Writers' Workshop General Chat Thread

[Nitro Indigo]

I want to read the manga because it doesn't have the pacing problems of either anime. I read a fan translation a few years ago, and I've got to say, my mental image changed from being based on 2003 to Brotherhood around the quarter point.

 

[CrystaI]

This is Thursday, but I had this idleness of doesn't want to think of anything difficult, just want to enjoy myself reading a book I previously borrowed from the local library.

I forgot the book name, but it was an advance university textbook about writing theories on narratives and psychology of readers, probably only read by the Master of Literature students, published by Oxford University Press. BTW, I fell asleep immediately by reading the first 2 pages in the first chapter during my first reading.

......This is opposite of idleness, yeah? I don't know, but I had this urge of wanting to read difficult textbook, right now at this moment.

 

[Beth Pavell]

Been there, done that last academic year, if I may be so blasé. Unbelievably dull, and when you unravel the stifling academic language the resulting ideas are rather less interesting than the kind of informal discussion you'd get on any writing forum

 

[CrystaI]

Then guess I'm bored with all the informal conversation in my daily work. Reading textbooks written in solemn academic language is alternatively speaking a kind of "escapism" that helps me relief stress. It felt like I'm role-playing the IQ>160 academians.

 

[canisaries]

nothing to make you feel like an idiot like spending over an hour on a physics problem you think was the easiest of the bunch

i swear now i'm doing integration in math again and it feels like a cakewalk

 

[diamondpearl876]

TEXTBOOKS AND SCHOOL, YOU SAY?

I told myself I'd try very, very hard to actually do everything right for the first time in my master's program. Then I saw that this week's reading assignment is 250 pages of the textbook and immediately regretted that decision. Sigh.

 

[MisheardWhisper]

Oh god, that amount of reading should be illegal. And I'm an English teacher. I think the most I had to do in a week was 100 or so pages.

 

[diamondpearl876]

I was always warned that huge reading requirements would be expected in graduate school... It's probably the only thing my high school teachers were ever right about. Luckily, this is all stuff I'm interested in, so I can forget it's schoolwork and treat it like a fun thing.

 

[canisaries]

wow, and i thought i was being screwed over when 43 pages of material was marked as the subject of our first coding course lecture this year.

naturally i read it all in advance during the holidays, though, because i was actually interested in the subject and it wasn't very hard.

 

[Nitro Indigo]

I remember when I had to read The Wind Singer at school, and I finished it in my own time before we finished it in class, where we were reading it chapter-by-chapter. And I didn't even like it that much.

 

[MisheardWhisper]

Oh man, I did the Wind Singer too! Good memories!

I actually got to pick out texts for my classes this year today. So far it's looking like Holes and A Knight's Tale for the younger class, and Animal Farm and The Truman Show for the older kids.

 

[canisaries]

speaking of books read at school, did i ever bring up the boy in the striped pyjamas? i can't remember when we read it (definitely at under 15 years old though), but i only recently remembered we did and how heavy the book actually was in its subject matter and especially the ending.

 

[Beth Pavell]

The Wind Singer, now there's a blast from the past. I read the sequel Slaves of the Mastery first, since I found it at the library and I was at the age where I simply devoured books.

I remember Holes. Not a bad book as I recall - one that left a greater impression would be The Silver Sword. Parents don't want to give war literature to their kids, it seems, but I think it's a great book for introducing the hardships of warfare without being too full-on

 

[MisheardWhisper]

Hmm, I think that might've been on the list actually. I'll have a closer look next time I'm in. Don't have to lock in a decision for a while yet, unless I want to start the novel study in the first week of class...

 

[Beth Pavell]

I can't remember if The Silver Sword is aimed at a younger readership than Holes or whether I was just precocious enough to read it younger ... in any case I do remember taking away more significant lessons from it. I don't think I'd ever really thought about what it must be like to never have enough to eat, for one thing

 

[BackSet]

I read a book about the Great Depression, racism, physical harm, orphans, and a grumpy old guy when I was in 6th grade. It wasn't that bad. I also read a book called "touching spirit Bear" and there was a lot of young adult crud in that book. It was also pretty good.

 

[TRNatalie]

speaking of books read at school, did i ever bring up the boy in the striped pyjamas? i can't remember when we read it (definitely at under 15 years old though), but i only recently remembered we did and how heavy the book actually was in its subject matter and especially the ending.

We never read the book in any of my classes but I saw the movie in, I think, three of them. We also read Milkweed and Night so we definitely read about the Holocaust.

At the moment, we just got out of The Old Man and the Sea and will be moving onto The Great Gatsby.

 

[lucarioknight56]

I've read several books so far through my school career, particularly when I was a sophomore. The two that come to mind right now are Their Eyes were Watching God and The Red Badge of Courage. The latter definitely emphasized how war was not glorious, a prevalent message in Stephen Crane's works.

 

[Nitro Indigo]

For GCSE, I have to do A Christmas Carol, Blood Brothers, and Romeo & Juliet.

As for why I didn't like The Wind Singer...

1. I have no idea what any of the characters are supposed to look like, making it hard for me to get invested in them.
2. The lore made no sense. So everyone in one city has to do exams because a deity-thing stole a MacGuffin and also there's an army of immortal children...? I find it more compelling when the antagonist is a normal person who does bad things of their own free will.
3. Is it bad that I thought the antagonist guy had a point when he said that Aramanth wasn't too bad of a place?
4. The protagonists randomly decide to get high towards the end.

 

[canisaries]

actual train of thought in my brain:
>what was GCSE again
>ah yes, cool games done quickly

almost, brain, almost