Hey everyone, we have FINALLY made it to the last blog post. I am happy, but honestly I will miss this class a lot. I went into this class expecting to like it because I know I enjoy reading and analyzing books. However, this class succeeded my expectations of what I would learn because we did a lot more than just read. Firstly, the video lectures surprised me because they helped me ground my understanding and feelings on a particular book or event in a book so much better. They gave me guidance as to which contexts and aspects are important and how we should accurately respond and think about them. Another highlight for the class for me personally was the discussion questions. I honestly creating discussion questions because after reading the book, they were real questions I had and I wanted to hear what people thought. I also liked responding to others questions because it provoked me to think about these books even more. I also wanted to mention that I liked reading everyone’s blog posts a lot because I felt there was so much diversity. This diversity in blog posts definetly came from the fact that these assignments aren’t meant to be argumentative and have a point to prove. Instead, they are structured to engage us with the literature in a way we felt was right for ourselves. I would highly recommend this course for someone trying to do the literature requirement, but also for anyone who has space in their schedule!!
Now looking back at the books I read (I chose to read 11) I have some final thoughts. If I had to choose a favourite book it would be either “The Book of Chameleons” or “Black Shack Alley”. Interesting to note, these are two of the books I decided to purchase instead of reading the PDFs and I am not surprised by this. I am NOT a digital reader, I love holding a physical book. Anyways, these two were my favourite books for very different reasons. For the Book of Chameleons, I really enjoyed the whimsical combination of a talking gecko maybe being stuck in a dream with the revenge story of Jose Buchmann and Angela’s tragic uprbringing. It resonated with me because I think it highlighted so many natural human emotions of wanting to find purpose and reason and then the realities that we cannot run away from and how they interfere. Black Shack Alley was another favourite, but for more personal reasons. This book is post-colonial story that dives into the story of Jose and his grandmother M’man Tine living in Martinique. Everytime the book explained how hard M’man Tine worked for Jose, so he could go to school and be fed, it made me think of all the sacrifices and comfort my grandparents and parents gave up to contribute a “betterness” for the generations to come. There were also a couple of parts where skin color is mentioned and more specifically, how lightskin is seen as superior. This wasn’t a significant theme in the novel, but it did connect very well with the rest of the book by examining how many levels colonial practices and values impede onto society. Furthermore, in my community specifically, there are similar values of lightskin, which come from the mistreatment of darker skinned people and European ideologies, which is why it struck a cord with me.
Now, going onto one of my least favourite reads. I was going to say “Combray” but I only read the part that was assigned, not the entire book. Therefore, I don’t think my opinions are completely valid, and I am open to read the entire book in the future. My least favourite book was “The Lover”. It’s not because of the uncomfortableness of the underage relationship the girl was in, but more so that pretty much every single character annoyed me A LOT. I do think I was still able to reflect on the book, but I think that is possible for every single novel you read whether you like it or not.
I am realizing this is a very long blog post, but to summarize, I think I achieved my goals. I completed my contract and I broadened my literary lens so much more within this course.
I want to say thank you to Tesi, Daniel and Dr. Jon Beasley. This class was great and I can tell there was a lot of effort put into engaging all of us in meaningful conversation every week.
My last questions are:
- Do you prefer reading a physical book or e-book/PDF
- What is next on your TBR list?