My Required University Reads

Uni has started and with that, loads of required reading is starting to pile up on my bedside table. I’m excited though since all of them are new to me. I know them, I know what they are about but I haven’t read them sans Jane Eyre and The Great Gatsby which will be re-reads.

Fun story here: I tried reading Pride & Prejudice when I was 14, in Spanish but had to give up – twice – around page 50 because I wasn’t feeling it. The translation was not very good, very rough and so I put it down. 10 years later I will pick it up again, this time in English to experience for myself what made millions of readers fall in love with the story or so I hope (keep your fingers crossed).

I will read Dickens for the first time and I will get to sink my teeth into Frankenstein, which I’ve heard is amazing. The Norton Anthologies for both English and American Literatures are also part of my required reading, and I know how complete those anthologies are but I swear I don’t need the gym to strengthen my arms anymore because those books are humongous and weighs a ton.

Both Goblin Market and The Yellow Wall-Paper, as well as The Awakening are for my Gender & Literature Class which looks incredibly interesting and I cannot wait to get down to the nitty gritty as it looks amazing. I also have a few textbooks with a lot of poems and short stories that I need to read as well, like “The Lady of Shalott” by Tennyson which is absolutely beautiful and I cannot wait to analyze it in class focusing on gender issues.

 Right now I’m currently reading Moll Flanders and although I can appreciate the story for what it is and what it meant, I’m having one hell of a time with it and not in a positive way. It’s such a hard read, probably the hardest since I started English Studies. There are no chapters whatsoever; the whole story goes on and on and on and there is not a single break and I’m sorry but 320 pages without a single pause will be too much, I reckon. There are no proper dialogues, everything is in indirect style and assimilated into the narration and it can be hard to figure out who is talking and when. I hope I can get used to it... I better or I have a problem. There's nothing worse than reading something that is requiered and you have to read and not enjoy it.

Anyways, I’m being positive about it because I’m so excited about this year since it’s more Literature-focused. Linguistics is not my thing unfortunately. I love reading how authors play with language, not how language works if that makes any sense.

Have you read any of these? Or would you like to do so? How is University/school going for you?