I thought a lot of them sounded interesting to me. Many were interested, but I know I will not read just because it isn't my style and I'm not really being drawn to it. For example, the really engaging novel that Bridget brought in was fascinating and opened my eyes to a new idea of what texts can be, but when I read a book, I want to read it and that's all. I don't like it to be too complicated. This leads into a book I have read before, The Fault in Our Stars. I completely agreed with the presentor and how she has never felt so attached and connected to character prior to this book, I could not agree more. Last semester, I wrote an Inquiry about my connection with the novel, and about how connecting with the characters helped me connect with the cancer patients I was volunteering with. That was exciting to see, I wish she talked more about the long term effect of the book on her. I also read Heaven is For Real which was super cool to see how another person perceived the book, especially because it is spiritual so in a sense controversial. I thought that was pretty awesome that she chose to talk about a more religiously driven book. Also, Radical Hospitality stood out to me, I like that the girl included a excerpt from it, I thought that was really effective. I felt she did a great job with discussing the personal connection and her context around the book. I definitely want to look into that book over summer.
I think the texts show another dimension of my classmates, but I still don't fully grasp who they are from the presentations. I think if it was a longer, more personalized and more prepared speech I would have understood them better and where they come from. Similarities I noticed amongst them were spirituality and humanity. There were multiple texts technically about "religious" topics, and there were also texts about making the world better, or helping other (the song, book about mental illness, etc.). I enjoyed all of that because I have a strong faith and am also very service-oriented and have a passion for making a positive difference. I believe that the differences and similarities are both all about context, when you read them, who you are, where you are from, how you were raised, what you believe, how you discovered the text, etc. The list literally goes on and on, because everything is different for everyone. We may have the same experience