Well...?
Please post a comment telling us about the three books you have chosen (see the list and update, below). If there is a theme or there are other reasons for your choices, please share those with us. The more complete your answer, the more valuable it will be.This comment counts as homework, with 0 points for no answer, and 4 points for the best and most complete answer. This is the first of five weekly comment sessions, for a total of 20 out of 100 points of your total homework grade.
posted by lisa schamess @ 10:45 PM
13 Comments:
I have to hold myself up to higher standards as the teacher, so I am trying to read or re-read two books from each time period.
For my first books, I will be re-reading The Scarlet Letter, having read it for the first time at age 16 (a while ago!), and I will read as much of The Deerslayer as I can, for the first time. I have read all the other books, except for Summer, sometime within the past few years.
For my second book, I have chosen Native Son, and I would also like to re-read The Great Gatsby. I have read a number of books on that list as well, but certainly not all of them.
For my third, I have read Chronicle of a Death Foretold and am reading The Woman Warrior. I've read or am familiar with most of the other books on the third list. I'd like to read Sherman Alexie's book if I have time.
I think the unifying theme for me is the feeling of being an outsider--as a woman, as a moral outcast, as a black man, as an immigrant, as someone poor or nouveau riche, as a Native American--the latter especially intriguing, as history tells us that the once-outsiders (whites) turned the tables on the original insiders (native Americans).
I don't know where Chronicle of a Death Foretold fits into this theme. I just wanted to read it!
The first book I chose is Huckleberry Finn because my mother's friend recommended it. She said that I woukd enjoy it. She didn't give me any details because she said that it would spoil the excitement.
The second book, I'll be re-reading is Their Eyes Were Watching God. I like this book, but it makes me sad.
The last book I chose is The Woman Warrior:Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts. When I read the title, it just immediately caught my attention. I read the plot and it Maxine Hong went through struggkes in her life. So I'm interested in reading the book.
-Toneisha
Toneisha--those three choices suggest an excellent combination of themes. I am glad to see that you are choosing to re-read a favorite book in the mix--I find that always to be a good exercise in literature, and am looking forward to what you'll learn this next time around from Ms. Hurston.
My first choice is Walden; Or, Life in the wood. I think the reflection of a philosopher on the simple life surrounded with nature would be really interesting subject for a book.
The second book that I chose is Native Son. I chose this book because I already read one of Richard Wright's book (Black Boy) and i really enjoyed it. So i think another book from Richard Wright will be nice.
For the last book, I'm cant's pick a book between these two: Do Android Dreams of Electric Sheep or The Things They Carried. Because of that, i need a recommended from you :)
-Phuc Vu
hmmm...we'll discuss in class, but I believe there are two strong choices here. I have not read "Electric Sheep" but I would like to. I am more familiar with The Things They Carried. Both books offer strong theme completions with the other two you've chosen: looking at peace/violence, for example, or at the social expectations for men's lives and roles.
The Things They Carried might interest you because it is an outsider's--an American's--view of the Vietnam War.
Hi, I remembered the 3rd book... It was the Scarlet Letter.
My three books are:
The Scarlet Letter
The House on Mango Street
and The Great Gatsby
The general theme I chose is "Immigrants in America"
I think it will be interesting to read the Great Gatsby because it is an American classic and the setting of the book in New York interests me. The Scarlet Letter seems neat also, I think it's cool how there is an underlying question throughout the book that needs to be answered. For the House on Mango Street I think it will display the struggles of Latino America.
-Eric Best
i'm ready Farewell to Arms, because i've never read Hemingway and i feel that it's a gap on my shelf, Walden, because I've read excerpts and enjoyed them, and The Big Sleep, to be perfectly honest, solely because there is a Murder by Death song of Boca Al Lupo called The Big Sleep.
insert "reading" where the word "ready" is.
For my first choice of books. I've decided to read The Scarlet Letter, because I feel like this is a book that I have to read before I leave high school. It's title was also another factor that drew me to it.
My second choice...Their Eyes Were Watching God
I don;t know much of what this book is about but I do know that it was turned into a movie and also my mother also read the book and recommended it to me. and the title of this book is very interesting because it makes you think what does "their eyes were watching God" mean?
My final decision for my last book was hard to choose because a lot of the books listed I wanted to read. But I figured that I'll read them on my own time. So the last book I choose was The Color Midnight Made.
The only thing I know about this book is that its about race. but it seems like I would learn a lot from this book as well in my other 2 choices.
It would be interesting to see how I try to tie the themes together but hopefully it will work out!
-Yomi M.
The Three books i chose Walden, The house on Mango Street, and the great gatsby:
I think i will really enjoy reading the book Walden because i enjoy nature and wild settings. This novel also looks like its adventurous and can easily draw me in as i start reading.
-kyle
i also think the great gatspy will be an interesting story too because it takes place in the city and it has a debatable main character
- kyle
Dear Ms. Schamess,
I am going to read Summer by Edith Wharton, Cat's Eye by Margaret Atwood, and A Death in the Family by James Agee. I hope in them to find good illistrations and interpret the writer's style and think of ways that it will inspire my own writing.
I might also read the Geat Gatsby because the way you described it to us seems like a very interesting story to think about. And also... Walden or Life in the Woods... because as Phuc said, it seems interesting to read about a tale held in the woods. I read a book in 7th grade about three animals who traveled through the woods to find their owner who went on vacation and about their many adventures. Would you know the name of this book? I would like to re-read it, it's a classic.
Also, why did you recommend the book 100 Years of Solitude? My mother tried to force me into reading it, but it is so complicated and hard to understand..?
Great thinking, everybody.
Anna, an alternative to 100 Years of Solitude could be Chronicle of a Death Foretold, also by Gabriel Garcia Marquez and very interesting, but shorter and with fewer characters. 100 Years of Solitude is his great work, widely acknowledged as a modern classic, and -- I agree -- very complex.
I am not familiar with the little story of the animals in the woods that you describe, sorry!
A note to those of you reading Walden, or Life in the Woods: this is actually not a novel, but a true account of Thoreau's 2 years of mostly living in the woods outside his hometown of Concord, Mass.
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