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I was a fat, stuttering early elementary kid, so I read a lot to avoid the cruel other kids. To the degree my 4th grade teacher would no longer allow me to do b

I was a fat, stuttering early elementary kid, so I read a lot to avoid the cruel other kids. To the degree my 4th grade teacher would no longer allow me to do book reports for a grade using children's or teen books any longer. She pointed me at the literature classics and said only those were grade worthy at my reading skill. The right there was on of the most instrumental decisions of my life. By 5th grade I'd read the entire high school literature section. I joined an adult book readers club to better understand what I was reading. Even the adults in my club agreed an adult life is continual situational ignorance, misunderstood tragedy, betrayal by those close to you, and servitude to the powerful. I no longer believe adult life is quite so harsh, but that attitude prepared me far better than my peers. I've spent a good amount of time talking down people ready to quit everything. Thankfully, I can reference some fantastic hopeful passages, and they have not failed such situations yet.

NortySpock 5y ago
Can you share some hopeful passages, or some recommendations on what to read? I could use a bit of positivity in my life this month.
- bsenftner 5y ago
  Without your personal context, recommendations are difficult. If you like science fiction, check out "Stories of your Life" by Ted Chang; if you like historical strategies for success, check out "The 48 Laws of Power" by Robert Greene; if you like grand philosophical views of an entire life well lived and how to have one "The Glass Bead Game" by Hesse; if you're interested in extremely practical advice in how to be successful today read (believe it or not) Harvard Business Review - it is far more down to earth than should be possible. If you like cynical SciFi, read Philip K Dick's Valis trilogy - it's a failed 2nd coming of god, wreaked by modern brand marketing.
  - js2 5y ago
    Have you read Klara and the Sun yet?
    - bsenftner 5y ago
      Not yet. It is ordered, I love Ishiguro's prose.
  - krferriter 5y ago
    Thanks for giving some recommendations, these sound interesting.
paulmd 5y ago
haha, high-five. My parents read with us every night as a kid, and that got me going on my own. At the start of third grade I did a book report on a junior textbook about the allied air campaigns during ww2 and the teacher didn't really know what to do with that. (I'm a smart guy but reading with my parents made a huge difference imo, it is probably the single biggest thing you can do to give your kids a head-start in life. Give your kids the ability to sponge up as much information as possible during those critical years of childhood brain plasticity!) I've always been a sensitive person (until cruel kids taught me to hide it) and Watership Down and Where The Red Fern Grows got me bad as a kid... but not like lifelong trauma or anything, just baby's first exposure to death.
- bcrosby95 5y ago
  I'm curious what sort of books they would read. I like to read to our kids, but it's mostly books targeted at a bit above their reading level, not adult-level stuff.
  - paulmd 5y ago
    (other readers: sorry, I know this post is going to be a bit obnoxiously long, but I didn't want to put it on a pastebin or some other external service and potentially have it disappear if someone wanted to reference it in the future. If you're not interested please feel free to collapse this!) I actually asked my mom to compile a list of books she could remember, because a friend had kids and was getting to the age where they were starting to read too. Here's what she came up with (note, no particular order of difficulty or maturity here): My Father’s dragon series Where the sidewalk ends, Shel Silverstein A pizza the size of the Sun Choose your own adventure books The Great Brain The Boxcar Children series Captain Underpants Roald Dahl books: The BFG, James and the Giant Peach, Matilda, The Twits, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory/The Great Glass Elevator (not as good) My Side of the Mountain No More Dead Dogs The Secret Garden Bridge to Terabithia (Deals with death, a little older) The Lion, the witch, and the wardrobe Across five Aprils (civil war historical fiction, older) The Broken Blade (Voyageur) & Sequel Island of the blue dolphins The witch of blackbird pond Johnny Tremaine (a bit older) The sign of the Beaver Charlotte’s Web Because of Winn Dixie Tuck Everlasting (sad at end) Ruby Holler The Adventures of Tom Sawyer Treasure Island The Pushcart War Maniac Magee Rascal Frindle Hatchet (Gary Paulsen) Mr. Popper’s Penguins (young) Tales of a 4th Grade Nothing (Juy Blume) Pippi Longstocking Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle (young) A Wrinkle in Time Moccasin Trail Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH From the Mixed Up files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler The Egypt Game The Phantom Tollbooth (young) Holes (little older) Sideways Stories from Wayside School (young) The Wonderful Wizard of Oz Homer Price (easy reading) The Indian in the Cupboard Misty of Chincoteague (series) Aesop’s Fables (young) The Eye, the Ear, and the Arm Redwall series Watership Down (I'll throw in the Discworld series too for kids that are getting a bit older! It's probably very readable for, say, an advanced 5th grader. I was tearing through all the redwall books and the Golden Compass series at that point and Discworld is probably comparable. Golden Compass wasn't finished then and The Amber Spyglass ended up being kind of a disappointment. I know I was reading Discworld by 7th grade for sure.)

