I Just Want to Know

C.S. Lewis said "We read to know we are not alone".

I titled this blog "Into Other Worlds" for obvious reasons: books transport me and every other reader into a new world each time we open them (or turn on our e-readers...I've been seduced). However, just finding myself in a new world isn't the only thing that draws me to reading. I read to escape, to learn, to enjoy and getting to know new characters in new situations scratches an itch for me: I want to experience everything I can whenever I can. I want to learn. I want to KNOW. Granted, every book doesn't work this way. Sometimes I'm so seriously disappointed I can barely speak. Sometimes I'm so gratified I can't even find the words to express why. That's why I decided to try and hammer it all out in a blog. I'll post about every kind of book, although I here and now categorically refuse to expand my reading into the romance genre. I'll read my fantasy elsewhere, thank you. So, yeah, I'm excluding a whole genre, and probably more, because I'm also essentially a book snob. I don't really respect the romance genre, and maybe that's a failing I will tackle here, but I doubt it. What I will read is a variety of genres: fiction, science-fiction/fantasy, horror, poetry, classic literature, and history. I figure there is a lot of wiggle-room in there...room for discussion about what the genre really is and why...but I have no interest in introducing any kind of established theory here. For me reading is all about love and that is, in the end, the reason I do it anyway.

I chose the tag "carrefour" because books are so often a public plaza. They are a place where thousands gather together, even if we don't realize it, to experience something new or even something old. They are a place where everyone is welcome no matter who they are, but books are also a sort of crossroads. Which way will this book lead me today? What will I learn? Will I learn to care about something I never considered before? Will my dislike for something be so completely confirmed that I know the path I'll take regardless of the others offered? I also just kind of like how it sounds.

The first review I post on here will be an old one. Don't look for consistency in genre, because there won't be any. I read all the time, but I also tend to veer erratically from genre to genre without any clear course. Just what I want to read when I want to read it. But I do hope you'll enjoy my thoughts anyway, and feel free to express your own. After all, I just want to KNOW.