December 28, 2004

Literature class … yay?

Yeah, I know. Long time, no see.

I was just looking at my book list for next spring, and it's looking like EngL 1501 is going to be a real doozy. Look at these books I will have to read, along with descriptions from various sources:

• Angels in America: "This play explores 'the state of the nation'--the sexual, racial, religious, political and social issues confronting the country during the Reagan years, as the AIDS epidemic spreads." – NYU

I read at "Mother Jones" that the author is a gay Jewish socialist. Yowza. Off to a good start. The fact that Mother Jones likes this book says it all.

• Harry Potter: This seems pretty harmless, but not exactly fine literature. Sad to say, this may be the highlight of this course!

• Jarhead: It is supposedly a memoir of a marine in the first Gulf War, but I have a feeling some sort of agenda will work its way in. Reviewers at Amazon made it sound like this is a largely anti-war book. People who know me well can tell you that I am by no means pro-war, but this is sounding more like an anti-military book, which I am not.

I won't make a judgment until I've started reading the book, but I'm wary.

• Persepolis: "The intelligent and outspoken only child of committed Marxists…" – Random House

'Nuff said. Anybody detect a socialist theme here?

• Push: Written by "a bisexual woman who has never been in the closet," this book involves a young, poor rape victim who comes to terms with her prejudices. – LookSmart

I don't know what to make of this book, except that the author sounds like yet another agenda pusher. It doesn't seem to have any particular theme, so I won't comment yet. You'll probably be hearing from me soon regarding this book.

• Rivethead: With forward by Michael Moore – yay!

The author is a GM factory worker who has been friends with Moore for many years. I think I can pretty much tell where this is going.

• Wasted: "Marya Hornbacher's Wasted is a brutal and unflinching memoir of the author's own struggle with two dehabilitating and yet self-afflicted conditions that affect an astounding number of women in our society: bulimia and anorexia." – Random House

This topic doesn't interest me that much, but at least there isn't much room for obscene politics in this book.

There you have it: This is what the next four months of my life look like. I think this class should provide many interesting topics for discussion, so I have added a "Lit Class" category to this blog. I will report from time to time what absurdities are going on.

Posted by gett0026 at December 28, 2004 11:10 PM