This is how it all started…
This is how it all started…
“Do you even remember what happened in that book?”
Such an innocent question but it took me completely by surprise. My instinct was to jump in with of course! And yet, when I tried to explain the plot of the book in hand I found myself at a loss. But I loved the book, how could I not remember every single detail in all its exquisite beauty?
Or the details of one sitting beside it on the shelf. Or the one I read last week on the train.
Was my memory failing me? It seemed fine on remembering everything else, so why were the details of my favourite books so vague, so distant?
Eventually I hit upon the answer…
Because I don’t read books, I devour them. I read like I’m starving to death and my only salvation lies within the pages of books. I read like I’m drowning and books are my only lifebuoy. Hunger can only be satiated by reaching the final page. Breath can only be gasped in by reaching the ending. And then it starts all over again, as the next book begins. One after the other, on and on. Fast.
The stories I read are vivid in the moment and then they fade as I dive headlong into the next one.
But as a writer, I learn nothing from such heedless consumption. Questions of how a story pulls at my emotions, how it breaks my heart, moves me to tears, and calls me to action are lost in the mindless devouring of a book.
So in order to slow my unending hunger, to experience that feeling of satiation for longer than it takes me to complete the final page, I created this blog. A place to think more deeply about what I read, to contemplate what makes a story great and why it means something to me. A place to write reviews of my favourite reads, and to share my thoughts and feelings on my reading and writing practice.
I hope it inspires you to read more, to read with care, and to feel stories as they surge up inside you and leave you an entirely changed being. For that is their power, if you will allow it.
Aoife
Writer & Reader
