Hello everyone! This semester went by a lot faster than the winter semester, and it brought back my long-lost hobby of reading every evening. I enjoyed the structure and flexibility of this course, it allowed me to choose how many books I wanted to read this semester and provided me with readings that I would’ve never chosen. I was definitely intimidated by the number of lengthy novels I chose to read by the end of the semester, but it was rewarding to know that I could achieve it with proper time management and a genuine interest in some of the novels. Although some readings were brutal and long, others were intriguing and stuck around in my mind. The online lectures and the in-person discussions were also engaging and clarified a lot of the content which helped with my understanding of complicated readings and plotlines. I also appreciated how the professor included the music and drinks from the novel of that week in the in-person discussions. There were many repetitive themes in this course, such as coming-of-age, identity, memory, love, and death. I loved the blog post aspect of this course, it was interesting to read about other people’s perspectives of the same novel and their interpretation of the plot, characters, and themes. 

If I had to choose my favourite book from this course, it would be José Eduardo Agualusa’s “The Book of Chameleons,” because the writing was clear and straightforward, which was pretty rare with the books in this course. The characters in the novel were also interesting and had a life of their own, and I really liked its message on identity. There were a lot of complicated timelines which were puzzling to figure out so I enjoyed the simplicity of storytelling in “The Book of Chameleons.” I don’t really have a least favourite novel, but the last novel I read, “Faces in the Crowd,” was definitely not my favourite, it was complicated and confusing and got me playing guessing games with the characters and narrations. 

Reading back on my first blog post, I had set a goal to “read and accurately interpret literature texts and expose myself to books that I never would’ve picked myself in stores,” which I definitely think I achieved. The books chosen were based in different cities and countries and at different points in time, which was very pleasing to read in chronological order. Overall, I really enjoyed taking Romance Studies, and I would love to take it again. So hopefully, I’ll see some of you again and I wish you all the best summers! 

Question: What was your favourite book and the theme that corresponds to it? Why?