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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]God, some of you are so pathetic. Your kid will read some Shakespeare and please don’t act like your kid will magically get smarter by reading it. 
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In your expert opinion, what books are making our kids smarter? Harry Potter? Oh no, that's with the author that doesn't support trans rights... Soon only the books on Lady Cannon's list will be approved staples for consumption lol.

Unless you are saying kids should not read books anymore, since they don't get them smarter by reading them.

I beg to differ, reading 100 books from the canon will make them smarter, happier and more interesting human beings.[/quote]

I posted some books already, I can’t be bothered again. (Not white supremacy books lol)

And again, why are you acting like you’re under 25 and your brain hasn’t fully developed? Did I say reading in general doesn’t help you grow? No, I said Shakespeare. 
I also said some will be read anyway.

Why do you keep referencing HP? Do you not know any other modern authors lmao. No wonder you love Shakespeare so much, must be the era in which you transmigrated from.[/quote]

Please, no more book suggestions, enough damage has been done already!

Thank you for the clarfication, just to make sure I got it right, reading in general does help one grow, just not Shakespeare. Some will read anyway, against your advice, but... no gains! Got it!

Harry Potter is referenced as a stand in for popular but low quality books. There is the argument that at least it gets kids reading instead of playing video games. The opposing view is as useless and facile reading. Saying it belongs to the English literature class as a serious study, is a trolling joke. Same with Wimpy Kid, these are books that elementary school students read. If you haven't figured out this by now, sigh....

Shakespeare stands in for timeless books that are part of the cultural heritage of humanity, the so called western literary canon. Books that are remarcable by their mastery of language, originality, books that changed how we think, the stories we tell to each other etc.

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Dickens was popular and low quality at the time (I still consider him low quality and trite). His serials were published in newspapers, and he was paid by the word. They were basically the 19th century soap opera (especially with the drama of EVERYTHING IS ALWAYS GETTING WORSE! Oh look, it looks like things might be getting better! A fresh crust of bread! JUST KIDDING THE BREAD IS MAGGOTS AND YOU HAVE DYSENTERY).

This is how we ended up with depressing tomes like Bleak House.[/quote]

I am not sure it matters how it was perceived at the time or how it was published, it's more important how we see it today. Somehow it survived and stayed relevant for over a century, it didnt fall into oblivion.

Think about the phrase "it was the best of times, it was the worst of times..." it is instantly recognizable, why is that? Because it's part of our culture.

You are making a good case for reading books that you like. I dont see an issue with that, the canon is maybe 500-1000 books, one can't read them all unless this is your career, there are other things that take up your time so you'd have to be selective in some way. Also you might read some books outside the canon, because they are of interest you.
Some people made good points of what might be removed or added from the cannon, and what criteria we should use to do that.

The problem is that the woke come up with arguments that have nothing to do with the intrinsic literary value of the work. For example they'll say "men writing for men, pffft!", "how many women are in the canon?", as if we need to judge the canon by the ratio of penises to vaginas, or some other equally ridiculous metric. 
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You missed the point of the joke/comment, but I'm not here to argue.[/quote]

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