Booking Through Thursday

Booking Through Thursday asks:

Since school is out for the summer (in most places, at least), here’s a school-themed question for the week:

1. Do you have any old school books? Did you keep yours from college? Old textbooks from garage sales? Old workbooks from classes gone by?  
2. How about your old notes, exams, papers? Do you save them? Or have they long since gone to the great Locker-in-the-sky?

1.    I actually do have old school books. I kept some of my old lit anthologies, since they have bits of poetry and short stories that I wasn’t likely to buy any other way. I also kept my old French and Spanish school books from college. I also frequently buy foreign language school books from Half Price Books or yard sales when I find them, those that look helpful at least. And I have a wonderful Mexican History book written in Spanish. I thought that would both improve my Spanish as well as teach me something about Mexican history. And it would, too, if I ever bothered to read it.

2.  When I first started college, I had a fun tradition at the end of each quarter/semester. I would ceremoniously gather all my notes/exams/etc. together for the traditional “torching of the notes.” It was really fun. Later on I just threw them away. I did keep the papers I was the most proud of, like the Eugene O’Neil paper I got a 98 on, and all my Chaucer papers, and all my Shakespeare papers. And I did keep all my Chaucer and Shakespeare notes for future reference. And I kept my handouts from my French classes because I really do want to become fluent in French. And, for some odd reason, I kept my geology notes from the class I dropped shortly after I started. But when I find those again, I fully intend to throw them away.