Lonelygirl15

Assume we live in a world where firemen don't put out fires, they start them. Assume we live in a world where all books are burned. Assume we live in a society where Video has become the dominate force in human thought through government mandate. It's the burning of the Library of Alexandria on a global scale. The only way to save our society's great works is by individuals memorizing a book in hopes that someday this tyranny will be overthrown and the published word can reemerge.
What book would you want to memorize and why?

Fahrenheit 451.

Just kidding!

I'd probably memorize Arthur Miller's play The Crucible. As an American, it would share insight about America's puritan roots, while showing how human beings continue to "witch-hunt" (the scapegoating of Jewish people that led to the holocaust, the 50s Red Scare of communism, etc.). Hopefully, if I memorized it, we, as people, could actually not repeat the horrible mistakes of the past.

It's also a killer story focusing on the power of "mean girls."

This was an interesting question.

I'd memorize Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury as it trumpet the cry against censorship and government control in the extreme.

Fahrenheit 451 is a great novel. I taught it to 10th graders last year. Some of the students who weren't into reading found themselves mezmorized by the novel and its messages. Some of them even asked for more Bradbury. For their independent reading, a few of them did Something Wicked This Way Comes and The Martian Chronicles.
(Hooray for reading!)

By the way, this week is Banned Book Week (see: http://www.ala.org/bbooks). Fahrenheit 451 was one of the many books banned as recently as 1991 in Mississippi, USA.



This was an interesting question!

gogo wrote:Fahrenheit 451 is a great novel. I taught it to 10th graders last year. Some of the students who weren't into reading found themselves mezmorized by the novel and its messages. Some of them even asked for more Bradbury. For their independent reading, a few of them did Something Wicked This Way Comes and The Martian Chronicles.
(Hooray for reading!)

By the way, this week is Banned Book Week (see: http://www.ala.org/bbooks). Fahrenheit 451 was one of the many books banned as recently as 1991 in Mississippi, USA.



This was an interesting question!

That's so great that a book was able to excite kids about reading. It's so important for a society to remain viable. It doesn't matter so much what you read(books)..just that you do. I am not such a big advocate for magazines and newspapers...though..the same could be said for them..if you read SOMETHING, maybe you'll branch to other things.
TMI moment: I almost can't go to the bathroom without something to read..I've found myself opening cabinets in public restrooms and getting out instructions for cabinet assembly to read...hah

With so much competition with the computer screen, I post links to classic literature we read in my courses to my school website. Some students just do not seem to like to have a book in hand. With etext (like http://www.bartleby.com), I can be sure they at least have access to our reading material in a format they like.

Hooray etext (or any text for that matter)!

I would agree that magazines and newspapers can be gateways to reading. You might agree that the magazines and newspaper are pretty straightforward and miss what literature has to offer. Often magazines and newspapers present little to interpret, and rarely can a reader enjoy the nuances of language, art, themes and messages that are found in literature.

I dunno, either Grapes of Wrath, Huckleberry Finn or Metamorphosis.

Kasdeja:
banned, banned, banned!

Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath- banned for language and depictions of migrant life and viewed as socialist propaganda
Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn- banned for people’s misunderstanding of Twain’s view of race
Kafka’s The Metamorphosis- banned for political/nationalist objections, mainly in Europe

These are some amazing works.

lordgreystoke422 wrote:What book would you want to memorize and why?

You should be able to tell from my handle what book I'd memorize... I'm a huge fan of the genre, and the book started it.

'mute

gogo wrote:Kasdeja:
banned, banned, banned!

Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath- banned for language and depictions of migrant life and viewed as socialist propaganda
Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn- banned for people’s misunderstanding of Twain’s view of race
Kafka’s The Metamorphosis- banned for political/nationalist objections, mainly in Europe

These are some amazing works.

I know. I think it's sad when things like this are not promoted reading in school. I had to read them for my advanced literature and my reading for college courses. I always shop at the banned book table, I find some great works there.

I'd memorize Jane Eyre, Little Women and Pride and Predjudice

I read each of those every year

the dharma bums by kerouac, bc its perfect. i reread it like twice a year.

I'd memorize "A Prayer for Owen Meany" and "The Catcher in the Rye", love em!

Cool reading! These are all some great titles. In addition, each has been either banned, challenged or controversial in its day.

Irving’s A Prayer for Owen Meany-banned for its indictment of U.S. foreign policy

Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye-banned for profanity, sexual references, and that it "undermines morality, "and called blasphemous because of its language (there is also horrible Hinkley/Reagan & Lennon/Chapman situations)

Jack Kerouac ‘s The Dharma Bums was never banned, but this is probably because the challengers were too busy banning so much of his other works: Desolation Angels, On the Road and The Town and the City.

Gibson’s amazing The Sprawl trilogy beginning with Neuromancer has made its way into some classroom curriculums. However, because of its cyper-punk roots, and in spite of its interesting message, awards and introduction of vocabulary that is now part of our lives, it does not always receive the respect that it deserves in literary circles.

Although her works, like Pride and Prejudice and Beautiful Cassandra (had to throw that in for the CiW fans) were never challenged, Austen had to publish her work anonymously, so it would be taken seriously instead of being overlooked because of her gender. The same was true for Little Women author Louisa May Alcott who published under the name A. M. Barnard. Currer Bell was the pseudonym for Charlotte Bronte who wrote Jane Eyre.

Hooray for Banned Book Week!
http://www.ala.org/ala/oif/bannedbooksw ... banned.htm
I'm such a geek.

GoGo has officially commandered my topic..hahah...Glad SOMEONE else thought it was a great topic!