Before
class yesterday, I definitely didn’t know what I should write about for this
blog post. I found the reading to be difficult
to get through and I just wanted to give up.
As I continued to read, I wish I could say that it got better, but it didn’t
for me. Like we discussed in class, I
would have preferred for the reading to be separated into chapters or
sections. I felt like I was getting
nowhere even after a couple of hours of trying.
I
guess I was pretty surprised when we learned that Plutarch’s Lives used to be a very popular book. It’s not that I found the information or
material boring, I just wouldn’t have expected it. Today, most of us have a difficult time
focusing or reading any kind of book for a long period of time. This is due to the constant distractions
surrounding us. It seems that reading in
general (not just Plutarch’s book) has become less and less popular because
people would rather be scrolling through the internet or watching Netflix. I’m even having a hard time focusing while
writing this blog post.
Even
after the struggle of getting through the reading, I did manage to get
something out of it. As I approached the
end of it, I was actually glad that I read it.
I didn’t know much of the details about Caesar’s life before, but it was
pretty interesting. It’s not really
something to brag about, but how often do you hear true stories about people
who were captured by pirates? I definitely haven’t heard many before. Plus, Caesar didn’t react to this situation
in the way that the average person probably would. He actually stood up for himself when his
life was in the pirates’ hands. I think
that Plutarch was trying to teach us the valuable things we can learn from how
Caesar lived his life.
After
the Plutarch reading and the Goldsworthy reading, I feel like I have a better understanding of who Caesar really was.
This will definitely help as we begin to read Shakespeare’s version of Julius Caesar. I have read this play already in high school,
but I think I will be able to understand it better this time around.
I completely agree, Plutarch's lives is really difficult to read. I feel that if I could possibly get an audio version of the book that I could listen to while I read along would be helpful to stay focused. I also never knew this much about Caesar before reading this book. I can't imagine how it would have worked out for me if I had been as strongheaded and sassy as he was, if I were captured by pirates.
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ReplyDeleteI agree that this is was a challenge to read, and I thought reading logic problems was difficult. I also wished there was some audio version of this story, there probably is on YouTube... But who actually has time for that? Some of the audio recording talk too slow for my taste, I mean I can read fasterthan they are speaking and I just can't slow down. Reading about Caesar was actually interesting, but I wonder if this is just pulling another Richard III as how do we truly know that this happened in the terms of Caesars appearance.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree, it is much harder to sit down and read than to do anything else. However, that is only when you are being forced to read a book. When you read something that interests you, you can easily focus and read the material all the way through. The problem with this is that it is pretty hard to find something that meets a persons requirements. I think I speak for all people who can't focus easily on reading when I say the sites like spark notes is really all we need to know the entire story.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the idea that this book was one that was hard to sit down and completely focus on. Unlike you, reading for me is not something I struggle focusing on. Actually, I don't think there are many things more relaxing at night than sitting down with a hot beverage and reading a book. This book, however, had so many names that I constantly felt lost even though I wasn't paying attention to them necessarily. I felt as if I wasn't truly grasping the importance of some of the parts and that can be a burden while reading.
ReplyDeleteI do agree with the statement though that it gave some more insight into the complex and confusing person that Julius Caesar is. It will only aid us when we read "Julius Caesar"
Someone should adapt Plutarch's Lives into a movie or show or something! The content is interesting, but a lot of time all the stories seemed to blend together for me and I just got bored. Taking those same stories and converting them into a visual form would be much more interesting and easier to distinguish between the different events.
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