What are you reading?
My f2f (face to face) World Lit class is reading Gilgamesh. I first read this when Mom was dying of cancer. Every time I reread it, I am at another level of the grief. Someday, I think, I will write an essay about Gilgamesh as an instrument of measuring grief.
My online World Lit class is reading The Tempest. Sometimes I don't know what to do with the constant complaints about how difficult it is to read Shakespeare. This is especially difficult in an online class where I cannot show a video; it is so much easier to read the play after you've seen or heard it. So I am left wishing we could get beyond talking about the difficulty and get on with the issues raised.
In the car, I am listening to Margaret Atwood's The Blind Assassin. It is difficult to follow listening because it is not linear. But now that I have got the hang of it, I must say once more how I do love Atwood. It is clever, funny, and devastating.
My "in line" or "waiting" book is The Gates of the Alamo by Stephen Harrigan. It is a compelling story, well told. I am reading it because it is the One San Antonio One Book selection, so it was cheap at HEB--just when I needed a book to read while I got my oil changed.
And at my bedside (and this is my guilty little secret) are the Stephanie Plum murder mysteries by Janet Evanovich. Definitely cotton candy for the brain, but FUN!
What are you reading?
Comments
My sermon reading this week is in the area of "Discernment." Diana Butler Bass's Christianity for the Rest of Us is the church-y equivalent of "One Book One San Antonio" during the fall at our church. In my sermons, I will be offering my take on the subjects she takes on in her book; discernment is the first.
Re: Shakespeare. We've got a Shakespeare class starting tonight at the SoL Center, taught by David Middleton, Trinity English prof emeritus. I notice that the Sept. 27 class is going to be on The Tempest.
Love your blog, Professor J.