For 2018 I made a resolution, read 100 books. During the year I read through a wide variety of books and learned a lot. I could have learned more though. I made the mistake of not trying to learn from every book. Instead, I only learned from books that I deemed “serious.“

I noticed my mistake midway through the year when I read A Clockwork Orange. The book had a clear question and answered it well. I started to think about the way in which I read books. In English classes, I would read closely and look for patterns and ideas presented in the book. By myself, I read only for entertainment. Yet, when I came across other books like Between the World and Me I would take my time and attempt to learn.

If the book was “fiction,” I read only for entertainment. Non-fiction and I’m reading closely and trying to learn. It wasn’t until I read James Baldwin’s The Fire Next Time, that all of this came to the fore, “[They] bought books and devoured them, but not to learn” (61). This sentence struck me. This was the crime that I am guilty of committing against so many authors.

Before I focused on how quickly I could read, and now I want to learn from the book I’m reading. To reinforce this, I’ll be writing about what I have learned from each book. None of these posts that I write will be a review. I have no intention of writing about my dislikes. There is enough negativity going around and I do not want to add to it. The only thing that will be in these posts is lessons or ideas from the book. I am honestly ashamed it took me so long to come to this point, but I’m proud that I got here. I’ll be writing my first post on A Gathering of Shadows by V.E. Shwab and I’m very excited to get started.