Thoughts and Brainstorms: To Kill a Mockingbird

To Kill a Mockingbird is a widely known novel that has been picked apart up and down, and it seems like everything has already been said. We as a class are creating our own e-book based on novels that have impacted us, but from a slightly different perspective. We are applying novels to challenges or the uniqueness of how we consume literature from living in the digital age.
Right now we are in the brainstorming phase and so here is a few of my ideas of applications that can be made in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird:

• Readers can follow authors blogs, and even be invited into discussions with the author, but is the consumers voice too loud? Authors could potentially be losing creativity by only writing what readers want to hear. Are prejudices of popular demand overcoming new text? This could be drawn into racism and the unfair court trial in the novel. Is there a reason to fight against what everyone wants?
• What to truly believe… the reviews on Goodreads and especially Amazon can be misleading and it can be frustrating filtering through it all. This could be a connection to Mayella getting beat by her father but Tom getting the blame, although completely innocent. What you see isn’t always what you get type of standpoint. This could also be linked to the recommendations we receive on Amazon and Goodread. This could also be related to Boo Radley in a more positive way and we could get more out of these reviews and recommendations than what we thought. 
• Also Harper Lee is coming out with a SEQUEL (Go Set a Watchman) to To Kill a Mockingbird after 55 years. The time that passed could be due to the skepticism that occurred after her success from her last novel. Will the digital age only worsen the problem and scare writers and their creativity away?
• One main theme of the novel is the loss of ignorance or innocence which could be related to spoilers we could run into accidentally while on Goodreads or Amazon. 

Let me know what you think. I had a hard time just pin pointing one theme. So I know I need help simplifying it all. I’m open to any suggestion! The book is surprisingly applicable to the rising digital literature age.

The Opinionated Audience

There is something to be said for a second opinion.  As I was reading Joseph Conrad's novel, Heart of Darkness, I found my mind wandering a bit.  To be honest, this is not the kind of book I'd usually choose, so even before I finished the book, I tried to learn a little bit more about it to get more of a feel for the story.  I went to popular websites like Amazon.com and Goodreads.com to see what readers there had to say about this classic.  There were, as I suspected, some pretty mixed reviews.  

Some people loved it, and I found that they were more on Goodreads  than Amazon.  For the most part, Goodreads seems to have an audience of devout readers, while Amazon appeals more to the general population.  Another factor in this could be that Amazon asks its  users to create a review after purchasing a book/product, while Goodreads reviews are done by unprompted users.  This led me to conclude that a lot of the people on Goodreads were avid readers who were more apt to view the novel in a positive manner and contribute their opinion than were those on Amazon.  Honestly, Amazon is a go-to for literature assignments and high schoolers tend to not enjoy classic literature as much, which may account for the more negative reviews on the site.

The Listopia feature of Goodreads was pretty entertaining when I searched Heart of Darkness.  It came up on lists such as "Favorite Gay Thrillers" and "Dark, Gritty, and SO Worth It." I don't really know how it applies to those lists, but maybe because of the dark nature of the book, or all of the metaphors.  The other books on the the lists were definitely an entertaining selection though.  Not one I would necessarily read, but interesting to be aware of!

So, what can we really learn from these experiences?  I think that this really has to do with how readers connect with a book, and the type of audience each work draws.  Writing in the digital age gives authors an advantage, because people's opinions are out there and being heard, which makes it much easier to know what to write for a specific crowd.  People let us know what they think of things, what they'd like through mediums such as fan fiction, and can be the world's best, albeit harshest, editors.  All of these are extremely valuable for anyone wishing to be successful in the modern era of literature.

Getting Ideas from Goodreads

I hate to admit, but my digital and actual bookshelves have been disappointingly dusty as of late.  For about two months after returning home from my church mission, I felt like material that wasn't written by the hand of God was off-limits and sinful.  Thankfully, my dear aunt recommended a few really prime reads to me after the initial returned-missionary weirdness wore off.  So by way of My Antonia, I was reacquainted with the world of literature, and was soon hungry for more.

Isn't it nice then, that I signed up for this class?  I had an enlightening experience setting up my account on Goodreads this morning.  It was really cool!  I thought the “friends” feature, which allowed me to import my friends from Facebook and see what they are reading, was super neat.  It surprised me that a few of them even read, to be honest.  But I like this because if I ever don’t want to play the library gamble and hope that a random book is a winner, I have somewhere to search with recommendations from people I trust.  It reflects badly on them if the book they liked is actually really lame, but my friends usually have good taste, so that shouldn't be an issue.

I also like how the “bookshelves” bit keeps everything well-organized.  Gone is the Dewey-Decimal system—now everything is categorized neatly on the screen in a way that is MUCH easier to understand.  It’s like, “Hey, I just really want a twisted love story today.  I think I’ll go to my ‘Twisted Love Stories’ shelf!  Look, Vampire Diaries! Perfect.” 

I’m excited to start finding more friends and getting their opinions on books, as well as exploring the site to form my own.  The more people read, the more their minds are opened and their perspectives broadened.  Many Goodreads = even more great ideas.

Good Reasons for Goodreads

Studying literature in the digital age means integrating social media with one's reading life. Nowhere is this better evident than on Goodreads, the social networking site based on reading and books.

I've been active on Goodreads since 2008, and as I explained to my students today, this has been a significant benefit to me. Not only has it given breadth and depth to my literary life, but it has also deepened friendships and given me fresh reasons to discover and explore good books.

I'd like to explain in brief some key features of Goodreads and then invite you to begin participating in this literary social network.