Another cautionary tale would grow out of the Matron's vast error in judgment, for once not involving a child or excess food.
So. . . she's all groovy and good because one of her classes is Contemporary Fiction. This class is online and goes 'live' at midnight on Sunday. This is a NEW class for her and the other three, taught before.
What makes sense? Get the new one started earlier so you have more time or first reboot the old classes and wait until a later date to start the new?
Bingo! The Matron put Contemporary Fiction LAST.
And here is where her grave error in judgment steps in to thunk her on the head and kick her scrawny ass. The Matron is assigning many books she adores (contemporary fiction! even the words should make you happy). But because she read many of those books several years ago, she has FORGOTTEN THEIR ACTUAL CONTENT.
She realized this when she sighed and picked up Zadie Smith's On Beauty in order to create an assignment based on this one million page book only to realize she didn't remember what the book was about!!
Now she has to 'refresh her memory' on On Beauty, The Things They Carried (Tim O'Brien), Breath, Eyes, Memory (Edwidge Danticat), Interpretor of Maladies (Jumpha Lahiri), Drown (Junot Diaz) and everything Lorrie Moore ever touched, IMMEDIATELY. For those interested, the list rounds out with The White Tiger by Aravnd Atiga which she recently read for just these purposes.
Of course, you must read these books! But if you have to pick just one new one, go for Danticat.
So Sunday night at midnight, in her other life (not real life but just different as it involves actually seeing and sometimes -- willingly or not -- touching other human beings), this new online class is open to students.
Guess what she's doing this weekend?
9 comments:
Really, there are worse ways to spend a weekend, right? Too bad you have to leave the kids and household up to your husband for 48 straight hours while you go read. Somehow, that just doesn't sound too terrible.
Thanks for the great reading list! If I didn't already have a stack of books from the library over two feet tall (you think I am kidding; I am not), I would request every one of them tonight. Maybe next week...
fwiw, I read (or listened to, can't remember) On Beauty and was not impressed. Perhaps I should take your class and find out what I missed.
More books to add to my list!
I plan to audit your class.
Good luck!
It's a great list of books and I've read some of them, but not all. Thanks!
Well, it could be worse... you could be actually writing a paper or a grant or something... you get to READ!
But I get it, I do.
Since you're the instructor, I suppose Cliff's Notes wouldn't suffice?
I'm with Suburban, but I feel your literary pain. How cool that you have another class.
What fun, though! I've read almost all of those books, can I audit?
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