Why Write Book Reviews?

I feel that one needs to be an Orwell, or a Tolkien to be in a position to review a Lewis – and I intend to say much about each and their works, especially Lewis. And who am I that anyone should care about the things I, an unknown midget, say about these giants and what they wrote? For this reason, lest anyone thinks I’m delusional to put myself on the same pedestal as these authors, the first thing I want to say is that most books I read actually “review” me (if that makes any sense) rather than the other way around. And so, this exercise will be more about sharing some of the notes I take as I read, even as I offer occasional critiques if and when they’re called for.

Books are not created equal, that is, they don’t require the same kind of reading. Some books are difficult and have to be worked through slowly, others are entertaining, and others don’t require that much effort and don’t demand that one reads every word in them.
Regardless of the type of book, I intend to consume them “actively”, as opposed to the passive kind of reading I’ve done throughout the years. And why do I need to be “active” in my reading? Because, as Francis Bacon says, and also knowing my own limits, I want to be a “full man”:

Reading maketh a full man, conference [i.e conversation] a ready man, and writing an exact man. And therefore, if a man write little, he had need have a great memory; if he confer [i.e., engage in conversation] little, he had need have a present wit; and if he read a little, he had need have much cunning to seem to know that he doth not.
Francis Bacon ¹

Therefore, I intend to write at the very least a short summary of the things I glean from my own reading – but hopefully more than this for hard books. Will I be able to sustain this discipline over the long haul? God willing. I hope I do. I’ve got to at least try, right? We’ll see how it goes.