Literary Encouragement for Your Finals Season, AKA: Quotes About Books and How They Can Get Us to (and perhaps through) Finals By Hannah Cole, Literature Columnist It is now November. This means we are in a season of frantic preparation for finals, papers, and tests—and if you’re like me at all, you too have wanted nothing more in these last few days than to hide in your dorm, watch Netflix, and catch up on the sleep that you haven’t truly gotten since August. The books I have to read for my classes are staring at me from my bookshelf, and I suddenly realize that the semester is nearly over. Those papers due at the end of the semester—the ones I don’t need to worry about yet—well, it’s time to worry about them. The problem is, I’m just not motivated. Even writing this article took much longer than it should have, because I was distracting myself with cleaning or going to get food, anything really except what I need to be doing. Even though books just remind me of the work I haven’t done for this week, literature is still valuable, it is still impactful. And this is the time when I need it most. Sometimes reading quotes about reading is what restores my faith every semester in the knowledge that I am supposed to be at college and I am in the right major. Reading such quotes about books revives my sense of wonder, so here are a few to help motivate you to push through these next few weeks with determination: You should listen to Benedict Cumberbatch, especially when he says things about reading. This quote makes me feel that everything I read should be for a purpose, as if the words I choose to put into my head will shape my thinking as well as my outlook. This one isn’t about reading in general, but it is a lovely quote that encourages me to read nonetheless. :) Inkheart is a wonderful series, and Funke’s words are always profound. “Books loved anyone…” So good. I love C.S. Lewis, especially when he writes about reading and its connection to childhood. This quote in particular makes me to want to keep reading; I want to find the sense of wonder I had when I was younger, and I can do that most often in reading. I love this. I’m not sure who is attributed with saying this, but it makes me stop and think. I can see books as more than paper and ink here, because they retain parts of us in the words we choose to underline, bookmarks we leave between the pages, the memories we have of reading certain words.
There is something powerful about that, and it sometimes takes quotes like this to remind me that reading (even for classes) is beneficial to me. It continues to help me grow and learn new things, and I should never shy away from that. Especially in November when the sky grows dismal and all I want to do is crawl under the covers. We will indeed make it to the end of this semester, so keep reading my friends. *originally posted on leeclarion.com as part of my weekly literature column.
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By Hannah Cole, Literature Columnist
My dad came to my elementary school when I was in second grade, and he told us a story. This was a story that my sister and I had heard many times before, but the day my father came to speak to us burns brightly in my memory. In thinking of the day my dad told us this story, I am reminded of how all tales used to be passed down—an oral tradition that we often forget about. Even though I knew what was going to happen, I leaned forward to hear what he was saying as if there was a chance the story would change this time. Similarly, I wonder how the audience of Aeneid reacted when they heard the epic tale from the lips of Vergil himself or of another storyteller. How did the narrative telling differ from reading it on paper today? With text you have to come up with voices—sometimes pronouncing things like Hermione’s name wrong for seven books (my bad)—and pay attention to the cadence and delivery of words at the same time you’re establishing the story in your head. Listening to books is a completely different framework than looking at varying ways to read text. Audiobooks are a distinctive way to experience literature; a narrator conveys the story within the framework of the text. Having a good narrator is the key of appreciating the story well. I was talking with one friend this past week who was describing her experience listening to an audiobook of John Adams, originally written by David McCullough. The novel is around 752 pages in the paperback edition, and it made sense when she told me, “it was the only way I would have read the book.” It is hard to find time to read books when we’re in class, on the road, running errands—living everyday life. We don’t have too much time to stop and read for pleasure. But we can listen. My friend told me, “When you’re driving down the road, it comes to life.” The audiobook added another dimension for her. She spoke of the fact that during a long, 16-hour drive she listened to over half of the audiobook, saying the time passed quickly and it was like a friend was sitting next to her telling her a story as she drove. Audiobooks capture your mind with stories in a way the text cannot. Voice is important, and long novels especially are strengthened by the voice of a skilled narrator. They are the one dictating the story, and a good or bad narrator can effect the way an audience perceives a text. Nelson Runger who narrated John Adams pronounces the French correctly, and reads in a conversational tone that keeps the reader engaged. Here are some audiobooks that I recommend:
*originally posted on leeclarion.com as part of my weekly literature column. |
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