This is an honest question: What is the appeal of bleakness?

I don't know if "appeal" is the right word, but if your experience had been very dark or bleak or cynical making then I think you would want to see that reflected in your art. That it would resonate as true, and anything less dark might look sentimental or false.

If you had survived the Bataan Death March it's possible that you might only want to watch romantic comedies starring Reese Witherspoon, but it's more likely that you'd see something of your life in The Pianist.

There's also the possibility that high schoolers aren't mature enough to appreciate Moby-Dick or The Return Of The Native.

I read Great Expectations in freshman year of high school, and I don't exactly remember how I felt about it, but I don't think it left a strong impression on me. And then I read it again in sophomore year of college, and I really liked it and could appreciate how damn funny it was.

And I read Moby Dick for a class junior year of college, for the record. Lolita too, actually.

I have no interest in James Joyce. Britney Spears's tube socks, also no interest. Stupid fights over nothing in which people won't apologize, dunce caps all round.

Wow, people, I go away for a day and we revert to kindergarten? What gives?! It's not even February, i.e. Our Regularly Scheduled Fight Over Nothing Month.

I disliked them enough that I've never been able to force myself to go back and try them again from a more mature perspective.

I think you're missing out. I've seen my own perspective on artwork change quite a bit since high school and have found that revisiting judgments I made then has often led to a reversal of my opinion. This may not be true for everyone, though.

I may be missing out; but the dislike is there. On the other hand, I did read a lot of their other works, so I don't count it as a total loss.

Glasshouse sounds great, Jessica. I have to put that on my list. Also the new Gaiman! Must go look up when that's coming out.

I remember liking Portrait of the Artist very much. I never tried Ulysses, and it's probably unlikely that I will at this point -- there are a lot of other classics I still need to get to.

Also echoing the Mo Willems love. Sara cracks up every time.

Last, cigarette-smoking, whiskey-pounding Kerfuffle Bunny is my new favorite thing ever.

Wow, people, I go away for a day and we revert to kindergarten? What gives?!

I don't know about Connie but I never had fights about James Joyce in kindergarten.

I'm not sure what it was with high school books. I read the scarlett letter in high school. Honestly,there was no way for me to get it then. It was so far beyond my experience. But Austin, Shakespeare, Poe, or even other Hawthorne. I fell in love with Steinbeck in high school. Old man and the sea is a book I try and discourage high school students from reading. I think I'd get it now,but in high school,once again I didn't have the life experience. Other books, like Huck Finn are better read at over again different ages.

What I have learned from my 4th - 6th grade book Club is that even smart 4th graders are still very literal and self centered. One of my friends was really concerned with what her 7th grade son was reading in school. I told her not to worry too much about it,because mostly what they are learning now is how to get analytical about books. Let them read stuff that is fairly easily accessible now. They need to learn the skills before they hit the classics

What is the appeal of bleakness?

I don't get it either. I need some kernel of -- not necessarily hope, or redemption -- illumination. I can't explain it better than that, to my chagrin.

Wow, people, I go away for a day and we revert to kindergarten? What gives?!

Kerfuffle Bunny roused the rabble.

Other books, like Huck Finn are better read at different ages.

It gets funnier -- and more barbed -- every time I read it.