02-08-2013, 08:28 AM | #91 |
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Which list? The BBC's Big Read list?
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02-08-2013, 08:35 AM | #92 |
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The one posted by BellaZora.
The BBC one also has many nice books on it. I'll have to check some out that I've always wanted to read but never did. Last edited by Katsunami; 02-08-2013 at 08:53 AM. |
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02-08-2013, 08:48 AM | #93 |
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I took the quiz. I have read at least part about a dozen of them, but most of them I haven't even heard of.
Of course I'm not American so I really don't know what should and shouldn't be on that list, but I did notice the absence of Toni Morrison, Mark Twain and other big names. I would have expected a "classic" like Catch 22 to be there as well, but maybe I'm just showing my age now... |
02-08-2013, 09:57 AM | #94 |
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I have to work with this type of "common core" educational lists, only at a college level. The reason for the more obscure books is that the list is built up in reverse. A committee came up with a bunch of discussion questions on topics they thought 10th graders should be exposed to and then had to go out and find books that met the questions. Its not a literature list by any means.
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02-08-2013, 01:22 PM | #95 | |
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Quote:
Spoiler:
Last edited by BelleZora; 02-08-2013 at 01:25 PM. |
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02-08-2013, 03:07 PM | #96 | |
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I agree that there are lots of bad fantasy books, but I guess there a lots of bad books in any genre. This seems to be getting much worse with the rise of ebooks, when anyone can publish without all those qualiy controls. Sometimes I am just overwhelmed when I look at those "free book" lists and can't figure if I'd want any of those for free. So, to get back near the original topic: Don't you feel that these "canon lists" are getting more important with the numbers of books exploding, as it is getting harder and harder to find the good stuff in this jungle? Looking at the BBC list I just thought I would rather go back to Jane Austen than reading some random new stuff (now that's showing my age, probably ...) |
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02-08-2013, 03:38 PM | #97 |
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If any book of the 20th century will survive the test of time, it's Lord of the Rings. It's endured despite being looked down upon, now you can study it in college literature classes.
I don't think it's all that hard to weed out the bad books. When we look back at the past, we only see the best, and it gives the impression that the books were all really great. But there were a great many books that are simply forgotten. There are a great deal more books, but we also have more tools at our disposal to help us make our decisions. |
02-08-2013, 06:24 PM | #98 |
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02-08-2013, 09:12 PM | #99 | |
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Maybe I'm too cynical. Maybe. |
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02-08-2013, 09:31 PM | #100 | |
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IMHO, the "test of time" will have less to do with whether Lord of the Rings is good, and more with whether, at any given time, fantasy is a popular genre. |
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02-08-2013, 10:10 PM | #101 | |
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But... no. Just no. It's a fun book. It's an astonishing world. It's a beautiful story. It made me weep. But there are countless works from this century that have a literary value LOTR not only does not achieve, but did not even aspire to. And, as far as college classes go, they read Dan Brown, Harry Potter and, by now, even the shades crap. The fact that we dedicate college classes to what is, basically, entertainment, is a sad testament to how dumb this society is getting, how little we expect of our children, and how much we are wasting money that should be used to teach REAL skills. |
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02-09-2013, 12:05 AM | #102 |
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02-09-2013, 04:13 AM | #103 | |
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Quote:
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02-09-2013, 04:45 AM | #104 | |
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LOTR may not show the subtlest use of narrative language, but it has the most amazing treatment of different languages and cultures, it draws widely on a lot of European myths and medieval literature. So I wouldn't deny it "literary value", though I would be hard put to choose it as the one book of the century. Or choose any book. If influence on other works is a valid factor, then certainly LOTR is very high on the list. I think "novelty" is indeed also a factor of literary value, that's why Gullivers Travels are still interesting these days. In the end, this how the "books of the century" lists are made - if people think a book is important and should be on the list, it gets there. Depending on the type of the list, these people are some sorts of experts or the general public (the BBC list for example show what people actually like reading, not what the "experts" think they should read). |
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02-09-2013, 05:53 AM | #105 |
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I think that there are more than a few people who mention books for those lists that they have always heard of as being important, rather than finding them good or important themselves.
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