NortySpock 5y ago

Can you share some hopeful passages, or some recommendations on what to read? I could use a bit of positivity in my life this month.

bsenftner 5y ago
Without your personal context, recommendations are difficult. If you like science fiction, check out "Stories of your Life" by Ted Chang; if you like historical strategies for success, check out "The 48 Laws of Power" by Robert Greene; if you like grand philosophical views of an entire life well lived and how to have one "The Glass Bead Game" by Hesse; if you're interested in extremely practical advice in how to be successful today read (believe it or not) Harvard Business Review - it is far more down to earth than should be possible. If you like cynical SciFi, read Philip K Dick's Valis trilogy - it's a failed 2nd coming of god, wreaked by modern brand marketing.
- js2 5y ago
  Have you read Klara and the Sun yet?
  - bsenftner 5y ago
    Not yet. It is ordered, I love Ishiguro's prose.
- krferriter 5y ago
  Thanks for giving some recommendations, these sound interesting.

paulmd 5y ago

haha, high-five. My parents read with us every night as a kid, and that got me going on my own. At the start of third grade I did a book report on a junior textbook about the allied air campaigns during ww2 and the teacher didn't really know what to do with that. (I'm a smart guy but reading with my parents made a huge difference imo, it is probably the single biggest thing you can do to give your kids a head-start in life. Give your kids the ability to sponge up as much information as possible during those critical years of childhood brain plasticity!) I've always been a sensitive person (until cruel kids taught me to hide it) and Watership Down and Where The Red Fern Grows got me bad as a kid... but not like lifelong trauma or anything, just baby's first exposure to death.

bcrosby95 5y ago
I'm curious what sort of books they would read. I like to read to our kids, but it's mostly books targeted at a bit above their reading level, not adult-level stuff.
- paulmd 5y ago
  (other readers: sorry, I know this post is going to be a bit obnoxiously long, but I didn't want to put it on a pastebin or some other external service and potentially have it disappear if someone wanted to reference it in the future. If you're not interested please feel free to collapse this!) I actually asked my mom to compile a list of books she could remember, because a friend had kids and was getting to the age where they were starting to read too. Here's what she came up with (note, no particular order of difficulty or maturity here): My Father’s dragon series Where the sidewalk ends, Shel Silverstein A pizza the size of the Sun Choose your own adventure books The Great Brain The Boxcar Children series Captain Underpants Roald Dahl books: The BFG, James and the Giant Peach, Matilda, The Twits, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory/The Great Glass Elevator (not as good) My Side of the Mountain No More Dead Dogs The Secret Garden Bridge to Terabithia (Deals with death, a little older) The Lion, the witch, and the wardrobe Across five Aprils (civil war historical fiction, older) The Broken Blade (Voyageur) & Sequel Island of the blue dolphins The witch of blackbird pond Johnny Tremaine (a bit older) The sign of the Beaver Charlotte’s Web Because of Winn Dixie Tuck Everlasting (sad at end) Ruby Holler The Adventures of Tom Sawyer Treasure Island The Pushcart War Maniac Magee Rascal Frindle Hatchet (Gary Paulsen) Mr. Popper’s Penguins (young) Tales of a 4th Grade Nothing (Juy Blume) Pippi Longstocking Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle (young) A Wrinkle in Time Moccasin Trail Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH From the Mixed Up files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler The Egypt Game The Phantom Tollbooth (young) Holes (little older) Sideways Stories from Wayside School (young) The Wonderful Wizard of Oz Homer Price (easy reading) The Indian in the Cupboard Misty of Chincoteague (series) Aesop’s Fables (young) The Eye, the Ear, and the Arm Redwall series Watership Down (I'll throw in the Discworld series too for kids that are getting a bit older! It's probably very readable for, say, an advanced 5th grader. I was tearing through all the redwall books and the Golden Compass series at that point and Discworld is probably comparable. Golden Compass wasn't finished then and The Amber Spyglass ended up being kind of a disappointment. I know I was reading Discworld by 7th grade for sure.)