In honors book club, I read four very illuminating and quality novels, The Stranger, Cat's Cradle, A Tale For The Time Being, and The Bluest Eye. After reading each book, the honors group then had a seminar on the book, discussing its themes and meaning. These seminars shed light on the core concepts behind these novels and illuminated meanings I might not have found before. After the seminar, I wrote a seminar reflection on knew knowledge I might have gained. Lastly, I created a choice project for each of these books. For A Tale For The Time Being, I wrote a literary analysis on the book's themes and message. For Cat's Cradle and A Tale For The Time Being, I created a poem expressing similar messages to the books.
Choice Projects
Seminar Reflections
The book that had the biggest impact on me over the course of honors book club was A Tale For The Time Being. This book illuminated how important it is to focus on your present. The book tells a very tragic story and Nao and her family. Throughout the course of the book, different people learn the consequences of living in the past and the future. Only by living in the present can someone ever truly be happy. This message really related itself to my life, because I am always thinking about the future. I'm thinking about what I'll do in college or what my future career will be. This book taught me to live in the present and truly cherish the meaning of today. The biggest impact honors book club had on my learning is the understanding that there is no correct perspective. Every book had a different significance and meaning that I got from the text. This may not necessarily have been what the author even intended, but it is the meaning that I got. As soon as a piece of has been read, the meaning of that writing is up to the reader. This course has taught me how to derive a personal significance from a piece of writing and back up my claims with literary evidence. Additionally, honors book club has inspired me to divulge more in literature and American novels. I will refine my skills as a literary reader and writer as I progress throughout my life.
The most challenging thing about honors book club was the extra work I had to do. For every book I read, I had to annotate through the whole thing, seminar on it, write a seminar reflection, and do a choice project. This amount of work was very exhausting. However, I managed to persevere and get through all the work I needed to. At the start of the semester, I struggled with having to do honors book club on top of my other classes. My grades dropped a bit early on when I had to adjust to the increased workload. However, by the end of the semester, I was able to complete the last few assignments in stride as I was able to manage my time and work hard at completing all my assignments. Honors book club was extremely rigorous and difficult. However, it was also extremely illuminating and amazing. I don't regret my choice to sign up for honors book club, and I happily take the skills I learned from the experience in order to apply them to my future.
The most challenging thing about honors book club was the extra work I had to do. For every book I read, I had to annotate through the whole thing, seminar on it, write a seminar reflection, and do a choice project. This amount of work was very exhausting. However, I managed to persevere and get through all the work I needed to. At the start of the semester, I struggled with having to do honors book club on top of my other classes. My grades dropped a bit early on when I had to adjust to the increased workload. However, by the end of the semester, I was able to complete the last few assignments in stride as I was able to manage my time and work hard at completing all my assignments. Honors book club was extremely rigorous and difficult. However, it was also extremely illuminating and amazing. I don't regret my choice to sign up for honors book club, and I happily take the skills I learned from the experience in order to apply them to my future.