Pygmalion!
'Dear Diary, Today I was pompous and my sister was crazy.' 'Today, we were kidnapped by hill folk never to be seen again. It was the best day ever.'
Jayne ,'Safe'
Literary Buffistas 3: Don't Parse the Blurb, Dear.
There's more to life than watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer! No. Really, there is! Honestly! Here's a place for Buffistas to come and discuss what it is they're reading, their favorite authors and poets. "Geez. Crack a book sometime."
Kat - Jan 14, 2014 2:46:48 pm PST #21889 of 28363
"I keep to a strict diet of ill-advised enthusiasm and heartfelt regret." Leigh Bardugo
Kat - Jan 14, 2014 2:48:12 pm PST #21890 of 28363
"I keep to a strict diet of ill-advised enthusiasm and heartfelt regret." Leigh Bardugo
Handmaids tale has a relatively redemptive ending too.
Kat - Jan 14, 2014 2:48:52 pm PST #21891 of 28363
"I keep to a strict diet of ill-advised enthusiasm and heartfelt regret." Leigh Bardugo
For a dystopian novel that is.
Amy - Jan 14, 2014 2:49:55 pm PST #21892 of 28363
Because books.
I've never read it! Although I know the basic story. (Pygmalion, I mean.)
Where do you draw the line between an issue novel and a non-issue novel? I just can't think of a lot of books about generally content people that wouldn't be incredibly boring, but I also find books cathartic. Even something like Little Women has plenty of conflict and drama in it.
I don't think I would classify i A Handmaid's Tale as a *happy* read, though, despite the ending.
Sophia Brooks - Jan 14, 2014 2:50:51 pm PST #21893 of 28363
Cats to become a rabbit should gather immediately now here
As long as we are talking about this-- did Archer actually have sex with Countess Olenska or were they just hangingout outside the bounds of convention.
I can't really think of many happy joyful novels that we would study in English lit, but maybe the canon should include genre fiction?
Sophia Brooks - Jan 14, 2014 2:52:14 pm PST #21894 of 28363
Cats to become a rabbit should gather immediately now here
Enchanted April is a semi happy novel, now that I think about it.
Amy - Jan 14, 2014 2:52:16 pm PST #21895 of 28363
Because books.
In my reading, they're full of UST and angst, Sophia.
sj - Jan 14, 2014 2:55:47 pm PST #21896 of 28363
"There are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea."
I hated the novels I was assigned in high school English until senior year honors English. I loved many of the short stories though. I don't remember reading much non-fiction in high school, but I don't think I would have enjoyed it much. Mostly I prefered reading anything I wasn't assigned.
Kat - Jan 14, 2014 2:58:08 pm PST #21897 of 28363
"I keep to a strict diet of ill-advised enthusiasm and heartfelt regret." Leigh Bardugo
Amy, I usually don't draw that line. My big demarcation is plot novels vs. character studies. I used issue novel as shorthand cause on my phone. I figurd HMT is "happy" in that no major character dies. In truth, my AP kids have been keeping a body count, with names, on my board since we have so many works we read where people die. We should read Macbeth just to up the counts.
Vonnie K - Jan 14, 2014 2:58:59 pm PST #21898 of 28363
Kiss me, my girl, before I'm sick.
The books I read in my junior English lit class were 1) To Kill a Mockingbird, 2) Childhood's End, and 3) Great Gatsby. The first two are not entirely depressing, although not what I'd call joyful. At least it's not Ethan fucking Frome.