Book Proposal: Friday, September 23

"Whenever you tell the story of one woman, inside is another."
- Elana Dykewomon, Beyond the Pale

"Agnes was a person of deep curiosity, and so even in extremity she couldn't help observing all around her that was new."
- Louise Erdrich, The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse

While I have chosen most of the reading for this course in order to develop each of our four units, you will choose between two texts to decide the last book we will read: Louise Erdrich's The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse or Elana Dykewomon's Beyond the Pale . Draw on your own curiosity to research each of these texts and develop a convincing reason for us to read your preferred text. Both books will be available in FAC16 during its open hours for your review; these are my copies, please do not remove them from FAC16, but come and look at them when you have time. Make notes about each book using the following questions and bring these notes and any outside sources you use in your decision to class September 23.

Here is a beginning list of questions to answer about each book:
What does the image on the cover tell you?
Who endorses the book in the quotes on the back and what do they say?
What does the publisher's description of the book on the back tell you about the story?
What do you think of each story?
What can you find out about the author from reading her description in the book (usually on a book flap, on the back cover, or in the first or final few pages of a book)?
Read a few pages from the beginning of the book and a few pages from somewhere else in the book. How would you describe the writing? Does the story interest you?
Who published this book? What can you tell about the publisher?

Look up the book online.
Visit www.google.com and type in: "Beyond the Pale" "Elana Dykewomon"
or type in: "Last Report on the Miracles" "Louise Erdrich"
Use quotations to make sure you find "Beyond the Pale" together rather than pages that use the words "beyond" and "pale" separately. Take a look at a few pages that seem to be reputable and informative; bring these url's to class with you. What do these web sites tell you about the book?

Here are some things to consider when choosing your preferred text:
Why does this book seem more interesting to you?
Why do you think you'd enjoy reading this book?
How does this book fit into our syllabus?
What does this book change about or add to the class?

Notes: Each of the books run around 400 pages; we will take 8 or 9 days to read them, keeping reading around 40 pages-per-day. These books are both amazing, so this should be enjoyable reading and make for fascinating discussion. Each of the books cost around $15.