Finding Your Reading Level and the Level of Your Challenging Books
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- Опубликовано: 15 сен 2024
- #booktube #Christian #books #reading #lexilelevel #homeschooling #homeschool #homeeducation #readinglevel #gradelevel #textanalyzer #challengingbooks
Do you know your reading level? Do you know the reading level of your challenging books?
Lexile.com
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grade level chart: hub.lexile.com...
TEXT ANALYZER:
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Challenging book list with Lexile level: (I put the high level)
Don Quixote - 1480 (there is a 1500 edition, just found as I'm uploading)
Bleak House - 1180
Moby Dick - 1230
To the Lighthouse - 1030
Finnegan's Wake - (couldn't find. If you have the book, try the text analyzer)
Anna Karenina - 1080
War and Peace - 1240
Les Miserables - 1010
Ulysses - 1050
Infinite Jest - 1450 based on research, but it's more inconvenient than hard
House of Leaves - couldn't find, but it's written uniquely, but not challenging
The Brother's Karamazov - 1150
Crime and Punishment - 990
Cantebury Tales - couldn't find on lexile, websearch said 800
Great Expectations - 1230
The Divine Comedy - 1270
The Sound and the Fury - 1420
Swann's Way - couldn't find, if you have the book, try text analyzer
Gravity's Rainbow - couldn't find, but read the content is vulgar. If you have the book try text analyzer.
The Silmarillion, not technically a story, but lexile might be 1150
From the charts and the research, only three (possibly four) of these books might be early college level.
There are overlaps in the charts.
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Yes! Exactly! On everything.
Update on my 30 books/30 days challenge. I can't read that many unchallenging books. It's not me, the me I am now. In my 20's I read lots of fluff. Now, at 55, I want to learn something for both me and my kids. I enjoy making my own vocabulary list (actually, its at notebook). Yes, Dickens has made a significant contribution to my list! I love it!
Oh wow, that's interesting, about why you couldn't read that many unchallenging books in quick succession. I understand, but I hadn't thought of the challenge in that way and completely understand. Yes, in my teens and twenties I read just to read. If my friend gave me a book I read it. I may have only given one book back and said I didn't want to read it. maybe. haha, that's amazing that you keep a notebook of vocabulary words. I have one as well. I need to add "daedalean" to it. That isn't a word in my daily vocabulary. Dickens is amazing. Which of his books is your favorite? I haven't read them all.
@@BookZealots I'm reading Pickwick Papers now. It's my first. I am collecting them all and plan to read them in chronological order. That way I can see how he changed over the years. And I have a thing with order. Not my life, but what I read. This morning my husband found a copy of volume 2 of H G Wells The Outline of History in the free bin at the used book store. I'm curious, but won't read it unless I have book 1.
@@Fernie4243 OH yes. I'm sorry. I do remember you mentioning you are reading Pickwick Papers. I like your plan of reading Dickens in publication order. I wasn't aware of H.G. Wells's book The Outline of History. I had to look it up. Hopefully volume one will pop up so he can start the book. =)
What an amazing video!
You are so kind. Thank you for dropping in and leaving a comment. It's always good to see you. I hope you're having a great weekend.
I would LOVE to get you started on House of Leaves, because I am currently trying to read it, and I am going to DNF. It takes too much of my brain power and is not enjoyable for me at the moment 😂 I believe reading needs to be enjoyable unless I am attempting to learn something inside and out.
🤣 I threw it in the trash. I dnf'd it, but my daughter read it, way back in the aughts, 2002-2004? And she hated it so much she wrote a letter to the main character. If I remember her letter he violently assaulted an older woman and I think there were demons or a demon or something. Or the character blamed his actions on a demon? I didn't get that far into it. I dnf'd it fairly early on when I realized there was something "off" about the house and didn't like the direction it was headed.
Yes, reading definitely should be enjoyable. 📚🤗 thank you for dropping in. I appreciate your comment.
