livlife

[oliviahelland]

Metafiction

Well, I often find myself forgetting a lot of the characters I read about in books. However, I will never forget the boxcar children. I would love to take an older version of Benny to prom. I think he would make prom a fun experience with his silliness and how talkative he is. My other prom option would definately be Ned (Nancy Drew’s friend/boyfriend)! To start, he is handsome and smart; in addition he has a love for athletics and the outdoors. Ned has a great personality, I think he’d be the kind of guy that could make any situation, prom or anything else, a really fun time.

[oliviahelland]

Never thought it would be this hard to write an introduction to my critical file. I’ve probably wrote and rewrote my intro twice already and keep starting over, maybe I’ll end up combining all of them- we’ll see.

[oliviahelland]

I was able to find some great background source just from reading the intros to my book!

[ryaleelee-blog]

DUNE ABSTRACTS

I wrote my first abstract today and boy was it hard.  Not because writing an abstract is hard, its hard because I’m on my computer and the temptation to go on Facebook or youtube or listen to spotify is so strong.  I told my self i would start abstracts 3 days ago but i finally started my first one today.  

BUT EVERYONE THEY ARE NOT HARD TO WRITE AT ALL.  I found my experience writing this first abstract easier than i expected.

It’s actually very interesting writing these abstracts because when i read the criticisms i learn so much about my book.  Being introduced to a new point of view only makes my book so much more interesting that I ALMOST want to read it again.

[oliviahelland]

I faced this same problem while writing my abstract! I actually ended up turning the wifi off on my computer so I could get on the Internet. This was actually very helpful, it takes half the time without the distractions!

[cgwilt11-blog]

I wanted to share with you all possibly the best panorama I have ever taken. Court Mort and I went to the OU Library today and it was one of the most frustrating experiences ever. Our librarian was decently helpful, but it wasn’t anything like the other stories people have been telling. But we found some books and some online articles relating to our books. We printed out the articles and found our books pretty easily. However, when we tried to check out our books, I didn’t have my library card and Courtney’s wouldn’t work. So we had to settle for only our online pieces and now I have to go back to check out my books when I get my library card. But going to the library and not being able to check anything out was really annoying. I’m probably going back later today to get them. I’ll keep you all posted since I know how interested you are in my adventures on this mythical quest to get an A in lit.

[oliviahelland]

I love how you worded this! The “mythical quest” of ap lit is a true representation of this project! I didn’t feel the same frustration at the library, I oddly enough found almost a sense of excitement by this quest.

[oliviahelland]

the process

Lately I have been stressing about this project. Over mid winter break I picked out all of my criticisms, trying to stay on top of the writing. However, each day would pass I would not start the actual writing, I would read the criticisms and annotate and research; however, it wasn't until this past weekend that I finally started to write my abstracts. I feels good to have one done, But I know I really need to start cranking out the rest of this project!

[oliviahelland]

While I listen to the list of singers my attention was caught by Billie holiday. Hence I began listening to more and more of her songs while researching about her. Later that day, I was telling my dad about the prompt, and he quickly mentioned the connection between Billie Holiday and Amy Winehouse. So afterward I began researching Amy Winehouse and listening to her songs. Both of these women were truly talented singers who had uniquely beautiful voices; however, they both ended there lives short because of some poor decisions in their lives.

[oliviahelland]

Hurston 1-6

Wow! I'm surprised by I actually genuinely enjoy this novel. Hurston's description and use of imagery creates almost a movie inside of my head as I read. The quirkiness of the dialogue does nothing less than add to the movie in my head! In addition to the style of this book, the storyline and ideas produced are intriguing and thought provoking. Through these first few chapter I have gained an understanding of Janie and gradually like Janie's character more and more. Personally, I think there has been hints of foreshadowing in these chapters, based on those foreshadows I hope Janie "blossoms" into her true self as the story continues.

[oliviahelland]

Group picture with the librarian!

