DrNefario · 02-06-2013, 05:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

Certainly it is. My point was simply that authors who are regarded as "essential reading" in one culture are not necessarily so in another. Eg, I suspect that rather few British people have read Steinbeck, despite his (justifiable) fame in the US. I would (at the risk of modesty) consider myself to be extremely well-read, especially when it comes to the classics, but I must confess that I've never read any of his work.

We studied Of Mice and Men at school. Which made hard work of it, as usual. I later read (I'm pretty sure) Grapes of Wrath and thought it was excellent.

What doesn't really cross our paths much, here, is the Pulitzer, I'd say, since it's a fairly inward-looking US prize.

Elfwreck · 02-06-2013, 05:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dreams

I seriously doubt there are that many High School students that have read or have heard of many of those books.

I suspect they grabbed a list of "books/poems most often assigned to 9th and 10th graders," and put them all together, instead of trying to make any kind of list of "books ALL 10th graders are expected to have read."

shalym · 02-06-2013, 05:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by teh603

Uh, right.

Has the author of the quiz actually talked to a fifteen year old? I have to every time I go to work, and I'm lucky to not get verbally abused. They aren't talking about books and litfic criticism; they're talking about lowriders, pimping and hoes, how to crack software and do DOSA takedowns, which teachers they want to get fired, and just about everything BUT their literature assignments.

Maybe that's what they're talking about where you live, but really...they're not talking about that stuff where I live. The 15 year olds that I know may not all be talking about books and "litfic" criticism outside of English class, but they aren't talking about "lowriders, pimping and hoes, how to crack software and do DOSA takedowns, which teachers they want to get fired" either. They talk about the opposite sex, and music, and what parties are happening that weekend, and who said what to who, and when the next raid is going to be (WOW related). I feel sorry for you that the only teenagers you're exposed to are like that, and I assure you that there are MANY out there who aren't like that at all.

Shari

faithbw · 02-06-2013, 06:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ProfCrash

They sure have changed what you read in high school. I was in honors and AP English in high school, I received college credit for my English classes in high school. I am not recognizing a good number of the books.

Ditto! I also took honors and AP English in high school. While I heard of a lot of the titles, I never had to read any of them in high school. The two I did read, I read on my own as an adult.

BelleZora · 02-06-2013, 06:27 PM

What 10th graders where? My 10th and 11th grade granddaughters who both read a lot (and one is an honors student in advanced classes) have not read most of these books. I've read many of them, but am only "sort of well read".

While checking out the books I didn't know I found In The Time of Butterflies by Julia Alvarez for $1.99 at Amazon and B&N. The Kindle edition was published just this month by Algonquin Books. Not available yet in UK. I snapped it up because it looks excellent.

I did especially like to see Killer Angels and Cannery Row on the list. Both are excellent books.

Krykorya · 02-06-2013, 06:28 PM

I didn't take the quiz, but looking at the list, my secondary college was very, ah, sub-par by the standards of this website. I can recall the books that we read in years eleven and twelve: Of Mice And Men by John Steinbeck, Hatchet by Gary Paulsen, The Line by Arch Flanagan, The Secret River by Kate Grenville and The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. In tenth year, we didn't read any books in English; we analysed movies.

RDaneel54 · 02-06-2013, 07:12 PM

I got the "you may be well read" comment. Quite a list, but not my cup of tea for the most part. Nor was the list indicative what I was required to read in High School 40 years ago.

I wonder what the required reading was in 1913?

Andrew H. · 02-06-2013, 07:50 PM

I've read most of those, although I was surprised that there were several I hadn't heard of. I'd read ten by high school, although about half of those were poems. We read a lot of poetry.

But, yeah, the idea that a 10th grader would know more than a couple of these is kind of ridiculous.

Quote:

You're pretty well read

You're familiar with words like 'Bildungsroman,' 'synecdoche,' and 'anagnorisis,' but perhaps not with today's updated literary curriculum.

Spoiler:

Bookworm_Girl · 02-06-2013, 08:14 PM

The Catcher in the Rye is another book that I would have expected on the list. I have been recalling other authors that I read in high school that aren't on this list: Faulkner, Arthur Miller, Orwell, Melville, Chaucer, Thoreau. I remember one of my favorite assigned books was The Count of Monte Cristo.

The earlier posts made me curious what books are studied in other countries like England. I did a google search on recommended books for English A-level, and the results were more typical of what I'd expect and rather similar to American curriculum (more so than this quiz list).

