Week three has come and gone! This post is two-fold!
First of all, it is officially Banned Book Week this week! When I was in college, all my lit classes would make sure to assign a book that was on the list. And they would encourage us to read as many as we could. Most often making it a contest among class members. As far as I'm concerned some of the best reads come from the Banned Book List. They are always the most interesting and the most thought provoking, which I think is the primary purpose of literature.
So I offer you a list of my favorite books that have appeared on the Banned Book List.
1) To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
2) Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
3) The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
4) Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
5) The Call of the Wild by Jack London
6) Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
7) The Giver by Lois Lowry
8) The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
9) The Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling
10) The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
11) Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
12) The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins
13) The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
Even though that list feels incomplete at 13, I'm gonna leave it there because I feel like I could prolly go on and on here. I also feel compelled to get on my soapbox here and tell everyone that ALL of these books are FANTASTIC! And EVERYONE should read them ASAP!
PS: You can find out more about the Banned Book List at the American Library Association.
Second, this week I read The Color Purple by Alice Walker.
The first thing I want to talk about in the novel is the dialect. It is written from the POV of Celie. She is writing letters to God about her daily life. And she writes as she speaks and how words sound to her when says them. She lacks proper spellings ('git' instead of 'get'; 'clammed' instead of 'climbed') and basic syntax. Forget about higher level punctuation, aside from periods and occasionally a comma or two. As a grammar stickler, this would usually annoy me, but I find that the Walker's stylistic choice is completely appropriate for the novel. It allows the reader to become immersed in the culture of the time period.
In the first letter to God, Celie mentions that she is only 14 years old, and she is pulled out of school by her father. In the beginning it's rough to read, and you feel like the letter is being written by a child. Even though the content and what is happening in her doesn't reflect a very happy childhood. But I noticed as the letters continue, and Celie gets older, her writing becomes better. There are fewer spelling errors, and her thoughts are more complete as the book goes on. And that to me is exciting because it truly is like watching a young writer grow. It illustrates the idea that "practice makes perfect."
Another thing I noticed, is that Celie often talks of her sister Nettie. Nettie was allowed to stay a child, where as Celie was forced to grow up. Nettie was allowed to continue her education. Nettie and Celie are split apart by some circumstances, and Nettie promises to write. Celie never receives any letters so she assumes Nettie to be dead. Years later, Celie finds that her husband has been intercepting Nettie's letters and hiding them. Walker includes Nettie's letters to Celie, and as the reader, you see such a distinct difference between the two letter writers. Nettie's spelling is far more accurate, and she much more descriptive than Celie.
Anywho, the part I noticed...Nettie's letters truly excited me for several reasons. The entire novel is written through letters, and as the reader, you are seeing the scenes through Celie or Nettie's POV. Celie is not a very good writer, so there are holes. You have to fill in the missing information and sometimes make educated guesses about what really happened. Nettie is leaps and bounds above Celie in how she writes. The exciting part about this, is that Walker creates her characters in how they write. You can learn so much about a character...even someone in real life, just by how they write. How they remember a scene or describe a scenario. How they speak. You can go even deeper into the text, look at the styles of the two writers, and see just how vastly different they are.
On the Reading Challenge Front, I earned 15 points this week, which puts me at 30/200!
This next week, I'm going to read Gone Girl! Finally! I cannot wait to read it!
Until next time!
No comments:
Post a Comment