About

I started this blog four months after I left college because I miss not being an English major. I am ready to leave the structure of school behind for now but I am not ready to leave behind the ongoing communication between myself, the world, and books.

I don't have papers to write anymore, and consequently, the books I read feel half-digested. I want to keep exercising the muscle of critical thinking and language, and so the homework I've given myself is to digest books in this space.

As I leave college I can feel part of myself wanting to make this small but dangerous shift I see happening around me; a shift towards portraying an all-knowing adult full of certainties about the world - a rigid, un-playful person.

I want to be reminded of how much I don't know and how my own story is just one of many.

I also started this blog because all too often people don't really understand why an English major is valuable. An English degree gives you gifts that are difficult to quantify. This blog is about attempting to measure those skills. Words matter, books matter, and these things change us. This blog tracks how the books I read change me, and how that emotional and philosophical shift actually makes me take different action in the world.

The effects of language take a while to ferment. I don't pretend that even I know all of the intricate ways that the books I read affect me, so I know that this is a hugely imperfect way to show the journey that these books take me on. Still, I hope it clarifies some small part of that journey.

The books I'm reading are coming straight from my bookshelf. It's part of an agreement I made with myself to not buy any more books until I've read every single one that is still sitting on my bookshelf. I have a bad habit of reading a review, getting inspired, and ordering the book right away. Then I flip to the middle, take a smell, bask in the anticipation, and put it on my bookshelf only to never get to reading it. There is an embarrassing amount of books on my bookshelf I haven't read. If you're interested in seeing all the books on the list look here.

The format of this blog will vary based on the book I'm reading. I'm keeping it open-ended intentionally so that I leave room for anything to happen in my explorations between this book, myself, and the world around me. What you can count on is a review of the book, how it communicates to me, how it communicates to the world and back and forth and back and forth. I'll wrap up each post with the action statement - how this book changed me, as far as I can tell right now.

Book #1, Becoming Wise An Inquiry into the Mystery and Art of Living, was chosen very carefully. It is Book #1 because the deeply complicated and compassionate way Tippett probes the world around her is the spirit that I want this blog to echo in every post (though I could only dream of writing like her).