Expanding Horizons

Reading can take us places.  It transports us to realms outside of our own imagination.  It expands our horizons.  In reading, we can visit the past or the future, in this universe, or perhaps in other universes where the laws of ‘normal’ that we experience daily do not apply.  Reading pushes us beyond what we know, causing us to think and to question and to reason.  We experience new viewpoints, gain new knowledge and ideas, and make connections that wouldn’t have been possible if we never opened a book.

I enjoy English, history, music and art. I like reading old books, watching old movies and listening to old music. By old music, I don't mean oldies; they are too modern for me. My favorite music is from the 1940s, 1930s, 1920s, or older. I even enjoy listening to ragtime. I also play the piano, with ragtime being my favorite type of music to play.

This blog is for a World Literature class.  Honestly, I probably would not be writing it otherwise.  I generally don’t go out of my way to express my opinion.  However, I shall consider this blog to be an opportunity to share my response to some of the assignments in class, which will also help me to think more critically about what I have read and learned. Also, this blog will help to improve my communication skills.

So, since I love reading so much, what am I doing in a World Literature class?  After all, I could just read books on my own.  I do that often enough.  Over our short winter break, I read twenty-one books.  Yes, for real.  Couldn’t I just keep doing that?

When I read on my own, I usually confine myself to a narrow range of books.  I don’t usually explore new types of literature or authors that I haven’t read before.  Through this class, I look forward to expanding my horizons and exploring literature that I never would have approached on my own.  I am capable of devouring my favorite fiction at a fantastic rate.  The speed of two hundred to six hundred pages a day may be good for personal entertainment, but I am probably not going to remember anything I read a week later.  This class will be an opportunity for me to practice ‘close reading’, or reading and rereading slowly and carefully while critically thinking about what I am reading.  I will remember and understand much more of what I have read than if I race through the book as fast as I can, in the way that I usually do.  Practicing this skill will help me in other classes as well.

In my spare time, if I have any now that classes have resumed, I will continue to read my favorite fiction.  Through this class, I hope to develop better reading habits.  I may also find some new favorite genres and authors as well.  I look forward to an interesting journey.