Required Readings

Two classes this semester have me reading various interesting things. My Brit Lit course has me in Beowulf right now. I used to be staunchly anti-Beowulf. But I must say, after understanding the principles and period behind it, and how to decipher some of the *beautiful* poetry...within the poem, haha!, I'm really enjoying it. It actually reads just like a regular story, and it's quite exciting. Though I'm not required to read the whole thing for the class--we're only reading to page 88--I have decided to continue on so I can say I've read the whole thing. :)
The other class for reading is the Then and Now course with Mrs. V. Now, I already mentioned the Cinderella variations, but I want to come back to them for just a moment. Everybody knows that Disney has cleansed all the original stories, because they are quite gruesome. I know I've read Grimm's Cinderella, but I did not remember that the step-sisters cut off their heels and toes to get their feet into the shoe. Nor did I remember how the dad doesn't even like Cinderella anymore. Oh, and also, the step-sisters? Yeah, birds pluck out their eyes at the end of the story? While I do not agree in theory with sanitizing stories...thank you, Disney for giving us the lovely Cinderella movie we have today.
The other things I've read for the T&N class are Poe's "Tell-Tale Heart" and Browning's "Porphyria's Lover." I had read neither before but because of them being Poe and Browning, I was excited to read them. I really like Poe and Browning. Do you know how violent those things are? It's kind of funny, actually. You read them and go...wait, WHAT?! Did that just happen? Why am I reading this? Haha! I shall not spoil the stories for you, but both are very short and can be found on google if you'd like to know what I'm talking about.

Then, something that I'm not being required to read for school, but that kind of goes in the same theme, is Great Expectations that I'm still making my way through. Though it's thick writing, I am enjoying it quite a lot. Dickens has succeeded in writing an amazing display of characters. I can't even begin to describe it. The depth and warring facets within Pip...and yet, he's not a whiner...AH! It's just so cool and makes me grin just thinking about it! I don't think I can ever hope to pack into a character what Dickens has put into Great Expectations. Go read it, if you haven't and keep reading it, if you're stuck plowing through the endless descriptions. Haha! It is worth it.