Hi everyone! It’s honestly so hard to believe that this is the last blog post that I’m writing for this course. 

Looking back at the first blog post I wrote at the very beginning, one of the goals that I set was to become more motivated to read on a daily basis. From the 11 books I have read throughout the course, I definitely realized that motivation in terms of reading heavily depends on the book. If I found myself to like the story of the novel, there would be a higher level of engagement and I would be more drawn to the plot. However, when I encountered books I don’t like, I would have to force myself to read through and sometimes would dread reading. I do also understand that not liking a book is also part of the reading process. Therefore, in terms of this goal of motivation, I have a different understanding now compared to when I set it. 

Out of the 11 books I read, I enjoyed Death with Interruptions and My Brilliant Friend the most. I found the ideas that Death with Interruptions discussed regarding death to be fascinating. It offered me an entirely new perspective of considering “death”, and was very intriguing to read in general. Even though there was a lack of punctuations that made the book hard to interpret at times, I still found the narrative to be quite engaging. For My Brilliant Friend, I found the theme of “friendship” to be the most relatable out of all the different topics explored throughout the various books we have read. The way Elena’s thoughts and feelings were portrayed really allowed me to relate with her. The instance of Elena describing how she felt left out as Lila began spending more time with Carmela really stood out to me. I also had similar experiences of feeling left out, and I found the way Elena’s thoughts were depicted to be extremely accurate. They really managed to capture her innermost feelings. 

Money to Burn and Combray were definitely ones that I didn’t like. In terms of Money to Burn, I found the story to be quite hard to follow along. For me, it just felt that there was a lot going on, and there were too many details being described. In general, I struggled a bit with trying to engage with the plot. For Combray, the abundance of details felt quite overwhelming. It would be very hard to understand the point that the author is trying to make as I was reading. 

Overall, this course provided me with a very unique learning experience. While the course structure was very different from others, this course provided me with an opportunity to explore various themes and I truly appreciate this. Moreover, I derived great enjoyment from reading others’ blog posts as they introduced to me diverse perspectives, allowing me to gain insight each time by reading them. 

Question: What is your most and least favourite book you have encountered across this course?