My dad taught some classes at a technology college. He complained that he had to pass people who actually failed the class. He said all
The government red tape forced teachers to pass. He quit teaching he was so frustrated. I don’t remember what years he taught but it was probably the 70’s.
That's really disturbing. I don't blame him for quiting.
A reading challenge for me is trying to read a subject that just doesn't interest me. Such as Ancient Rome or Greece history .I'm just not interested in that time period or location and it would seriously be a challenge for me to read and finish a book of that subject. Thank you -James & Bella!
Excellent point James. Where were you when I was typing my notes? LOL It's insane for adults to read a book they're not interested in, just "because it's on a challenging book list." And yet! Some of these same people will say they don't want tbr's because it feels like school. 🤦♀ By the way, I don't like reading about Ancient Rome and Greece history. I realized this while participating in historathon. Have a great day James.
@BookZealots. Thank you
Although some of the books that I read would be considered "fluff," I usually find value in them through how certain things are presented. Emotions are explored in the ones that I like and give me something to consider. It's not in the same way as some of the classics I read, but I usually learn something while I read no matter the type of book.
Okay, the third time I've tried responding to this comment. . . . LOL
You read a lot of other books, not just fluff. I think people who only read fluff should branch out and challenge their brains. I don't think anyone would think you're not challenging yourself. There's a place for fluff/palette cleansers and like you said, you still get things out of them. And, it might be a fluff book that brings a person into reading more. There's a place for them. Just not an entire diet, imo.
@@BookZealots yes, I think it's good to read a variety.
The levels for Crime and Punishment vs Anna Karenina are interesting to me. The Classics Reading Lounge just read C&P last month and are reading AK this month. Multiple readers have mentioned how much more easily they can read AK, that it doesn't require as much thought as C&P. Which brings me back to the content - one might be analyzing deeper questions or presenting them in more thought provoking ways.
That's interesting. I did notice the Classics Reading Lounge chose AK for this month's read. I soft dnf'd that book, because I dislike Anna and have zero compassion for her character and I know the ending. It is an easy read, but I feel C&P is easy too. After ch. 1 I was telling my son what I think it going to happen and discussing madness and malnutrition. If this book goes the way I think, then I learned everything in the first chapter. The foreshadowing is shadowed enough. But, hopefully I'm wrong and the book will go in another direction I'm not expecting. But so far, I'm mot too far into it, so far, it doesn't feel as though the characters are very likable. The men come off as absolute losers. But like I said, I'm not too far into it.
@BookZealots AK is an odd one for me. I liked parts, but not Anna. I overall enjoyed Levin and his side of the story and he's really the main character of the book.
Very interesting about C&P. I'll be curious to hear your thoughts. This is my third time reading it all the way and I just love it.
When I moved to NJ from PA in 2000 I was in grade 4 and tested at 9th grade level.
The teachers were astounded and made me take it again. They asked how this was possible... I asked why the other students could not read at their own grade level.
.... the next year I was placed in "the bad kids" class 😅
By the time I graduated high school half of the graduating class could not read out loud at all..... at all.
Uh-oh, you questioned authority. LOL I could tell some stories about that too. In the "bad kids" class was the teacher new? I noticed schools doing that with the new teachers. It is so disturbing what the education system is doing, or rather not doing?
@@BookZealots he was dying of cancer and it was last year teaching. He was the one of the only people that cared about the kids in that class and he used a very Firm hand. One of the best influences in my life. (My parents did NOT like him.)
Years later, one of the kids in that class was arrested in (one of?) the largest drug bust in state history. Firearms, armor plated walls, all the cool stuff.
I definitely will be doing a video about this alleged education system that completely cripples and retards children's natural, innate curiosity.
