I can’t believe I am writing my concluding blog post, this term really flew by!
At the beginning of the course I was concerned about having to read a book a week, I did not have much faith in myself to actually do it, but I did it and I feel accomplished in having read a small collection of classics! Well done everyone we did it! 🙂  

While all the books were unique and offered different stories, I did pick up on a couple of recurring themes. Most notably, memory and reflection. I would argue that all of the books that I read had an element of memory, some more notably than others, but overall, there was a comment to be made about this theme in each one of these books. Almost all of the books also offered reflections on the meaning of life, society, and death, specifically the Lispector novel and the Paris Peasant novel. These both caused slight existential crises when I read them. 

My top favorite book was Bonjour Tristesse by Françoise Sagan, followed closely by the Shrouded Woman by Maria Luisa Bombal and Nada by Carmen LaForet. I liked these books because I found the narratives to be interesting and engaging, especially compared to some of the other books that felt dense and complicated. Interestingly these novels all had female narrators, which may have subconsciously biased my preferences, I’m not sure, but nevertheless, I found these books easiest to interpret and analyze, compared to several of the other texts that I was often left feeling uninspired with nothing to write about. But I always did end up finding 400-500 words to write about these books, and often after spending the time writing my blog posts I came to find an appreciation for them. I am curious to see what everyone else’s favorite book was? 

Jumping back to the conversation we had at the beginning of the term about our feelings toward reading, I would say that my perspective has changed. I definitely agreed with my classmates who found reading to be stressful and a chore, but I honestly surprisingly enjoyed reading a different book every week. I think the flexibility of this course encouraged reading to become a stress-free task because it was something that I had assigned to myself. It was also great to get to read other people’s interpretations of the books.

Thank you, Jon, Jennifer, and Patricio for sharing these books with us and offering a flexible and engaging approach to studying literature!