I'm an English Major, yet I've got surprisingly little experience in 'creative writing'. Which is to say that I've spent most of my time during my study of this language by reading essays, Shakespeare, poetry and epics such that I could write my own essays in analysis of them. This is more of a place for me to stretch my legs a little bit and toy with the idea of writing some fiction of my own. I find that, while I do enjoy some of the stories that wax poetic throughout every scene, filling the novel with complex imagery that crafts a rather significant learning curve for the uninitiated, most of my favorite books are still those from the Young Adult Fiction section of the library. While their plots aren't necessarily the most complex and their imagery is often more direct, I find them to be charming. They are easy to read, but you learn more and more about how to perform some of the complicated challenges of authorship, such as crafting a suitably elaborate setting and planning realistic dialogue. Regardless of your reading level, or even your writing level, YA Fiction can still be a learning experience.

My favorite books include:
The Magic Circle Series from Tamora Pierce
The Abhorsen Trilogy by Garth Nix
Good Omens by Neil Gaiman
The Alexia Tarabotti Novels by Gail Carriger
The Harry Potter Septology by J. K. Rowling
Dune by Frank Herbert
Frankenstein: The Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelly

My favorite essays/philosophic texts:
The Symposium by Plato
Axiomatic by Eve Sedgwick
Gender Troubles by Judith Butler
Meditations by Rene Descartes
De Rerum Natura by Lucretius
Structure, Sign and Play by Derrida

My favorite poems:
London by William Blake

My favorite works of Shakespeare:
A Midsummer Night's Dream

If you have any book suggestions that you think I should read, please send me a message.