I may not know how to study.

Creepy practice books only get me so far.

 

As I’ve begun seriously thinking about applications again, I’ve also begun seriously freaking out about getting ready to re-take the GRE Subject Exam in English Literature. I began by taking a practice test just to see where I stand after over a year and was pleasantly surprised to see that my score went up 30 points without any studying or preparation.

However, I, being me, still want it to be better. I googled some strategies and some prep sites, but as I sat down to begin studying for the test of all tests, I realized that I may not know how to study. It’s been so long since I’ve had to take an actual standard test – the last one being the same exam I’m preparing for now over a year ago. I’ve got my flashcards and my outlines, but my brain doesn’t seem able to absorb anything. I keep running through my cards over and over and the pile of “I know these by heart” cards never gets any bigger. It’s frustrating.

Strange Connections.

While the entire nation is watching the Super Bowl, I am sitting in my apartment with my cat trying to study for my English Literature Subject Exam. I take the exam in October, and it basically determines which schools I’ll be applying to in the future. Well, sort of. My advisor swears that it’s become less important than in years past, but still. I don’t want one blemish on my application this time around.

I turned on my old Pandora quick mix while studying, and this song came on. I’ve never quite connected to this song as much as I did tonight. I even stopped alphabetizing my flash cards to listen to it all the way through. It’s weird how little things sometimes crop up randomly and when we least expect them.

Anyway, I’m back to reliving my high school days via Pandora and to memorizing every piece of literature ever written. Ever.

Enjoy the Super Bowl. I’ve been told I should be rooting for the Giants, so Go Giants!

Diversion

I have diverted from my original reading list for the summer.  After finishing Eat, Pray, Love, The Picture of Dorian Gray, and Wuthering Heights, I was supposed to begin rereading The Catcher in the Rye, one of my all-time favorite books, but I, instead, opted for a new read.  I figured now is my chance to read the books that have been sitting on my shelf forever waiting and wishing to be opened.  Although Catcher will have to wait for me to revisit its pages, The Truth Will Out: Unmasking the Real Shakespeare has finally felt some love.  This book has been sitting on my shelf for a while now, and after registering for a Shakespeare seminar in the Fall, I figured there was no better time than the present to crack it open.  I’m about halfway through and am 100% happy with my decision.

As an English major, bibliophile, and anglophile, I have, of course, always been a fan of Shakespeare.  I think it’s a graduation requirement for all English majors, especially those looking to pursue a career in academia, and even more especially those wishing to pursue a career in academia focused on Medieval and Renaissance British literature.  For the previous sentence, read: I’ve done my fair share of reading about Shakespeare.  This book, however, offers a whole new perspective.  The authors posit that Sir Henry Neville is in fact that “real” Shakespeare and set out to prove (quite convincingly, I might add) that he wrote the many plays attributed to the world-famous, Stratford-born William Shakespeare.  Their research and hypothesis has introduced me to a whole new facet of Shakespeare’s plays and has made me revisit some of my favorites in a new light.  Repeat: I am 100% happy with my choice to venture into the unfamiliar “I’m reading nonfiction for fun” waters.

I also can’t wait for next year.

Shopping = Panacea… even for geeks like me.

I spent today shopping.  It was great.  I’m usually not one to spend hours at the mall lusting after items far too expensive for anyone to ever actually buy them, but sometimes I just want to spend a day wandering around stores, strolling up down aisle after aisle.  Most of the time, I don’t even end up buying anything.  Today, however, that was not the case.

I’m trying to build a new wardrobe for grad school which is turning out to be more difficult than I anticipated.  While I found some wonderful things today (shirt covered in tiny giraffes, super soft blue scarf…), I’ve also got my eye on some especially nerdy online finds.

1. A shirt that explains it all.  I was recently introduced to a website called Think Geek.  It’s a great little gem of a website filled with everything geeky.  From t-shirts to cubicle decorations, pretty much everything on this site makes me smile or laugh.  Of course half of the jokes revolve around crazy computer lingo I don’t understand, but I’ve been told that those, too, are quite funny.  I’ll have to take my boyfriend’s word for it.

2. My favorite novels on t-shirts?  What could be better?  I found this site through a fashion blog I’ve been reading for the last few months and immediately wanted almost every shirt they make.  How great are they?  Now I don’t even have to walk around with my nose in a book to look like a pretentious English major.  I can display my affinity for the written word right there on my t-shirt.  Fantastic.  I’m loving the Catcher shirt, but I don’t think my English grad student wardrobe will ever be complete without at least six of these great t’s.  Yes, you can say it; I already know I’m a nerd.

3. JSTOR.  On a t-shirt.  That’s all.

And now I’m off to scour the web for some more geeky, nerdy goodness.

Nothing like a good book.

