Literary Nostalgia

This semester, our English 251 class at BYU has sampled probably every type of literary criticism and literary study imaginable, but with a twist.  We've combined the traditional ways in which to study literature with the new ways to study literature, and personally, I feel like I have benefited more from this practice than I would have, had I geared my literary study towards either one or the other.

Being an English Teaching major, I have always been exceptionally fond of literature.  That being said, I've found excessive literary study, i.e. "beating the book to death," exceptionally boring.  It always seems so removed, and just super, super dry.  Aside from the technology, blogging, and publishing that we participated in during the semester, we focused a lot on traditional ways to look at literature.  One thing that I found particularly unique and helpful was the "personal" look we were encouraged to take in regarding a poem or a novel.  From the very get-go, we were asked to analyze sentence structure and so forth, but we were also encouraged to put our personal thoughts into things.  Doing so greatly helped me, especially when reading a pretty difficult book, such as Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness. 

I also felt like the resources and textbooks we were required to obtain breathed "a new life" into traditional literary study.  All the books that we read were definitely academic, but I feel that none of them were archaic. Overall, I feel like the biggest thing I learned regarding traditional literary study in this course is the fact that literary study doesn't have to be dry and boring.  


This class has been able to turn my ideas about the effectiveness of technology in a new direction by introducing the blogging process. Although we often discussed aspects of traditional literary study in our blogs, it was nice to be able to do so in a new medium.  Blogging brought new life into boring things and made me appreciate traditional things such as "analyzing the sentence structure of a poem" because the medium was so different. My ideas about analyzing a piece of literature might have been the same had they been written on paper, but translating them into blog form made homework more fun.

 I was pretty apprehensive about blogging at first because I'm a pretty quiet person and more of a "listener" than a "teller."  I was honestly nervous to post my writings online--not only would my fellow students see them, but anyone who typed in the right keywords online would be able to see what I wrote.  Instead, I found that it's actually great to post my own writings online.  I found that getting feedback from my fellow students was really helpful and encouraged me to read, write, and review my work more fully.  We also explored Goodreads and Amazon like there was no tomorrow.  Similar to my experience with sharing my thoughts while blogging, browsing sites and being encouraged to comment on them encouraged me to be more comfortable with the online world.  It was neat to be assigned comment on discussion boards.  I've come to see that introducing commonly-used secondary media into a curriculum can increase a student's desire to participate in the learning process.     

As I am pursuing a teaching degree, I hope I will be able to remember what I have learned in this class.  I hope to remember that a student can come to appreciate literary study of a novel such as Heart of Darkness by looking at it in a different light.  I also hope I can remember that Facebook and Twitter can be very effective tools if used appropriately.  Overall, I am very thankful for everything that I have learned in this class, and that they will truly be applicable to my future life and my future study of literature.  

More Research!

Research is so important in any academic field, and it is going to be extremely important for our literary reading in the digital age project.  I am excited that we are going to start incorporating our research findings into our chapters.  In order to do this effectively, Dr. Burton asked us to create an annotated bibliography to keep track of our research.

Digitizing Classic Literature: A New Love Via Reconsumption

New media adaptions of classic literature are changing peoples’ views, and encouraging people to reconsume classic literature in its original form.  Online Platforms such as Goodreads are facilitating this bridge between new media and classic literary representations.

Social Graph: I am particularly interested to see how representations of classic literature in new media affect reconsumption of classic literature in different age groups.  I am assuming that different age groups will have different exposure to classic lit new media representations because different age groups tend to use different social networks and tend to use the internet for different amounts of time.  I have two teenage brothers in high school, and both have different interests.  I am thinking it would be an awesome idea to ask them about specific new media representations of classic lit, and how that has or hasn’t affected their desire to read more classic literature.  I also plan on asking my college roommates similar questions.  It also might be an excellent idea to post similar questions on my Facebook to attract adults who might be interested in the topic.

New Media: I think that classic lit representations in media are particularly important.  I don’t really think that many people can say that they’ve never watched a movie based off of classic literature.

Click here, here, here, and here to see some examples of what I am talking about!

