What are you reading right now?

[DejaBrew]

Not one we touched, but its up there with some of the ones we did.... (says me looking at To Kill A Mockingbird on my bookshelf, which I'd probably enjoy now but definitely did not as a 14 year old.).

The Machine Gunners by Robert Westall was the one that did me in. If there was ever a book to instill feelings of mind-numbing boredom and manic depression in a Year 8 DejaBrew, that was it. Nice job, high school curriculum - awesome way to get the young'uns enthused about the English Language

 

[blackcat20]

The Machine Gunners by Robert Westall was the one that did me in. If there was ever a book to instill feelings of mind-numbing boredom and manic depression in a Year 8 DejaBrew, that was it. Nice job, high school curriculum - awesome way to get the young'uns enthused about the English Language

Its an impressive skill, to take ones passion and make them hate it.

 

[Cossie]

Ordered a book about Reg Saunders, the first Aboriginal Officer in the Australian Army. Should have it tomorrow.

Only found out recently he was one of the few left behind in Crete in WW2 and managed to evade capture by the Germans for 11 months, with the help of locals.

Personal connection is that he lived close to us in Canberra and one of his sons was in my year at school.
He was also a drinking mate of my fathers down at the Services Club near Manuka Oval.

They had quite a large section of his memorabilia, unfortunately all lost when the club burnt down in 2011.

Fighting for Country - James Saunders

Fighting for Country - James Saunders

www.allenandunwin.com

Also ordered a couple of Cathy Wilcox's collections of cartoons.

 

[Brissy1]

To Kill A Mockingbird

Sticking my neck out posting on this forum, but possibly my favourite movie.

 

[DejaBrew]

Sticking my neck out posting on this forum, but possibly my favourite movie.

So the rest of the forum doesn't go blind....


Own your "shame"

 

[kookaburra75]

Currently reading Fahrenheit 451, its been "interesting" and probably not something I would have chosen to read (book club).

I find Ray Bradbury's books really interesting, especially when reading in the context of today's world. Fahrenheit 451 is almost prescient about people watching wall sized tvs and being connected with ear buds all of the time, and told to "be happy" by the government. The Pedestrian is creepy, in that it isn't too far off the truth in some places today.

The Machine Gunners by Robert Westall was the one that did me in. If there was ever a book to instill feelings of mind-numbing boredom and manic depression in a Year 8 DejaBrew, that was it. Nice job, high school curriculum - awesome way to get the young'uns enthused about the English Language

You had it easy In Form 6 I had to get through Dickens' Great Expectations (and debate about the alternate endings and go and see the film with John Mills playing the lead role), Leslie Hartley's The Go Between (no wonder the British lost the empire, although the film was a bit racy), and Camus' The Outsider (now that was a kill joy). The only real highlight for me was Ken Cook's Wake in Fright. Having lived in some of places alluded to in the book as a kid, reading the book and then seeing the film was an eye opener for a young lad.
The biggest challenge for me was I moved from the Technical School to the High School system for Form 6 in Victoria, and their approaches to english literature and analysis were very different, driven no doubt by the need to fit into the matric exams. Thankfully I come from a family of readers, so having books at my hand was normal and it didn't ruin my love of reading.

 

[DejaBrew]

Thankfully I come from a family of readers, so having books at my hand was normal and it didn't ruin my love of reading.

Same here. I just found that The Machine Gunners set the tone for high school English texts. Rarely did we get to study a novel that was appealing and actually made you want to study it. To be honest, that's my general perspective on high school English texts - so often they seem to pick the most depressing and least inspiring texts known to man and expect that to spark curiosity in young minds. I get that kids need to learn analytical and critical thinking skills, but geez.... they could at least try to make it semi-interesting

 

[kookaburra75]

Same here. I just found that The Machine Gunners set the tone for high school English texts. Rarely did we get to study a novel that was appealing and actually made you want to study it. To be honest, that's my general perspective on high school English texts - so often they seem to pick the most depressing and least inspiring texts known to man and expect that to spark curiosity in young minds. I get that kids need to learn analytical and critical thinking skills, but geez.... they could at least try to make it semi-interesting

I hadn't heard of The Machine Gunners until these posts. I just read the precise, and it sounds terrible. Weren't John Marsden's novel around then they would have been a lot better?

 

[DejaBrew]

I hadn't heard of The Machine Gunners until these posts. I just read the precise, and it sounds terrible.

Thank you. I feel vindicated

Weren't John Marsden's novel around then they would have been a lot better?

Yes, they were. And yes, they absolutely would have been.

The only novel I recall doing in high school that was a genuinely good choice, was Looking for Alibrandi by Melina Marchetta. Will it go down as one of my favourite books of all time? Definitely not. Was it a genuinely relatable text for high school kids? Absolutely.

Fun fact - my then English teacher was actually good friends with the author, so our class was fortunate to glean some additional insight/context when studying the text.

 

[Drakecula]

Sticking my neck out posting on this forum, but possibly my favourite movie.

I think my favourite book to movie adaptation is The Last Unicorn by Peter S Beagle. There was an animated film which Peter did the screenplay for and it was excellent. Some quite famous names as voices too, including Christopher Lee.

 

[DejaBrew]

The only novel I recall doing in high school that was a genuinely good choice...

I should clarify that I'm excluding Shakespeare from the mix given we're talking novels. Shakespeare's works are as relevant today as they ever were.

 

[blackcat20]

Thank you. I feel vindicated


Yes, they were. And yes, they absolutely would have been.

The only novel I recall doing in high school that was a genuinely good choice, was Looking for Alibrandi by Melina Marchetta. Will it go down as one of my favourite books of all time? Definitely not. Was it a genuinely relatable text for high school kids? Absolutely.

Fun fact - my then English teacher was actually good friends with the author, so our class was fortunate to glean some additional insight/context when studying the text.

Jane Eyre was my favourite. I've read it multiple times since.

We had one particular novel where the English teachers were insistent that a particular narrative was a metaphor for something. The author came in for a Q&A and one of the girls piped up and asked about the metaphor. Absolutely not, she said