On My Nightstand : March

{Books and Homework}

I've decided to start a new series of posts entitled On My Nightstand, and hopefully I can get around to posting them once a month. The posts will focus on what I am currently reading, working on, and interested in.

Currently Reading
I had to pick a memoir or autobiography for English class, to read for this semester's independent reading project. I did a lot of research before making a selection, reading excerpts from, and reviews about, a number of memoirs including: A House in the Sky, Eat Pray Love, and Half Broken Horses. And although each of the aforementioned titles have received high critical acclaim, I choose Wave for the emotional power I presumed it would express.

Wave is the story of Sonali Deraniyagala, who was vacationing with her family in Sri Lanka during Christmas week of 2004. On December 26th, a devastating tsunami and earthquake occurred in the Indian Ocean and her hotel in Yala was consumed by waves. Deraniyagala lost her parents, husband, and sons to the tsunami, and Wave is her incomprehensible story of recovery.

I still have yet to reach the story's conclusion, but I have no doubt will agree with The New York Times Book Review who said, "[Wave is] unforgettable...as unsparing as they come, but also defiantly flooded with light...Extraordinary."

Interested In
I LOVE Downton Abbey. And I hate to say it, but part of the reason I haven't posted in a while is because after school I've been catching up on all of the seasons instead of blogging. I received Season One of the popular show for Christmas, and was immediately hooked. For those of you who don't know anything about the show, here's a brief overview:

The show follows the happenings of the aristocratic Crawley family (the residents of Yorkshire's fictional Downton Abbey) and their servants. Season One opens in 1912, just after the sinking of the Titanic. The show continues to be influenced by the major events in history - everything from World War I to the formation of the Irish Free State.

Because of watching so much of this I suppose, (I just completed the most up-to-date season) I have become increasingly interested in anything having to do with the women's suffrage movement, and even more interested in the 1920s than I was before. The book Downton Abbey: Behind the Scenes will have to suffice until the show resumes again the January 2015!

Working On
For the next few days, my Honors English class will be debating a topic with regard to Shakespeare's Macbeth. The topic is: Is Macbeth a victim of fate? My group will be debating the affirmative, which is good, because I actually agree with that. The debate is being laid out like an argumentative essay, so I was tasked with writing my group's introduction. In the introduction, I laid out our three main points, got to be creative in my explanation of fate, and even managed to reference Harry Potter!

"We don't have the ability to change out own fate, but we can change others'."
-J.K Rowling, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix