“Yes, I have read XYZ, what’s the main character’s name again? Uh…”
“What intrigued me? I don’t remember from the top of my head, but I remember feeling XYZ. I’m still not sure why.”
“Who wrote the book? Uhhhh… I can’t remember, I will look it up later.”
These are some of the real-world responses I gave to people when they asked me questions about the book I read. It’s embarrassing. It doesn’t properly convey my respect towards authors and books I read.
Even when alone, thinking to myself, I had trouble remembering the key insights that made my reading experience great. Some of these insights were magnificent for my life, but I fail to recreate the exact feeling they produced at the time. It evaporates after some time.
I wish to solve this problem by regularly capturing the insights and feelings a book produces, in my own words. This cannot be replaced with re-reading the summary of a book you read years ago. Your experience of reading a book is heavily influenced by your current situation in life. Your immediate surroundings, niceties of life you’re currently enjoying, problems you’re going through, conflicts between people close to you, and your overall arc in life all play a role in your unique interpretation of a book. The book itself doesn’t produce the fire. The book is a flint, and when you strike it with the steel of your worldview and experience, it produces a fire in you. This is why reading the same book after a decade might produce different ignitions in you.
My written book reflections are just a part of the solution to the problem of forgetting a book. Other activities include rereading the book, thoroughly researching the author, imagining their living situation, and understanding how their life influenced the book.
As of this writing, my reasons for writing book reflections are purely selfish. My goal is not to be objective towards a book, but to capture the insights and feelings a book produces.