Misc+Writing

I thought this section would be nice for any words we came across in our reading, or daily lives that were unfamiliar and wanted to share with the class.
 * Word Glossary:**

Loquacious- (adj) given to fluent or excessive talk.

I like to read a lot, outside of what I'm assigned for school, which I mostly don't like to read. Provide a small summary and genre for what ever book you think others may enjoy.
 * Book Recommendations:**

Krishnamurti was a speaker who never wrote publicly. He called for you to stop looking for gurus and external guides to shape your life, and instead look to yourself for such answers. He spoke in simple terms on subjects ranging from purpose to beauty to thought. Here are a few samples from the table of contents: "The Function of Education" "The Problem of Freedom" "Freedom and Love" "Listening" "Creative Discontent" "The Confidence of Innocence" "Self Discipline" "Cooperation and Sharing" "Renewing the Mind" "To be Religious is to be Sensitive to Reality."
 * Jiddu Krishnamurti - Think on These Things:**

Quotes from the 1st chapter: "Do you know what intelligence is? It is the capacity, surely, to think freely, without fear, without a formula, so that you begin to discover for yourself what is real, what is true" (p. 3).

"Life is really very beautiful, it is not this ugly thing that we have made of it; and you can appreciate its richness, its depth, its extraordinary loveliness only when you revolt against everything -- against organized religion, against tradition, against the present rotten society -- so that you as a human being find out for yourself what is true. Not to imitate but to discover -- //that// is education, is it not?" (p. 3)

The genres listed on the back cover are: "Philosophy/Religion/Psychology"

From "The World's Worst": It's important to read about bad authors and the terrible literature that they write. So here are some examples.

http://books.google.com/books?id=QFIXAAAAYAAJ&dq=great+expectations&printsec=frontcover&source=bn&hl=en&ei=LGChSuuNOZGoswPfn4iNDw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4#v=onepage&q=&f=false

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Dickens

Matt S.'s Response --> I want to interpret this ironically. He may not appeal to everyone, but Dickens has, by my judgment at least, proven himself to be a master storyteller. John Irving, the author of A Prayer for Owen Meaney (a staple of many middle/junior high and high school reading lists) is often said to use many similar styles in his writing. He also wrote "The World According to Garp" and "The Cider House Rules." If you like any of those books/stories, you might give Dickens a(nother) look.

The ironic interpretation is useful too, since there are lots of great samples of writing available online. We could use this page to post favorite/interesting/excellent/horrible writing samples we find online. Whatever your interests, find some pages that you read regularly and try to find the best samples of both good and bad writing from those pages.

While we're on it, here's my entry: http://www.amazon.com/Venus-Half-Shell-Kilgore-Trout/dp/0440161495/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1252267201&sr=8-1

The book is called **"Venus on the Half Shell"** by **Kilgore Trout** who is actually a guy named Philip Jose Farmer. Those who have read Kurt Vonnegut will know Trout as the fictional bad science fiction writer in much of Vonnegut's writing. Seriously, I don't know if the writing is good or bad, but it's certainly distinct and absolutely worth checking out.