Confessions

Change can mean a lot of things, especially in today’s world.

However, the kind of change I’m talking about is: the grow-up-and-mature, fill-me-out-as-a-person, expand-my-view-of-the-world change.

Reading can do that.

And on that note, I have a confession to make. Two, in fact.

Confession #1: I haven’t always read books with the motivation for life change. I still don’t. Very rarely will I pick up a book with change as its main intent.  And, if I do, it’s not very likely I’ll read it.

When I read, I prefer “Accidental Change” - change that happens without intention. That’s why it’s accidental.

It just happens.

For me, accidental change comes when I consider how I’d react if placed in a similar situation as a favourite protagonist; or when I am confronted with long-held biases and stereotypes uncovered by an unwitting character; or reading about a different time and place and feeling a surprising need to dig deeper.

Confession #2: I gravitate towards fiction.

Several years ago I determined I was reading way too much fiction so made the decision to alternate between genres. Fiction followed by non-fiction. I certainly read a wider variety of books, but it almost killed me. Literarily speaking. The non-fiction books dragged and the fiction ended far too soon. That decision didn’t keep long!

Currently, I try to have a variety of books at my disposal and sometimes do give non-fiction a fighting chance, but it had better be good or at least a biography.

I should add a final note, which maybe I should have prefaced with. Books are a vehicle for personal growth and change. A great vehicle.