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Post by RAVENEYE on Oct 8, 2020 9:34:04 GMT -6
Figured this was worth logging in the forum: Louise Gluck Wins Nobel PrizeIf you've taken literature classes/courses, you will have run across Louise Gluck's work. She's usually featured near the end of those massive literature tomes, alongside Rita Dove and Adrienne Rich. On the flip side of that, I had considered her work "literary" to the point that I had relegated her in my thinking to "that was dry college stuff." So I have neglected reading her work in any other context. Perhaps it's high time I ordered some of her poetry collections and learn a thing or three. So this brings to mind the question: Are there any authors out there who you've discounted but might need to extend a second chance? |
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Post by Alatariel on Oct 8, 2020 20:46:47 GMT -6
Oh. So many. I had a really hard time with English class pushing books on me. I have a very stubborn personality and if someone wants me to do something I tend to push back and resist. Even if it's a totally benign thing like reading a book. Sigh. Seriously, I had issues.
So when people talk fondly of authors you typically read in high school, I looked at them like they grew a third head. Hemingway? Fitzgerald? Twain? I've thrown then all away in my mind. So I could probably go back and actually give those classic books a chance. The only required reading I did in high school was To Kill a Mockingbird (which I loved) and The Crucible (which I loved). Huck Finn bored me, Gatsby made me roll my eyes, and anything by Hemingway felt so out of touch.
But I'm probably being way too harsh.
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Post by RAVENEYE on Oct 9, 2020 15:54:31 GMT -6
Yes, I hear you! Out of touch with regular humanity or remote is how I think of those masters too.
I did finally learn to enjoy much of Hemingway's stuff, though The Old Man and the Sea bored me to tears, or maybe it was just the wrong time. And I reread Gatsby about a decade ago, and didn't hate it, but I can't get into the swing of Fitzgerald's short fiction, so dry--or I'm not subtle enough. I'm still struggling with Dickens. Ugh. The only novel of his that I love and hold close to my heart is Great Expectations. Anything else and I start drooling on myself.
But yeah, To Kill a Mockingbird is seriously one of the best stories ever written. I need a pretty copy of it. The one I keep re-reading is the one I had way back in high school. Bout time for an upgrade.
Can't wait for my Gluck books to get here. Should be in two days, if the Amazon guy can find my house. I was able to order two. The rest were either out of print and stupid expensive or used from somewhere weird. Not sure why her poems would be unavailable. Maybe now that she's won the Nobel Prize, the books will see another round at the printing presses?
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Post by HDSimplicityy on Oct 25, 2020 0:58:00 GMT -6
William Shakespeare. Last year I was inspired to try reading his plays again. This time outside of school.
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Post by RAVENEYE on Oct 25, 2020 13:40:01 GMT -6
William Shakespeare. Last year I was inspired to try reading his plays again. This time outside of school. Yes! A study of Shakespeare's plays was one of the most fun and most rewarding courses I took in college. It was like learning a second language and all of a sudden this great mystery made sense! I still love to drag that huge Complete Works of Shakespeare off the shelf and read my favorite scenes on occasion. Footnotes are utterly necessary. Whew, what a slog through foreign words, otherwise. |
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Post by HDSimplicityy on Oct 26, 2020 23:23:46 GMT -6
William Shakespeare. Last year I was inspired to try reading his plays again. This time outside of school. Yes! A study of Shakespeare's plays was one of the most fun and most rewarding courses I took in college. It was like learning a second language and all of a sudden this great mystery made sense! Weeelll I should have learned to appreciate him back then. He was never fun for me.
It is still a great mystery with no sense.
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You add them to your profile as you do them around the forum.
