Why a book blog?

I know what they say: a good writer writes every day. And I want to be a good writer. I know I have good instincts. When I was in 4th grade, my teacher Mr. Reinsmoen told me that he knew he would have a book on his shelf with my name on it one day and that's a promise I've held on to.

My "personal blog," the one that I started when I moved to Salt Lake City, stresses me out, to be honest. I feel pressure to paint a realistic--yet exciting and glamorous!-- picture of what my (frankly pretty boring) life looks like here for my friends and family back home. I can barely bring myself to write every few months let alone every day.

Yesterday one of my friends dropped by and I started telling her about the books I have been reading since school let out. I could feel my heart beat faster and my voice getting more and more animated as I gushed about the books that have made me feel alive. I realized that all of my best conversations with people since I've gotten here have been about books.

Reading is one of life's true joys and whenever I finish a book-good or bad, in tears or with a light heart- I always want to tell someone about it. And when someone asks me for a recommendation, I love to be able to give a few that were uniquely chosen for their particular taste in literature.

So, as I finished my third book of summer vacation today, I decided I would start a book blog. This blog will be for myself: a form of expression for my reactions to books as well as an archive to revisit them in the future.

And, as I was formulating the plan in my head, I realized I could make an even better use of it if I also wrote up summaries and reactions to the articles that I read for school/work as well.

Third, asa I was trying to come up with a good title for the blog (isn't that always the hardest part?) I came across some truly delicious words so I think this may be a nice repository for vocabulary as well!

If anyone else is interested in reading about my musings, I'm happy to share them, but this one is for me!