Social Networks: Of course I am going to use Goodreads, but I also think that using Twitter is going to be super helpful.  Just browsing through Twitter with a search of "classic lit" has turned up with tons of results of people talking about new film adaptions of classic lit.  Click here to see what I am talking about. 

Traditional Scholarly Sources: Like I said above, I think that discussing literature in the realm of film is super important.  Click here to find an article that discusses that very subject.  

Dispelling Old Prejudices: The New Face of Libraries

The face of libraries are changing, and digital libraries allow for the user to become the “librarian.”

Social Graph: We’ve talked about this in class a lot, and I am planning on contacting some librarians at BYU and potentially at other colleges/universities.  I am also going to contact some “librarians” on Goodreads and ask them about what they do.  I can also pull on my own experience with Goodreads and libraries. 

New Media: I found a couple of great articles that talk about traditional libraries and digital libraries.  Click here, here, and here, to see what I am talking about. 

Social Networks: I am also planning on using Twitter as well for this chapter.  I've never been the biggest user of Twitter so I think now might be an awesome time to start! I typed in the two keywords "digital" and "librarians" and I found out that a lot of people are talking about these two subjects!

Traditional Scholarly Sources: This link here leads to an article that discusses digital librarians vs. traditional (print) librarians.  This article is obviously completely applicable to my chapter. 

Social Network Fueled Research

We use social networks everyday.  Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, etc. have become integral parts of our day-to-day lives.  When doing research we have unlimited access to so much information via search engines such as Google, Yahoo, and Bing.  But, we might be leaving out an important component when we exclusively turn to academic sources to give us the information that we seek.  Social resources can offer a wonderful insight, which is why our class is engaging in doing such research for our e-book project.  For our e-book project, we are focusing on platforms such as the Kindle, Amazon, and Goodreads and related components and how they are influencing our reading habits in daily life and education.

Dr. Burton created a bibliography Google Doc for us to use.  He helpfully laid out several social topics for us to look at and start researching in.  He told our class today that next to Google, YouTube is the second largest search engine.  That really sparked my thought because I YouTube quite a lot of things.  I often turn to YouTube for help in explaining difficult school topics, audio books, and fun, entertainment-related things.  It only makes sense that we would use YouTube videos to obtain background and topic information for our e-book project.

I didn't have as much time to do research as I would've liked before I had to submit this post, but what I did find was promising.  I found several videos in which YouTube users compare print books and e-books, which is something that is super important and relavent to our topic.  Click here if you would like to see some of the search results that I found regarding e-book vs. print book.

I also found some videos on YouTube that will be particularly applicable to one of my chapters.  My first chapter has a heavy focus on Goodreads, an Amazon sister company.  Goodreads is a social networking site for readers, and it allows for readers to interact on many levels with books at the center of everything.  A simple search entry of "Goodreads" on YouTube resulted in many different users who related their feelings about the Goodreads site.  I haven't had time to look at it very much, but I plan on doing so before our next class on Wednesday morning.

Digital Libraries

All right! In this blog post, I am going to discuss my next chapter for my classes' e-book. We are currently writing an e-book about reading in the digital age, and how platforms such as Amazon, Kindle, and Goodreads facilitate that.

I had a hard time coming up with my second chapter idea, but I did what Dr. Burton suggested, and I went back to some of my original blog posts. I touched on an idea that I think will make a really awesome chapter edition! Read below to find out more!

BOOK PART
Probably how we buy.

CHAPTER TITLE

The Digital Library: Amazon, Kindle, and How We Borrow Books.

TWEETHIS

Digital library services, available through platforms such as Amazon and Kindle, are changing the way we borrow books.

KEYWORDS

Pride and Prejudice, Kindle Unlimited, Amazon, Kindle, digital libraries

TOPICAL IMAGE

CONTENT PARAMETERS

DIGILITERARY VIA AMAZON-KINDLE-GOODREADS CONNECTION

Amazon--Kindle digital library features.

LITERARY WORK

Pride and Prejudice.

