I'll go on record that I don't much care for Allende and love Garcia Marquez. I'm hit-or-miss on Fuentes. I like Borges, but find diminishing marginal returns on revisiting his work. Thus ends my knowledge of Latin American literature.

No, wait. I wrote that and realized that I've read something by Vargas Llosa , Octavio Paz, and Jorge Amado, too. But I'll be damned if I can remember much about them. Amado's book was about drunkards in Bahia, maybe? Hmmm.

I remember reading an interview with Atwood a few years after HT came out, in which she talked about going on the book tour on a few different continents. When she'd be in Europe/UK, readers would come up to her and say, "This'll never happen here." When she'd go to Canada, they'd say, "Do you think this could happen here?" When she'd go to the US, they'd come up to her and say, "When will this happen here?"

I read both Allende and Garcia Marquez when I was in high school and liked them both, but Garcia Marquez made much more of an impression on me. I didn't understand it all, of course (still don't!), but at the very least he's got a terrific sense of humor and I think kids relate to that.

I also had a teacher who was big into Raymond Carver so we read a lot of his short stories and I think they were great for High Schoolers because they're so tied to actual real life.

Oh Carver is perfect for the Fractured American Dream theme.

"The Wire," But I'm guessing you a. want your job still. and b. don't really buy the "visual novel" meme. So I'll pretend I can close "The Wire likes carrots," tag.

I should audit PixKristin's course, I haven't read any of those books (unless Handmaid's Tale makes it in).

I loved 100 Years of Solitude and hated Love in the Time of Cholera. I probably didn't really understand them, but they didn't beat me over the head with my lack of understanding the way some books do.

I've started Love in the Time of Cholera twice but I haven't gotten very far. I think I should take a cue from the person who left her paper in Poisonwood and keep notes on all the characters next time I dive in.

Laga, I'd love to check out those notes! I always find taking a peek into someone else's close reading fascinating.

they're very short. Just the main characters' names and a few words about each of them.

Thank you again to everyone for your help this afternoon. I kept tweaking as I thought about the year, and this is final final list. And -t, I know you were probably kidding, but I'd be happy to tell you all what we're reading when in case you or anyone else would like to talk about the books here.

Debetesse gave me a great idea for a graphic novel to add, too.

Angels in America, Tony Kushner: ISBN 1559362316
Death of a Salesman, Arthur Miller: ISBN 0141180978
The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison: ISBN 0452282195
The Handmaid's Tale, Margaret Atwood: ISBN 038549081X
Across A Hundred Mountains, Reyna Grande: ISBN 0743269586
Best American Travel Writing of 2006, Ed. Tim Cahill: ISBN 0618582150
American Born Chinese, Gene Luen Yang: ISBN 1596431520

I reluctantly removed Gilman's Hypocrite in a Pouffy White Dress (I think it's going to be a summer reading book if I teach this class again the year after next, as will Butler's Kindred) once I thought through the scope of the year.

That gives them a mix of novels, plays, fiction, and non-fiction and yet all connects to identity in America. LIke I said earlier, I'm still going to show them a movie version of Hamlet and plan to show them the whole darned series of Slings & Arrows over the course of the year, so they won't be Shakespeare-deprived.

Should be a very fun course to teach. I'm really looking forward to it.