tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9172766774137902766.post3864649365751862294..comments2023-12-23T09:28:20.869+00:00Comments on The View from Cullingworth: The ten books every child should read before leaving school (or why I hate English Literature revisited)Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9172766774137902766.post-32880082533748014042016-02-01T21:57:37.093+00:002016-02-01T21:57:37.093+00:00I'm not sure that the stories of Lord of the R...I'm not sure that the stories of Lord of the Rings and Hitchhikers bear much resemblance to the life of a fourteen-year Pakistani girl in Bradford either, but it really doesn't matter; good literature should be able to speak to people without demographic pandering. In fact, literature that does try to be 'relevant' is almost invariably awful, or at best short-lived. <br /><br />I think a lot of this comes down to taste; I found Lord of the Rings pretty hard-going to read, much as I love the films. And many people are turned off by science-fiction, however well-written. <br /><br />I'm not averse to a greater diversity of literature in the curriculum, but the books that persist on English syllabuses do generally have something going for them. I didn't love Lord of the Flies, but it's a very well-crafted novel.Joshuanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9172766774137902766.post-62955250489774772642016-02-01T19:42:48.884+00:002016-02-01T19:42:48.884+00:00Living in Stoke, I think children here (and perhap...Living in Stoke, I think children here (and perhaps elsewhere, but especially in the "Five Towns"(of which there are actually six, but that's another story) should read Arnold Bennett. It teaches about the history of the city, and requires some imagination to imagine how our great-grandparents lived, a life that was in the same geographic but half the buildings don't exist and the culture entirely vanished.<br /><br />It really brings history to life, Darius Clayhanger leaving the Liberal Club and joining the conservative club ("And I reckon I'm not the only one, these days") brought home how angry a lot of people who had been pillars of the Victorian Liberal Party gradually became even before 1914.<br /><br />In most places there are local authors, town and country, I'm sure there are a load in Yorkshire. Would it not be possible for them to be either on the curriculum or vaguely encouraged in their places?asquithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14246701347539264295noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9172766774137902766.post-37616219586495929102016-02-01T19:33:16.799+00:002016-02-01T19:33:16.799+00:00I always thought it was pretty amazing that educat...I always thought it was pretty amazing that educationalists would conclude that the best way to fire an enthusiasm for reading in the young would be to give them reading material for which the vast majority would probably have no affinity whatsoever. I guess they spent all their time thinking about the literature and little or none thinking about the kids.<br /><br />It would be better, I suggest, to get the kids to read stuff they might actually like in the expectation that greater numbers would become independent readers and have some grounds to hope that a reasonable proportion would also go on to read some of the material they are currently cramming down their throats.<br /><br />Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15821018802060669831noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9172766774137902766.post-60890623380559763872016-02-01T10:55:54.516+00:002016-02-01T10:55:54.516+00:00I like your list. Also Do Androids Dream of Electr...I like your list. Also Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep. Of course this will all be dismissed as non-literature by sniffy English teachers who read all their old fashioned crappy books at university. Pride and Predjudice is very dull and rather boringly written.Dr Evilhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00176521760477086914noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9172766774137902766.post-52606535163691770302016-02-01T08:23:10.978+00:002016-02-01T08:23:10.978+00:00Everything by Hermann Hesse.
Somerset Maugham sho...Everything by Hermann Hesse.<br /><br />Somerset Maugham short stories.<br /><br />JayAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9172766774137902766.post-32025076968433662632016-01-31T23:46:10.427+00:002016-01-31T23:46:10.427+00:00Oh man, you read my sort of books! I like every on...Oh man, you read my sort of books! I like every one on your list. <br /><br />We were made to read Lord of the Flies at school. I hated it. I never connected with Dickens or Austen. Thankfully neither did our English teacher. <br /><br />In my Higher Exam (Scottish exam system) I reviewed Brave New World and rubbished it as poor SF. I stuck up for Clarke and Asimov. I'm not sure I agree with my 16-year old self, but I must have made a good argument as they gave me an A. Then I did science rather than arts or language at Uni as it's less subjective. You know where you are with science and maths. I still read lots of novels, but still dislike many of the classics. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07649453641197025106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9172766774137902766.post-56332673938488633622016-01-31T22:44:19.667+00:002016-01-31T22:44:19.667+00:00Wasp, by Eric Frank Russell
Brown on Resolution b...Wasp, by Eric Frank Russell<br /><br />Brown on Resolution by C.S. Forester.Frank Davishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16267604064923306200noreply@blogger.com