[cook1314]

This photo was from a couple weeks ago when I journeyed to the OU Library with Allison. At first I found the place to be a bit…overwhelming. I’ve never actually used a university library before, although I’ve been in a few. I found the librarian at the research help desk to be extremely helpful. Without her finding my criticisms would’ve been like finding a needle in a haystack since I’m totally unfamiliar with the university library organization system. Not only was the librarian helpful but she was also friendly! She was understanding of my limited knowledge of how to use a find things in a library and was kind enough to show Allison and I to where our criticisms were located. Now, I was expecting a lot of criticism on Paradise Lost, but what I found blew me away. I had two entire sections of bookshelf reserved for critical works specifically related to Paradise Lost, and there was another two bookshelf sections on Milton in general. There were criticism books ranging from overarching themes to entire books that only focused on the literary devices used in one specific book of Paradise Lost. Narrowing this vast collection down took a long time, but eventually I was able to find two criticisms that were broad enough for me to employ effectively into my project and research. Unfortunately this probably means I’m going to end up reading through a majority of both of these books in order to understand what they’re explaining. In any case, I’m glad to have found my books, and I’ll definitely be more comfortable next time I’m in the library. I’m also grateful that I went with Allison since I used her library card to check out my books.

[alyssaklaresmith-blog]

Wow we had two very different experiences! When Alli and I went to the library, the librarian at the Research help desk was able to find our criticisms but didn’t do much more than that. She wrote down the book label thing on a piece of paper for us and told us we’d find them on third floor and that was it.  We were on our own from then on out! Fortunately we were able to find our criticisms and figure out how to use the copier without too much trouble, but it would’ve been nice to have a little more assistance. 

[oliviahelland]

I had a similar experience to Alyssa and Alli, the librarian wasn’t too helpful for me. When I went into the library I made a beeline for her desk, however, after a minute or two she redirected me to one of the near by computers and showed me to look up my author on that, so I was on my own.

[oliviahelland]

I got lost in the Oakland university library, however, despite that, I found some a whole bunch of criticism on CS Lewis and his writing with the help of a librarian. I must say, I’m actually a bit excited to start this research process!

(I know this isn't a picture of me- I forgot to get one, I'll get that one shortly)

[annahorton123-blog]

To be honest, I’m not sure why we didn’t read “Faust” in Lit. It is literally so hilarious. At least, I think so. It may just be the translation, but this guy has the best comebacks.

“Clear off, disgusting pimp!”

“Pert monkey!”

“You misborn...

[oliviahelland]

As you were describing, your character is responding to a devil, where as mine is the complete opposite! Often I'd come across humor in my book in the perspective of a demon to a human or another demon! CS Lewis consistently sews in humorous ideas or statement to relax a situation or chapter.

[carolineeriley]

At this point I am a little more than halfway through the novel, and some things are starting to click a little, but I’m still not really comfortable with my understanding of what’s going on. I have looked up some of the characters to get a better understanding of who is who and what their...

[oliviahelland]

Just like Caroline was writing about, many novels talk a little bit to emerge yourself in them. However, for my book it was oddly quick for the book to start to flow. Don't get me wrong, also did struggle with my authors style, but after the first few letters if was perfectly understandable!

[alyssaklaresmith-blog]

In one of my earlier posts I mentioned how I was having trouble focusing on the book and not thinking of other things while reading. I’ve since found that something that helped me focus more was listening to smooth jazz while I read?? It sounds weird but that kind of music just kind of calms you...

[oliviahelland]

I find myself facing the same problem! I will definitely be trying listening to smooth jazz.

[oliviahelland]

In the end.

The Screwtape Letters was such a great novel. How CS Lewis wrote made it so interesting, and there was so many parts of the novel that I would connect to. At times, I thought,"Oh my goodness, this is exactly how I think (or act)."  This book will for sure be a favorite!

[oliviahelland]

This is a very interesting video I came across while reading that points out the tone and vibe of the book, while experts dissect the moves of CS Lewis and express them through audio. This video gave insight into the novel and helped me gain a better understanding of Screwtape and the move CS Lewis used to create the complexity of Screwtape, including diction, word structure, and imagery. 

[oliviahelland]

While writing The Screwtape Letters, Lewis also addresses many different issues in our society; for example, the view of women.   Furthermore, this stage performance of The Screwtape Letters, does a great job bringing to life the letters written by Lewis, and allowing the audience understand what CS Lewis wants them to gain by acting them out in a unique way.