Week 11 Reading Diary B

pg. 49-91
The Mahabharata by William Buck

Important Things
-Duryodhana asks Dhritarashtra who he believes will rule the kingdom after he resigns. The town says Yudhishthira would look after them.
-Purochana builds a fire trap near where the Panadavas are staying.
-Yudhisthrita builds a tunnel around the fire.
-Vyasa takes Pandavas to the swayamvara.
-Draupada begs Shiva to give him a son to defeat Drona, who captured him.
-Draupadi marries 5 of Pandava brothers.
-The architect god leaves the forest and asks Arjuna's protection from Agni.

Week 11 Reading Diary A

pg 1-49
The Mahabharata by William Buck

-Duryodhana causes "all creatures to be slain and wastes the Earth"
-Arjuna is the "prince of all bowmen".
-Nakula is dark and guards Arjuna's chariot wheel with Sahadeve who is considered fair.
-Yudhishthira is manly and kind hearted.
-Vyasa was the poet and Ganesha was the scribe.
-Ocean was made of milk instead of salt.
-Ocean would churn and leave nectar is immortality.
-Gods emerge from the ocean.
-Shantanu falls in love with Ganga.
-Bhishman was 3 wives: Amba, Ambika, and Ambalika.

Week 10 Reading Diary B

Important Plots
-Pandavas are very powerful and make a lot of peace offerings.
-Duryodhana plans to take Krishna captive, however Krishna disrupts these plans.
-Battle happens and Bhishma is killed.
-Drona is influenced by the enemy, which is strange.
-Drona is told by the enemy that his son is dead and he gives up.
-Bhima drinks the blood of Duryodhana's brother, even though he had killed him.
-Duryodhana cries out to Krishna for his dishonorable behavior. Krishna doesn't care and tells him he had it coming.

Week 10 Reading Diary A

pg. 85-131

Important Facts
-Duryodhana is tempted by the gods
-He is captured by a gandharva and his plan to humiliate Pandavas is ruined.
-Nakula wants to drink from a lake, but the lake comes alive and asks him a series of questions that he must answer before he can drink from the lake.
-He doesn't listen and drinks from the lake. The lake then kills him.
-Others drink from the lake without answering questions. They are killed as well.
-The talking lake is actually the God of death and the questions were a test.
-Susharman, a pal of Duryodhana, is excited when he hears of Draupadi's death.
-He suggests they steal his cattle.
-Uttara and Abhimanyu get married.

Week 9 Reading Diary B

Reading: Narayan's Mahabharata pg. 84-131

Important Facts
-Dhritarashtra is shown to be an open vibrant character at the beginning, but then turns back-stabbing as the story progresses.
-This is similar to Kaikeyi in the Ramayana.
-A game is taking place between the two families.
-Dhritarashtra divides the kingdom between the families.
-Yudhistira makes a bold promise.
-The game that is being played is like gambling and is causing conflict between families.
-Draupadi has to advocate for her freedom in front of the large crowd.

Week 9 Reading Diary A

Narayan's Mahabharata pg 1-39.

Important Notes:
-Devavratha was raised in the river and did not have a dad.
-Raised by his mother.
-Devavratha needs to marry and father's of daughters want to make sure that their daughter will be on the throne.
-Takes vow of celibacy because of a stolen cow and killing mating deers.
-There seem to be a lot of characters in this book and I need to find the main characters.
-Vsaya is the parent to Vidura.
-King is blind.
-Pandu and Madri die.
-Arjuna and Karna are brothers, however, they are unaware of this.

-There seem to be a lot of different things going on within the first 39 pages. I feel like I've highlighted the main points, however, I need to do further internet research to gain a better understanding of this complicated story.

Reading Diary Week 8

I believe that the reading diaries are helpful to outline the reading. I really like reading outlines a lot more than I like reading tedious information with a lot of stuff that is rather irrelevant. I like to quick read because it allows me to catch the main idea of everything. I am able to remember locations within a story, so if I need to go retrieve something specific, I can. As I am quick reading, I will quickly note down important things that happen in a Word document. I like to include things like major characters or new characters that are just being introduced. I also like to include major plot ideas. I think by focusing on the major events within a story allows me to think more in-depth about the overall message of the story, instead of worrying about every little detail that is not relevant to the story. I also like the reading diaries because they are useful for when I am going back to write a story for the storytelling on Wednesday. If I were given a quiz instead of a reading diary, the reading would turn into busy work. I think that the reading diaries are better than quizzes because they are more useful. I have used my reading diaries to remember specific stories, especially when I am reading other people’s stories or thinking about my own stories for the storybook project. I think it would be cool if I started including a picture in my reading diaries from now on. I think this would allow me to visually connect with a story when I go back and look over my reading diary when writing the storytelling stories. Also, I just think pictures bring the stories to life and look a lot better on a blog!

(Wishbone, one of my favorite TV shows as a kid, and his books. Credit TVTropes.org)