Professional Reader of Books, Ideas, and Occasionally the Universe
I’m Sophie Wordsmith. I read literature the way some people investigate crime scenes. Carefully. Curiously. And always with the firm suspicion that the author is hiding clues on purpose.
Depending on the day, I approach a book like a historian, a physicist, or a detective with a very comfortable blanket.
Since childhood, my natural habitat has been libraries and bookstores. When I first visited the largest library in my prefecture, I panicked—not because it was overwhelming, but because I realized I would never finish every book in it. (I have since made peace with this… mostly.)
Although English is not my native language, I grew up reading Little Women in Japanese. One day, I decided I wanted to read it in English. My gateway book? Peter Rabbit. (A surprisingly polite introduction to the English language, considering he’s a tiny fugitive in a blue jacket.)
I didn’t major in literature. I studied business, which means I now read novels with the instincts of someone who has seen far too many spreadsheets. While reading The Great Gatsby, for example, I quickly move past the romance to wonder about the real profit margins on bootleg liquor in the 1920s.
At some point, I realized I wasn’t reading books for the plot. I was reading them as portals—windows into psychology, history, economics, politics, philosophy, and whatever else decides to join the party. One book sparks an idea, that idea sparks another discipline, and suddenly I’m learning inductively in fifty directions at once.
So why write about it?
Because this cross-disciplinary way of reading is my home, literature becomes richer when woven with other fields. And with my non-traditional background, I see connections that I once thought were unusual—until I realized they make a tapestry of their own.
Welcome to that tapestry. to learn how to analyze books and share my thoughts with others.
I started by reading Foster’s book and Joseph Campbell’s The Hero with a Thousand Faces. These books guided me how much you can learn by digging into stories—whether they’re fiction or nonfiction. The more I explored, the more rewarding reading became, and I knew I had to share this experience with others.
Books don’t just tell stories; they guide us, teach us, and offer new perspectives. I hope this blog inspires you to think, grow, and connect with others through the magic of books. Let’s discover their transformative power together!