I must say this course was a breath of fresh air (cliche, I know…). But for real, being able to guide ourselves through each week was nice. It wasn’t just sitting in a lecture hall with a professor talking at you and expecting you to retain all information imaginable for a test in a couple […]
Posted in Blogs, Laforet, Proust | Tagged with connection, engaging, freedom, introspection, reading, reflection, structure, Weekly Response
This novel was, in a sense, eye-opening for me. I find this to be mainly due to the unfortunate circumstances that Lila and Elena endured from such a young age. From poverty to violence and just a struggle of trying to find a way to be something when surrounded by negativity. It really brought a […]
Posted in Blogs, Ferrante | Tagged with childhood, coming of age, Envy, friendship, growing up, jealousy, realistic, reflection, Romance text, separation, violence, Weekly Response, youth
I can’t believe it’s already the last week. Wow, this semester went by quickly and I will miss this class. I initially took this class to fulfill my literature credits but I did enjoy it, along with the novels! There are very few university classes that I would consider “fun”, but this class would definitely […]
Posted in Blogs, Conclusion | Tagged with blog, end, reflection
I can’t believe this is my last post for Romance Studies 202 ☹️ This term flew by. This course has been an amazing experience. I enjoyed having complete control of my learning and choosing how many and what kinds of books I got to read. With that control, it was nice to push my boundaries and be exposed to books I would not have picked on my own outside of this class. Romance Studies was nothing I was expecting, but it exceeded my expectations, and I look forward to taking similar classes to this in the future.
Reflecting on my first introduction post, my expectations for this course were to read as many books as possible and try reading different books from different areas of the world. I also wanted to be able to see similarities and differences between the novels. Looking back at all twelve posts, I am happy to say that I have met and fulfilled my expectations of this course. This course has been heavy with history about war and revolutions, making it an overall learning experience not just with the types of genres of books, but I have also been opened to learning about history. As also said in the lecture by Professor Jon Beasley-Murray that we may never read another Chilean, Brazilian, Romanian, or Catalan novel in our lives. This experience of reading these books every week will definitely make me keep an eye out for these types of books on bookshelves!
My favourite books in this course were Bonjour Tristesse by Françoise Sagan, The Shrouded Woman by María Luisa Bombal, and The Time of the Doves by Mercè Rodoreda. I found these books to be where I was the most captivated and could easily write 400-500 words on these blog posts. These three novels share a strong female narrative and reading about these powerful women showcasing their vulnerability was really interesting to me. All three of them were different in their own ways as well but all had deep moments that left an impact on me and had me thinking about how I would deal if I were in their situations.
Thank you, Jon, Patricio, and Jennifer, for an amazing term and for expanding my bookshelf in a fun and innovative way! And thank you to all my fellow classmates. It was really interesting reading everyone’s thoughts and comments on the books we read. My final questions for this class are: What was your favourite book(s)? What specific themes stood out to you from these books?
Posted in Blogs, Conclusion | Tagged with reflection
I can’t believe this is my last post for Romance Studies 202 ☹️ This term flew by. This course has been an amazing experience. I enjoyed having complete control of my learning and choosing how many and what kinds of books I got to read. With that control, it was nice to push my boundaries and be exposed to books I would not have picked on my own outside of this class. Romance Studies was nothing I was expecting, but it exceeded my expectations, and I look forward to taking similar classes to this in the future.
Reflecting on my first introduction post, my expectations for this course were to read as many books as possible and try reading different books from different areas of the world. I also wanted to be able to see similarities and differences between the novels. Looking back at all twelve posts, I am happy to say that I have met and fulfilled my expectations of this course. This course has been heavy with history about war and revolutions, making it an overall learning experience not just with the types of genres of books, but I have also been opened to learning about history. As also said in the lecture by Professor Jon Beasley-Murray that we may never read another Chilean, Brazilian, Romanian, or Catalan novel in our lives. This experience of reading these books every week will definitely make me keep an eye out for these types of books on bookshelves!
My favourite books in this course were Bonjour Tristesse by Françoise Sagan, The Shrouded Woman by María Luisa Bombal, and The Time of the Doves by Mercè Rodoreda. I found these books to be where I was the most captivated and could easily write 400-500 words on these blog posts. These three novels share a strong female narrative and reading about these powerful women showcasing their vulnerability was really interesting to me. All three of them were different in their own ways as well but all had deep moments that left an impact on me and had me thinking about how I would deal if I were in their situations.
Thank you, Jon, Patricio, and Jennifer, for an amazing term and for expanding my bookshelf in a fun and innovative way! And thank you to all my fellow classmates. It was really interesting reading everyone’s thoughts and comments on the books we read. My final questions for this class are: What was your favourite book(s)? What specific themes stood out to you from these books?
Posted in Blogs, Conclusion | Tagged with reflection
“I had not ceased while sleeping to form reflections on what I had just read, but these reflections had taken a rather peculiar turn; it seemed to me that I myself was what the book was talking about,” – Combray, Part I. I’ve never done a proper literature course before, save for my GCE A-Levels, […]
Posted in Blogs | Tagged with reflection
I see a steady decline in my enjoyment of these readings but it is much more blamed on final burnout rather than the quality of the books. I hope my blog posts continue to attempt to give them justice as we have discussed; the authors might not be bigger than us but their books are. […]
Posted in Blogs, Cercas | Tagged with autobiographical, critical reflection, fantasy, implications, questions, real, reality, reflection, Spanish war, Surreal, unreal
Hi Everyone! This week I’ll be reflecting on Roberto Bolano’s novella, Amulet. I really enjoyed this read. As many have…
Posted in Blogs, Bolaño | Tagged with form and structure, memory, reflection, reflective, thoughts, understanding, unreliable narrator
This week I read Amulet by Roberto Bolaño. The novel follows the narrator Auxilio Lacouture, a woman from Uruguay and the coined “mother of Mexican poetry.” She works at a university in Mexico City, and when she realizes the university … Continue reading →
Posted in Blogs, Bolaño | Tagged with memory, reflection, time
For this weeks book, I read The Old Gringo, by Carlos Fuentes. To be honest with you, I found this book to be a little bit confusing, but for a few different reasons. At the beginning of my reading, I found the old gringo’s motivation to be a bit strange; he has come to Mexico […]
Posted in Blogs, Fuentes | Tagged with Conflict, death, life, Mexico, reflection, relationships, repetition, revolution, the old gringo, Weekly Book Blog
