Author: Sam Kandej

Before answering the question “How should we review a short story?” I want to share my reasons for writing comments and reviews on stories.

The main reason I practice writing reviews is to sharpen my logical thinking skills. I believe that analyzing and criticizing stories (short or long) can be an excellent way to exercise my mind and therefore think and evaluate things more logically.

Sometimes we misunderstand the intentions of an author. A person like me, whose mother tongue isn’t English, might get confused from time to time and misinterpret the plot and motif of English stories.

Writing comments and reviews helps me test my overall comprehension of the story. Sometimes, the authors read my comments on their works and let me know if my judgement and analysis have been fair or not.

But how do I normally review short stories? As a non-native English speaker, I tend to use simple words and structures to write my reviews. I only write about the stories that I like and totally ignore the ones that I don’t. After writing briefly about the plot of the story, I concentrate on explaining the reasons why I’ve found the story noteworthy.

To sum up, I write comments and reviews to connect with the authors that I admire. I focus on the strengths and positive aspects of my favorite authors’ works. I think this makes me an active reader who takes reading very seriously.

Just like so many other people in this world, I enjoy reading and writing in my free time. I studied English language and literature at Kharazmi University a long time ago, from 2009 to 2013. My mother tongue is Farsi (Persian), but English is also very dear (and sweet) to me.

I’ve been reading fiction in English since 2007, when I started studying this language seriously as a young man. Did I tell you that I was born on the sixth day of October 1988? Now you know it! My mother was only seventeen when she gave birth to me, and my father was seven years older than her. