I'm using this blog to post about my own reading but also to blog alongside my students in ENGL 104 and WR 121. For this reason, I'm going to complete the first blog post for ENGL 104.
1. My name is Nancy Knowles. I prefer to be called Nancy, but Professor Knowles or Dr. Knowles work fine. I got a BA in East Asian Studies from UCLA, so I didn't major in English as an undergraduate, but by the time I graduated, I knew I wanted to be an English major. I later went back to school for graduate study in English. My main hobby is reading, so I'm getting paid for my hobby! :) I also like to play with my daughter and walk my dogs.
2. I don't remember learning to read. My parents must have read to me, but I don't remember that either. I remember reading to my younger sister from a fairy tale book with a red binding. I also remember reading under the covers with a flashlight after I was supposed to be asleep. I loved escaping into the adventure in the book! I had long "thinks" where I would picture myself in the action of the stories.
In terms of school reading, I remember reading "Dick and Jane" books in first grade. I read a book called Savage Sam in fourth grade that was the sequel to Old Yeller. I loved the smell of that book! By eighth grade, I had read all the books the eighth grade class would be reading that year, except Moby Dick. So, I read Moby Dick (I enjoyed all the whaling details, including the time a sailor fell into a whale that was being cut up--gross!), and then my teacher told me to read whatever I wanted and to write up a worksheet he could use to assign that book to other students. That was totally my style!
My reading preference has always been fantasy. My current favorite fantasy writer is Martha Wells. I also assign myself classics to read and try to keep up with my students' reading and my dad's reading. I recently read Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy. That was a hard book to get through because it is very bleak and violent! However, my dad read it, one of my students recommended it, so I did it. Since then, one of my other students with whom I talk about books has read it, resulting in some interesting conversations. I plan to write a separate post on it, so I won't say any more.
3. I still need to do my interviews... I'm working with some teachers today and will try to pin them down about their reading.
THE AMAZING BLADEZO
4 weeks ago
My daughter Amber reads Animorphs, which is a series about kids who have been genetically modified by aliens to be able to acquire an animal's genes and then turn into that animal. I read a few with her and enjoyed them. In the books, Earth is being attacked by Yerks, parasitic slugs that get into your brain and control you. They can kill you and take your body. (Amber is dictating this information to me right now.)
ReplyDeleteAmber reads Animorphs because she always wanted to be an animal and she likes the characters.