English Club Chatter

Oooh oooh, I'll start.

Break was good. Took a short trip up to Niagara Falls, donated some money to the Canadian casino workers, and enjoyed some nice cold winds. (Perhaps a quick voyage to Windsor would make a great english club event...you know, go to a book store in a different country?)

A few days later off to Times Square for New Year's Eve. Let's just say we drove for eight hours, to walk around the city and stand in almost the same spot for five hours...all so we could count backwards from ten and leave. Anyone up for next year?

Good times.

Sounds like a good deal of fun, Danger; though if I'm going to stay in one spot for five hours, I like it to be my own couch.

I did my best to read over the break. I read Amsterdam by Ian McEwan, who's quickly becoming one of my favorite authors (read Atonement- fantastic up until the very last page!) I've also been on a bit of a Harlem Renaissance kick after Dr. Callahan's class, and I read Sula by Toni Morrison (too much killing!) and Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston (left me a little hungry for more). It's been a while since I had a deeply satisfying reading experience; the last was The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay- anyone read it?

i couldnt speak. i was sick. (which as trish put it must have been nice for my family...) i got a little farther in some books i was reading, but mostly i was just ready to get back and finish the last quarter.

we gunna plan a lunch meeting soon? im poor again.... lol.

Well my family and I went to candle light service on Christmas Eve then had our traditional Christmas lunch and opened presents while it was cooking.

On New Year's Eve mom and I went to see Eragon, a little tip if you've read the book don't go to the movie. I had the hardest time enjoying the movie with mom interjecting what all was wrong. She read the book, I've got to get around to reading that one yet.

i was utterly incapacitated with the stomach flu on christmas eve and christmas day.

bah humbug.

other than that, i wept everyday because i missed school so much.

at least someone was as happy as i was to be back.

"lots of sunshine and kittens"

Wow. How heartwarming that some of you were so eager to get back to school! (Or is life outside THAT bad?)

I share Trish's enthusiasm for Ian McEwan. Saturday (his most recent?) is also very compelling, though Atonement is really in a class by itself. I don't know. It isn't that often that you really get your socks knocked off by something you read. You know, those life-changing, paradigm-shifting, scales-dropping-from-your-eyes experiences. But I guess that makes sense. If this kind of thing was normal, you wouldn't mark it as special. I think I've recommended him before, but try W.G. Sebald. Austerlitz is his best, I think, but I've been mesmerized by everything I've read. Truly original, intellectually engaging, and emotionally compelling. (Hey, I should be writing jacket blurbs!) If you liked Kavalier and Clay (me too), you might also like Umberto Eco's The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana. Not exactly the same, of course, but there is a comic book connection (also WWII), and it's a really good read.

Out of curiosity, do any of you read poetry extra-curricularly? I think I've probably had more mind-opening experiences reading poems than novels, but since poems are shorter (generally) it's more like a little epiphany than the total and extended immersion you get with a substantial novel.

neruda.

I know I'll probably get shocked responses for this, but NO I Don't read poetry extra-curricularly. Although I'm waiting for summer to roll around so that I might be able to read my copy of the Illiad and the Odyssey, even though there poems. However, I'll probably end up reading my Science fiction and Fantasy collection. Maybe I should even start that new one that is out "Hannibal Rising." ;)) :)

Oops I used the wrong there, their, they're. It should be the last one they're.

oh, i need school to feel alive. it's my sole, single, only, unrivaled, solitary reason for existing. no contest.

what's this "Hannibal Rising" you speak of angela. sounds like a street magic book. all david blaine-esque.

"Hannibal Rising" is I guess the prequel in the book series that led to "Silence of the Lambs." I guess it is supposed to show just what little Hannibal Lecter was like, and show how he turned out to be the well mannered sociopath that we all know today.
Of course I'm just going off of what was advertised I haven't read that series and I'm not sure of whether I want to start another book series. I have too much homework to read anything on the side.
Oh and if anyone is interested in getting a book I'm saddened to say that Waldenbooks in the mall is closing. Their last day is Jan. 20th, so you better hurry. Only thing is that they can't order books they can only sell what they have left in the store.

I did a LOT of reading over break (probably because I had done so much during the quarter). Started with Carl Sagan's book (written by his colleague, obviously) accounting his Gifford Lectures, then went to Terry Brooks' "Armageddon's Children" (really cool post-WWIII fantasy), then I moved to Andrew Pyper's "The Wildfire Season" (cuz it looked good on the shelf, ha ha, and it WAS a cool story). After that I read Alan Dean Foster's "Kingdoms Of Light" (fantasy), Annie Dillard's "For The Time Being" (change of pace, I guess), and (I think) I finished up with Barbara Kingsolver's "The Poisonwood Bible" which I HIGHLY recommend if you have not read it yet. Awesome book. Anyway, yeah, lots of reading.

Christmas break for me was quite interesting. I had my baby on November 20th (not quite Christmas break yet but close enough). Then we had Christmas for 9 (that's right 9)days straight.We have an enormous family and everyone works oddball hours. I'm hoping to return to school in the Spring, but in the meantime I'll be spending some relax time with my family. Thanks to a Readers' Digest subscription for Christmas, I've got some new reading material. Hope to see everyone soon! Sandra