Shambhavi's Shells

       After a whole school year of blog posts, new novels, harkness discussions, poetry, and essays, the school year finally came to an end for us seniors. It's only right that my final blog post of high school is dedicated to all the authors, pieces, novels, and people that inspired me throughout this journey in AP Lit.     To start, I would like to mention my favorite author and poet, Cathy Park Hong. Most of my blog posts have already been dedicated to this author, but the impact of her book Minor Feelings, especially The Indebted, and now her multiple pieces of poetry resonated with me as her avid fan. Park Hong's pieces are usually about the Asian American experience, which is something that I hadn't been able to read much of growing up, so now finding an author whose experiences are relatable and understandable makes Park Hong an important author to me.     Now, although I am not a fan of poetry and it was certainly not my favorite part of the AP exam, my pod's p

  The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery Even though The Little Prince is considered a children's book by many, it has been regarded as a book that teaches a lot about relationships and understanding the world as a whole. Since I'll be going off to college soon, having the little prince as the top of my reading syllabus will make sure that I read this book first before going off to experience a new journey in my life.  Alice's Adventure in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll  To me, this is a little embarrassing but I've actually never seen, heard, or read the entire story of Alice in Wonderland but after some research about the book, I've learned that it's about the struggle of understanding and becoming a part of the "adult world", which seems to fit in well with for someone who will soon have to go through the same struggle.    Little Women by Louisa May Alcott After hearing about this book being adapted into different movies and shows, I've alwa

           Walking into the classroom 12 AP room, everyone was new to me. I ended up sitting at the same pod as Cecelia and Alex (Sonnet joined us a little later), these were people that I had never spoken to before.       Now, since in AP Lit we had to almost always have pod discussions, the four of us, considering the fact that at least three of us are introverts, had a hard time making conversation at first. Those first few days of awkward silence and stagnant conversation is a memory that will always stay with me because since then, I've learned how to communicate my thoughts and ideas more freely with my pod always supporting me (plus Lily:) ).     Throughout high school, if there is something that I have learned and consistently tried to improve upon, then it has to be taking every opportunity I can get rather than letting some slip past me. I have always been finding myself letting good opportunities get away because I haven't been proactive about taking action on them.