Blog#1

Survey of Reading Preferences – Questions

- What associations do you have with reading? Do you have any personal history that makes reading seem more or less pleasurable? I love reading, but wish i had more time to devote to it. Summer and being outside makes is more pleasurable to me.
- Why do you read? To escape and learn from others.
- What has been your best experience in a literature course? (high school or college) I loved reading Of Mice and Men in my highschool enlish class.
- What has been your worst experience in a literature course? (high school or college) Reading shakespeare.
- What college-level literature courses have you taken in the English department? Shakespeare Lit.
- Compared to other literature courses you have taken, what do you expect will be the level of difficulty of this course? Why? I have only taken one other Literature course here at A&M and was not interested in the material which made it hard. I think this will be a little less difficult because I like most of the books on the reading list.
- What themes do you look for when you read literature for adults? Good and evil.
- What are your favorite books written for adults? One Day by David Nicholls and A Million Little Pieces by James Frey.
- How do you determine whether a book you have read is good? If I am sad to finish it and put off finishing the book because i dont want it to end.
- Do you think it is a good idea to study children’s literature? Yes.
- Why do you think scholars study children’s literature? To see what children like to read, and what they respond to.
- When you think of “children’s literature,” what comes to mind? Harry Potter and Twilight, i guess those hit series come to my mind first.
- What do you look for when you search for a children’s book? I dont really know to be honest.
- Why would you look for children’s books? For a fun book.
- What do you do with children’s books? I like to be able to read with out consciously analizing the book to understand it, and with childrens books i usually do not have to do that.
- What children’s books do you most admire? Where the Wild Things Are.
- What were your favorite children’s books as a child? The Traveling Pants series.
- In what contexts did you read children’s books as a child? Im not sure.
- Are there certain themes that interest you in children’s books? True Friendship.
- Are there certain types of books that you think children shouldn’t read? I think this depends on each child.
- How do you judge whether a children’s book is good? If i have to use my imagination and i like for them to have a positive theme.
- What do you think of when you think of fantasy? Imagination.
- Do you like fantasy literature? Why or why not? Yes, it is a good way to escape and let your mind wonder.
- Explain your reaction when you learned that this course would focus on fantasy. I was excited and looked forward to reading most of the books on the reading list.
- Rank the following from most to least valuable:
Nonfiction: 9
Poetry: 8
Historical Fiction: 3
Romance: 6
Fantasy Fiction: 2
Science Fiction: 7
Horror: 5
Mystery: 1
Adventure: 4
- Explain your choice for #1 and #9 in your rankings above. The first books i really got into reading were mystery novels and since then i have always enjoyed them. I like trying to figure out the mystery as I read. Nonfiction is my least valuable because i usually do not find them very intersting. Only a few nonfictions have been enjoyable to me and that was soley because of my interest in the topic.