I'm falling behind on my reviews. I've been busy, but reading. If anything, this has become an archive for how much I can get through in a year after years of force-fed reading and then complete avoidance.
Book 10: The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway. Finished end of May.
(1950's paperback picture not available)
Definitely in my top 5 novels. I've read it several times, this run through with my husband as we jet-set from obligation to obligation for our wedding. It was fun to read it with him since he never had. The biting wit and concise articulation Hemingway has in this one is unparalleled. Plus it makes us want to move to Spain and drink all day.
Book 11: White Noise by Don Delillo. Finished the middle of June.
(too lazy to find the picture)
It was okay. I got very tired of the symbolic repetition. Very tired. Maybe monotony was part of the theme itself, coupled with death and overall life-poisons. I could have done without reading this one, but found it hilariously ironic and telling of academia (and life in general) that he could be the foremost Hitler scholar who couldn't speak German and who was terrified of death itself (despite being surrounded by one of the most appalling genocides in history).
Book 12: The Teacher's and Writer's Handbook of Poetic Forms
Yup. Not really a choice reading, but very good. I'm up for certification renewal and have to brush up on all these lit basics and terms for an overpriced exam this summer. It's all very ridiculous and I'm thoroughly unhappy about it. However, it is a nice excuse to go shopping on my own shelves which could rival most experts in the field in their academic prowess.
+++
I wish I could say the next books would be a return to better reviews and more fun. Sadly, the next two months will be dedicated to exam reading and dusting off classics I'd have long forgotten about if I had my way. Books on theory and handbooks on terms, methods, schools of thought, movements....
I know this much: None of my English teachers knew anything close to this stuff and taught classes. And even with my MA, I'm feeling like I'm ill prepared. Who takes this test? People who don't even MAJOR in English and are finishing a BA. Talk about just making money. People specialize, not memorize the Norton Anthology from the survey courses they took 5-6 years ago. Blah, blah blah, yadda yadda, misery. As if my job wasn't bad enough.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment