Reading Review Week

           While I have not had a chance to read any of the un-textbook stories for this class, I have enjoyed Buck’s version of the Ramayana the most.  I know that we have barely gotten into the Mahabharata, but I love Buck’s use of language.  It is beautiful and descriptive, but it does not take away from the story instead it adds to the story.  Unlike Narayan’s version, Buck’s version just feels more complete.  Narayan’s version was not bad, and I think it was great as a starting book for the semester because it opened up the Ramayana without being too overbearing.  It sets up the reading for Buck’s version very nicely. 

            For the reading diaries, I do believe that they are helpful, especially if someone is working ahead.  My strategy for those has been to write about things that I want to have in my storytelling blogs.  For me, I want to work ahead, but I want to take my time with the storytelling assignments, so I usually skip those.  For this reason, the diaries are very helpful because they remind what I found interesting and even what initial thoughts I had about the reading. 

            Overall, I have really liked the readings.  At first, I thought reading the same stories that were told by different authors would have been boring and redundant, but it actually hasn’t.  I don’t think the readings need to change at all.  Plus, I liked that you gave the choice to do an un-textbook reading assignment.  

Valmiki sitting in the anthill.  Source: Wikipedia.