What are you reading this year? 2012

[ellyphant]

The Life of Pi is the book DD had to read the summer before freshman year of college. All the incoming freshmen read it to give them all something in common and something they could all discuss immediately. I always planned to read it, but haven't yet.

[atlanticflyer]

it was never required reading in any of my schools and I minored in English in university, looking forward o reading it this fall though!

[helia]

I have read Life of Pi. I did like it, though some parts were hard for me to get through - difficult subject matter. Dh has read it, and some of our kids too; I know ds read it many years ago, while we were in Australia maybe, so in late middle school -- I think one of the girls also started it but then got turned off by some of the less savory scenes in the boat, the ones I was talking about - hard to get through. Gripping and well written though! I hope you and DD like it, Harriet!

[helia]

AF, the book was published around 2001(?), so likely wasn't around when you were at Univ.

[atlanticflyer]

ooops true

[helia]

Harriet's comment in PWYC today has sent me here again, wondering if I am bringing up questions about Life of Pi? I really don't want to give the storyline away, so I don't want to be explicit, but I'll try to be a little more specific. The difficult scenes are more toward the beginning of the book; one in particular was hard for me -- but I'm also very sensitive to violence in books, as are my girls. The scenes are more/less difficult depending on one's tolerance for "violence." Suffice it to say that a tiger is not the most peaceful animal in existence, and I will say no more. . . . I saw the trailer to the movie, and I couldn't tell if they have included these scenes or not; if so, they likely made them more palatable, just as the movie makers did with the Hunger Games, imho. The book and its meaning/s are definitely great fodder for some excellent discussions!!

[lucylee]

I really don't have any expertise on this book -- Life of Pi. I haven't read it, but have seen the movie trailer recently. It looked a little strange to me. One of my students is reading it for her book project this six weeks. I really don't know enough about it to discuss it at all, I'm embarrassed to say!!!

I'm always sorta hyper-sensitive to what I assign in class, however, and I worry endlessly about requiring my students to read depressing things! (Deaths of grandparents in Cold Sassy Tree, for example.) "Sensitive" issues also send me into worry-cycles too... Cold Sassy Tree also recounts an episode of incestuous rape and has a joke about a woman nursing a pig to keep her breast milk flowing. So now y'all are probably wondering, well, why on earth do they keep reading it, then???
I've discussed my concerns w/two female administrators and neither felt the book should be "banned" from my 9th graders. One of my administrators said sometimes the difficult subjects in literature are the only way some kids have of getting "permission" to talk to someone about the difficult issues in their own lives.
And when we get to the part about the rape, I always discuss the fact that 100 years ago, these things were NOT spoken of... but TODAY, they KNOW they are supposed to tell somebody if ANYONE is hurting them or threatening them, etc... and tell somebody else if the first person doesn't believe them, and somebody else... etc.
(I just ignore the part about the pig, unless they bring it up, and usually they're not reading close enough to catch it!)

I like to have them read it b/c (1) the relationship between the boy & his grandfather is so sweet... and (2) the story takes place in a small Southern town much like our own, at the turn of the century, and I think it's good for my students to get this little slice of life.

But I didn't mean to "hijack" this thread...
Violence... I don't know... kids probably handle it better than we think, but that may be a sad commentary on our world today. I know ALL my students who have read The Hunger Games are just absolutely in love with it, and I thought the subject matter there was certainly depressing and violent -- but I loved it myself, too. I don't assign it b/c so many of them have already read it on their own.

When Miss Havisham catches on fire in the movie, Great Expectations, my students burst out laughing.
(Of course, they are watching the B/W 1946 version. It truly IS a little comical.)

So... Harriet wanted me to see this thread, I think, but I can't really contribute much to it, re: specifically Life of Pi, that is.

[Harriet]

Oh, thanks, this is really all I wanted to know, lucylee, whether you had seen this used as a consistent book study for English classes. I just didn't want to be talking about English reading assignments in high school and not hear from you. Because this teacher evidently has used it for years, I thought maybe it was SO common and that I was out of the loop because of a long gap between my own children's ages. So now I'm just thinking it's a choice of his that may be a little different from most, but is certainly borne out if a major motion picture is now in the works about it. I'm certain it won't be the most shocking one dd will be assigned for sure. Yes, I was sobered when I read about the content and helia's thoughts reinforce that. But I know dd is bound to get some tough (hard to take) reading assignments. Her older siblings were assigned some near-horror, IMO. Actually, I should ask dd32 if she knows this book - she might have an opinion on how it stacks up to some of the cover-your-eyes-and-gag scenes she read in high school!


reply from my dd32, the family voracious reader:

I tried to read Life of Pi, then I put it in the return box at the library...did not get very far. Utterly unreadable in my opinion and I have no interest in the upcoming movie.

No, it is I who hijacked the thread. Back to your regularly scheduled pleasant books!

[Nancy]

I'm mildly interested in seeing the life of Pi as a movie after seeing the trailer.

[atlanticflyer]

the book sounds like it would be an intense read