Because of Your Blog! Who Knew?

When I interviewed the Hollister School Book Club we had no idea that it might lead down some interesting avenues! After the blog was posted the group was soon contacted by Clayton Childress.

“My name is Clayton Childress and I'm a PhD student in sociology at UCSB. I found the Hollister School Book Club through a post on Susan R. Stoltz's website. I'm studying book groups for part of my
 dissertation (the project has followed a book that came out last Oct. from it's authoring, through its publishing and into communities of readers) and I wanted to inquire to see if the Hollister School Book Club might be interested in participating in my study. I've studied 16 different groups all across the country: a mens group in MA is as far as I've been, and another book group here in Santa Barbara is the closest. I'd of course be happy to explain exactly what it is I'm doing should you or the group have any interest in hearing about the project.  Thanks so much!”

With an e-mail that said:  “This is cool. Because of your blog, this PhD student from UCSB is using us in his dissertation. Read on...” the group informed me of the interest and their participation in his dissertation study. I asked Clayton to please give me the lo-down on the project. 

"I always planned on being a high school English teacher, but the sociology bug caught me pretty hard while I was in college. I've been working on my PhD in sociology at UCSB, but never gave up my love for fiction. I decided that the best course of action was to study fiction from a sociological perspective, and I've been doing that for the past two years. Whenever I finish a book I love I want to know the story behind it, what the author was thinking, their doubts, the changes they made, and the advice they received in these difficult moments. I want to know what the publisher was thinking, if they connected with it for the same reasons I did, if other readers loved it for the same reasons I did or left the book with the same questions. I've been lucky enough to ask all of these questions while working on my dissertation, as well as some new ones.

I've spent the last two year following a novel through its authoring, publishing, and into book groups. I've sat in on editorial meetings, publicity meetings, and readings. In book groups I'm studying interpretation and social influence, how people interpret the novel and how their discussions of it may alter their impressions and interpretations."

Clayton has tracked the novel Jarrettsville by Cornelia Nixon through sixteen different book clubs so far. Here is a short synopsis of the book: 

A work of historical fiction, this novel takes place in a town (Jarrettsville, MD) just South of the Mason-Dixon line immediately following the civil war. The story steps back to 1865, six days after the surrender, and President Lincoln has just been killed by John Wilkes Booth. It's based on a true story that was front page news in the New York Times. The main players in the story are also members of the author's family.