@@HideAndRead I'm sorry to hear the teacher was dying of cancer. =( I wonder if the school had the teachers write their recommendations for students and why you were sent to the "bad" class the next year. I believe in firmness and fairness. With that come questions, but not always negotiations
Wow! That's wild about the classmate that got in trouble, but had all the cool toys. Were they obtained from fast and furious. I'm only slightly being facetious. LOL
I look forward to your video on the education system. 👍👍
@@BookZealots it was the administration, found this out years later. opted out of their "Gifted and Talented" club and crossing guard program. Must of hurt their feelings. they later sent CPS to the house... for reasons. I think the principal (a nice lady) put all this together and they got all got in a lot of trouble.
Happy to be in that class, I didn't realize he was dying of lung cancer until a few years later. Always coughing, constant cough drops, absent for days at a time, early retirement.
They knew and stuck him with that class on his way out.
It was an education of sorts.
@@HideAndRead Oh, I think I was misunderstanding the teacher with the cancer. Now I understand.
My older children were part of GATE and my son said it was a joke. So I don't blame you for getting out of that. I've had to deal with "nice" lady principals.
I'm glad you were able to utilize that experience for education. That is so much better than using it as a chip on the shoulder, holding a grudge, being a victim, etc.
I've read several of the books you listed, and I wouldn't consider any of them particularly difficult. Where they become difficult is the depth of the content within some of them.
I do think that attention span is a big part why people choose to read certain things. I have friends who don't read certain books because it requires more mental energy, particularly with classics and nonfiction.
Thank you Courtney. Okay, so there's the depth of the content and the length, accounting for people's lack of attention span. That is very helpful. I think I will give most of these books a try. Starting with Crime and Punishment. LOL Just so happens. Convenient. 😁 I wonder too, if some people are thinking the books are hard because they're bored with the book and think they can't say they were bored with the book?
@BookZealots that could very likely be the case. People don't like offending other people and so often censor their real thoughts, I think. But you can say something doesn't work for you without being hateful, so it's sad that people think and feel that way. People are too easily offended. I've had friends on instagram thank me when I give honest thoughts about certain classics and other greatly loved books that just don't work for me.
@@CourtneyReads People are very easily offended these days. This is not the world I'm familiar with and I'm sure I step on a lot of toes. I'm not going to tip toe around their sensibilities though about a book. Life has harsher realities. I don't go out of my way to be hateful though. Goodness, I hope people don't think I'm hateful. But, like you, I want to be honest about books and the content and what worked for me and what didn't. People need to take that with a grain of salt, because everyone gets offended over different things, I'm not going to remember them. so and so hates dog abuse. so and so can't read about meat. so and so can't read about . . . . you know what I mean?
@BookZealots yes, absolutely. It's good to be honest and I've never heard anything I would consider hateful from you. But I hear so much about not wanting to hurt an author's feelings, because they've put so much into their work. And I get it, I'm a writer, I want people to enjoy my stories. But I would rather have an honest opinion and get my feelings hurt (which would be brief) than have people pretend to like something or tread carefully around what didn't work for them. At the end of the day, we all have our likes and dislikes.
@@CourtneyReads Oh yes. Excellent point. I did get that when my son and I first started the channel. Someone in another country stopped following us and wouldn't have anything to do with us, because we mentioned a lot of errors in a book. Supposedly it had been checked by teachers and the editing was bad too. It was a hot mess. That being said, we would have given the author another try, but he possibly relied too heavily on the teachers he had give him science information and editing. For instance the character flayed in the air. The word should have been flailed. It happened at least twice, so it wasn't like it was missed once, it was more, do they even know what the words mean?
But since I'm not a writer, and other than yourself, I don't think authors follow us. I'm only reviewing books from a reader's perspective and I want to be honest. I find out very quickly which content creators I can trust regarding books. But I stopped following the other lady because her content got really dark and evil.
