Readicide Response

"What should a 21^st century English class reading list look like?"
A 21st century English class reading list should be packed with books that will make you ask important questions. They need to be thought-provoking, reflective, and most importantly, enjoyable. If the student isn't enjoying the book, it is a pointless read. You won't get that constant drip of excitment and knowledge as you read. For example, when reading the book, "The Catcher in the Rye" you catch yourself asking questions that you often ask yourself when you are going through certain experiences in your life. You are asking, "Why is this occuring?" and seeking out reasons for a why specific scenerio is happening. You are asking, "Why is a character behaving this way?" then you search the knowledge of the character that you have already obtained from the book. If that doesn't work, you sort through your own mind of why a person would behave or act in a certain way. You constantly ask yourself questions that you would ask yourself in real life. When you read the classic, thought-provoking books you practice answering those questions. You learn perspectives and approaches to solve problems and answer incredibly tough questions. Without these books, I feel that some people may enter the world severely unprepared.

“For these reasons, the National Book Award in fiction, more than any other American literary prize, illustrates the ever-broadening cultural gap between the literary community and the reading public. The former believes that everyone reads as much as they do and that they still have the authority to shape readers’ tastes, while the latter increasingly suspects that it’s being served the literary equivalent of spinach. Like the Newbery Medal for children’s literature, awarded by librarians, the NBA has come to indicate a book that somebody else thinks you ought to read, whether you like it or not.” - Laura Miller 

This lady is wrong. It is a cynical approach to ride the waves of new literature. I love newer literature and fiction, I read it all the time. I just think it is important to read the books where good stories all started and those are the classics. Imagine if we decided to destroy old historical buildings just because new ones were being built. We need to embrace the old and the new. But most importantly, we need to preserve the old. It's our history!