I choose my reading in the following way. Firstly, I open all the reading stories. Then I will look at the format. If it is a poem style, I close the page instantly because I am not able to read the old language poem; misunderstanding can result in big mistake, so I avoid them. After that, I read all the Reading Guide and mark the stories I like. This is how I choose my reading.
I am happy with the choice since the strategy is designed by me, so it works perfectly for me.
Oh, I understand about the poetry, Youhao: the language is very different in poetry. I wish you had chosen the Narayan book instead, though, because if you are skipping the poetry, that means you are missing some really important events in the plot of the Ramayana. These are not separate stories; they are episodes in one big story, and every episode is important.
ReplyDeleteHere is a suggestion: even if the poetry is too hard to read, make sure you read the "Reading Guide" note at the top of the page, and also look at the illustration. Since the narrative is continuous, with each episode connected to the next, you can use the introductory paragraph(s) at the of the page and the illustration to smooth over the gap that might happen if you just skip the poetry parts.
And for the Mahabharata, read the Narayan version in the Library, okay? That way, you won't have any poetry parts: the Narayan book is all in prose, and it is a much more modern book, which means it is much easier to read. If you don't like poetry, the Public Domain Edition is not a good choice for you.
You might even want to switch to Narayan for the second half of the Ramayana; here is the information about Narayan's book; it is free to read in the Library!
Narayan's Ramayana — and you might also want to use the detailed Reading Guides at that link to smooth over any gaps that result from your skipping the poetry
(and his Mahabharata is also free to read in the Library when we get to that part of the class in Week 5 and Week 6).
If you know you don't like poetry, make sure not to choose any poetry again, okay? If you are just skipping the poetry parts, that means you are missing out on some really important events in the story. Narayan is great, though - much more modern language, and no poetry. It sounds like Narayan's books would be a much better choice for you!