Isn't that what a language class is all about! We explore the author's ideas about humanity, look at the choices they made when writing and analyse various aspects of the ideas they are exploring . The fun comes out in the rich discussions and arguments as students explore their thoughts about what is going on.
A book that has truly helped me create rich discussions and build a reading community in Literature Circles has been Ariel Sack's Whole Novels. Check out my guest blog post on her site and much more to see the effect this program has had in classrooms.
One of my favourite points in Literature Circles last year when a group of us were discussing Susan Nielson's Word Nerd and one of my students could not believe how the anti-hero, Ambrose, always focused on female body parts whenever he met a new female character. She was disgusted and didn't believe any boy thought that way. The discussion was rich, certainly not boring, and I died laughing...in my head. There was a window she wished she could close!