I have always found books incredibly alluring... something about the smell of the pages and the reverent hush that can only be found inside the walls of a library drew me into the mystical realm of the bookworm when I was very young. Even at the age of four, when my taste in literature tended toward books with more pictures than words, I found something uniquely satisfying in witnessing the adventures and worlds that someone had placed inside the pages of a book. Perhaps they had intended those minitature realms and quiet escapades to be private, but I had discovered them. And I spent hour after captivated hour completely absorbed someone else's imagination.
Somewhere around the audacious age of thirteen, simply witnessing other worlds was no longer good enough. I began to create them. At one point my ambition reached beyond one world at a time. I created an entire galaxy whose fate hung in the balance. (Of course, as an honest literary critic, I would never recommend anyone read those early works. The characters were shallow, the plots were thin, and most situations created by the young author were incredibly melodramatic.)
Adolescence came and went. Two rounds of college later and I discovered a new joy--reading with my brain fully engaged. No longer were the novels, short stories, essays and dramas simply an escape into another author's world... they had become a new way of looking at the world I lived in. Plot, character, motifs, themes... all the aspects of a story suddenly took on meaning. It was my task and pleasure to discover that meaning and tell the world about it.
... And that brings us to the purpose of this blog. Reading is a pasttime for so many people. But how many of us actually read with our brains engaged? What do the words on the page in front of you really mean? What makes a story enjoyable or... not? Why would a critic admit that a story is essentially trite but still praise the authors methods and work? I'm not a professional reader by any stretch of the imagination, but one of my favorite college professors told me a secret: even the greatest critics had to start somewhere. And the only way to get better is to practice. So, forgive me while I practice in public web-space...and if anything you see here intrigues you... let me know. Perhaps we could have an intelligent conversation about it.