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Flannery O’ Connor: The Complete Short Stories

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We’ve all had those teachers. ¬†The ones where everything they introduce is golden. ¬†I once had a Chemistry teacher who dropped a giant chunk of Sodium in a vat of water and ran to the back of the room while the whole thing exploded. ¬†She returned to the front of the room and said nonchalantly, “I ran to the back of the room, because my hair is still a little wet from my morning shower and I didn’t want that¬†happening in my hair!”

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2014 Reading Challenge

I’ve become a lazy reader.

I’ve always been a poor reader. ¬†I even received some help in grade school to improve this. Yet reading has remained a chore throughout my life even though most would consider me well read. ¬†I attribute the fact that I am well read to my middle class upbringing that held up those with who read to be the utmost in human achievement.

For a period of time I agreed with my upbringing. ¬†Amidst my sweat and struggle to wrestle with Howard’s End or the Awakening, ¬†I rose through the ashes with an enjoyment of the stories contained between the covers of these tomes.

Then came graduate school. ¬†I read, not for enjoyment, but to pass the classes. ¬†I missed stories, though, so I read comics and watched movies to get my story fix. ¬†But mainstream movies and even so-called independent comics can be a bit formulaic. ¬†I enjoyed most of what I came across, but film and comics just aren’t as old of a medium as the written word, so after a while, I felt like I’d read all the good comics and seen most of the good films made in English (and quite a few in foreign languages, too.)