TRADITIONAL REFERENCES - (General Literary, Scholarly)

http://libraries.pewinternet.org/2012/04/04/the-rise-of-e-reading/

SOCIAL REFERENCES (current conversations, social media, interviews)

http://gizmodo.com/should-you-get-amazon-kindle-unlimited-1607137417

CONTENT LAYOUT

I really want to talk about online libraries, and library subscription services. I plan to do that in the context of Pride and Prejudice by talking about reputation. Traditional libraries have a reputation of being kind of antiquated, but new, online libraries and subscription services are really awesome and a great way to access literature. Reputation is a very important theme in Pride and Prejudice, and I am still working on how exactly I am going to relate the two completely. I hope to come to class with a more solid idea.

Digitizing the World of Elizabeth and Darcy

Our English 251 class at BYU is currently studying literature in the digital age.  For our semester project, we are going to be creating a e-book that details our findings, specifically relating to the Amazon and Kindle platforms.  To help facilitate this, Dr. Burton (our professor) asked that we explain our concept in terms of a novel that we love.  My concept, thus far, is going to deal with "reconsumption of literature."  Now, "reconsumption" is a term that I completely made up, and I talk about it more in this blog post.  Hopefully, as I delve further into my topic, I will be able to find others who agree with my point of thinking.

Basically, I have noticed that platforms such as Goodreads and Amazon have allowed users to come back to literary works they had not perviously liked, cared for, or just not shown an interest in.  I would like to discuss my topic in terms of Pride and Prejudice, because I truly love that book.  I was skeptical that it would work for my topic because it is such a well-loved novel, but after looking at reviews on Goodreads, I realize quite a few users had hated it before and were posting a review because they gained a new appreciation for the novel.

I would also like to focus on Pride and Prejudice because it is a classic, and it can be accessed in many places under the Creative Common's license (I think).  I believe that the novel's accessibility adds to people's desire to "reconsume" the novel.  One can certainly access the novel by typing it into Google, but one can also download a free copy from Amazon to Kindle with additional resources included.  The same is true of many other once-hated-now-beloved novels.

To align the text of the novel more closely with my ideas, I could possibly discuss Elizabeth and Darcy's initial displeasure with one another, and then their ensuing love after time had passed, which could represent my "reconsumption" idea.  Because Darcy and Elizabeth made themselves more "accessible" to one another (wink, wink), they increased their desires to be with one another.  I could also discuss other relationships in the novel that follow a similar pattern.

Pride and Prejudice was written to comment on the society of the day.  One of Austen's main points in writing the novel was to bring attention to the lack of education and representation that women had during that time.  This is more of an abstract thought, but maybe greater access to classic works online is creating a better educational atmosphere?

Anyway, these are my thoughts.  Feel free to comment.

Goodreads or Badreads?

Online reading, in one form or another, is inevitable in this modern, digitized age.  There are still many questions dealing with online reading that remain unanswered because such practices are stil relatively new.  Our English 251 class (who is updating this blog, by the way) is setting out to uncover some of the unanswered questions.  We are particularly focusing on platforms such as Amazon, Kindle, and Goodreads.

An article written by Lisa Nakamura entitled, "'Words with Friends': Socially Networked Reading on Goodreads," discusses the pros, cons, and social implications of "social reading."  I believe that two things she stated in her article are especially applicable to our project.  Firstly, she states that Goodreads  has all the markings of a successful social networking site.  I believe that this will be important for our project because it shows that Goodreads is around for the long-run, and its existence reaches and will continue to reach a wider range of people.  Rather than be some obscure social reading website, Goodreads picked up on important aspects of other social sites that contribute to its longevity.  Secondly, on the cons side, Nakamura points out that Goodreads is a for-profit site, hinting that the site might detract for the genuine reading experience because we become commodities.  This will be helpful for a project as we analyze how to best utilize online tools and resources to create the best academic and leisure reading experiences.  

Culture in the Congo

We’ve already discussed Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad quite a bit on this blog if you’ve been following along with us.  I am going to keep expounding on that novel by looking at it in the context of “cultural studies.” It was pretty hard for me to pinpoint exactly what I wanted to discuss about cultural studies because I didn’t even know what it was to begin with before I read from our textbook Literary Theory and Criticism.  Basically, as defined by our textbook, “cultural studies investigates meaning in the social text of everyday life.” “Culture” is a very broad definition.  Some define culture as something that lots of people participate in, and some define culture as something that is made up of the “best” of society. I am going to be basing my analysis off of the following passage from the text of the novel:

“Hunters for gold or pursuers of fame, they all had gone out on that stream, bearing the sword, and often the torch, messengers of the might within the land, bearers of a spark from the sacred fire. What greatness had not floated on the ebb of that river into the mystery of an unknown earth!”

