I don't want to work today; I just want to write and blog and read f*cking Sophie's Choice. (I sent that in a text to Anthony, then decided it was the best way to start the blog post because it's the truest line I can think of right now).
Yes, I am at work. Probably shouldn't be on my computer working on this, but it's raining in town and pretty much dead, so I don't feel too bad. I stocked a lot of wine and cleaned things and arranged Lolita glasses (thrilling) so now I'm just standing around trying to smile at the people passing by as encouragement to come in and try/buy wine. Someone tried to offer me a sales job yesterday that paid commission, and I have to say I considered it for a hot minute, until I realized I'm still holding out for a teaching job. Or a job at La Salle so I can get my masters for... uh... free.
I had my first graduate class on Thursday, and I must say I'm really excited to get back into a classroom, even if it's on the 'wrong' side of things. We're reading most YA literature (check a previous post for the reading list) because the focus is on a blend of literary criticism and English classroom pedagogy. For an upcoming class we picked schools of criticism that we will have to present to our classmates. The professor challenged us to go outside of our normal realm of knowledge, so I of course picked something I don't really understand and haven't spent much time working with. Post-Structuralism.
F*CK Post-Structuralism. I broke down and googled the phrase (my Handbook of Literary Theory and Critical Approaches to Literature is so confusing, I had to try and find something more simple) which lead me to the OWL at Purdue (Side note: for any grammar, citation, writing need, the OWL at Purdue -- Online Writing Lab -- is the greatest website in the world. Honestly). Obviously I trust this website. The page on Post-Structuralism starts with this: "Note: Structuralism, semiotics, and post-structuralism are some of the most complex literary theories to understand. Please be patient."
Oh, great, OWL is telling me to be patient? I have no patience! Anyway, I've been plowing my way through this convoluted and obtuse information and at the same time trying to read Sophie's Choice. I didn't go down the shore this weekend at all, even though that was the plan for Saturday, and instead spent my weekend day-drinking (and night-drinking, who am I kidding) and working. Like right now. So no reading, except for literary theory, for me so far. Hopefully today I can get a bit more read, considering the book is due back at the library on Wednesday and I've already renewed it once.
I doubt anyone is jumping to check out Sophie's Choice (although I can't imagine why not; it's obviously the greatest book I've ever read) but where do I draw the line at renewing? Does the library limit the amount of times I can re-check out a book? How long before I simply throw up my hands and wave the white flag on this one? The answer is NEVER. Although there have been books in the past I haven't finished (several of them ended up on my reading list for this project, CATCH-22, you jerk) I really hate leaving them behind. The project is forcing me to follow through on those types of books, and that's where Sophie and her goddamn choice comes in.
Even when I've hated certain books and series I have a hard time just putting them aside. I read all 4 Twilight books even though every single one after the first was awful because I just hated the idea of not finishing such a short series. I may have thrown the 4th book at a wall toward the end because, my GOD Stephanie Meyers, you fail as a plot driven author, but I did finish them. If I can deal with horrendous "and it was all a dream" type endings, I think I can get through Sophie's Choice.
How many posts now has it been about that book?
Showing posts with label bucks county libraries. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bucks county libraries. Show all posts
September 5, 2011
August 2, 2011
Listen!
I have officially delved into the wide world of audio books! Or, as the Bucks County Library system likes to classify them, Spoken Books. Knowing I was going to be spending a decent amount of time in the car, moving from Maryland back up to PA, I decided to try it out. I really have only ever listened to one other 'book-on-tape' in the past, and I couldn't recall if I'd enjoyed it or not, so I set out on a search for the perfect audio book for my trip.
First of all, trying to use a library catologue on my smart phone was painful. The search options on the site were, even on the computer, confusing and difficult to sort through. I just wanted a list of the audio books located at each branch, but instead spent time typing in different titles of the books on my reading list to see if an audio option popped up. It took too much time, and even when I found a few, they were at libraries in the county too far away to justify the travel.
Secondly, in a world of advanced technology, it seems like libraries should be jumping on the app bandwagon. How nice would it be to have the library at your fingertips, searching through books on my phone, requesting holds? It's nice that the library works through email, and I get reminders about books, and I do love being able to check things online, but I rarely use my computer to get on the internet and browse anymore.
Finally I found a few options at our local branch. Before work last Wednesday, I took a trip up the road to our library, which is, unfortunately, not very attractive inside. I spent many years with my college library, and there is something be said about multiple floors and comfortable seating in a place that houses books. I felt like I was in a warehouse, with light mustard yellow accents on the walls, and a few tables and chairs scattered around. I'm not asking for a Beauty and the Beast library -- actually, I am; I wish I had a massive room of books with a ladder that rolled around the walls. Heaven! -- but something attractive would be nice.
I found the audio books -- pardon me, Spoken Books, section and decided I would just see what titles were there. I found a few, but in checking the timing, realized that only one really fit with my needs. The Historian was only 10 CDs and 12 hours long. Still double the time I'd be spending in the car driving to Maryland and back, but the other options were all around the 18-20 hour mark. The Grapes of Wrath was 24 hours of recording. 24 hours! That's an entire day!
Maybe I'm jaded, because I do read quickly. I finished the last Harry Potter book in three-and-a-half hours (I didn't do much else in that time, to be fair) so 12 hours seemed like a lot for a book. But in the sake of experimenting and not wanting to be rude on a car trip with my dad, I checked out the CDs. I also checked out some books; Sophie's Choice, Watership Down, and Uglies. All due back August 17th, so I think I'm going to be renewing a few online.
