Reading

I enjoy reading to take myself out of my own head (well, sometimes anyway) and for giving me something else to focus on. At its best it introduces new ideas or gives you a new perspective to challenge your biases and prejudices. The really clever authors give you so much to unpack and I love getting together with people to discuss that which I completely missed or which went over my head: the themes or easter eggs someone else caught, the thread they pulled further, the missed references. Some of the very best books give you a new experience every time you read it. Again it's the craft that gets me. The way Patrick Radden Keefe takes a never ending spiderweb of material, with a million ways to present it, and finds the one form that weaves it into a narrative that isn't just digestible but completely captivating. Or the way Borges can write a seven page short story that contains more within it than most novels.

YourBookPal exists because of this and I’ve had a real thrill digging deeper.