Book Notes
May
17
Hi Bloggers! --
Here is another Label I have created for Lit. Notes. Use this space to talk about books you are reading, ones you have read, ones you have heard about and plan to read soon -- anything bookish. Eventually, I would like to use this little space on our blog to hold a reading group. I am thinking A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving for us to read together this summer. It is one of my very favorites, and I would be happy to run a book group on it. I propose that whomever chooses a text for us to read can be the person to guide the discusssion. Any takers? -- Hayley
8 comments:
By the way. . . this quarter I have had a great opportunity to revisit some of my favorite novels by African American women: Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston; The Color Purple, by Alice Walker; Sassafrass, Cypress, and Indigo, bu Ntzake Shange; Sula and Beloved, by Toni Morrison, and Breath, Eyes, Memory, by Edwidge Danticat. If you have not read these fine novels, why not pack one up for summer reading this year?
Hayley, I think that is a fantastic idea. As that is one of the books that I bought in California but have still not read yet, I am all in for Irving. I have three summer book projects that I plan to undertake this summer: Gravity's Rainbow, The Wasteland, and The Sound and the Fury; if anyone is interested in any of these three novels, I will be more than happy to lead the discussion for one of them after we finish Owen Meany.
Hi Kacy -- I forgot that I nudged you into buying Meany when we were in L.A. I'll pass on Pinchon, but I'm up for reading Sound and the Fury again. It will be nice to read it not as a student for a change and just enjoy the craziness of it. For the Wasteland, are you thinking Eliot, or is there another Wasteland I don't know about? Eliot's is a long poem. You can ask my lit class about how it sends me screaming from the room! One of my biggest failures as a professor is my inability to embrace "The Wasteland."
Hi Hayley-- I'd be more than happy to do The Sound and the Fury if everyone is up for it, and look forward to starting Owen Meany. It's probably good that I'm doing Pynchon solo as I am going to attempt to map all 400+ characters; is that odd do you think? I've always wanted to tackle "The Wasteland," but now it just sounds like a very daunting poem!!!
Pynchon --with a Y. I knew that. Everyone must read "The Wastland." Thankfully it's already annotated, so you won't have to lose time away from charting P's characters.
I think you are both crazy lit. Geeks. Sign me up, where's the Owen Meany readers t-shirt? Anyway, I look forward to that Hayley, but I've got to tell you, all these other African American books we have been reading has really opened my eyes and heart. What is funny is that I was talking to my wife about how I don't necessarily suffer from white guilt, but definitely from a sort of rage or indignity about how the African Americans were treated all these years. It is starting to sway my mindset. I am grateful for that. As I am finishing Beloved (by the way, it is brilliant, and so far superior to Sula that it is hard to imagine that they are from the same author) I find a comfortable mindset in how I feel about such things. It has been a hard class for me, but I am grateful for it. Thank you.
Hayley,
Finally got this set up! I'd love to read a book together :) Just let me know which one you choose :)
Brittany
Sounds like a plan!
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