My dad and I settled in the car for the ride, and after a few work-related phone calls, I slid the first CD into the slot. There was music. What?!? Each section of the book starts and ends with some music, all of it suspensful and romantic in nature. Who made the decision to add music? Do most audio books include music? The recording also includes different narrators for each character, which I find a little confusing. Mostly because having a different narrator means that there are no speaker tags. No 'he said,' 'she replied,' 'I cried.' Just people reading the parts meant for the character.
Now I'm all for creative expression, but this was too much for me. I LOVE speaker tags. Honestly, I do. That section of my graduate class on memoirs was one of the more interesting. Where an author places a tag and the tag he/she uses is all signficant. Do you want to break up the text? Lead in with the tag? Are we avoiding 'said' and using more colorful language? Personally it felt like the audio book was taking some of the personality and writing ability of the author and throwing it to the side. The use of accents and different character voices and music all seemed to be forcing me to interpret the book in one way. My imagination -- the main reason why many of us read fiction -- wasn't being put to use.
I think audio books have their place in the literary canon. I use them to teach, because in a day and age where students have trouble reading and comprehending, listening is a way to let them work with literature. I have used great recordings of The Secret Life of Bees and Night, but these are read by one person, as found in the text. No music is used. Students are expected to follow along with the text. This recording of The Historian felt like a radio show instead.
I will say this; although I primarily listened to this book, which I am almost completely through, in the car, I did spend a few hours cleaning and unpacking and listened to the recording in my room. It was probably better than what I normally do, which is put a DVD of Always Sunny in Philadelphia on and have that play as background. I do find myself getting confused while listening to the book, and sometimes I get distracted and my mind wanders, and being unable to turn back a page and re-read is frustrating, but I think if you had a lot of driving or traveling to do, audio books have a real place on a bookshelf.
First of all, trying to use a library catologue on my smart phone was painful. The search options on the site were, even on the computer, confusing and difficult to sort through. I just wanted a list of the audio books located at each branch, but instead spent time typing in different titles of the books on my reading list to see if an audio option popped up. It took too much time, and even when I found a few, they were at libraries in the county too far away to justify the travel.
Secondly, in a world of advanced technology, it seems like libraries should be jumping on the app bandwagon. How nice would it be to have the library at your fingertips, searching through books on my phone, requesting holds? It's nice that the library works through email, and I get reminders about books, and I do love being able to check things online, but I rarely use my computer to get on the internet and browse anymore.
Finally I found a few options at our local branch. Before work last Wednesday, I took a trip up the road to our library, which is, unfortunately, not very attractive inside. I spent many years with my college library, and there is something be said about multiple floors and comfortable seating in a place that houses books. I felt like I was in a warehouse, with light mustard yellow accents on the walls, and a few tables and chairs scattered around. I'm not asking for a Beauty and the Beast library -- actually, I am; I wish I had a massive room of books with a ladder that rolled around the walls. Heaven! -- but something attractive would be nice.
I found the audio books -- pardon me, Spoken Books, section and decided I would just see what titles were there. I found a few, but in checking the timing, realized that only one really fit with my needs. The Historian was only 10 CDs and 12 hours long. Still double the time I'd be spending in the car driving to Maryland and back, but the other options were all around the 18-20 hour mark. The Grapes of Wrath was 24 hours of recording. 24 hours! That's an entire day!
Maybe I'm jaded, because I do read quickly. I finished the last Harry Potter book in three-and-a-half hours (I didn't do much else in that time, to be fair) so 12 hours seemed like a lot for a book. But in the sake of experimenting and not wanting to be rude on a car trip with my dad, I checked out the CDs. I also checked out some books; Sophie's Choice, Watership Down, and Uglies. All due back August 17th, so I think I'm going to be renewing a few online.
My dad and I settled in the car for the ride, and after a few work-related phone calls, I slid the first CD into the slot. There was music. What?!? Each section of the book starts and ends with some music, all of it suspensful and romantic in nature. Who made the decision to add music? Do most audio books include music? The recording also includes different narrators for each character, which I find a little confusing. Mostly because having a different narrator means that there are no speaker tags. No 'he said,' 'she replied,' 'I cried.' Just people reading the parts meant for the character.
Now I'm all for creative expression, but this was too much for me. I LOVE speaker tags. Honestly, I do. That section of my graduate class on memoirs was one of the more interesting. Where an author places a tag and the tag he/she uses is all signficant. Do you want to break up the text? Lead in with the tag? Are we avoiding 'said' and using more colorful language? Personally it felt like the audio book was taking some of the personality and writing ability of the author and throwing it to the side. The use of accents and different character voices and music all seemed to be forcing me to interpret the book in one way. My imagination -- the main reason why many of us read fiction -- wasn't being put to use.
I think audio books have their place in the literary canon. I use them to teach, because in a day and age where students have trouble reading and comprehending, listening is a way to let them work with literature. I have used great recordings of The Secret Life of Bees and Night, but these are read by one person, as found in the text. No music is used. Students are expected to follow along with the text. This recording of The Historian felt like a radio show instead.
I will say this; although I primarily listened to this book, which I am almost completely through, in the car, I did spend a few hours cleaning and unpacking and listened to the recording in my room. It was probably better than what I normally do, which is put a DVD of Always Sunny in Philadelphia on and have that play as background. I do find myself getting confused while listening to the book, and sometimes I get distracted and my mind wanders, and being unable to turn back a page and re-read is frustrating, but I think if you had a lot of driving or traveling to do, audio books have a real place on a bookshelf.
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