I've always enjoyed reading. I took English Literature A Level partly because I did so well at GCSE, so I thought I was good at it, but also because I really enjoy reading. There are so many brilliant books out there, and although I spent most of my teens reading chick lit (and thoroughly relishing every page, despite the lack of supposed pedigree held in these pages) university not only gave me a degree but also showed me that there is a wealth of literature out there waiting for me to read and learn from! So much has been written - authors must be the most diverse occupational group on the planet.
I started secondary school wanting to be an author. I wanted to write a bestselling novel - a groundbreaking piece of literature. My first attempts, aged 11, were typical teen trouble stories, often written in collaboration of friends and obsessed with my male counterparts. Needless to say, they are not worth note now. I then turned to poetry and my mastery of vocabulary helped me write some lovely little rhymes, rhyme being the optimum word in that sentence. They rhymed, yes, they flowed well, yes, but they were not deep. Whenever I tried to be deep I just became depressing, and out of my depth.
So, I decided that in order to write a good novel I need to do two things.
Firstly, I must gain some life experience. I could probably write a good book about teenagers, but it would not be ground-breaking. It might be amusing, occasionally well written, but I don't want to contribute to that field of work. More than anything, I know a good friend is writing a fantastic novel about teenagers (with a supernatural, but non Harry Potter/Twilight, angle). I shall leave this area to her, and focus on gaining my life experience.
Secondly, I must read more. How can I write something new when I don't know what has already been written? People come up with amazing creative original stories because original things happen to them and then they can translate them into the written word. I need to culture my imagination a little after I have lived, and reading some past and present masters' work can only help me in this. Plus I'll (hopefully) really enjoy the process. Don't worry though, I won't pretend to like every book, although undoubtedly there are good points to all books.
I don't particularly care if no one else reads this, it is a process I want to go through regarding something I'm interested in. So, what follows are my personal, opinionated book reviews. Not supposed to be works of criterary genius, just my own observations on what I have read and what I have learnt. I'll focus on the classics and more modern reads because I think the classics have a lot to teach and provide a lot of subjectual, contextual and creative variety, but modern reads are sometimes easier and quicker and more relatable. The books I read are also not confined to fiction - you can learn a lot from someone's elses memories.
And so I begin.