The passage above relates clearly to the many themes of colonization that prevail throughout the novel.  Discussed in Literary Theory and Criticism is a theory developed by F. R. Leavis and his wife.  Leavis said that Joseph Conrad is one of the most important writers for those of society to read.  He said reading Conrad could help a society “struggling against war, mechanization, commercialism, and the diminishing impact of religion.”  From the above passage, we can interpret why Leavis chose Conrad as one of the most culturally important authors to read. Conrad brings to light in Heart of Darkness the great sufferings of the people who lived in the Congo at that time.   

Also, from the Literary and Theory Criticism book, I read about “enlightenment rationality replacing myth.”  Two prominent theorists from the 1930s, Theodor W. Adorno and Max Horkheimer, said that the Enlightenment Era, which began in the 1600s, was a cultural movement designed to move people out of captivity.  But, because cultural practices became so ingrained in peoples’ minds, enlightenment replaced “rational myth.”

We see so clearly throughout Heart of Darkness the people of the Congo being oppressed by the “conquerors.”  But, we don’t see people too upset over the fact that people are starving and dying in the name of enlightenment and civilization.  Kurtz uses Marlow’s character to break the cultural norms that generally accepted the “ration myth” of enlightenment.  We see through Marlow’s eyes the horrors that actually happened in the Congo, and we feel for the people there. 

The two above theories relate in the sense that they both comment on the 

culture happening around and within Heart of Darkness.  Themes of oppression serve as a guide to comment on the “rational myth” that had replaced theories of enlightenment.  These same themes of oppression also serve as a cultural guide of “what not to do.”  After reading Literary Theory and Criticism, I have a better grasp on cultural studies and how they apply to Conrad’s Heart of Darkness.

I found a presentation that deals with enlightenment in Heart of Darkness.  Click here to view.

My picture is a bit unrelated just as Nathan's is, but this is me and my fiancé!

Everyone Has an Opinion

Our English 251 class has been doing a lot of work with Joseph Conrad’s novel Heart of Darkness lately. For this assignment, we were tasked with taking the novel and interacting socially with online communities and our own social networks.

Before I could create my own review of the novel, I needed to discover what made a review a good review. Below, I have listed my findings.

1. Catch the reader’s attention immediately with a clever/interesting hook.
2. Definitely do not be objective. The point of a review isn’t to give a summary of the novel--the point of a review is to encourage others to read/not read the book depending on your opinion.
3. Appropriate length. No one wants to read a novel before they actually read a novel.
4. For Amazon in particular: Some people comment on the actual layout of the book. Amazon reviews are a little more formal than Goodreads reviews.
5. For Goodreads in particular: Put more of a personal anecdote in your review.

We were also instructed to create criteria that illustrates a credible Amazon/Goodreads user:

1. I found that I trusted the reviewers who reviewed a variety of things of Amazon. I enjoyed browsing through different users’ reviews and seeing little snippets of their lives. I also trusted users on Goodreads who reviewed lots of different books and who were active in their online community.
2. I trusted those who used their actual name as opposed to a pseudonym.
3. In essence, I followed people on Goodreads and Amazon who seemed more “real.”

For my Amazon review, I tried to stay a little more formal. I gave Heart of Darkness 3 stars. I commented that I enjoyed reading the novel, but I acknowledged that it is a difficult read. I also commented on the layout of the kindle edition of Heart of Darkness. For my Goodreads post, I tried to be more personal so people could see a little bit of my personality while touching on the same things that I discussed in my Amazon review. I am really new at this, but I think I did all right!

With the internet, we tend to judge people and their personalities extremely quickly. As such, I believe it is somewhat important to show who we truly are online--not for the benefit of others, but for ourselves. We are all super great, so we should show that to other people! Hopefully as I become more involved with the Amazon and Goodreads communities, I will be better able to represent myself.

