Hello FOLKS! Last one. Wow. I have learned that when I am reading the book the way that I see it in my head and the messages I get from it aren’t always the same as what other people are seeing. Like that my worldview affects my view of the story WAY more than I ever thought. My favourite book was probably “the shrouded woman”? and my least favourite is a tie between Agostino and money to burn. “Agostino” was just too much for me, and “Money to Burn” was pretty boring. A theme that stood out is just generally being lost, and untethered. In a lot of these books it felt as if a character had been cut loose from something, some stability, and was floating. Which is what most stories are about, but especially in the “shrouded woman” and “the lover” I got this strong sense of a hot air balloon floating along and trying to make sense of blips of life. I don’t know if that makes any sense, but the books all felt very floating and untethered to anything. I think a lot of them pushed back on expectations and tropes by asserting the real thoughts of real minds. I did achieve my goals! I am going to miss weekly reading. I’ve just started reading Anna Karenina, which is not in the Romance Languages, sorry. But I like it a lot, and I would probably not have picked up a book over 300 pages before this class so thank you for that confidence! We’ll see if I finish it! I think this class did a lot to help my perception my own writing. Comparing what works, what doesn’t work, and what I liked in the writing styles of every author has given me ideas about things I want to try.
I believe I have completed my contract. I’m basically certain, if I didn’t that would be a miscalculation due to me and I would be so pissed at myself. In fact I’m going to double-check right now. Okay, we are good.
I hope everyone else enjoyed the class. I definitely think it could have gone either way, it could have made me hate reading, so I am super thankful it actually made me appreciate reading more.
Anyways, final question:
Did other people in the class usually perceive the books how you thought they would? Or sometimes were the discussions way off what you thought the meaning of the book was supposed to be?
Goodbye all!
Dalia Currie 🙂
love your post! I also really loved “The Shrouded Woman”.
I definitely realized how many different perspectives there are out there and reading everyone’s blog posts sparked so many new ideas and thoughts for me which was super special.
Dalia, I really appreciated all your contributions, both on your blog and in class: always thoughtful and often original. And I’m glad the course “actually made [you] appreciate reading more,” rather than making you “hate reading.” Phew! 🙂
As for having different perceptions on the same book… that’s part of the point! How boring it would be if there were indeed one single “authorized” interpretation of a text. We all bring something different to what we are reading (as well as to so much else of life!), and the point of discussing literature–or anything else–is to appreciate those differences.
Anyhow, thanks again and have a great summer!
Sometimes in class I felt the majority came to same conclusion of the book but the one time I felt it was different was during Money to Burn as it felt like it was mostly disliked while I enjoyed it. Similarly, this class also made me enjoy reading more gonna miss it!