Creating the Indian Epics UnTextbook

So, as some of you may have heard from me already, I want to spend summer 2015 creating an "UnTextbook" for Indian Epics that can work much like the UnTextbook for Myth-Folklore, which I created in summer 2014. I will still continue to have copies of Narayan and Buck available in the OU Bookstore for people who want to read the epics as printed books, but I also want to make available free, public domain books so that people could take Indian Epics and do all their reading with free texts, not having to buy anything in the Bookstore, while also having a wider range of options for what to read.

Since I know I will be working on this project in the summer, I would love to have your feedback now about the books I might include. Basically, the way this extra credit assignment works is that I would like for you to take appx. 15 minutes to READ in the books I am considering, and then write up a blog post where you let me know what you think of the book: pro, con, likes, dislikes — kind of a Reading Diary post but, this time, it is not something for you to use later; it is something for me to use later when I get to work full-time on this project in May!

If you are in the Myth-Folklore class, I could use your feedback too! Some of the books won't make any sense out of context (the people in Indian Epics have already read the Ramayana by now, and they will be starting on the Mahahbarata in Week 9), but many of the books are about folklore and mythology from India, so the feedback of Myth-Folklore students is absolutely welcome also! 

FIRST: Learn about the online book options.

Online Book Formats. So, here's how the extra credit will work: the first week you do this option, I need you to learn about the different online book sources I have available — Internet Archive, Hathi Books, Google Books — so that you will know how to navigate those online book sources, and also so that you can give me feedback about which one you prefer. So, if you are interested in doing this extra credit option, please START by following these instructions and writing up a blog post about your experience with these online book formats: Online Book Formats. Do the Declaration for this extra credit assignment, and then you can start reviewing books, doing a book review every week if you want; this extra credit option is available every week of the semester.

NEXT: Choose books of interest to review!

Online Books to Review. After you have done the Online Book Format assignment, you can choose different books to read and write about. There are lots of different books to look at, so I hope you can find books that you are interested in: INDIAN EPICS BOOK LIST. Each time you want to do this extra credit assignment, choose one of the books to look at and then write up a blog post with your reactions, kind of like what you would do for a Reading Diary post.

Make sure you spend 15 minutes doing the reading, and please read more of course if you are enjoying the book you chose. Then, in your post, make sure you include the following information, along with any thoughts you had about the reading:

• the title and author of the book
• a link to the online version you looked at
• which pages/stories of the book you looked at
• why you chose this particular book as one to review
• what you impression were as you were reading 
• things you liked / didn't like about the book
• thoughts about the writing style and readability of the book
• whether you think this would be a reading unit you would enjoy

Please include any other comments that you want — details that got your attention, questions you had while reading, anything at all you wish to share could be helpful to me in deciding whether or not to use the book, as well as helping me to decide what topics to cover in the Reading Guide! Please give your post the title Indian Epic UnTextbook, and label the post: UnTextbook. Thank you in advance for your ideas and input!

When you are done, here is the Declaration you will find for the Extra Credit Epic UnTextbook Declaration: