TOP TEN TUESDAY: The Top Ten Words/Topics That Will Make Me NOT Pick Up a Book

Top 10 Tuesday is hosted at The Broke and the Bookish. Today’s topic is the Top Ten Words/Topics That Will Make Me NOT Pick Up a Book.

Guns 
I know little to nothing about guns and if guns are in a book then there will probably be violence and blood which I just don’t like.

Military 
Military usually equals guns so look above for my reason.

Love Triangles
How common are love triangles actually? I mean, really? Although some love triangles are interesting (ie. Will, Tessa, and Jem from the Infernal Devices series), many just have a lot of whiny angst and get annoying.

Abuse
 I am not really a fan of books that leave me depressed.

Blood
 Ick. I don’t want to see it or think about it or read about it.

Death 
Nah… I want a book where the characters live.

Fallen Angels
A bad version of vampires. Their 15 minutes of fame is over.

Manga
I still can’t figure out how to read these. I am sure some are interesting, but reading them gives me a headache.

Scary/Horror
I don’t like scary books. Nope.

Video Games
I didn’t grow up with video games (my parents thought they were a waste of time) and, honestly, I would rather read a book or hang out outside instead of playing video games. If video games are regularly referred to in books I can guarantee I will get confused simply because I don’t understand them at all.

TEACHER REVIEW - Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

Fahrenheit 451

By Ray Bradbury

Published by Simon & Schuster, 1954

176 pages (paperback)

Ray Bradbury’s internationally acclaimed novel Fahrenheit 451 is a masterwork of twentieth-century literature set in a bleak, dystopian future.

Guy Montag is a fireman. In his world, where television rules and literature is on the brink of extinction, firemen start fires rather than put them out. His job is to destroy the most illegal of commodities, the printed book, along with the houses in which they are hidden.

Montag never questions the destruction and ruin his actions produce, returning each day to his bland life and wife, Mildred, who spends all day with her television “family.” But then he meets an eccentric young neighbor, Clarisse, who introduces him to a past where people didn’t live in fear and to a present where one sees the world through the ideas in books instead of the mindless chatter of television.

When Mildred attempts suicide and Clarisse suddenly disappears, Montag begins to question everything he has ever known. He starts hiding books in his home, and when his pilfering is discovered, the fireman has to run for his life.

First published in 1953, Fahrenheit 451 is a classic novel set in the future when books forbidden by a totalitarian regime are burned. The hero, a book burner, suddenly discovers that books are flesh and blood ideas that cry out silently when put to the torch. (from barnesandnoble.com)

Many pieces of the story have been helpful allegories. For example, the dumbing down of society. The interactice TV (in 2nd person) was helpful in talking about point of view with my class. It is very dated. Not a huge problem but it’s obvious.

--Mrs. Tess

 

STUDENT REVIEW - Ghetto Cowboy by G. Neri

Ghetto Cowboy

By G. Neri

Published by Candlewick Press, 2013

224 pages (hardcover)

A street-smart tale about a displaced teen who learns to defend what's right-the Cowboy Way. (from barnesandnoble.com)

[I liked when] Boo and Cole met. Cole is from another state and forced to move with his dad. Nothing [could be improved]; this is a really good book. Yeah, [I would recommend this] because it is a good book.

--Alejandro C.

TOP TEN TUESDAY: My Top Ten Most Intimidating Books

Top 10 Tuesday is hosted at The Broke and the Bookish. Today’s topic is the Top Ten Most Intimidating Books.

Books usually don't intimidate me, but I was quite nervous to pick these up. The cool thing, though? Once I did start to read them, I liked them! So don't be scared by the reviews or size or content. Try it. If you don't like it, you can find something else.

 

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
A classic so many people love. What if I’m not all that enchanted by it?

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
Again, an intimidating classic.

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
A beautiful tale, but what if it is just too much fantasy for me to handle?

Redwall by Brian Jacques
My husband’s favorite book. What if I don’t like it? Will my husband think I am a bad person?

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
I think the title says it all… great expectations for a book loved by many so what if it doesn’t live up to MY expectations?

 

Animal Farm by George Orwell
This book has so many metaphors and analogies so what if I don’t understand what I am supposed understand? (Luckily I read this as I was teaching a unit on the Cold War so I was able to put it all together and help my students do the same.)

Twilight by Stephenie Meyers
A big book that soooooooo many people like. Will my students hate me if I don't like it?

All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
Epic book made into an epic movie (at least for its time) but what if I don’t understand all the military stuff?

A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway 
Hemingway is a legend in the literary world so to read a book he wrote with so much heart & angst is overwhelming.

War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
 I feel like this is at the top of literary achievement and that is scary. This is the one book on this list that I haven’t even attempted to pick up because it is so intimidating. Ahhhhhh!