After I completed my reviews, I posted my Goodreads review on Facebook. I can’t say that I had too much interaction, sadly. I had a few past teachers like my status on Facebook., but no one really commented. I tried engaging other people on Goodreads as well. Unfortunately, I haven’t gotten much of a response yet. I followed a few people and looked at the profiles of A LOT of users. I made a comment on an active forum but no one replied!

Bonjour!

The Paris Wife, written by Paula McLane and published in 2011 is one of my favorite books of all time.  The reason I am writing about it for this blog post is because to me, it is one of the most brilliant books I have ever read.  The Paris Wife follows the story of Earnest Hemingway and his first wife, Hadley.  The novel is partly based on true events, which makes it an even neater read!  I love reading any kind of historical fiction, and this book fits the bill.  I feel as if the author portrays the feelings of Hadley so accurately.  I just get so enveloped in her emotions that I cannot ever put the book down.  Even though the thoughts of the author are not the thoughts of Hadley, the story is still intriguing.  I usually get very attached to literary characters, but I don’t think I have ever connected to someone as much as Hadley.     

I first read this book after I had read lots of Hemingway for school.  Hemingway is hard to grasp at first, but I soon came to love his writing.  I enjoyed how clean and crisp his writing style is.  Because I was so interested in Hemingway when I first read The Paris Wife, it was like a collision of worlds in my head and I totally loved it. I was luckily in the right place at the right time so my enjoyment of the book was about 10 times higher had I read it before actually reading any Hemingway.  I have a great appreciation for the author and the fact that she tackled and fictionalized the personal life of such a literary giant.

I enjoy a love story just like any other girl.  To me, I feel as if The Paris Wife captures real aspects of love and loss.  I can say that this story doesn’t have a happy ending without completely giving the plot away.  What I really liked about this book is the fact that a good novel didn’t have to end typically with the boy and the girl living happily ever after.  The outcome of Hadley and Ernest was a real thing, and I appreciated that the author portrayed life so accurately.  This book means a lot to me because I was able to invest so emotionally in it.  I intend to read it again and again!

United Through Drama

I was really unsure what to expect from watching the York Mystery Play Highlights.  For those who don't know, The York Mystery Plays are a retelling of Bible stories put on by guild members (aka people from the town who specialize in a trade) of York England.  The version that my class watched is from 1998, and it was the first time in hundreds of years that the city of York participated.  It was very interesting to watch the city unite through many different aspects of the Mystery Plays.

York, England

 There were several things that really contributed to my enjoyment of the Mystery Plays.  I think the first thing that really stuck out to me had to be the wonderful rolling sets and backdrops that were used.  At the beginning of the movie clip, we were informed that some of the players only used tools and processes that were available to those who lived in York in the 1500s, and I feel like that united modern players and medieval players. Additionally, most of the sets had little moving parts that really contributed to the story that was being told.

York Mystery Plays, 2002

The second thing that I noticed was the audience's interaction with the players.  Surprisingly, many of the scenes were a bit humorous; it was unexpected, but I rather enjoyed it.  The audience also appreciated the humor and laughed along.  I also really noticed audience/player interaction when a guild retold the story of Christ's crucifixion.  Rather than be confined to the limits of the rolling set, the players in that story wandered out into the audience and really engaged the people watching.  I enjoyed watching the players and audience members unite in that fashion.

I thought that the Bible stories were very well told.  One of the biggest surprises to me was to see Satan, in the Adam and Eve scene, cast as a woman.  I don't think that necessarily detracted from the meaning of the play as a whole, but it sure was an interesting surprise!  Whether intended or not, I feel as if that casting choice was a very modern twist on an ancient story.  It is always interesting to see the unification of old and new.

Female actor portraying Satan, 1998

Oedipus and Free Will

I've never escaped a literary class without talking about Sophocles' famous drama Oedipus Rex, which was written about 429 B.C. (holy cow!)  Even so, I happen to learn something new each time!  This time while reading it, I tried to pick up on something different and stretch myself.

One of the main themes of Oedipus often analyzed is the theme of "fate."  I would take things as far as to say that Oedipus' hubris (aka, fatal-flaw) is his lack of free will.  I guess that is sort of a backwards answer because his hubris is more of an externally based flaw (inflicted by the gods) instead of something that comes from within himself, such as pride.  But, the story clearly shows that Oedipus is really laking in the ability to choose his situation.  He didn't have any control over the fact that he was abandoned as a baby and he didn't have any beforehand knowledge that his wife was actually his mother.  Of course, one can say that he had control over whether to kill the king, but one also has to remember that he only fled Corinth because he was fleeing the prophecy.

