New Year, New Resolutions, New Start, and Plans to Disrupt All Those Fun Things

Happy 2008! It'll be fabulous. There's a leap year to screw up your date calculations, tons of calendars counting down until Bush leaves (but serving to remind me that he's still here for another year and can make all kinds of fun midnight appointments), and I'm now part of the ranks of federally funded babysitters. Good times.

On a (dubiously) happier note, I'm following the trend and switching from Xanga to Blogger. (Why, yes, constantly stating the obvious was one of my New Year's resolutions. Why do you ask?) Those of you who blog amuse me endlessly in my quest to procrastinate, so I figured I'd return the favor. Plus, ranting to the Internet is better than actually phoning someone and whining at them for 45 minutes. I'm easier to tune out in typed form.

So, here we go: a new blog. This one will be a mix of reviews, since I really liked my summer 2007 blog. When I read something, I'll let you know what I think and whether you should bother picking it up. When I play something, same deal. (Apologies for game reviews -- most of you have probably played them, since I'm backlogged, but you can yell at me for stupid comments. "What?! F.E.A.R. was brilliant! BRILLIANT, I say!" *much shaking of fists*)

I'm taking the PRAXIS II on Sat., so the first posts will be book-related. The PRAXIS I and II are the series of tests teachers have to pass in order to prove we (sort of, kind of, maybe) know things. PRAXIS I is the general, "I can read, I can add, I can tie my own shoes and make a PB+J without Mommy's help" test, but II is the subject area and pedagogy stuff. For English, the boundaries for what they can ask about are as follows: Has it been printed in English? Yes? Okay, we can ask about it.

Narrows it right down, eh? This would not be a problem, except for one teeny, tiny, itty, bitty issue: I haven't read much in the way of "greats."

Seriously. Think about it. All those books that "everyone" reads are the ones college professors tend, by and large, to avoid like the plague. "Oh, god, who wants to read Tale of Two Cities? Done to death. Let's read esoteric novels about the rural resistance to the King instead." There are exceptions, but few. (Chandler made us read Huck Finn, but other than that...) Even the History of Lit classes tended to be a bit wacky, with the exception of Bates.

Consequently, I'm trying to read EVERYTHING I was SUPPOSED to have read in the past 22 years over the next week. Conclusion: Mark Twain was on the money when he defined a classic as a book that "...everybody praises, but nobody reads." And bloody well rightly so, in many cases.

So, in the next few weeks, I will present the good, the bad, and the bleedin' awful of Ye Classic Englishe Literature, complete with snarky comments. Because, damn you, Victor Hugo: you had it coming. (Punk.)