Why am I doing this?

Because I feel like it. I admit, there's a lot of selfishness involved in this one. But at the same time, anyone who stops by more than a few times and gets to know my taste in literature might benefit from this blog as well. You never know.

Mostly though, the more I read, the more I want some way to really remember the things that I've read. A good friend told me that I should write in my books. While reading, write in the margins, underline words, and throw out exclamation points when something screams at you and makes you feel (sidenote: I hate exclamation points). This seemed like a great idea. I tried it in one book, The Red Tent by Anita Diamant. I failed miserably. By page 50, the pen was gone and I no longer cared, I just wanted to read. I just didn't enjoy it. I'm in grad school and there is an abundance of reading I have to do for class every week. The highlighters and pens sit by my side as I go through all that grossly academic material. Writing in books that I read for fun suddenly felt like homework and I almost immediately stopped feeling the pleasure in pleasure reading.

I'm going to try this for a little while and see how it goes. It was going to be a journal on my computer, but I thought, why keep it to myself when I can publish it in glorious splendor? Becuase, you know, everyone that blogs eventually gets a book deal or becomes a highly demanded freelancer for The New Yorker. I also figured that creating a blog might help to keep me going. Readers or not, it requires a certain amount of effort and maintenance that I might not put forth as readily if it were just my own thing. And hell, someone else might enjoy it along the way.

So press on my fellow readers. Let me know your thoughts about what I've said and give me some recommendations in return. I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoy writing it.