Sunday, January 8, 2012

Lit Blog Hop - To Cliff Notes or Not to Cliff Notes

Literary Blog Hop


Lit blog hop asks:


Do you like to supplement your reading with outside sources, like Sparknotes, academic articles, or other bloggers' reviews? Why or why not?


Number one, I don't even know what Sparknotes are. So that should be the first clue to this answer. I assume they are Cliffs Notes, essentially? And the answer to that part of the question is no. Why? Two reasons:

1) I'm cheap. I often buy my books (as cheaply as possible), and am not compelled to spend more on notes.

2) I'm not being tested on this stuff. And because I'm not being tested on this, I'd rather discover things on my own OR more than likely just remain oblivious. Either way is fine by me. BECAUSE I AM NOT BEING TESTED.

If I'm struggling with something in a book, I may (infrequently) do a search on the world wide internets to see if there's anything out there that can shed some light for me...ahem, Faulkner.

Finally, I don't necessarily seek out blog reviews about books I am reading, but I do keep tabs on about 20 blogs, and I often read a book because of someone's review (oddly a less than stellar review can push me to read a book, too). And just, in general, I enjoy reading others' blogs.

4 comments:

  1. Sparknotes are like Cliff Notes but online and free. You can buy them in the store too (I think) but why. They're online and free. I use them sometimes if I'm stuck on something. I'd use them more of I wasn't so lazy

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  2. What about articles that may be written about the book you're reading or the author? I would say these count as supplementary reading. The difference would be if you're actively seeking it out. I usually stumble across this stuff and if it's relevant to something I've read then I would read it.

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  3. Yeah the articles, I guess, are what I was talking about occasionally searching for when I'm struggling with something in a read. I don't do it often.

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  4. I had never heard of Sparknotes, either. But I hate Cliff, so I will most likely hate Sparky.

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