Bleak House

Yes. That book. The one written by Charles Dickens. Over fifty years after it was assigned reading, I still have not read it.

Education after high school was going to be my responsibility. Those first college courses were taken at the University of Wisconsin -- Green Bay Extension. Affectionately referred to as Cardboard Tech, it was built for returning vets after WWII. The "temporary" building was still in use in 1961.

After five years of full and part time working and attending UW -- Green Bay Extension, I went to Madison to complete the last two years. In 1965 I received a BBA degree from the University of Wisconsin at Madison.

During one of those semesters when I wasn't attending full time, I signed up for an English Lit(erature) correspondence course**. The hope was to alleviate some of those credit requirements to achieve that university diploma.

I don't recall what else may have been assigned reading for the English Lit course, but I do recall one book assigned was Bleak House. I have no recollection of how much of the book I may have read. I do recall sending in two or three of the course assignments before I decided to drop the course. Would American Lit have been a better choice.

Today it isn't correspondence courses via the US Postal Service, but courses via the internet of varying structure and participation. For me, I doubt that it would have made English Lit any easier.

When I ran short of reading about a year ago, I did read Dickens' Great Expectations (as an eBook). With the Pima County library for real books and eBooks, there is always another book that I have reserved that is waiting for me to pick up or download. Too much to read. Too little time.

Considering the number of books already on reserve at the library and the number of book titles waiting to be put on the list, I may never get around to reading Bleak House. And that's okay.

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** For those younger readers... Without an internet in fifty years ago, a correspondence course used the post office for communication between the instructor and the student.

I wonder if any of my readers had attended Cardboard Tech.