Ally and I were talking a while ago about how much we love our major. We are both English majors and totally thrilled to be. In fact, sometimes it is frightening what comes out of our mouths when we are reading for class.
For example, we were just in the library tonight and I was helping her study for her midterm in her Shakespeare class by reading The Merchant of Venice with her. We just switched off lines and got through the play in about two hours. Being English majors (and thus able to read into everything) we spotted the jokes, the innuendos, the dirty talk and the abundance of phallic symbols (THEY ARE EVERYWHERE) and were, well, not very quiet. We were very giggly by the end of the play, there was just so much to read into! (Also, we are rather ridiculous.) I have a feeling that the poor people studying physics at the table across the aisle were probably not our friends by the time we left around 1:30.
But, as much as I enjoy reading for class (I am totally in love with my Renaissance Drama textbook. It comes with me everywhere! It's kind of become like my cell phone, where it doesn't feel right leaving it at home; I feel naked without it!) I enjoy reading outside of the required reading more. What tends to happen, though, is that when I reach for a book on my shelf I just want a quick read... something like a romance novel (exhibit A: Gena Showalter's latest that I just read in like four hours this weekend.) or a novel that just faithfully good every time (Victoria Hanley's The Seer and the Sword, while written for, well, twelve-year-olds, is one of my favorites.) Really, anything to escape the "wouldst"s, "thy"s and "'zounds!"s that follow me around daily. (As an aside? 'zounds is the BEST vulgar word of the Renaissance.) Fluff fiction dominates my personal reading because it requires no thought or analysis... it's a break for my brain, which is constantly analyzing when I read for class. (Ally and I have discussed this at length and she is in a situation similar to mine.)
I feel like I kind of fail as an English major because of this. It's not that I don't want to read those things, it's just that I feel like "adult" books and classics require a lot of thought and wading through difficult language and so I avoid them. (Don't ask me how I think that that difficult language is an issue when I find Shakespeare totally normal English.)
I fail as an English major (and a woman, really) because I haven't read Pride and Prejudice, despite owning a really nicely bound copy of every Jane Austen novel. and I never go out of my sphere to read something classic, even something simple like Alice in Wonderland (anyone want to go see the movie with me?) I particularly fail because I haven't read (in the giant list of What People Generally Say You Should Read) like 90% of what is recommended. It's not that I don't want to... it's just that I don't want to. I like fluff. It's comforting to me.
In order to remedy(ish) this, Ally and I have started to compile a list of things that I, as an English major and lover of books, simply have to read. We have eleven books on the list so far. What do you guys think belongs on the list? It doesn't even have to be considered a classic. I want to expand and add to my list, which at the moment has everything from Pride and Prejudice to Bridget Jones' Diary.
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Recently, I have been struggling to stay on top of things. I am just totally lacking motivation and it's a real struggle for me to get up in the morning and get motivated to be excited about going to class and reading the assignments. It's the mid-semester slump; summer is too far away to think about seriously and things aren't fresh and new in class anymore. Things are getting more intense and as spring break comes ever nearer (at the moment, I am living for 3pm on Friday...) I find my focus waning every minute. I do have some hope, though, because today has been particularly productive and I feel like come next week (which, if I am going to do anything productive at all, needs to be vigorously planned hour by hour) I'll be able to study. Maybe. I might get my hair cut. Maybe take a nap, sleep late, you know. I might even go visit Dad and Pippa! (Love yall! I am just chained to my desk...)
More on that as it comes. For the present, I bid thee adieu!
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