tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3276247486259230392.post413304832247586826..comments2024-01-04T08:45:22.954-05:00Comments on Freelance Ne'er-do-well: June Book Review ClubEllen Booraemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12751047743172852013noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3276247486259230392.post-51324367822474157872013-07-04T10:18:15.805-04:002013-07-04T10:18:15.805-04:00Happy July 4, Ellen! Please accept my apologies fo...Happy July 4, Ellen! Please accept my apologies for delaying my book club visits for so long. I'm back online while my agent is rereading my MS and the sun is back too. <br /><br />I love this review! You make me want to reread Twain. He was assigned reading in high school and I slogged through it with few pleasant memories. Perhaps we should all wait until adulthood to read it? In the past year or so, the book was republished without the n-word for classrooms and created quite a bit of controversy. <br /><br />I love Melville's short stories/novellas but I could not get through Moby Dick, even in adulthood. I gave up War and Peace as a teen (reading for fun and war wasn't fun) but I'd like to try it again. But I have so many new books to read and to review. Too many good books and too little time! Sarah Laurencehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00423008641739156182noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3276247486259230392.post-10906617917079851862013-06-05T19:31:18.939-04:002013-06-05T19:31:18.939-04:00Like you, I missed Huck Finn as a teen, but hope t...Like you, I missed Huck Finn as a teen, but hope to read it one day. Moby Dick? Nah. Got about halfway thru War and Peace before I gave up (in my 20s).<br /><br />Huck is an important book thoug and your review made me want tomread it.Linda McLaughlinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15291670592316021851noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3276247486259230392.post-83732171214852548242013-06-05T17:47:50.215-04:002013-06-05T17:47:50.215-04:00I loved Huck Finn when I read it as a junior in hi...I loved Huck Finn when I read it as a junior in high school (I think that was the year...) I read Moby Dick too, and I'll never get those hours of my life back!<br /><br />Glad you enjoyed it--Mark Twain was quite an author!Alyssa Goodnighthttp://alyssagoodnight.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3276247486259230392.post-1106524137005225712013-06-05T15:03:01.257-04:002013-06-05T15:03:01.257-04:00I LOVED Huck Finn as a teen. And Tom Sawyer. I kno...I LOVED Huck Finn as a teen. And Tom Sawyer. I know I struggled with the dialect, but I guess it wasn't off-putting enough to make me put down the books. I'll have to ask my teen (who has just finished reading Huck Finn for high-school English) how he felt about the dialect. Great review. Always fun to revisit older books. I always enjoy your FCC disclaimers. ;)Barriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04678698296265168217noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3276247486259230392.post-4483736007503134212013-06-05T08:57:04.651-04:002013-06-05T08:57:04.651-04:00You may be right, Patti and Rose. I certainly was ...You may be right, Patti and Rose. I certainly was a voracious reader as a kid, and was accustomed to mixing grown-up books in with the kidlit. If I couldn't hack the dialect it's probably a bad sign. <br /><br />It should be required reading for adults, though, if such a thing exists. It's a great book, but also it's living history.Ellen Booraemhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12751047743172852013noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3276247486259230392.post-88521857404792860922013-06-05T08:49:48.556-04:002013-06-05T08:49:48.556-04:00I read it not long and ago and enjoyed it but thin...I read it not long and ago and enjoyed it but think it is a mistake to give this to kids especially as the dialect becomes more and more remote. pattinase (abbott)https://www.blogger.com/profile/02916037185235335846noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3276247486259230392.post-78472722896373915102013-06-05T08:37:24.763-04:002013-06-05T08:37:24.763-04:00Great review, Ellen! I actually read this book se...Great review, Ellen! I actually read this book several times from middle school through college and then even taught it to a bunch of 11th graders a couple of years. It's always been one of my favorites, but kids often don't appreciate Twain's humor and are put off by the dialect, as you were. Maybe it's a book that's best read as an adult. There is such a rich complexity to this book (except for the last part--I agree) that it's a shame it's been taken out of some curricula.<br /><br />Love your disclaimer--Twain would have approved:)Rosehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01384059342847120951noreply@blogger.com