DarkScribe · 02-07-2013, 01:25 AM

My result said that I was "Pretty well read but not familiar with today's updated literary curriculum".

piperclassique · 02-07-2013, 07:42 AM

Yes, well. No Goethe, no Dante, no Whitman, no Moliere, not much Shakespear. Not many modern european authors either. I didn't notice if there were any spanish authors. Do I get extra points for knowing some of the poems by heart?

xg4bx · 02-07-2013, 08:00 AM

When I was 15 and in honors english I got stuck reading stuff like Pigs in Heaven and Raisin in the Sun. I wanted to read books like 1984 and Starship Troopers, books that ended up sticking with me far longer than the snoozefests we had forced on us.

I wouldn't read most of the books on this list if you paid me.

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02-06-2013, 05:10 PM	#46
pidgeon92 Wizard Posts: 3,144 Karma: 8426142 Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Chicago, IL Device: Kindle PW2, Kindle Voyage, Kindle DXG, Boox M90, Kobo Aura HD	Many on the list were short stories, not novels. I remember reading a lot of short stories in high school, but there's no way I'd remember the names of the vast majority of them.

02-06-2013, 06:27 PM	#53
BelleZora Wizard Posts: 1,432 Karma: 25151986 Join Date: May 2012 Location: Seattle, US Device: Kindle Oasis 3, Kobo Libra 2	What 10th graders where? My 10th and 11th grade granddaughters who both read a lot (and one is an honors student in advanced classes) have not read most of these books. I've read many of them, but am only "sort of well read". While checking out the books I didn't know I found In The Time of Butterflies by Julia Alvarez for $1.99 at Amazon and B&N. The Kindle edition was published just this month by Algonquin Books. Not available yet in UK. I snapped it up because it looks excellent. I did especially like to see Killer Angels and Cannery Row on the list. Both are excellent books.

02-06-2013, 06:28 PM	#54
Krykorya Nameless Being	I didn't take the quiz, but looking at the list, my secondary college was very, ah, sub-par by the standards of this website. I can recall the books that we read in years eleven and twelve: Of Mice And Men by John Steinbeck, Hatchet by Gary Paulsen, The Line by Arch Flanagan, The Secret River by Kate Grenville and The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. In tenth year, we didn't read any books in English; we analysed movies.

02-06-2013, 07:12 PM	#55
RDaneel54 Aging Positronic Brain Posts: 633 Karma: 2155452 Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Aurora (when off-Earth) Device: Amazon Oasis; iPhone, iPad Mini	I got the "you may be well read" comment. Quite a list, but not my cup of tea for the most part. Nor was the list indicative what I was required to read in High School 40 years ago. I wonder what the required reading was in 1913?

02-06-2013, 08:14 PM	#57
Bookworm_Girl E-reader Enthusiast Posts: 4,871 Karma: 36507503 Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Southwest, USA Device: Kindle Oasis 3; Kobo Aura One; iPad Mini 5	The Catcher in the Rye is another book that I would have expected on the list. I have been recalling other authors that I read in high school that aren't on this list: Faulkner, Arthur Miller, Orwell, Melville, Chaucer, Thoreau. I remember one of my favorite assigned books was The Count of Monte Cristo. The earlier posts made me curious what books are studied in other countries like England. I did a google search on recommended books for English A-level, and the results were more typical of what I'd expect and rather similar to American curriculum (more so than this quiz list).

02-07-2013, 01:25 AM	#58
DarkScribe Apprentice Curmudgeon. Posts: 427 Karma: 3286968 Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: Runaway Bay, QLD, , Australia Device: Kindle DX Graphite, Touch, Paperwhite, Sony, and Nook.	My result said that I was "Pretty well read but not familiar with today's updated literary curriculum".

02-07-2013, 07:42 AM	#59
piperclassique A garbling groftpot Posts: 974 Karma: 9234667 Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: France Device: Oasis, Voyage, Kobo mini, Samsung tablet, phones, whatever.	Yes, well. No Goethe, no Dante, no Whitman, no Moliere, not much Shakespear. Not many modern european authors either. I didn't notice if there were any spanish authors. Do I get extra points for knowing some of the poems by heart?

02-07-2013, 08:00 AM	#60
xg4bx Are you gonna eat that? Posts: 1,633 Karma: 23215128 Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: Phillipsburg, NJ Device: Kindle 3, Nook STG	When I was 15 and in honors english I got stuck reading stuff like Pigs in Heaven and Raisin in the Sun. I wanted to read books like 1984 and Starship Troopers, books that ended up sticking with me far longer than the snoozefests we had forced on us. I wouldn't read most of the books on this list if you paid me.

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