Stories.
We're doing a project in English and we were given a multitude of options, I'd preferably do a "dramatic reading" because it seems the simplest. But what to read? Of course, my first inclination is to do Guts because it's brilliant. But that probably won't work for obvious reasons.
So, what are some of your favorite short stories? Your favorite chapter from a book, an interesting scene, etc. Something that'll last 2-3 minutes, considerably appropriate for school. Help me out, yo.
If I was going to do a reading - I would read from [b]Jesus' Son[/b] by Denis Johnson. That book reads like a conversation. Everything in that book sounds so much better when read out loud. And it's an amazing book - so you'll enjoy working on it!
[URL=http://www.terrybisson.com/meat.html]They're Made Out of Meat[/URL] by Terry Bisson, would be interesting to do a dramatic reading for. It's a dialogue piece, so getting the two voices just right would be a good challenge.
"...human speech is like a cracked tin kettle, on which we hammer out tunes to make bears dance when we long to move the stars."
What I would do when discussing a book in high school would pick one of the most graphic, profane passages of the book and pounce on it's wealth of symbolism. It works best if it's a respected author, but basically anything you can find under "literature" will do. It's the reason I became an English major. It's one of the few subjects you can say the word 'fuck' repeatedly to your teacher and not get busted for it.
My personal recommendation would be a story from Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried. It's a book worth reading anyway, but there's this great passage where the platoon (I forget the correct military countere here) he's trudging through Nam with finds this baby water buffalo and this guy goes nuts and starts emptying clip after clip into the poor beast. At the end of his little episode, they dump into into a village's well. If you're looking for shock value, it's got that, but it's also really heavy, really deep, and O'Brien is just such a fucking good writer.
[QUOTE=XyZy;914464][URL=http://www.terrybisson.com/meat.html]They're Made Out of Meat[/URL] by Terry Bisson, would be interesting to do a dramatic reading for. It's a dialogue piece, so getting the two voices just right would be a good challenge.[/QUOTE]
This'll probably be perfect.
I put both The Things They Carried and Jesus' Son on hold (via the county library website). Jesus' Son is coming from another library so I won't have it by next class, but I'm assuming it'll be worth the read anyways. I'll pick up the O'Brien book later today. Thanks!
Best of luck, Becky. Enjoy the O'Brien. In the Lake of the Woods is a good one of his too.
[QUOTE=Becky;914505]This'll probably be perfect.
I put both The Things They Carried and Jesus' Son on hold (via the county library website). Jesus' Son is coming from another library so I won't have it by next class, but I'm assuming it'll be worth the read anyways. I'll pick up the O'Brien book later today. Thanks![/QUOTE]
Here's the link for a brillian short film made of "They're made out of Meat" to give you an idea of what it sounds like.
[URL=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gaFZTAOb7IE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gaFZTAOb7IE[/URL]
Please check out some of Roald Dahl's short fiction. He's the best. Well, he's really good.
Brentinlouis Wrote: What was that rule about being intentionally annoying?
[URL=http://www.ellopos.net/politics/eu_dostoyiefsky.html]Dream of a Ridiculous Man![/URL]
I don't particularly care for this translation though
if you can find the one by David Magarshack get that one
edit: well, might not fit the 2-3 minute thing, so nevermind