Tag-Archive for » read «
According to the Telegraph, it’s not in a classroom. The article goes on to say that reading, and especially a passion for reading, is pretty much garnered everywhere else but a classroom because teachers are either teaching books that kids don’t want to read or “don’t have the time” to properly teach them. WTF? What is going on in the British school systems that English teachers don’t have the time to teach their students whole books? What’s the point of an English teacher then and just what are they doing that’s taking up so much of their time?
I don’t know much about that situation but when I was in school, if it was found out that you cribbed your way through a book, you got detention. Even now, kids are reading entire books, not excerpts. Granted they may not be books the kids are too thrilled about but I know quite a few teachers slide in a “your choice” reading assignment as a means of engaging the students and allowing them to read something for school that they actually enjoy instead of something that makes them want to gouge their eyes out.
Yes, I do believe a love of reading is born at home and the parents aren’t going to read newer books to their kids but the books they loved as children. Whether they are classic books like Little Women or Winnie the Pooh, in that sphere or the “oldies but goodies” is usually where the reading starts. Once kids get their fill of those they move on to books they enjoy; usually the newer, more contemporary books with a much more updated reading style.
That can lead into the whole “books nowadays are crap” argument that seems to never have an ending point but considering each era demands certain styles to its writing, it’s unfair to judge each against the other. No, children might not get into the “classics” as easily as, say, Darren Shan, but does that make contemporary literature any lesser than the “classics” where many writers were paid by the word (thus resulting in superfluous writing)? Different times, different writing. But that’s beside the point.
I don’t think a love of reading can be completely eliminated from a classroom. An engaging English teacher that wants their kids to read, not only books on the curriculum but popular books that they want to read, I think a love can be borne of a classroom setting. The setting just needs to be right and encouraging and a lot of the times that falls to the teacher to create. If they just don’t give a damn and “don’t have the time” to teach books properly, well then kids are going to suffer for it. But if teachers actually sat down and tried to work in fun into their state-mandated teaching syllabus, it could actually work. But that involves the teacher giving a shit. Why be a teacher if you don’t care, I have no idea but there you go.
A love of reading can come from anywhere so long as the environment’s there to encourage it. Yes, being forced to read books that you’d rather set on fire is not a fun thing but if you have someone there telling you, “well, you might think that one suck but try this one,” it could be all the encouragement that kid needs to start reading and actually see that not all reading is soul-sucking. Kids have to not associate reading to homework and force. The free will has to be there and the fun has to be there in order for them to move on and pick up a book on their own. I think the second a child finds out that read can be fun, and reading whatever they want and not being discouraged that they’re reading the “wrong” thing, the love is born.
I’m having issues finding a synopsis for just this book instead of the entire series and the book I have is a three-in-one so that’s not all that helpful either. So I’ll try and sum this one up for you.
Tal has bound himself to Milla, and vise versa, in order to get himself back to the castle. In exchange for his safe return, he must get Milla a sunstone in order for her to take it back to the Icecarls. Getting back into the castle, since Tal hasn’t heard of anyone actually doing it, proves much more difficult than climbing up a mountain. He’s pushed to the physical and mental limits that even he didn’t know he had, not to mention he starts to question his own standing in life. When Tal and Milla are captured by henchmen of Sushin, Tal’s mortal enemy for unknown reasons, he has to figure a way out of the mess he’s in and help Milla because it is his fault, after all, that she ended up trapped in his world and incarcerated in the Hall of Nightmares.
I have to say, this one is much better than the first, not only in writing style but in exposition as well. I think it had a lot to do with it shifting back and forth between Tal being someplace foreign and Milla being someplace foreign so there’s a lot more explanation going on which helps to develop the story in my head a little better. That’s not to say it doesn’t have its moments of ‘what is that?’ because it just gives you a name without a basis for comparison, but it’s quelled a lot.
Tal has lived his whole life in darkness. He has never left his home, a mysterious castle of seven towers. He does not see the threat that will tear apart his family and his world.
But Tal cannot stay safe forever. When danger strikes, he must desperately climb the Red Tower to steal a Sunstone. He reaches the top…
…and then he falls into a strange and unknown world of warriors, iceships, and hidden magic. There Tal makes an enemy who will save his life—and holds the key to his future. (bn.com)
I. Am. So. Lost. I’ve never read a book and come out this disoriented before. Holy crap. Right from the beginning you’re shoved into this world with weird names being thrown at you, many without any kind of explanation so you’re left to try and figure out just what this something’s supposed to look like but you have no idea because it could rightly be anything. That . . . was a huge turn off for me. Immediately I’m supposed to know what all of this stuff is, what’s going in, why it’s so important to get into Aenir. And I don’t. I’m just told that’s how it is. Therein lies the major flaw.
In this master class on the craft of writing, Stephen King reveals the origins of his vocation and shares essential habits and rules that every writer can apply. A truly unique volume, it begins with a series of telling memories from youth and the struggling years leading up to publication of King’s first novel. Offering readers a fresh and often funny perspective on the formation of a writer’s character, King lays out the tools of writer’s craft and takes the reader through aspects of the writer’s art and life, offering practical and inspiring advice on everything from plot and character to work habits and rejection. Brilliantly structured and chock-full of master’s experience and advice, On Writing will enable the work of writers around the globe. (from bn.com)
How I could kick my own butt for taking so long to read this. What a wonderful book on the craft and, really, there wasn’t all that much to it. Not really. Not compared to the multitude of other books on writing.
King takes a different approach to “dictating” how one might be able to write and, I have to say, it gave me a different outlook on this very blog and is one of the reasons I decided to incorporate more of myself and fewer “lessons” on writing. Because, really, there are no hard and fast rules (something I already knew) but what use does it do to teach others what really only works for you? Most of it, at least.
What I got from the book is that the events surrounding his writing, the places he worked, the people he met, the ears he got lanced, helped to mold his writing better than anything else. When he talked about his work experiences, I was able to immediately pinpoint certain stories of his to those experiences. Not to mention I was laughing my ass off at certain points. The man has a talent for dry wit that I just love, even when talking about getting hit by that van.
