Feb Classics Wrap Up

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[astellus]

Since it's public domain, the yellow wallpaper can easily be found online to read through a Google search if anyone is interested. :)

[MaidOfPasta]

I wrote a paper on the yellow wallpaper in high school for one of my school’s strictest teachers, and I got a nearly perfect score and I’m still proud of it to this day ^^ it’s a good story!!

[TheWilyx]

OMG I loved the Ad so much xD

Also, excited to see you will move on to The Foundation soon!

[danecobain]

Ah man, I loved Of Mice and Men! And I read and enjoyed The Yellow Wall-Paper recently too :)

[uktlcty]

Doesn't have much to do with the actual books you read, but just an observation in general.. I personally find it really interesting that some people didn't read classics at school and other people's assigned reading was purely classics. It doesn't just vary from country to country, I have a friend who went to another school in my city and had completely different reading assignments. At my school we exclusively read classics btw. Idk if anyone else cares about that or if I'm alone in this, but I'm personally really curious about how assigned reading decisions are made, since it's apparently not heavily regulated by the education ministry.

[michaelvcelentano]

If you have the time, I would really highly recommend listening to some scenes from the operatic setting of Of Mice and Men. I did the “rabbits scene” in college and it’s a beautifully intense show. A lot of American and British classics have been set to music and they’re incredible!

[taylor_green_]

The ad was hilarious! What a great way to start my day

[ToriTalks]

The Yellow Wallpaper is my favorite short story. It’s so incredibly haunting and powerful.

[shadowblackheart]

Yes, the yellow wallpaper! I just read Animal Farm recently, and that one is also thought-provoking. Another short story in a similar vein is the Lottery by Shirley Jackson.

[Ruse]

Your feelings on OMaM perfectly mirror how I felt about The Great Gatsby. I hated it because I couldn't stand the characters. Now cue the people saying, "Um, yeah, that's the point." I know! I understand that it's a deliberate illustration of the hollowness of these rich people's vapid lives. 'Getting it' didn't make it any more fun to read for me, though.

[cowpercoles]

On the aversion to reading "Of Mice and Men": When I first read the book in High School, I had the same reaction. However, I re-read it later in life, and had changed, and saw the book in a new light. I've had enough of these experiences with powerful art, that I now seek out being challenged by disturbing art.

I think the act of experiencing the negative emotions and alienation by the book is an opportunity to examine what those reactions actually are, and learn about one-self. By examining each reaction, one can ask "why exactly am I feeling this", over and above the book's point. It's like weight training, or learning a martial art where you get hit a lot. When you lift weights, it will feel uncomfortable at first, maybe triggering some anxiety or fears, but if you keep at it, you will get better at it, learn more about your strengths and weaknesses. This psychologically and physically changes you into a different, more resilient and experienced person.

You will have to give up being the person you were before you went through the act of experiencing the art, which means permanently changing yourself--you will no longer be the person you were before the experience. At first, this is a new experience that can be disorienting and anxiety inducing.. If you this enough, you will embrace this transformative process, and keep doing it throughout life.

[dupreereads]

Yeeeessss The Yellow Wallpaper. Every time you read it you notice more and it gets better and better. My Short Story professor paired it with Susan Glaspell's Trifles(drama) which is also a short story called "A Jury of Her Peers". If you liked "The Yellow Wallpaper" you should try either version of Glaspell's story.

[zoeb]

I normally skip promotions, but never yours I love yours so much!

[katybeth]

Of my two favorite classics, Of Mice And Men was at the top since high school, along with The Outsiders. I did however pick it back up recently(15 years later), and I agree with you. I get the message, and since I have a disability myself I really like what it did for the awareness of mental illness, but I absolutely hated the story upon re-read. In those last fifteen years sine I initially read it, I've developed an attachment to the large lumbering, not so quick witted male characters. So going through all that with Lenny really broke my heart, because all I wanted was to be there for him and give him the patience and care he needed.

[gaberodriguez]

The ditzy character you play at 9:22 made me laugh out loud!

[RaspberryDevil]

The yellow wallpaper is my favourite short story, it's nice to hear that you liked it! It's short but you can read it differently depending on what you want to read it as (memoir, gothic, political). I read it once from a feminist view and then later in a class about life writing. That session focused on the whole 'who writes and why, what kind of voice is it' thing. So yeah, not many pages but a lot to talk about :D
(Also as always that ad was fun to watch, overall I enjoyed your video!)

[taleforquill]

I had never heard of The Yellow Wallpaper, but it sounds super interesting! I'll definitely read it soon!

[raquelmarcalsantos]

I read The Yellow Wallpaper when I was in college studying women’s writing and it stuck. I still love it to this day (I graduated college 5 years ago LOL), but I haven’t reread it in a while, and now that you talked about it, I think I’ll check that audiobook out too! Thanks!

[evilgenius]

"The Yellow Wall-Paper" is one of my all-time favorite short stories. I'm glad to know I'm not the only one who loved reading it.

[annemargarethd.a.k.filicke]

The Ad is SO FUNNY! I love your acting skills!😄❤❤