From a young age I always liked to read. I did the reading contests every summer at my local library, read at school, and read at home. I was always reading no matter where I was. I never understood why it was such a big deal that I liked to read. Other kids would make jokes thinking they were really doing something with their petty insults, but I always felt bad for them. They would never give comprehensive learning a chance, and I felt that if they gave it a shot then they would understand why I loved it so much.

When I decided to go into Professional Writing, it sounded daunting. I had not taken a Writing course in community college because they didn’t offer any. One of my first classes at WIU was ENG 382 with Dr. Banash class. It was a review-style class where I learned to comment on books, films, and music. Going to class that first day, I had no idea what to expect. I had never heard of book reviews, and it was nerve wracking. It was a new school, I didn’t know anybody, and I knew nothing about the topics concerned with class.

I loved that it was a small class. I’m from a small high school, and I had small classes in community college. I was most comfortable with the environment and peers in ENG 382. Since there were only five of us in the class, we had to step up our discussions. In a big class, you could sit and wait around for someone else to answer the question or voice their opinion. Not this class. I feel that if you don’t want to participate and lay back, then this class is not for you, or you are not passionate about literature as a whole.

There were a few books that were assigned to us that had us talking for days – whether it was good thing or a bad thing. We wanted everyone to know how we felt about the book. Or if there was something that we didn’t understand, we could talk about it and try to get more information on the topic.

The first book of the semester was Less Than Zero by Bret Easton Ellis. If I remember right, I don’t think any of us liked the book. We definitely all agreed it didn’t change our lives by any means, but there were parts that we would talk about that would help us understand what the author was trying to achieve. We reviewed so many different things as part of this class (including Olivia Rodrigo’s Sour). We could at least respect or learn to understand the author’s motives, which is a pillar in reviewing.

I learned so much from ENG 382, and it’s because of this class and its community that I have grown fond of reviewing. Most of the material I write for this publication is book reviews. I spent a whole semester finding what worked and what didn’t. Where my own voice could jump out and it could be my review.

I love that I can see a movie or read a book and voice the qualities that I enjoyed about it or if there were issues that kept me from being able to enjoy it. Others can discover a new book that they would not have found on their own or they might take inspiration from the reviews in our publication to start their own.

Reading is a way of education and gaining more knowledge that a classroom might not be able to offer. There are so many things that I have learned from reading that have helped further develop my writing skills but so has my education. They go hand in hand. ENG 382 helped me gain confidence in my writing skills while learning a new branch of the writing industry.

Edited by Carter L. Myers