I've always seen Oedipus as an ironic character of sorts.  As a reader, I feel pity for him and his situation.  At the same time, though, I tend to laugh at his misfortune.  His story is tragic because one thing after another seems to tear the poor guy down--It's so tragic that it's almost funny.  I know sometimes when bad things happen to me repeatedly, it's so horrible that it's often funny.  The joke is on me though, I interpret the story of Oedipus to mean that sometimes, situations are just out of our control.  I am not saying that my actions and the actions of Oedipus do not have consequences, but a lot of the time, we are just in the wrong place at the wrong time.  I think that the story of Oedipus shows that unfortunate situations can happen to anyone; everyone, at one point or another, will experience Oedipus' hubris of lack of free will.

Ozmandias: King of Kings

Percy Bysshe Shelley

“Ozmandias” is a short, peculiar poem written by Romanic-Era poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. One would probably classify this poem as a sonnet because the poem is only 14 lines long. “Ozmandias” is an Italian sonnet because the last two lines of the poem do not rhyme. The rhyme pattern of the poem isn’t particularly notable, but the poem certainly still succeeds in telling a story in first-person view about an “antique land” and “Ozmandias, King of Kings.” The reader gets the impression that the dynasty of Ozmandias was once great, but images such as “Two vast and trunkless legs of stone,” and “that colossal wreck,” leave the impression that what once was great has now crumbled into the desert sand. The poem has certain levels of irony. All that was left of Ozmandias the King’s empire are two legs with the following inscription: “My name is Ozmandias, King of Kings: / Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!” Shelley is possibly trying to illustrate the fact that time is everlasting and never stops, but the works and deeds of men are not as time-tested as we might thing.

User, Not Consumer

Today I became a user of the online literary world.

It might seem silly, but before today, I had never before commented on a random person's post--let alone someone's personal poetry.

But, I did it.  I'd be wrong to admit that I wasn't a little scared and intimidated of breaking my little, personal bubble of internet.  I mean, I've never so much as "liked" a video on Youtube. Ultimately, though, it was a little refreshing to offer my thoughts to someone else.

I joined a poetry group on Goodreads.  I then stumbled upon a "personal poetry review" thread.  I scrolled through a bunch of...er...interesting poems until I found one I liked.  The comment that I left wasn't really spectacular at all, but it was certainly a unique experience.

Click here to find the poem.

For the first time ever, I watched a poetry video.  The poem I decided to memorize is Elizabeth Barrett Browning's sonnet "How Do I Love Thee."  Some of you might think it cliche, but I am a class A sap for romance.  I wanted to hear it read aloud, so I searched for one on YouTube. (I don't remember who suggested the idea in class, but thanks!)

Here is the video:

I very rarely listen to poetry, so it was the coolest to hear Elizabeth Barrett Browning's little sonnet read aloud.  The guy who recited the poem read it with so much gusto I couldn't help but feel he had someone special in mind.

I have also spent some time highlighting things on my kindle.  I love that I can look up words and terms with the click of a button.  I also enjoy the little feature that allows one to see what other people have highlighted and noted.  All in all, the kindle is one of my new favorite things.

Ode to an English Teacher

Honestly, it was really difficult for me to find the value of poetry for a long time.  Through most of high school, it was difficult for me to read poetry because I thought it was just a bunch of fluff, and poetry analysis kind of gave me nightmares.  I didn't find the actual interpretation difficult, I just couldn't quite grasp at the substance.  I enjoyed reading novels about a billion, gazillion, times more.

My senior year of high school, my attitude completely changed because of my wonderful AP Lit teacher, Ms. Sylvia.  Ms. Sylvia is a literary aficionado.  She had taught english classes in college for most of her career, and she came out of retirement to teach at my little high school.  Ms. Sylvia knows literally everything about literature.  I am not even kidding.  Ask her any question about Shakespeare, or Dante, or Walt Whitman, or whatever and she has an answer for you.  Her breadth of knowledge never ceased to amaze me in our classes.

