Monday, March 15, 2010
Favorite novel/short story/article?
So, for our extra credit post, let's talk about our favorite readings. Personally, I like The Lingua Franca, mainly because fantasy/science fiction is one of my favorite genres. Calcutta Chromosome is fine, but it had more a feel of a historical novel to me as the author went through the history of malaria. Switching the narratives was cool though, especially as you got near the end and everything was starting to tie together. After having read As I Lay Dying (which probably has the shortest chapter, btw), switching narratives isn't really that bad. To summarize, Calcutta Chromosome has its positives, but as a whole, I enjoyed Lingua Franca more.
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Oi-to-the-vey... The Calcutta Chromosome was my least favorite! All the trippy merging and stuff... SO CREEPY. And maybe I'm retarded, but it was just overall difficult to follow, which I didn't like. I like more Classical things, I guess, which is why I'm gonna say this: Viva la France!! I loved Foucault's "The Order Of Things." I love reading things that are pretty to say, instead of more sci-fi or more analytical or whatever else. I feel like that's the first real prose I've read in the class and it was so pretty to read! Maybe not entirely precise but I think that Michel Foucault wins by being vague - people can't criticize his specific points because there are none! =)
ReplyDeleteHahha nice Alli, I liked the part about Foucault being vague...hehe...Anyways, I agree some parts of The Calcutta Chromosome was a bit "CREEPY" but overall I find that it was my favorite piece of writing that we have read all semester. Most of the articles were kind of boring and bland, for my tastes, but the Calcutta Chromosome kept me as the reader on the edge of my seat, so to speak. I liked the fact that Ghosh went into the scientific and historical aspects of malaria while also weaving mysticism and fiction into it. He had great diction, and some of the quotes like when Phulboni speaks to the crowd about the silence of the city are absolutely gorgeous and poetic. The journey through the novel was fun and surprising and the way the author wrote the journey was very captivating. Because of that, my favorite reading of the class thus far is Amitav Ghosh's The Calcutta Chromosome.
ReplyDeleteAt least I can find comfort in the fact that Jacob didn't like Calcutta Chromosome either! You guys are insane... ha! Or maybe Jacob and I are Neanderthals...! Who knows?!
ReplyDeleteHaha you guys are definitely not neanderthals, you guys just have different tastes in literature than us. For instance, I don't really like reading about history unless it has to do with science or is a biography. For instance I really enjoyed reading a biography about Albert Einstein. ^_^
ReplyDeleteThat'd be pretty neat actually... I generally go for the more um, perverse versions of that.... Like my senior year of high school I read Mein Kampf which was incredibly intelligent. Weird as anything, but very intelligently written.
ReplyDeleteBut as far as brain-candy goes, I like a lot of French and Spanish lit. AND Classics. I can't tell you how many times I've read The Odyssey... =)
Okay... so if you had to choose, (I know it's like asking which air molecule is your favorite...) like, gun to your face, what is your favorite book of ALL time??
My favortie so far is definitely The Lost World. It was right up my alley with all the action and adventure and dinosaurs. (RAWR!!!) Lingua Franca was okay, but just was not quite on the same level as The Lost World. To be honest I loathed The Calcutta Chromosome, mainly because I did not liek Ghosh writing style at all. I cannot wait to read Frankenstein because its been a long time since I've read it and I loved it then, so it will be interesting to see if my interests have changed any.
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