Books for this weekend

I had time to kill between class and a meeting today, so I ran into our library to see what it had to offer in terms of literature, periodicals, and general resources for a class on travel literature. I was pleased to find the Fall 2007 issue of Out Traveler. I didn't even know this existed, but it will be fun to read. They also subscribe to Outside, which features articles on destinations. One caught me eye: "the World's 30 Greatest Trips Ever." I am fascinated.

The books I picked up include

• Conquer the Impossible by Mike Horn (journey around the Artic Circle)
• The Silenced Cry by Ana Tortajada (a woman's diary of her trip to Afghanistan)
• True North by Bruce Henderson (Peary and Cook's journey to the North Pole)
• Queenan Country by Joe Queenan (a trip to England)
• Imaginary London by Anna Quindlen (all about literary London)

I returned to my office at around 1pm, started skimming Quindlen's book, and before I knew it, I had finished it! At 2:30, I closed the book and transported myself back to the here and now. I don't believe I'll use it for my class, but it was a great read, nonetheless.

Other ideas right now include some Lewis and Clark (for the regional factor) and a colleague suggested writings by Theodore Roosevelt and Bruce Chatwin. She also reminded me of the title of the movie in theaters currently: Into the Wild.

Lots of research to do, but it will be a pleasure to do it!

A Break from Grading and Class

Halloween and the past two weekends have blown by. In addition to massive grading, I've been busy with MayMay. For Halloween she was a ladybug; we were harried parents.

We've discovered that MayMay loves jumping in the inflatable things. Unfortunately, she is not much of a jumper yet. She was more often pummeled by the other kids, but she yelled "jump!" the whole time she was in it.

We took a weekend to go to the Manitoba Children's Museum in Winnipeg. MayMay was fascinated with the train. She could play with buttons and levers and sit in the conductor's seat. She played with plastic food in the galley and made us breakfast. She also got to play with water, rocks, sand, pipes, a VW Bug, fun mirrors, slides, etc.

Then we went to the zoo. Yes, it was chilly, but no crowds and the animals were quite active.

MayMay saw this bad boy and yelled, "It's a puma!" Oh, you have to love Go, Diego! Go!

At the hotel, we had access to a kiddie pool, a hot tub, and a giant water slide. I've discovered that I hate dark, loop-dee-loop spaces filled with rushing water. I was certain that the local mounties and paramedics would get to practice their de-fib equipment and skills.

MayMay was not much better with water. We haven't really had an opportunity to have her swim in large bodies of water, so she was nervous but loved it. We bought her a new life jacket for the occasion. She can't balance herself though and keeps flipping over. Now, though, she wants a nightly swim in our hot tub. It's hard to say no and it's kind of nice to get more use out of it.

So this week it's been time to refocus. My accelerated class is nearly over; Wednesday night was workshopping of rough argument/research drafts. In two weeks, they turn in final drafts. The Gateway section of 1101 is just at the drafting stage; today they turned in their research notes. In 1102, the online class is working on their exam and poetry essays, and in 0050, students just wrote their in-class essay and tomorrow we discuss the next essay. There's a lot yet to do!

New Course

The English folks want to keep trying to offer a "Special Topics" literature course, but since my Intro to the Novel class was cancelled for this Fall, I'm nervous about offering another. What courses will students sign up for?

We've offered two with great success: Supernatural/Horror Fiction and Banned Books. I tossed around ideas about genre fiction (but what should I call it it to garner attention? Naughty Novels and Western Wonders? Blechk.), and then my hubby asked why I didn't teach "those darn travel books that you talk about all the time?" You see, I've been on a Bill Bryson binge. I started reading A Walk in the Woods last summer after a colleague mentioned she used it in her Nature Writers course. I loved it and bought all his other travel books (and one on the English language). His other titles include (in the order I read them):

• Notes from a Small Island (which is about his travels through the United Kingdom)
• I'm a Stranger Here Myself (a collection of essays about moving back and adapting to America after 20 years abroad)
• The Lost Continent (traveling across America)
• Neither Here Nor There: Travels in Europe (as the title suggests, it documents his trip through numerous European countries)
• Bill Bryson's African Diary (a small hardcover--proceeds to go a non-profit organization--about a quick jaunt into Africa)
• In a Sunburned Country (travels across Australia)

Of course, he was on to something. I am excited by the possibilities of a class on travel literature. I can use a Bryson text, of course, and I can also use travel blogs, biographers of travelers, poetry like Wordsworths' The Prelude, novels like Gulliver's Travels, and so on. I thought about Whitman's Song of the Open Road but the excessive use of exclamation points remind me of bad emails and, frankly, irritates me.

Ideas for marketing: Escape winter! Take Travel Literature!

There's a lot of planning to do for this: what authors to include, do I limit the class to certain eras or geographies? How to blend fiction, nonfiction, poetry, etc. into a cohesive approach to the topic of travel writing. What kind of projects? It's not a writing class, but it would be fun to have the students create their own travelogue of sorts. At the very least, have them research and write about places they would like to visit.

This reminds me of the blog created based on Samuel Peyps' diary. I think this is a great way to update the text for modern students. I would love to see this done for Dorothy Wordsworth's Grasmere journal.