I had to read it for school. No enjoyment whatsoever.
Menelaus
05-07-2015 05:48 AM
lol, but its message will stay with you forever and ever and ever
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ava The Vampire
(Post 1773351396)
lol, this is fast becoming my favourite song
Ava The Vampire
05-07-2015 12:57 PM
I wish we did more reading in school. :(
The only books I remember reading were, Peace Like A River, To Kill A Mockingbird, Romeo and Juliet, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and Beowulf.
I ended up reading more outside of school when a library was put next to my school within walking distance. My favorite books were usually classics, but the one that stood out the most to me was As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner.
Amane
05-07-2015 07:19 PM
Having to read it for school sucks out all the joy because they test you on it and make you see it a certain way.
Ava The Vampire
05-07-2015 10:48 PM
That is true...
I don't like being tested on books, I prefer to interpret them my own way. It's so ironic because I remember reading The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and I loved the book, but I always got C's on my reports because apparently, I wasn't interpreting the book "correctly" or whatever. I didn't care. I loved that book just the way it was and I had my own way of interpreting it!
Amane
05-08-2015 12:03 AM
I enjoyed required reading once. I COULD'VE enjoyed it once more. But NOOO. The teacher wouldn't let us read that book like all the other classes did because he thinks love stories are boring! Instead of Jane Eyre, we read The Picture of Dorian Gray for our Victorian unit. LAME.
/Jane Eyre is one of my favorite books
/since I was quite young!
/and the other book I liked was The Book Thief
/A+++++++
Menelaus
05-09-2015 01:26 PM
oh my days, I've got The Book Thief in my collection
Ava The Vampire
05-09-2015 02:18 PM
I've never read or even heard of The Book Thief!
What is it about? Is it a classic in literature?
---------- Post added 05-09-2015 at 09:19 AM ----------
I worked out really hard yesterday and now my legs and my butt and super sore.
Ugh! Oh well, I feel super strong.
Amane
05-09-2015 03:24 PM
I don't know where I put it, but it's not tossed aside to hope it miraculously disappears in a few years like my other old required reading.
Menelaus
05-09-2015 03:45 PM
lol, why would you do that? The Book Thief is a really good book. its set in Nazi Germany, and its narrated by Death, who tells the story of a ten year old girl named Liesel Meminger. I've written down a quick(ish) summary for anyone who wants to read it:
Caution, Heavy Spoilers WithinX
picture the scene, January 1939, Liesel is traveling by train with her mother, and little brother Werner. Liesel and Werner are being taken to the small town of Molching, just outside of Munich to live with foster parents Hans and Rosa Hubermann. Werner dies on the train of mysterious causes, something to do with poverty, hunger, cold, and lack of medical treatment etc. Liesel attends her brother's funeral in a snowy graveyard, and steals The Grave Digger's Handbook from the cemetery after it falls from a young grave digger's coat. the kicker is, Liesel can't read. Liesel is reluctantly enters the Hubermann house on Himmel Street. Liesel begins school, but suffers because she doesn't know how to read. thus is where she meets Rudy Steiner, her soon to be best friend, not to mention her partner in book/food thievery. Hans finds The Grave Digger's Handbook hidden in Liesel's mattress after her usual nightmare of seeing her brother dying on the train. this inspires him to begin teaching her to read. when Liesel learns to write, she decides to compose letters to her mother, but her letters go unanswered. finally, she finds out that her mother has disappeared, and Liesel becomes aware of what it really means to be living in Nazi Germany when a book burning is organized to celebrate Adolph Hitler's birthday on April 20, 1940. Liesel finds the mountain of immolated literature fascinating yet disturbing, because, now that she can read and write, she has come to see great value in books and words. Liesel hears a Nazi spokesman calling for the death of communists as well as Jews, and a light bulb goes off. the only thing she knows about her father is that he was accused of being a communist. realizing that Hitler is likely behind her father's disappearance, her brother's death, and her mother's disappearance, Hitler becomes Liesel's sworn enemy. this conflict helps drive Liesel to steal her second book, The Shoulder Shrug, from the burning pile of books. a Jewish man, Erik Vandenburg, saved Hans's life during World War I, sacrificing his own life in the process. After the war, Hans visited Erik's widow and young son. Now, that son, Max, is 22 and is hiding from the Nazis. Hans and Rosa hide him in their home. Liesel isn't sure what to think of Max, at first, but they soon make fast friends. as you may already know, hiding a Jewish person in your home during World War II was one of the most brave and frightening things a German person could do, and creates a constant state of paranoia for all involved. for Max, it means extreme guilt for putting the lives of his loved ones in danger. the mayor's wife, Ilsa Hermann, who pays Rosa to do her laundry, witnessed Liesel steal the The Shoulder Shrug. and when Liesel comes to Ilsa's house on laundry visits, she invites her into the library to read. eventually, Ilsa has to stop using Rosa's services, and Liesel begins stealing books from her, though Ilsa doesn't seem to mind. everything changes in October of 1942 when 'The parade of Jews' comes through Molching on the way to the nearby concentration camp . Hans offers one of the Jewish prisoners a piece of bread and is whipped along with the prisoner by a Nazi guard. now Hans is desperately afraid the Nazis will search his house and find Max, so he sends Max away that very night. but his house is never searched, and Hans berates himself constantly, waiting to be punished for his mistake. he's eventually conscripted by the Gestapo for the bread incident. with both Hans and Max gone, Liesel does her best to go on. she reads to the residents of Himmel Street in the bomb shelter during air raids, thieves with Rudy, and helps Rosa. one night, Rosa shows her the book Max left for her, a book written on painted over pages of Adolph Hitler's book Mein Kampf. it's called The Word Shaker and includes a story by the same name. skip to February 1943, just after Liesel's fourteenth birthday, Liesel and Rosa get word that Hans is coming home. he had broken his leg in a bus accident, and his sergeant was transferring him back to Munich. skip again to August of 1943, Liesel sees Max again. he's marching through Molching. she walks with him in the procession. Liesel learns that he was captured some six months earlier, about five months after he left the house on Himmel Street. The Nazi guards don't take well to Liesel's courageous display, and Liesel and Max are both whipped. Rudy stops Liesel from following Max any further and possibly saves her life. soon after, Liesel decides to give up books and Ilsa's library. Ilsa presents her with a blank book, and Liesel begins writing the story of her life, called The Book Thief. she writes in the basement, and she's doing just this when Himmel Street is bombed. everybody she loves dies while they sleep. in despair over their deaths, Liesel drops her book, but it's picked up by Death. since Liesel has nobody left, the police hold her, not sure what to do with her. soon Ilsa Hermann arrives and takes her in for a time. as the novel comes to a close, we first learn that Liesel has died after living a long and happy life with a husband, kids, and grandkids. then we learn Max survived the concentration camp, and he and Liesel reunited at the end of World War II. But, we don't learn what happens to Max after that. The novel ends with Death giving Liesel back her book, The Book Thief, as he's taking her soul away from her body
Amane
05-09-2015 03:48 PM
*stares at blankly* Read the post again.
