you pray for rain, I pray for blindness

[luciazephyr]

Can I just say how much I hate my EngComp class?

Not because I'm bad at it. Oh no. It's just the fact I've done this exact same course over and over and over again in my academic career and I am so sick of it. This is why for my summer classes, I wrote a goddamn novel of fanfic instead of focusing on my work and I still got a 95% on my final. Writing CTMWR was infinitely more challenging and a test of my abilities than the latest in a long line of "read this article/book and write a paper on it."

And I swear to god EngComp 2 is the exact same class as EngComp 1. Point for point, it's all the same. Come the fuck on.

For the class, I have to pick a book to read and write my final paper on. I have a very limited, unappealing selection to pick from:

• Grapes of Wrath - Steinbeck (I refuse to do this after having to watch the movie two separate times in high school. I'm done with this story.


• The Jungle - Upton Sinclair (I can't do this one- I have a relevant squick that will ensure I won't make it through the book.)


• Their Eyes Were Watching God - Zora Neal Thurston (Considered this, but phonetic spelling is my literature Berserk Button and NO.)


• The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini (No major objections besides not wanting to read it in the slightest.)


• Bandages and Bullets - Robert J. Saniscalchi (I was going to do this one, but apparently I can only get it via the internet, and I don't like buying things online.)


• Frankenstein - Mary Shelley (No major objections besides the same issue I have with the next one as well...)


• The Historian - Elizabeth Kostova (I hate period pieces. I hate them. I hate them. I hate them. I cannot express the sort of hate I have for them. They are the literary equivalent of rap music to me: not only do I not like them, I would rather sit in a dark room without any form of entertainment than read/listen to them.)

I have a deep disdain for the prospect of reading any of these books, let alone writing a paper on them. I would kill for a little leeway. Lemme read.... IDK, Heinlein or Asimov or Stephenson. Gimme spec fic and I will write you something worthwhile and interesting, I swear.

If anyone wants to tell me which of these would suck the least to read, I'm all ears.

Also, I lost a not-close relative today and the reminder of mortality has me more depressed than usual. Mum asked, "Do you want to see a shrink?" just a bit ago. Nope, Mum. After all, sadness is like happiness, but for deep people. I keep calm and carry on.

Comments

[sarken]

I think I would rather gouge my eyes out than read any of those. FFS, you're in college: why on earth aren't they letting you write your paper on whatever book you damn please? I may have hated both books* I used for my final essay in Writing the Essay, but at least it was my own fault for picking them.

*The essay was only supposed to be about one book, but I hated the first one so much I went to the instructor and said, "You have to let me start over with a new book. I can't stand this." The second was actually worse, but less squicky, and I didn't have time to start over yet again.

[thene]

I still fail at comprehending why US colleges even have basic required courses like that. :/ It seems like a cheat to charge someone for college and then make them study crap they learned years ago.

In your future I wish upon you teachers like my old enlightenment science tutor who published Neuromancer meta on the side.