Thanks so much for saying it all so well, so calmly, so sensibly. Here are a few of the things that got me riled:

1. Readers' Workshop is not new. Most good language arts teachers I know have been doing some version of it for a long time.

2. Too many people have discussed this issue as if it's either/or. As you so aptly point out, there are times for rigorous nutrition, and times to splurge on dessert. Neither is as satisfying alone, in the long run.

3. Most people who have advocated most intensely for the self-selection-all-the-time position are avid readers. Sure, YOU got a rich experience out of your self-selected reading; you were reading voraciously. That's not true for everyone. 

(And sure, those reluctant readers need the fun stuff if they are ever going to become independent, life-long readers. But they also need some solid, explicit modeling of how good readers think, process, and analyze. Reading a novel as a whole class, talking about it, digging into it, gives everyone practice at doing that. Even the kids who don't participate much and aren't very good at it still get to watch it, hear it, soak it in.)

4. Whole-class novels don't have to be "classics." Fifty years ago "To Kill a Mockingbird" was a brand new best-seller, and someone had to be the first brave English teacher to say it was worth buying for every single kid in her class. Lots of teachers I know use contemporary, relevant, "fun" novels for whole-class reading.

5. Classics don't have to be boring! "Romeo and Juliet" was consistently the most popular piece of literature we read as a whole class when I taught Freshman English. That's probably because *I* loved it, and that transferred to how I taught it and how the kids received it. We read every word aloud, figured it out, acted it out, looked at film clips, hunted for the dirty jokes hidden amid the Elizabethan language, talked a LOT about why the characters did and said what they did, and OWNED that play by the end of the quarter. Hollandaise sauce!!

6. Reading CAN be a delightfully communal activity, as you also point out. People join book clubs, attend group discussions, engage in lively debate online, and participate in community "one book" projects... BY CHOICE. And usually we DON'T get to pick the book personally. So reading a common title, even one someone else chooses for you, and then talking about it must be a satisfying experience for a whole lot of people! 

Finally: I think what Laurachris2 says about a shared literary and cultural foundation is valid. The broader one's cultural literacy, the richer one's life experience. And look at all those writers karendaisy17 would never have discovered on her own without a class or a teacher leading her there. I could create a similar list. Personally, I'm glad I've had teachers who handed me some broccoli to augment my nachos and pizza.