Menelaus
05-09-2015 03:58 PM
lol, do you think I made the full fifty golds?
Amane
05-09-2015 04:02 PM
I am not doubtful.
Menelaus
05-09-2015 04:06 PM
what is it that you didn't like about the story, or was your preference swayed by the fact that the readage was forcefully thrust upon you?
Amane
05-09-2015 04:33 PM
I said to read that post again.
Menelaus
05-09-2015 04:47 PM
oops, sorry, I misread your earlier post. I thought you said you didn't like the book, but it was Dorian Grey you disliked
Amane
05-09-2015 04:50 PM
Yes, it is The Book Thief that receives an A+++++++.
Menelaus
05-09-2015 05:41 PM
lol, if you liked that, you should look up a book called Mister B Gone, by Clive Barker. its a macabre, yet whimsical, memoir set in the year fourteen thirty eight, and narrated by a medieval devil, who has actually embedded himself into the very words of the book. the first few lines, which had me hooked in the book shop, go thus;
Actual Book Text InsideX
Quote:
"Burn this book. Go on. Quickly, while there's still time. Burn it. Don't look at another word. Did you hear me? Not. One. More. Word.
Why are you waiting? Its not that difficult. Just stop reading and burn the book. Its for your own good, believe me. No, I can't explain why. We don't have time for explanations. Every syllable that you let your eyes wander over gets you into more and more trouble. And when I say trouble, I mean things so terrifying your sanity won't hold once you see them, feel them. You'll go mad. Become a living blank, all that you ever were wiped away, because you wouldn't do one simple thing. Burn this book. It doesn't matter if you spent your last dollar buying it. No, and it doesn't matter if it was a gift from somebody you love. Believe me, friend, you should set fire to this book right now, or you'll regret the consequences. Go on. What are you waiting for? You don't have a light? Ask somebody. Beg them. Its a matter of light and death. Believe me! Will you please believe me? A little runt of a book like this isn't worth risking madness and eternal damnation over. Well, is it? No, of course not. So burn it. Now! Don't let your eyes travel any further. Just stop HERE."
then, the next page begins with;
Quote:
"Oh God! You're still reading? What is it? You think this is some silly joke I'm playing? Trust me, it isn't. I know, I know, you're thinking its just a book filled with words, like any other book. And what are words? Black marks on white paper. How much harm could there be in something so simple? If I had ten hundred years to answer that question I would barely scratch the surface of the monstrous deeds the words in this book could be used to instigate and inflame. But we don't have ten hundred years. We don't have ten hours, ten minutes. You're just going to have to trust me. Here, I'll make it assimple as possible for you:
This book will do you harm beyond description unless you do as I'm asking you to.
You can do it. Just stop reading... Now."
he then goes on trying to discourage the reader from reading the book, before finally giving in and divulging his dark and comedic tale. lol, I couldn't put it down from cover to cover
Ava The Vampire
05-09-2015 05:59 PM
I need to do more reading! D:
I have been so lazy lately. I just haven't been reading or doing anything except playing sad songs on the ukulele and feeling sorry for myself. LOL.
Ugh.
I will have to check out The Book Thief!
Amane
05-09-2015 07:37 PM
I've been… trying to stay busy due to the change of season. [:-x]
Ava The Vampire
05-10-2015 02:13 AM
I accidentally... "Accidentally" shoved my finger up my nose and gave myself a bloody nose.
If that's not clumsy I don't know what is!
Amane
05-10-2015 02:15 AM
Not really. I do that often. Bonus points if nothing happens until you go to blow your nose and then you do probably the closest thing to an anime-style nosebleed humans are capable of.
Ava The Vampire
05-10-2015 02:16 AM
And I mean like it was gushing!
My nose still hurts!
---------- Post added 05-09-2015 at 09:17 PM ----------
Hahahaha! I hate it when this happens.
Anime nosebleeds are hilarious, though!
Amane
05-10-2015 02:21 AM
I don't nosebleed often, but when I do, anime characters, eat your heart out.
Menelaus
05-10-2015 04:56 AM
lol, when I was a kid, I used to have nose bleeds for no apparent reason. the sun was too hot, the snow was too cold, the wind changed to a westerly direction, of even, just because. it doesn't happen anymore, not for a long time. but I'm not sure if its because I've somehow learned how to compensate over the years, or if I've just grown in to my nose