Tag Archives: Eudora Welty

The November Reading List

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It’s that time of the month to post my son and DIL’s reading syllabus for the next month! My DIL teaches English at a private school for students who may struggle with school for various reasons, but are very intelligent. I’m posting the current reading assignments in case you’d like to follow along — or are looking for something good to read.

I will admit, I didn’t keep up with October’s reading list. I wondered how the month went by so quickly! I did read — plus listen to “Revolutionary Road” by Richard Yates. I read Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman” on the flight to and from Oakland. I’m currently reading “The Stranger” by Camus.

I’m behind, but the syllabus is expanding my reading to include poetry, novellas, plays and fiction that I normally wouldn’t read. I see that as a good thing, even though I’m not sticking to the schedule.

My son had his pre-op appointment for his surgery and wouldn’t you know it? It’s the day after my bunion surgery. I postponed my surgery until next year. I’m going up to take care of my son in November for his surgery, just like I did in October for my daughter. We are enjoying taking care of our grand-dog Waffles in between surgeries. We are on a pretty good schedule and I look forward to our walks together almost as much as Waffles does!

What a smile our snaggle-tooth Waffles has!

Have a great weekend! Happy Halloween!

What exciting plans do you have for the weekend?

OCTOBER TBR and Red

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Red decided the flamingo made a nice perch, too!

Then Red went for the Beavertail Cactus artwork.

Happy October!

Here’s the new month’s syllabus for my DIL’s high school senior’s AP English class. I’m posting the reading assignment on the first of each month, in case you’re interested in adding to your TBR list. October covers the ’60s, ’50’s and ’40’s. There’s some good stuff here including Albert Camus, Eudora Welty and Tennessee Williams.

I’m participating by reading along with them — but not doing the writing assignments. I’m a little bit behind schedule and need to finish Toni Morrison’s “Beloved.”

HERE’s OCTOBER’S READING ASSIGNMENT:

If you’re interested in reading the poetry or short stories, my son sent me a packet of the material for October. If you send me an email to eawickham31@gmail.com, I’ll be happy to email you the pdf.

Have you read any of the authors or books, poems and short stories on October’s syllabus?
If so, which ones?

I almost quit reading

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Eudora Welty, Delta Wedding bookcover

I’ve been struggling reading the book “Delta Wedding.” I almost put it down for good. But then I decided to give it one more try the day I skipped lap swimming. I was going to start my book club assigned book “Less” by Andrew Sean Greer.

I finally got caught up into the story about plantation life in the Mississippi Delta in the 1920s. I’ve never read Eudora Welty before. My son recommended the book and said it was his favorite assigned book in college.

It’s literary fiction which is code to mean there’s no plot. Or, as Wikipedia says “Literary Fiction is character-driven rather than plot-driven and examines the human condition.”

The writing is detailed and beautiful. It accurately depicts life on a plantation. I finally figured out who all the characters are which was confusing at first. There are three generations in the Fairchild family. Some of the characters in different generations have the same first names. There are eight children in the family and one of the daughters is getting married. Hence the title, “Delta Wedding.”

Here’s another bit from Wikipedia:

Delta Wedding is a 1946 Southern fiction novel by Eudora Welty. Set in 1923, the novel tells of the experiences of the Fairchild family in a domestic drama-filled week leading up to Dabney Fairchild’s wedding to the family overseer, Troy Flavin, during an otherwise unexceptional year in the Mississippi Delta.

A New York Times Review from 1946:

The interplay of family life, with a dozen different people saying and doing a dozen different things all at the same time, is wonderfully handled by Miss Welty so that no detail is lost, every detail had its place in the pattern of the whole. The transitions are so smoothly made that you seem to be all over the place at once, knowing the living members of three generations and all the skeletons and ghosts.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delta_Wedding

What books have you struggled with that you ended up loving? Why would you put a book down for good?