So this might not be related to writing, but I don’t care. This is a serious matter.
My textbooks came in yesterday. Well, some of them. I only ordered for three classes (out of five), but I ended up with enough material for about double that. Now don’t get me wrong, I like educating myself . . . when I don’t have to carry around a whole whopping anthology for a single class – and the professor mentioned we might read an extra fiction book! Although, in their defense, it is an honors class.
The Norton Anthology of World Literature, volumes A through C, measures in at about two inches per volume, and consists of various well-known works of prose, such as The Odyssey, The Iliad, and even bits of the Bible (which surprised me) and the Qur’an. While all of those are cool and interesting, I shudder to think that I might have to read the majority of them. Remember, those are all just one class.
The next class, which is also an honors class and had to be taken at the same time as the other, focuses on early world history. The book for it, A Concise History of The World, shuffles in at about an inch and is much more tolerable compared to the other textbooks. Even though it’s tiny text which fills up the page, I sense it shouldn’t be quite as difficult as it’s written on a linear path, rather than jumping around between various epics (looking at you, Norton). The professor for this class also hasn’t decided whether or not we’ll be using a second textbook, but I hope we don’t.
Finally, we reach the textbook that isn’t for an honors class. You’d think it’d be a little more inviting, right? Maybe easy to handle and not harboring the pop-art face of a woman, and written by three people.
No.
Literature: The Human Experience, written by Richard Abcarian (sounds like a kind of bird), Marvin Klotz (I bet people called him clutzy), and Samuel Cohen (Hal-le-lu-jah . . . Hal-le-lu-jah . . . ), plops down at the desk at a solid two and a half inches. At least it’s about reading and responding to literature, so perhaps I’m not doomed. Yet.
And these are just three classes!
I still have a general math, which fortunately didn’t seem to require a book, and an introduction to Spanish (not German, unfortunately) course – the textbook for which, might I add, is $175.
But it’ll be fun. I think I’ll manage. I just wanted to complain because the books are so long.
Y’all might be hearing all about the Iliad (or a similar work) in a month, so fair warning. But I promise not to write in Spanish – mostly because I suck at foreign languages.
And to all my Christian friends out there, send me your prayers so I don’t miss crucial deadlines or snap and go crazy. (Just kidding, I’m already crazy.)
-WordTechnician
Word Technician 