I have been lectured. T/Y ... I have DNF'ed a couple of the books on that list of yours, but not because of a difficult reading level. I soft DNF'ed Moby Dick because I was disgusted by explanations of whale slaughter. I do want to finish it someday, but I will start at 2/3 through so I can avoid the parts I already read that were awful. And I soft-DNF'ed Don Quixote because it seemed repetitious and I got tired of reading about the main character's idiocy. Tedium will sometimes make me want to stop reading a book. I feel that way about the digressions in Les Misérables sometimes. Some of it is interesting. I haven't DNF'ed it yet but I'm taking a reading break from it this month. Also with Crime & Punishment, it wasn't the reading level that made me soft-DNF it. It was timing... my home had just burned, I was experiencing trauma, and the book was making me have murder nightmares. No thanks to that! I do expect to go back to all those books. The book I read and suffered through that was possibly above my reading level was written by a sociology academic about homelessness in San Francisco in the 1990's. Actually, I'd say it was poorly written because it was so ridiculously scholarly it was not easily readable by most people who would have been interested in the topic. I could only guess that her true target reader was another academic, possibly her PhD advisor.
It sounds like the book on homelessness is very pretentious and may, like you said, have been written for her academic pals or the PhD advisor. =/
The whaling aspect of Moby Dick didn't bother me, it was the underlying homoerotica in the story. Most people seem to miss it, not even realizing what they're reading.
Thank you for commenting. I think it's completely acceptable to stop reading a book if the reader is bored with it or the writing doesn't meet their standards, etc. It's okay to think a "classic" is garbage.
I wonder if people psych themselves into thinking a particular book is challenging when it really isn't?
@@BookZealots I confess I completely missed that about Moby Dick. I only reacted to whale slaughter. I find long books challenging just because it is a lengthy commitment.
@@Eldertalk If the story is good the length of the book doesn't feel like a chore. That has been my experience. Because sometimes the hardest books for me are the short ones. My favorite short book though is Unknown Address. I gave my copy to my brother and ended up buying myself another copy. I wanted Prometheus to read it.
@@BookZealots - I've never heard of Unknown Address, so NATURALLY I'm going to go find a copy. T/Y
@@Eldertalk It's a very thought provoking book.
Hi, hello and what a video! I was surprised hearing The Silmarillion in the list of difficult books. I've read it at least 3 times now and I thought it was difficult the first time around but after that it's just like reading a really good story. But on the flip side I could never see myself reading one of those massive Dostoevsky novels multiple times for fun. I wonder if you need to be interested in what you're reading and if that helps with getting past a difficulty level? I dunno
Take care and thanks for sharing!
YES! You get it. I absolutely believe a reader should be interested in the content of the book more than it just being on some stupid list. I had to try and web search Silmarillion to see what it was and what I found was that it isn't really a story per se. Is that wrong?
LOL I'm currently reading a Dostoevsky, but it isn't a chunker. (442 pgs) I am beginning to think the thought that these books are challenging is because they've been over hyped and on a list, and secondly, because of the page count on some of them. And big books scare some readers. Unless it's a Brandon Sanderson book? 🤷♀️🤣
I didn't like Silas Marner, so that has turned me off George Eliot.
Was it the content? I don't have that book and have no idea what it's about. I have Adam Bede and haven't opened it. You know how you want to read a book to give it a try...but hold it and it just doesn't feel right to read or even to buy? When I was at a library sale, that happened with Silas Marner. I pulled it back slightly, looked at the cover in this awkward angle and hummed and hawed slightly, then pushed it back into place. Adam Bede, if I remember correctly, was an online buy. Have you read that one?
@@BookZealots I've only read Silas Marner by her. It was mostly not being able to connect with the characters. And nothing was developed very much, in my mind, so I was disconnected from the story.
@@CourtneyReads Thank you. Your comment got me wondering the written order of her books and then I noticed I do have three of her books. I think I'll read them in order. Adam Bede, Middlemarch, Daniel Deronda. And maybe I can see an improvement in her character development.
@@BookZealots I also couldn't connect with her writing.
@@CourtneyReads I'm sorry to bother you, could you elaborate on what it was about her writing that you didn't connect with? I'm wondering if I should try and read Adam Bede this year, maybe Middlemarch too? And save Daniel Deronda for next year. I've heard other readers say they liked Daniel Deronda better than Middlemarch.