American Lit

So, I got into a discussion on twitter about American Lit (note, I work in higher ed, so intellectual discussions are possible 140 characters at a time). I hated American Lit in high school, managed to talk my teacher into letting me read War & Peace instead. Yes, Russian fiction in lieu of three American lit novels. The page count was greater and she was excited to be able to tell people one of her students read that book. I was excited to skip the whiny novels.

So, as an adult, when I could not contribute to the discussion about which American authors are better, I asked for suggestions of what to read. I was told these novels:

Invisible Man (already read)
Angle of Repose
Sound and Fury
Absalom, Absalom
Death Comes for the Archbishop
Slaughterhouse Five (already read)

My dad's favorite book of all time is the Old Man and the Sea (already read). Another suggestion outside of twitter was Of Mice and Men (already read).

Since the twitter exchange I have read two of the books (Angle of Repose and Death Comes for the Archbishop) and I discussed Slaughterhouse Five with my son.

I went and looked for a list of great American Novels, I've read 25 of them. Was surprised to have so many. 

I will go get the Faulkner novels from the library and attempt them. But I'll be honest. As beautiful as some of the descriptions of the wild west, I still find these novels whiny. My issue with American Lit 30 years ago and still today is that we don't have enough history here to claim any understanding of the world. We are only a few generations removed from people who believed in miracles and came here. The disappointment these authors report is inevitable. Reality is always harsh. I find that these characters are so busy being disappointed in their lives that they miss the beauty being described around them. And I want to shake them.

Do you feel differently about American Lit? Why? Help me see the other side. 

NaNoWriMo

Yep, I'm nuts. Came back from heweb11 sick, still can't talk (my kids seem to find the laryngitis amusing) but I'm going to try to write a novel this month.

Every November, the folks at NaNoWriMo encourage the world to write 50,000 words. I know a woman who wrote one last year and sold it. She's on her third novel now. She's writing for the romance genre, which I have no interest in doing, but she managed to make this challenge work for her.

Last year I tried it. Got to about 5000 words and stalled. Debated going back to it, but then my computer failed. Died. Dead as a doornail. So, my feeble efforts were really wasted. But, in the past 11 months, those characters kept popping up, so I'll try again. It's a sci-fi/fantasy novel, and I have no idea if I'll ever finish it, but I have a better feeling this time around. My biggest challenge will be the names of the people and places... I tend to read novels and immediately drop the names (they all become him, her, hero, hero's friend etc). So having to give those adjectives will be my biggest challenge. But I think I'm up for it.

Empire Avenue Update

So yesterday was my most "productive" day on Empire Avenue:
Earnings: 135.38e
Dividends/Investment Earnings: 130.47e
Other Earnings: 805.48e
You spent: 4784.13e

My current "value" is e25.61 (+1.067).

I'd originally joined the "game" because of a surge of highered and social media colleagues joining. I thought it might be a way to connect with some different, albeit similar, folks and follow them on twitter to expand my knowledge base.

What I've found is a very involved writers group. And I've read a new book because of them and I'm "re"thinking about a novel I started a long time ago. I have no idea where it will go, but it is nice to be energized again about my writing.