Candide! (Though, of course, that was kind of the point.)
Angel: I appreciate you guys looking out for Connor all summer. It's just—he's confused. He needs time. That's all. Fred: Right. Time, and some corporal punishment with a large heavy mallet. Not that I'm bitter.
'Just Rewards (2)'
We're Literary 2: To Read Makes Our Speaking English Good
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."
P.M. Marc - Dec 08, 2003 5:49:12 pm PST #126 of 10002
So come, my friends, be not afraid/We are so lightly here/It is in love that we are made; In love we disappear
deborah grabien - Dec 08, 2003 6:21:16 pm PST #127 of 10002
It really doesn't matter. It's just an opinion. Don't worry about it. Not worth the hassle.
(brain curls up and dies slowly at thought of blitheringly optimistic people in classic lit)
(brain reaches out for "Crime and Punishment")
(brain realises Raskolnikov is really really boring and depressing and decides to go dancing instead)
Typo Boy - Dec 08, 2003 6:22:02 pm PST #128 of 10002
Calli: My people have a saying. A man who trusts can never be betrayed, only mistaken.Avon: Life expectancy among your people must be extremely short.
Hmm I chose Pangloss as being slightly more annoying than Candide. But yes, you are right - if I'm going to include Pangloss, there is no reason to omit the title character.
Thanks PMM.
P.M. Marc - Dec 08, 2003 8:54:51 pm PST #129 of 10002
So come, my friends, be not afraid/We are so lightly here/It is in love that we are made; In love we disappear
EVERYONE in Candide is annoying.
And yet, I have an irrational love for the thing.
beth b - Dec 08, 2003 9:01:34 pm PST #130 of 10002
oh joy! Oh Rapture ! I have a brain!
for the 11 year old
the case of the Firecracker laurence yep-- he's written a bunch of mysteries about a girl in china town - he also does a bunch of other books and they won't push the child that likes the comfort of her boxcar children
Angus G - Dec 09, 2003 1:45:22 am PST #131 of 10002
Roguish Laird
I'm trying to think of examples of really annoying excessively cheerful optimists from classic (or at least famous) literature.
Miss Bates in Emma.
Mr Micawber in David Copperfield.
Little Nell in The Old Curiosity Shop.
(Hell, there's one in virtually every Dickens novel!)
Fred Pete - Dec 09, 2003 4:01:40 am PST #132 of 10002
Ann, that's a ferret.
For the advanced 11YO:
At 13, I had no trouble whatsoever with Agatha Christie, Ellery Queen, and Erle Stanley Gardner (Perry Mason). Could never figure out whodunit, but that didn't stop me.
Lyra Jane - Dec 09, 2003 5:14:36 am PST #133 of 10002
Up with the sun
For the 11-year-old: The Changeling, The Egypt Game, The Headless Cupid, or really anything by Zilpha Keatley Snyder. I don't know what's in print right now, but she was my favorite writer at that age. (okay, technically Ann M. Martin was -- but you want to know about *good* books, right?) Also, I second the Westing Game rec.
§ ita § - Dec 09, 2003 5:23:10 am PST #134 of 10002
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.
How about E Nesbitt? I think I was adoring her stuff at that age.
Nilly - Dec 09, 2003 5:30:19 am PST #135 of 10002
Swouncing
How about E Nesbitt? I think I was adoring her stuff at that age.
I was adoring her in every age since I started reading her, which was a little younger than 11, now that I think about it, so this post is pretty much meaningless.
I could never get into E Blyton. I'm not sure why. It's not that her characters always seemed to be eating or that they all seemed to have some sort of clever pet, or the sexism (like Deb wrote), because I think I got along with these fine in other books (meaning: failed to notice them until re-reading at a later age). I don't know.
It's amazing how many of the books Kat (who is amazing in her reading, in and of herself) had mentioned I don't know. It seems like a lot doesn't filter all the way across the ocean and into Hebrew.