Now that I have a summer of free time staring at me, I suddenly have a desire to revisit some good books I’ve enjoyed over the years.  I used to read all the time, but somehow, over the last four years, I’ve lost sight of this focus.  As an English Literature graduate student (wow… It still feels bizarre to call myself that), I feel like a summer dedicated to reading is a great way to prepare myself for a whirlwind two years.  I have a few favorites in mind to start with and a few books I’ve picked up over the last few weeks, months (eek), that I want to finish, but I’m unsure how to proceed with the rest of my list.  I have a pretty extensive collection of classics on my bookshelf at home, many of which I’ve been planning on reading for a while, but where to start?

I’ve never really been a huge fan of many great American writers, strange I know, as an American, but for some reason the Brits seem to strike my fancy a little bit more effectively.  So, do I start there, or do I accept the fact that I am going to be studying British literature for the rest of my life and, therefore, dedicate my summer to reading the great American novels I have missed in my pursuit of misty moors and snobby aristocrats and dreary London?

Books are so crazy in a way.  I can carry around whole worlds and time periods in my purse.  Crazy.  They never tell me to come back later or schedule any black out dates.  A book will always love me.  I know my poor neglected copies of Sula and Hard Times and Anna Karenina will still be more than willing to spend some quality time together even though I haven’t looked at them in over a year…. or two.

So, summer project: read.  Read often and read much.  Read for fun and read for knowledge.  Read inside, outside, in the rain and in the sun.  Many of my friends have dedicated their summers to spending some quality time at the beach.  I should probably have joined this trend too.  Last night, I made the mistake of typing “Seton Hall campus winter” into a Google search.  Scary.  I’m still shivering just thinking about it; however, I have decided that Orlando is not the most beach-friendly city.  Reading it is.

Now for the plan:

First, the books I’ve started and have yet to finish.

1. Eat, Pray, Love - Elizabeth Gilbert

My best friend gave me this book for my birthday…. in August.  I was so excited to start reading it, ready to let Elizabeth Gilbert’s voyage of self discovery fill me up and rescue me from my own terror about my life and the future and missing out on life experiences.  I was.  I promise.  However, life got in the way as it always seems to do, and I just started a few weeks ago.  I’m already about 1/3 of the way through.  She’s done the eating.  I’m about to enter the praying portion.  I have loved every bit of her story so far: her adventure, her sense of self-confidence even in the midst of a life that seems to be falling apart, her writing and the way it takes me on a journey through each sentence, the way it captures my sense of comfort and adventure at the same time.  Everything.  So, first and foremost, I will finish this book.  :)

2. The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde

I started this book sometime in…… November, maybe.  I hadn’t read much Wilde in the past, but he had come highly recommended by so many of my friends.  After mentioning it about a hundred times, I received a copy of this book from my parents for Christmas two years ago.  Sadly, even with all my good intentions of reading it immediately, thesis research and full-time teaching and whatever other handy excuses I can list got in the way, and I never opened it.  This November, I decided I needed something to save me from the stress of my constant thesis work, so I decided to finally visit the famed words of Oscar Wilde, and I was not disappointed.  I found myself underlining and starring line after line.  I carried Oscar with me to the lake, the park, the mall, class, the library.  Everywhere.  I loved his simple yet elegant writing, but somehow, one day, he was evicted from my bag to make room for thesis research and never found his way back.  Until now.

Next, the ones I’ve read and loved or have meant to read and love for a while.

3. Wuthering Heights - Emily Brontë

Yet another I’ve been meaning to revisit.  I skimmed through this one in high school, got a jist of the story, and moved on.  I was intimidated.  I had read Jane Eyre after all and was not ready to repeat that experience any time soon.  So what if this one was written by the other sister?  How could it possibly be better?  Now, I see that I probably did myself a disservice.  I never should have thumbed through, broken the magic of an undiscovered story.  Now, I am dedicated to reading it all the way through, word for word.  Hopefully Emily will not disappoint me.

4. The Catcher in the Rye - J. D. Salinger

Of course I’ve read this one already.  Of course I’ve fallen in love with this book already.  It might seem silly to spend my time, my limited free time, rereading when I have so many books on my shelf I’ve never opened, but I can’t help it.  I simply cannot let Holden have all the fun on his own.  Something about this story spoke to me the first time I read it.  Something about it helped me realize that I had to dedicate my life to studying the words and stories and recorded experiences of others, fictional or not.  Sometimes I believe Holden and I are kindred souls.  We’re both desperately searching for our places in the world, clinging to what feels comfortable while truly hating those who exist rather than live.  So what do I say to the people who call my silly for this crazy plan?  …. Phonies.

5. The Complete Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

While this exact anthology is sitting on my shelf at home, I have to admit that I probably won’t read the whole thing.  Not immediately anyway.  I will probably break it up with other delightful literary adventures, but I do want to begin.  Holmes has got to be one of the most quintessential characters of all time.  I need to at least meet him.  Besides, it’s such a beautiful book, how can I leave it neglected any longer?  Also, who doesn’t love a good mystery story?

So those are the five I have in my plan for now.  For some, that might seem adequate, but I have a feeling I will need more.  I guess I’ll see where my desires take me.  I have a shelf full of worlds, experiences, characters, and opportunities.  Let the adventure begin.