Forum members who'd never opened a book in their whole lives

[Colonel Frank Grimes]

To be honest, im afraid of China, i think we should take them more seriously. We should focus on China instead of making useless conflicts with Russia.

China is certainly an enemy. We pushed Russia - who would have been a natural ally against China - into their arms. The Chinese steal American technology without repercussions. I would have no issue banning Chinese citizens from immigrating to the US.

[Andullero]

I was not very interested in Dickens, too depressing.

His "A Tale of Two Cities" would make you a convinced hater of the French Revolution even if previously you haven't read Burke's opinions about it or anything else related to the process.

[Lioncourt]

In Hungary, we have old prussian school system, it based on huge lexical knowledge. We must learn tons of irrelevant things what you will never use in your life, for example classical music history and such bullshit. I have read tons of classic books from hungarian serious literature, or Romeo and Julia, Uncle Tom's Cabin, Iliada by Homer, Antigone by Sophocles, Divine Comedy by Dante, Decameron by Boccaccio, Tartuffe by Moliere, Faust by Goethe etc

it's the same in Bulgaria. Classical music history in music classes, some of the books mentioned were also mandatory to read, and also others like Don Quixote by Servantes, Count Monte Christo by Alexander Dumas, Bel Ami by Maupassant, Dead Souls by Gogol, Les Miserables by Hugo...

[Anatolya]

Haha, why do you say that? I could not get through Pride and Prejudice, it was mind-numbingly boring for me.

The passion of you advocating fictions + overall impression

Btw i also can't stand her books, the stories are ok (i'm turkish of course i love drama) but it's her way of writing i guess

[CosmoLady]

The passion of you advocating fictions + overall impression

Btw i also can't stand her books, the stories are ok (i'm turkish of course i love drama) but it's her way of writing i guess

I preferred stories that take place on islands or exotic environments,
such as Robinson Crusoe-type stories or boys' adventure novels.
Gothic horror and ghost stories are great too. Some morbid humour is fine as well.

This led me to Joseph Conrad and HG Wells, which led me into dystopian political fiction and early science fiction.
Tragedies and love stories are fine, but there has to be some mystery, suspense and danger of death to be interesting.

So this formation gave me a tomboy personality that does not tolerate Jane Austen or similar stories very well!

Too boring, too soft, too many characters, the family tree is too complicated, the environment is not interesting,
and there is no danger or excitement or serious conflict, the story feels like a telenovela or soap opera.
Also, I do not care much for family dramas or stories about courtship for the above reasons.
There is meaning of course, but nothing profound or interesting for me.

I wrote about some of the authors I liked when I was growing up:

https://www.theapricity.com/forum/sh...=1#post7951809

[calxpal]

Following

[retfala]

It's Austro-Hungarian school system that is very intellectual and old fashioned and we have it too

I think that a major flaw in our curriculum is that, rather than encouraging young people and developing reading habits, we have for decades pushed a chronological order that places the Iliad and Odyssey in the hands of students first, epics that, in my opinion, can only be enjoyed by a very experienced reader.

As a result, a big number of high schoolers really dislike reading if they haven't developed that habit at home through upbringing.

Well not all of us are on the autism spectrum, broski.
We utilise logic and reason, yet we frequently need to disrupt established patterns and rules with our creativity to spark the innovation.

We simply have a higher percentage of narrowminded autists than some other sectors. lol

I'll try with a bigger bait next time

[Anglo-Celtic]

You should still be so, specially since the most infamous of them all, Mark David Chapman, is textbook Richmondbread.

I know all about that. I have no urges to destroy my Beatles CDs, though.

[CosmoLady]

Did your school have literature classes? That was my introduction to Holden Caulfield, and it worried me that I identified with him, especially when I recalled the unsavory types who thought of him as a role model.

You should still be so, specially since the most infamous of them all, Mark David Chapman, is textbook Richmondbread.

I know all about that. I have no urges to destroy my Beatles CDs, though.

Is Catcher in the Rye used for the programming of CIA disposable killers?
Young men with nothing to live for, the perfect weapon?

JD Salinger was in military intelligence during World War 2, I wonder if he kept working for the agency after the war.
MK-Ultra was starting around this time too.

[PlattitüdenPaule]

Karl Simrock's translation of the Edda.