OT: wondering why

I tend to love mysteries and historical books, but my 17 yo DD loves Kurt Vonnegut and has ready everything he wrote as well as a large variety of other books. My son started the Harry Potter books in kindergarten but we all got kind of bored with them. I understand the world loved them and all sorts of people starting reading because of them - which is great - but I don't consider them great books. Nick is

There are a lot of books that are popular, either because of Oprah or some other reason, that I look at and once I've read the description I put right back on the shelf. There are billions of books on this planet, no need to waste my time reading the ones I'm not interested in :)

MelissaD

Hey Dawne:

What do you think of the Canada Reads list?

MargW

Except for the Findlay I don't know the books--but we do have them all prominently displayed in the store! I hope to get to at least some of them when I finish the stack by my bed (I am doing a "Jane Austen related" thing right now, but so far not so happily.) For those outside Canada, Canada Reads is an annual event on CBC radio where a group of assorted Canadian readers choose a favourite book and argue about why it is the best of the lot. Then, sort of like those survivor type shows, a book is voted off, until there is a winner. It is a really good idea, and brings some hidden gem sorts of books to national attention.

Dawne

Alan Bennett (English author & playwright) tells the story of two elderly sisters from the North of England who were deciding what to get their favourite nephew for his birthday. One lady said "Let's buy him a book" to which the other replied "No, he's already got a book".

That's exactly how I see movies. My elder daughter has to tell me to watch it and also a friend in Tennessee, if they both say watch, it's guaranteed I will like it. So every four years or so, I watch a movie lol

Yes, but then again, many people today seem like that, slavishly dedicated to every breath their idol draws. At least in the case of Oprah she seems a fairly reasonable idol.

The difference between the sexes again where reading is concerned. Girls today (at least the ones I have contact with) still love Anne of Green Gables and that is very dated ! She was 100 years old this past week I believe.

Yes, always fun and there are times I have hated them when they vote a book I like off the list !

That was pretty brutal. But was it slamming Oprah, ABC or the producer? Seems like it slammed Oprah the least.

Trust me - they're gone. Scholastic revamped (and ruined) Nancy Drew. I think you either loved Tom or hated him, no one was neutral. I'm surprised with your love of puns you didn't like Tom Swift.

Gee, sort of sums up my movie watching. OK -DD I did go see Enchanted and might even buy it; like Ella Enchanted, it poked fun at itself. C

Amazon.com has a whole slew of recently released and re-released Hardy Boys books.

I didn't like the futuristic aspects of Tom Swift. Didn't care about rockets, I wanted mysteries and romance and HORSES.

Elizabeth

What do you mean they're gone? They're in my kids' school library, our public library, and local bookstores. My kids have some of them, though they weren't really hits here.

Best wishes, Ericka

Maybe. I've found that my boys didn't like the Hardy Boys all that much, but there has been quite a bit of the classic children's literature that they've enjoyed (The Bronze Bow; The Sign of the Beaver; Carry On, Mr. Bowditch; etc.).

Best wishes, Ericka

But, they seemed totally unable to say this book didn't do anything for me or I disliked this book. Just parroted Oprah....

And I jumped right into Asimov and Heinlein (note to self, keep DD away from later Heinlein) . C

Out of children's because the boys "invite danger" and YA had to make to make room for real YA books.

And if they weren't parrotting Oprah, they'd be parrotting someone else. It's like people who can't write a paper without paraphrasing their sources. They either don't have an opinion of their own or they aren't confident enough to voice their opinion unless someone else backs it up. I run across it all the time and it seems like our high schools have reinforced this (as well as some college teachers). "Just give me back what I've given you and you'll pass the test." Drives me right up a tree, but thinking for oneself is hard work and not everyone has been trained to do it.

Elizabeth

That's true. I don't watch the reality shows much, except for Iron Chef and Project Runway and this one didn't appeal to me at all when I saw the commercial.

I haven't seen the show, have no intention of watching the show and, therefore, can't really say if it's a great idea or a crummy one.

Lucille