On the Topic of the Course at the Halfway Point...

Thus far, I am enjoying the course and its subject matter. Frankly, I tend to enjoy English and Literature courses quite a bit, as the coursework doesn't really feel like "work" in the same way that other classes do, likely because it is less formulaic. 

The blog posts are a chance to interact with the texts while expressing thoughts in a largely informal manner, which allows a high degree of freedom in discourse. Similarly, the research excursions, while they do feel a bit more like work than the rest of the classwork, are still fulfilling to investigate and to unify into a cohesive presentation.

The weakest point for me, personally, is the class discussions. That's not to say that I dislike or would change anything about the discussions, and I do find them to be enlightening, especially with the varying perspectives about how the book is interpreted and how peers view the characters. For instance, I was surprised by how little my classmates liked the character of Karamat while still sympathizing with him, as I found him to be one of the more enjoyable characters in Home Fire. Class discussions are my weakest point because it takes a while for me to generate complete arguments; I understand that discussions aren't debates, and that you should throw out ideas and have the class as a whole build upon them, but I just don't like putting out incomplete ideas. 

Overall, I find this course to be both entertaining and enlightening, and the activities only serve to further foster this sense.