Comment on I learned so much
atomicorange@lemmy.world 5 weeks agoTerry Pratchett is great and all, but don’t you have any interest in learning new things? The Jungle is essentially journalism, it exposed real shit that was happening in our own country… and being fed to us. It changed minds. It basically led to the creation of the food and drug administration. It saved lives. That’s a powerful work of art. Revulsion is the intended response. It’s kind of a horror novel.
The other books you listed…. How about wonder? Hope? Fear? Fascination? Dread? Excitement? At least they make you feel something. Boredom is what kills love for reading in my experience. None of the books you listed are boring.
AVincentInSpace@pawb.social 5 weeks ago
And Terry Pratchett is boring? Exploring racial tensions through the lens of British humor is not worth reading because it doesn’t make me viscerally scared?
You do you, but if I’m going to read a book for high school, boredom is WAY preferable to revulsion. I’d rather read a physics textbook word for word than be forced to continue reading every time someone dies. Reading books like The Jungle and analyzing them as journalism is important, but I’d like some books that aren’t …that… thrown in for variety. If my parents didn’t thrust their Pratchett stash upon me at an early age I might’ve grown up thinking all Serious Grown-Up Literature was like that.
atomicorange@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
I’m absolutely not denigrating Pratchett or calling him boring. I sincerely think he’s great. I just think those other books are pretty great too. They’re all really interesting reads. I don’t mind reading disturbing material though, my first grown-up novel was The Shining swiped from my dad’s bookshelf.😅