Post 6: Readicide

                I think that Readicide is a major problem in school because for so many students, school is the only place where they read. Once they have bad experiences reading in school they don’t want to read at home because they assume they won’t like it because it will be as boring as in school. Also the schools are only showing a narrow selection of books and aren’t exposing student to all types of books. I think genre fiction is just as worthy of being read because many books that are genre fiction are very good and student will get more out of reading them. I don’t think we should continue to teach literary fiction so exclusively because many kids don’t even read these books; they will just Spark note them. If every now and then they taught literary fiction, I think kids would have more of an appreciation for books and would be able to compare literary and genre fiction.

            I think we should add more genre fiction into the curriculum because there is hardly any genre fiction being taught. Schools are teaching books that are irrelevant to this day and age and although it is good to keep that part of our culture alive, it doesn’t need to be the only thing taught. I think swapping out classic literature for more modern books can be good and bad so we should only swap out some books. I think if we take away all the classics student will be missing a major topic but I think they teach too many classics and should only teach us a few so we understand how literature used to be. A 21^st century English class reading list should contain popular books so kids will be excited about reading but also one or two classics. Literary fiction isn’t really relevant to our culture anymore but it think it shows how literature how evolved and changed so it is still important. Kids should read books because it teaches them comprehension, new vocabulary, and other skills that are greatly benefitted by reading so I think it is very important that kids enjoy reading so they will do it more often. 

Post 5: Book Adaptation

The book I'm reading is Silver Linings Playbook by Matthew Quick. I think in the film version of this movie it would be hard to capture the main character Pat. This is because Pat is very emotional and he goes trough a lot of thing the normal person may not so it may be hard for an actor to protray this.

The first scene that I believe is essential to keep is the scene where Pat and Tiffany meet. I believe this is essential because when Pat walks Tiffany home and they cry together, it is the first time that Tiffany actually feels cared for and not taken advantage of since her husband died. Also she later references this time where Pat just comforts her in her letter to Pat. I think this scene seemed very real and it wasn't cliche in the book so I think they should keep it the same in te movie.

The next scene I think is essential to keep and not change is the scene where Ronnie and Veronica take Pat and Tiffany to the beach. I think this scene is essential because both Pat and Tiffany have "break downs" in this scene. I think this is important because it show how Pat and Tiffany are special and they can't really cope with problems like most people. If this scene were lost or changed it would show the struggles Pat anf Tiffany have to deal with and overcome on a daily bases. It would make their characters seem normal and wouldn't show how tough life can be for Pat and Tiffany.

The third scene I think is essential to keep and not change is the part where Pat finds out Tiffany has been writing all the letters from Nikki and they get in a huge argument. I think this scene shows the authentisity of Pat and Tiffany's relationship. It shows how unstable they may be which helps to show later on how even through huge disasters they can still make it work. If they cut this scene the ending wouldn't as monumental and wouldn't mean as much.

In the film version, I believe they would have to cut the part where Pat meets his therapist ater the Eagles game. I think this part is just unneccessary because there are several parts similar to this one and they don't really help tell the story. They only take up time that could be used for other scene that could help build up the plot. I think people would get bored because the book has several scene that are like this so we wouldn't need all of them to show the friendship between Pat and his therapist.

In the film version, I think they would also have to cut the scene where Pat is in the mental institution. This is because I think it may be off putting for some people. Also it would be hard to recreate in a movie because it doesn't really explain it that well in the book. I don't think it is that vital for the success of a movie because they could just show a few flashback to explain that he was in the institution.