2020inbooks

This blog will hopefully act as my virtual reading diary. Keeping a reading diary is something that my mum has done for many years, and the chance it offers to look back on each book she has read and her opinion on it is something that has inspired me. Although, of course, certain books stay in the mind long after they have been read, writing a personal response to each book I read this year, will, I hope, be a way of recording not only what I thought of the book, but also my mind-set and feelings at the time of reading. Books can enable reflection, but most importantly enjoyment, and I hope that this list will become something I can look back on with joy in years to come.

A little about me…
I am an MA student at Bristol University who has to read a lot for my course. However, I realised that in a particularly reading-heavy unit last term (the Rise of the European novel apparently struggles to involve many texts with less than 500 pages) is that while during my undergraduate in English literature I was able to carry on reading for pleasure, this habit had slipped slightly during the first term of my Master’s. This blog is therefore a way of encouraging me to get back into the habit I love, and re-embrace the benefits, intellectual and psychological, of reading books purely for enjoyment. I know how easy it is to slip into the pattern of watching TV or netflix after a long day at uni that often slips straight into an evening shift at my bar job, but I hope that anyone who reads this blog may also be inspired to pick up a book and relax into its plot and characters.