reading NOOOOOOOOOOW!!!

i'm finally teaching a lit class (sort of) in the spring.  it's a reading/discussion based class, and the curriculum seems pretty open (basically i have to use books published after my students were born, so post-1990ish).  anyway, i've tried to sprinkle the reading list with a lot of things that will inspire talk about some of (what i see as being) the prominent cultural concerns of the last two decades, like:

1. globalization (and what this does to our ideas of place, race, class, gender, etc.)
2. apocalypse and environment
3. the intarwebs

yes, that's a really freaking broad list, but the way i understand this class, i'm not supposed to be lecturing, but mostly just facilitating discussion; so i want to start broad and only narrow down when/if necessary.

anyway, i just sent my booklist off, so here's what we're going to be reading:

Terry Prachett and Neil Gaiman, Good Omens (Novel)

Neil Gaiman, American Gods, (Novel)

Neal Stephenson, Snow Crash (Novel)

Peter Chilson, Disturbance-Loving Species (Short stories)

Frank Miller, 300 (Graphic novel and film)

Cormac McCarthy, The Road (Novel and film)

Max Brooks, World War Z (Novel)

John Krakauer, Into the Wild (Novel and film)

Note: The film version of The Road may be cut from the schedule due to time constraints and depending on when it becomes available on DVD.

Note 2: I'm really pumped about using WWZ to talk about politics and cultural assumptions, etc.  And also zombies.

I'm really excited to teach the class, though at the same time I had to sort of throw this booklist together when in reality there were about 20 more books I wanted to read before choosing which ones I wanted to teach.  Apparently they usually offer the class in the fall only, which would have given me the entire summer to decide on books, but instead I got about two weeks.  So I'm hoping my choices will work out.  I'm just glad to actually be teaching about books.  more on this later.