[SoftballMominVA]

Have you read Silas Marner lately? I liked it as a teenager, but LOVED it when I read it a few weeks ago.

I think kids become better readers when they are allowed to free-select their materials (within some boundaries of course) than when ASSIGNED a book. There are so many ways that reading instruction could be made better

[Tax-chick]

No, I don’t think I’ve read any George Eliot. Have to put it on the list after a couple of Wharton novels!

[AnAmericanMother]

Gosh, chacon a son gout, I guess.

I hated Silas Marner in 9th grade, and when I dipped into it again recently, I still hated it!

I just can't read George Eliot, not even The Mill on the Floss which is supposed to be her 'most readable' (which tells you something right there).

Anthony Trollope, who was good friends with Mary Anne Evans and her husband George Lewes, felt that she took way too long to get to the point (that, coming from Trollope, is amazing!) I agree. I like Trollope, not too many people nowadays do, but I think he's a much better writer than Eliot.

[Bigg Red]

I think kids become better readers when they are allowed to free-select their materials (within some boundaries of course) than when ASSIGNED a book.

So true. This is especially true for boys today, since they are often offered “girl” books chosen by women or effeminate men.