Allow me to introduce myself...
When I was child, I used to devour 300-paged books in less than 24 hours. I was a little Matilda Wormwood who quickly read through all my age-appropriate books by the time I was nine and turned to my parents' bookshelf to sate my reading hunger. Everyone was convinced that I was going to be a famous author once I grew up, churning out books every few month due to all the stories inside me.
But, as I'm sure many of you with similar childhood dreams and reading habits know, my drive to read and write greatly diminished as I got older, to the point where I would buy books with the intention of reading them, only to let them sit untouched on my bookshelf for years.
I'm currently at one of the lowest points of my adult life, thanks partially to the pandemic. I'm constantly in-between jobs, I'm living with family while trying to save up for an apartment, and I've recently dropped out of grad school due to mental health issues, putting a damper on my undergraduate goal of getting a career in the publishing world. It seems like no matter what I do, I keep falling back to square one.
So, why am I creating a book review blog?
Well, when talking talking to friends and family lately, a common point that has come up is that I ought to consider a career in reviewing, since I have always had strong opinions about the media I consume. And it's not a suggestion I've entirely dismissed, as I would like to reignite my past love of writing. The only issue is that I don't really have any reviewing experience.
That's what has inspired me to kill two birds with one stone.
I'm creating this blog to force myself both to strengthen my reviewing skills and to actually put a dent in my reading list. For at least the first year of running this blog, most of my reviews will be for books that I own and have put off reading: classic and contemporary, fiction and non-fiction (mostly fiction though, if I'm being honest). My goal is to cut my reading list in half before I go buying anymore books. But don't be surprised if I end up ditching this no-buy policy, or if I end up reviewing library books too, as I have a bad habit of procrastinating.
This blog is going to be a journey to reclaim my passion for books. And if
you're willing to come along with me, I can promise you that it's going to take us to several strange and wonderful places.
Congratulations! Looking forward to reading your reviews and hopefully renew a love in reading in me. My daughters absolutely loves reading and have a huge book collection in their bedrooms.