I can't say that I came away from that AP lit class with a favorite poem.  I can't even say that I particularly remember anything that we read in that class.  My attitude about poetry didn't change because of any personal, fantastical poetical revelations.  My attitude about poetry changed because of Ms. Sylvia's utter adoration of the poem Dover Beach, written by Matthew Arnold.

I don't think we went a week in that class without talking about Dover Beach in some fashion.  Every time we did discuss it, there was this sparkly twinkle in her eye that told me Ms. Sylvia found more personal meaning in the poem than she was letting on.

I guess one could say that we analyzed that poem to death.  And like I said before, I don't particularly remember what was said in that class, but without fail, when she said, "Now, let's talk about Dover Beach," there was a distinct hint in the change of her countenance that showed her adoration of the poem. 

I found that I enjoyed seeing people connect to poetry.  That experience, in turn, helped me to start turning to poetry as well to feel some different kind of connection to the unique literary form.  At this point, I can't say that I read poetry on a regular basis.  I do, however, relish the words I read on the page when I do.

If it weren't for Ms. Sylvia, I don't think my attitude toward poetry would have ever changed.      

I Might Just Be Obsessed With Goodreads

Ok, I'll admit it.  I really wasn't looking forward to signing up for Goodreads.  I remember thinking:

"Oh boy, this site definitely isn't worth my while."

As well as:

"I will literally never use Goodreads after the end of the semester."

HA! I was mildly wrong, to say the least.

Now, an hour and a half later after I've started adding books to my bookshelf, I really can't stop.  I.  Can't.  Stop. I probably look something like this:

The short story is yes, I have gone mad!  Mad with excitement.  One of my favorite parts (so far) has been browsing book titles that I had loved but forgotten about.  I absolutely adore YA literature, so it has been super fun for me to find books that I read and loved in middle school and add them to my shelf in a hopes of re-reading them in the near future (hopefully).

As a college student, I have been out of the reading-for-pleasure mode for a while now.  I just haven't found the time lately to sit down with a good book.  I think part of the reason is I haven't had a clue what to read! Most of my friends are, as you probably can guess, college students as well, so they're not doing a lot of reading either, which is difficult for me because  I usually rely a lot on book recommendations from friends.  I am excited to be able to browse the different titles and select new books.

Well, if you need me, I'll probably be using Goodreads and forgetting to eat dinner, or something.

Expecto Patronum!

I have always really enjoyed reading, but it wasn’t until I read the Harry Potter series in 4^th grade that I became a literary freak.  By the time I started reading the series, a few of the movies had already be released, which sparked my general interest in the series.  I attended a very small elementary school, and soon my group of friends became interested in the series as well.  All of our play-dates and creative projects revolved around Harry Potter in some form or another.  I have very vivid memories of sneaking “ingredients” from our parents’ fridges to make “potions,” writing letters that “owls” would take in the middle of the night, shouting spells at one another, and running around our neighborhoods utterly convinced that our homemade broomsticks could actually fly.  Pure imagination fueled by a fantastical story about wizards and magic.

Like any other girl my age, I completely revered Hermione Granger.  She was smart, witty, and fought the “bad guys.”  I also liked that she was described as having curly hair because I was a little self-conscious about my own crazy, wild hair at that age.  Hermione certainly wasn’t without her flaws, though.  She was pretty bossy at times, which I probably picked up on too much.  Just ask my parents…

I know that having a strong, smart, female literary character such as Hermione to look up to in adolescence was so important.  I feel like today I can say that I really learned to love school and books and my curly hair because Hermione Granger taught me that those things are awesome. Hermione also taught me to recognize my flaws. I am certainly not perfect, but no one is.  No one is immune from making mistakes and everyone has insecurities.   

Hermione, in addition to Ron and Harry, also taught me that imagination and creativity are definitely magical.  Even though I obviously couldn’t cast spells, I had the power of imagination, which is innately magical.  Through my power of imagination, I could create my own Hogwarts and fight my own Voldemort.  I feel like I have lost some of that imaginative magic as I have come to come and become “an actual adult.”  It might be about time for me to read the series again and get back some of that magic and pure imagination.