Raising My 10th Grade English Grade to a C.......

[Cyclone03.1]

Only I'm about 33 years late.
Back in High School I was supposed to read "Catcher in the Rye" well I never got around to it,till this week.
Now that I have, I feel I should have just spent the 8 or so hours I spent with that book reading back issues of Krass and Bernie" in CC.
Why did they,English teachers, need me to read that book? Did they want me to know why the writers for "Leave it to Beaver" made Wally and Eddie talk like they did?
Did they want me to know that a rich kid can just leave school without anybody seeming to notice?
Did they want me to believe that boys my age have had the same problems in school,with friends and girls forever?
That even with a prostitute your too scared to do it when your 16?
That if I only looked old then I could get hammered?
Oh and he got hit more in 3 days than I did in all my High School Years.
I did pick up the message at the end about needing to be educated to know how dumb you are.
I also picked up that he loved his lost brother,allot,and his family more than he knew.

If I read it 33 years ago I would have more than likely laughed off the F-U messages on the walls....
But I think what I missed out on the most was learning about "flits", yea I needed that info when I was 15.....

[Barry Donovan]

Re: Raising My 10th Grade English Grade to a C.......

I still have not read it. Do not plan to.

[ethelkilledfred]

Re: Raising My 10th Grade English Grade to a C.......

I don't know if you can tell-I failed English, but I still graduated. Go figure.

[std]

Re: Raising My 10th Grade English Grade to a C.......

I think you're on some kind of government list now.....

[tedly]

Re: Raising My 10th Grade English Grade to a C.......

Tried reading that book once and it just bored me. Never made it very far into it. I really don't get what was so great about it. Give me Stephen King or Tim Dorsey any day.

std, if you think that's the first government list I've been on, you don't know me very well. ;D

[studemax]

Re: Raising My 10th Grade English Grade to a C.......

I still have not read it. Do not plan to.

I'm with ya, pal.
And I was an ace in English Comp and Lit.

[Cyclone03.1]

Re: Raising My 10th Grade English Grade to a C.......

Honestly it was a bit of a hard read,frankly we don't talk like they did in the '40's,I wonder if anybody did?

It was on my daughters high school reading list,she choose something else. I'm glad.

But WHY is this book so much a MUST READ?

[Monster]

Re: Raising My 10th Grade English Grade to a C.......

It was on one of my HS reading lists, but I always choose something else.
Never read it, and not sure I'm disappointed about that either ....
???

[tedly]

Re: Raising My 10th Grade English Grade to a C.......

Why is 'Moby Dick' a must read? That's another one that bored me to tears. And the 'Scarlett Letter'... and 'Native Son'...

No clue.

[TheSilverBuick]

Re: Raising My 10th Grade English Grade to a C.......

Why is 'Moby Dick' a must read? That's another one that bored me to tears. And the 'Scarlett Letter'... and 'Native Son'...

No clue.

I've tried getting through "Moby Dick" twice and just can't :-\ I've read all of Jules Vern's books, a large percentage of Alexandre Dumas', Bram Stoker's Dracula, Hunchback of Norte Dame and though a few of Dumas' books (well all of them :P) can get wordy, I throughly enjoyed just about all of them. I can't seem to get into Charles Dicken's books either. Finished Great Expectations (unabridged) in High School, but wasn't overly enjoyed with it. Started "A Tale of Two Cities" twice too, 70 pages in and I'm done. Wasn't much for John Steinbeck and other great depression era novels I've been exposed to either.

[ethelkilledfred]

Re: Raising My 10th Grade English Grade to a C.......

I think you're on some kind of government list now.....

Yeah, as a matter of fact I was:

I got a letter in the mail an inch thick. It informed me I had been under investigations by the Feds. It gave me a list of every time my phone was tap and that they had to get a court order for each one. It had been tapped for 4 years and I got a copy of all of them, and to have a nice day. It had a number to call if I had any questions. I was flattered. So I called and ask why they were so interested in my boring life? They said they could not tell me over the phone but I could submit a written inquiry. I said I was not that curious. They told me if I was not in jail then what ever I was doing was of no interest to the Justice Dept. I was also told that if anyone I knew that I had not seen in the past few months was not on vacation but was imprisoned. Turns out there was someone who I had not seen in a while. He was a double striker for drug trafficking and got his 3rd strike and got LIFE. I had sold him a car so I made it onto the Feds radar.

So I got the official word from the Justice Dept that my street racing endeavors was of no interest to them. LOL

[studemax]

Re: Raising My 10th Grade English Grade to a C.......

Currently reading Volume 1 of Mark Twains Autobiography.
This thing is almost 3 inches thick!
Volume 2 won't come out for another 25 years, and Volume 3 won't come until I'm dead and gone.

[Cyclone03.1]

Re: Raising My 10th Grade English Grade to a C.......

Last night I talked with my sister,strait "A's" in everything,and even she said she faked reading this book.

Has anybody ever read this damn book?
Maybe THATS why it's on all the HS required reading lists,the first kid that makes it too the end PASSES all lit. classes from then on.
Now I feel like a dumb @$$ for wasting my time!

[Brian Lohnes]

Re: Raising My 10th Grade English Grade to a C.......

I read it when I was in high school. I don't think I would identify with it all if I read it now (I'm 30). When you are a teenager the book may punch a couple of buttons that haven't been hit yet.

Simply put, I think you grew out of it.

JD Salinger was a total weirdo anyway.

Brian

[Cyclone03.1]

Re: Raising My 10th Grade English Grade to a C.......

Brain thats what I thought about as I read it,I tried to become 15 again,in a way.

For the most part I was UNDER a rock then because I don't remember even thinking about some of what Holden was dealing with.

Kinda glad too.