[Alex's Trip]

Okay, here is the scoop...

We have to read a book in English class for a powerpoint project. My teacher said it has to be ficition. And I ask her if In Cold Blood is okay to use because it is written like a ficition book, the only difference being it actually happened. She said no. I ask "Why? Is it really going to make a difference on the project?" She fails to give me an answer the first time I ask. She just ignored me, after I had got her attention and asked. The second time she say "Capote spent a lot of time researching it" and I say "Yeah, and how does it make a difference" And she says "I'm not gonna discuss it now, I asked for fiction." I say "Can I do Breakfast at Tiffany's?" and she says "No that was a movie" (a 'requirement' than she left out to me) I hadn't seen the movie and she still refused.

She hates me, I swear. At the smallest things she says I am disrespectful and says go outside. Ex. students were making noises (not me though), she tells us to quiet down and I say don't wory we are getting our work done (which we were) and she gets all angry at me. I can't stand her.


Anyway I need a book. Recommendations? Preferably short (No more that 150 pages) and suitable for 9th grade. Thanks,

[Glice]

Teachers are such assholes sometimes. If she can't explain it to you, then she shouldn't be a teacher. She probably doesn't hate you though, she's probably just a bad communicator. But I think anyone who's finished education has felt like that at some time.

Book wise, I reckon any of Kafka's short stories would be suitable - they're very good books, easy to read, and you'll probably get kudos for picking someone so well thought of.

[TheDom]

The Lorax - Dr. Seuss
The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins - Dr. Seuss
Bartholomew & The Oobleck - Dr. Seuss

or The Giver - Lois Lowry. I just had to read it (I'm in 8th grade)

You've probably already read it, but I liked it alot.

[golden child]

the brothers karamazov by fydor dostoyevsky

i just finished it and its probaly my new favorite book, if you want something short by him read notes from the underground. anything by him is great.

oh and catcher in the rye, no matter how cliche it may be it is a great book

[atari 2600]

Originally Posted by golden child

the brothers karamazov by fydor dostoyevsky

i just finished it and its probaly my new favorite book, if you want something short by him read notes from the underground. anything by him is great.

oh and catcher in the rye, no matter how cliche it may be it is a great book

i agree most wholeheartedly

many critics think that Dostoyevsky went a little too heavy on Ivan's Contra & not enough on Alyosha's Pro, but I love it the way it is...Grushenka is probably my favorite female character in any of his works. Constance Garnett did the best translation for Modern Library for The Brothers Karamazov.

buy the Norton Critical Edition of Crime & Punishment translated by Jesse Coulson if you see it at a bookstore or a used bookstore...it's my favorite novel

[Alex's Trip]

Originally Posted by golden child

the brothers karamazov by fydor dostoyevsky

Do you happen to like the TV show Lost? There was a reference to that book in the show. How long is that book? And how long is Notes from the Undergound?

Oh, I've read Catcher in the Rye.

[Hip Priest]

Dostoyevsky is never a bad choice.

In case you're looking for something contemporary, then I would wholeheartedly reccommend the short novel 'Small Holdings' by Nicola Barker, 132 pages. One of my favourite books.

[atari 2600]

Originally Posted by Alex's Trip

Anyway I need a book. Recommendations? Preferably short (No more that 150 pages) and suitable for 9th grade. Thanks,

Franz Kafka - The Metamorphosis
Memoirs from the House of the Dead - Fyodor Dostoyevsky



Maybe try Herman Hesse's Steppenwolf or Hemingway's The Old Man & the Sea. J.D. Salinger's Catcher in the Rye, Franny & Zooey & Raise High the Roofbeams, Carpenters are all short.

[Alex's Trip]

Originally Posted by atari 2600

Franz Kafka - The Metamorphosis
The Double - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
The Gold-Bug - Edgar Allan Poe

And thanks for recommending (reminding me of) the Metamorphosis, I've been meaning to look it up.

What bothers me is that she won't answer my questions...I think the the part about Breakfast at Tiffany's, however, is stupid.

[krastian]

Of Mice and Men.......feed them rabbits.

[Alex's Trip]

Originally Posted by krastian

Of Mice and Men.......feed them rabbits.

We read that in her class, unfortunately.

[nomadicfollower]

I agree with atari, though maybe not Hesse's Steppenwolf but Siddhartha.
If you haven't read Catcher in the Rye, read it anyway, for the report or not.
The Old Man and the Sea was good and very short.
Or read some Vonnegut. With him you can't go wrong.

[golden child]

oh yeah, vonnegut.

[Alex's Trip]

Got my books. I picked up "Basic Kafka" a collection of stuff including 'The Metamorphosis' and "Notes from the Underground, The Double and other stories" by Fyodor Dostoevsky. All for 10 bucks...sweet. I hope she doesn't turn down the Metamorphosis because it is so short.

[dietzer123]

man, i just read slaughterhouse-five and fuck that's a good book. let's give it up for the big g meister

[!@#$%!]

i think your teacher is a fucking retard who has to bluff her knowledge of literature

i know the type. they are stupid and insecure and they compensate by acting all authoritarian and stupid. breakfast at tiffany's a movie? A BOOK FIRST!!

fucking morons!

technique: kiss her ass. DO NOT contradict her or you will elicit greater insecurity and therefore greater anger. don't waste your time trying to prove how much more you've read (you probably have). instead tell her (without being too obvious) how much her class has helped you discover new books, or some other shit like that.

i hope she does not alienate you from good books. in any case some of those recommendations are short stories so it might not be sufficient. brothers karamazov on the other hand is quite long. notes from the underground might do.

so if she needs a fiction book that hasn't been made into a movie it might be hard to find these days. clockwork orange is an amazing little book you can read in a couple of hours. but then.. blah blah... under 150 pages: yes, get notes from the underground. ok bye.

[Savage Clone]

Richard Brautigan- In Watermelon Sugar.
Short, original in style, awesome.

[!@#$%!]

Originally Posted by Savage Clone

Richard Brautigan- In Watermelon Sugar.
Short, original in style, awesome.

ooooh, i remember that book. a hippy chick tried to read it to me once. we ended up making out instead. i think we didn't go past the first paragraph! man, that brings back memories...

[Savage Clone]

Brautigan would have liked that.

Try "Charlotte's Web". It's by E.B. White. It's a favorite of mine, it can be a difficult book to read, has alot of big words. If you can find one with mostly pictures, get that one!!!