Goodreads really helped me gain suggestions for new reading material,
because it accounted for what I liked in books, and gave me suggestions based
on my own interests. I found that I was actually interested in most of the
books that Goodreads had suggested for me. Goodreads has made it easier for me
to pick novels, by eliminating most of the choices that I wouldn’t enjoy. I
will try to read some of the books that Goodreads has selected for me, throughout
the school year. One thing I struggled with through this experience, was that
it was hard to find time to read, because I am usually very busy after school.
To overcome this struggle, I just brought my independent reading novel wherever
I went, just in case there was any down time for me to read. I also read my
novel during class if I finished a test early. I would also try to read more
during the weekend, since I’m not as busy then.
Finally, strengths I had with blogging, was that I found that I am very
good at analyzing text and making connections between the novel and another
subject.
I when looking
over all of my blog posts, I have noticed that the quality of my writing has
immensely improved throughout the course of this trimester. I have improved in
analyzing text, writing in more detail, making more interesting connections
between the novel and society today, and using more and advanced and “colorful”
vocabulary. As you can see, in my older blog post, I did not pull out any
quotes from the text, let alone analyze it. I basically just briefly summarized
what was going on in my novel, with less detail than I did in my newer post. In
my older blog post, I also made a simple connection between Angels & Demons, and another one of
Dan Brown’s novels. However, I didn't go in depth about this connection as much
as I did in the connection in my newer blog post. I have also noticed that I
used very boring and straight-forward words in my older blog. However, in my
newer blog, I pulled out quotes from the text and actually analyzed it in
depth, unlike before in my older blog. I also made very complex connections
between ideas in the book and actual conspiracy theories about the Illuminati,
which are still present today. I also noticed that in my newer blog post, I
used more advanced and “colorful” words. For instance, instead of just using “says”
or “said”, I used the word “proposes”. I also used words such as “infiltrate”, “convergence”,
“ancient”, and more. Over all, thanks to the influence of this blogging
experience, my writing has improved in multiple ways.
