Awesome Friday

Alison Can Read Feature & FollowI am feeling like a very accomplished adult today since I paid rent for the first time! Don't know why, but I feel very responsible right about now, so lets change that by answering some memes!


Follow Friday is hosted by Alison Can Read and Parajunkee! I love this week's question:
Back to School: Create a reading list for the imaginary English Lit class you'll be teaching this semester.

I have actually thought about this soo much since I started University last year! I feel like I should pick a theme, because otherwise I might just pick all the books I've ever read. Maybe I'd try to do something along the line of male-female relationships through the ages, maybe? Ignore my failure at proper chronology!

  • Look at parts of The Iliad, the entire fact that they start and entire war over a woman. Is she described as property, an object of desire, or is she actually above them, placed on a pedestal
  • Maybe Euripides' Medea. Medea is an amazing character, also walking that fine line between monster and warrior, as observed by men.
  • Look at Beowulf, how Grendel's Mother is a warrior as well, but translations by men present her as a monster. I wrote an essay on this last year and got a good grade, I could totally teach this (probably not).
  • Maybe Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew, compare it to his The Merry Wives of Windsor. In the first, the woman is tamed and in the second a proud man is put in his place by housewives. 
  • I couldn't teach anything without my Pride & Prejudice. Austen has an interesting view on women and the restraint between men and women would be quite interesting to look at, I think.

  • Ian McEwan's On Chesil Beach is an amazing novel, relatively short as well which is perfect, and the relationship between the two main characters, especially concerning sexuality, is really interesting and different from all the other books.
I'm quite at a loss concerning more books, so I'm just gonna leave it here and probably lie awake tonight thinking of Essay questions I could set!
For Book Beginnings (Rose City Reader) and Friday 56 (Freda's Voice) I am using 'The Sun Also Rises' by Ernest Hemingway, which I want to start reading soon!

BB:
'Robert Cohn was once middleweight boxing champion of Princeton. Do not think that I am very much impressed by that as a boxing title, but it meant a lot to Cohn. He cared nothing for boxing, in fact he disliked it, but he learned it painfully and thoroughly to counteract the feeling of inferiority and shyness he had felt on being treated as a Jew at Princeton. There was a certain inner comfort in knowing he could knock down anybody who was snooty to him, although, being very shy and a thoroughly nice boy, he never fought except in the gym.'
I know I chose a long bit, but this beginning just tells you so much about the character. In a few lines, you really get an understanding of Robert Cohn and this is more character exploration than I've seen in entire novels!


F56:
'When I woke in the morning I went to the window and looked out. It had cleared and there were no clouds on the mountains. Outside under the window were some carts and an old diligence, the wood of the roof cracked and split by the weather. It must have been left from the days before the motor-buses. A goat hopped up on one of the carts and then to the roof of the diligence. He jerked his head at the other goats below and when I waved at him he bounded down.'
Yup, Hemingway can do landscape description as well. And I do love goats, so I thought this might be a nice quote to use.

Book Blogger Hop is hosted by Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Writer and this week's qst is:
If you don't like a book that you said you'd review, do you graciously turn it down and explain why or do you struggle through it and hopefully come up with a half decent review?

It has only happened to me once that I reviewed a book I really didn't like, so I wrote a review that reflected how I felt about it, as politely as possible. I was consequently kicked out of the blog tour, which was taught me that I should contact authors if I don't like the book. But I am quite selective when it comes to accepting review requests so I don't end up with many books I don't like.

If there are aspects of a book I don't like, I still feel obliged to talk about it. I am reviewing the book and the authors know I am being truthful, not vindictive. But usually my reviews focus on what I liked about the book, so if there is anything negative it is usually only a couple of lines, max.

So, what course would you construct? And how do you deal with review requests you dislike?

Comments

  1. Loved Taming of the Shrew! Forgot about that!
    Trish - my ff

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  2. Nice to be reminded of the Hemingway novel, which I read ages ago.

    Here's my Friday post: http://www.bookclublibrarian.com/2013/08/friday-focus-friday-56-and-book_9.html

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  3. I would like to read Hemingway, another gap in my reading thus far! Hope you enjoy it Juli. Thanks for visiting my blog too.

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  4. I love Pride and Prejudice! I'm a new follower via GFC, check out my FF at www.myviewpointonbooks.blogspot.com :)

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  5. Great Picks! I would so sign up for your class lol
    Danielle @ Coffee and Characters
    Now following via bloglovin!

    find me at http://www.daniellecromero.blogspot.com

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  6. It has been years since I read most of Hemingway's work...I also read On Chesil Beach a couple of years ago. McEwan is definitely someone to peruse. Very intense!

    Thanks for visiting my blog.

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  7. Great list. And yeah, who can live without Austen?!? My FF

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  8. Wow, I enjoy your list for your imaginary lit class. Can you be my teacher?

    Thanks for stopping by!

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  9. I guess I'm one of the few who actually writes negative reviews. Honestly, I'd like to read more of them on blogs and I generally read negative reviews on Amazon before buying something.

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    Replies
    1. Actually, I do write negative reviews, too. However, if a book is on tour, it wouldn't look good for the author if I were to write a negative review. So I only do that with books that are not on tour.

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  10. love your school list! I like how you picked a theme and flowed with it! I would sign up for it if it was out there!!

    Old bloglovin follower, new twitter!
    My FF + Giveaway!

    Amber @Paradise of Pages

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  11. Hey, Juli!

    You have GREAT answers here! I LOVE your list for the imaginary English Lit course, with the exception of "Pride and Prejudice"...Don't kill me, now! Lol. I'm currently struggling through this novel. I much prefer "Jane Eyre"!

    I must admit I've never heard of "On Chesil Beach", but will certainly investigate further.

    I LOVE your choice for "Book Beginnings" and "The Friday 56"!! I've been wanting to read Hemingway for a long time now....gotta get to his books!!

    As for your BBH answer, I'm glad you learned something from that experience. I think being kicked off a blog tour is worse than contacting the tour publicist and honestly explaining that you can't review the book you said you would review. I know of one tour company -- BEWITCHING TOUR BOOKS -- that asks bloggers to refrain from reviewing a book during its tour, but instead, review AFTER the tour is over. That is surely fair. So, in my case, I might (and the operative word here is 'might') go back and review these books I hate, because their tours are long over! Lol.

    Thanks so much for your terrific answers, and for dropping by and commenting on my BBH post!! : )

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  12. Nice! Seeing lots of P&P!! Read The Iliad in high school myself. Having previously read The Odyssey it was definitely a weird spin reading the "other side's" tale!

    Here's my Follow Friday

    Have a GREAT weekend!

    Old Follower :)

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  13. Love Hemingway. He is always a writer I can find comfort from.

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  14. Love your memes! And I have to check out Hemingway soon.

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  15. Good answer. I am enjoying all the thoughts from everyone this week. We are all learning from each other.

    My answer is below.

    Happy Hopping!!

    Elizabeth
    Silver's Reviews
    My Blog Hop Answer

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  16. I've not read much Hemingway - thanks for sharing :)

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  17. I haven't gotten around to Hemingway; to be honest, I'm a little intimidated by his body of work, but I hope to get around to them one of these days! Thanks for sharing that opening :)

    Great list of books you chose for the Follow Friday meme, P&P is awesome and On Chesil Beach was a fascinating read.

    Thanks for dropping by my blog on Friday, hope you had a lovely weekend :)

    - Lianne @ caffeinatedlife.net

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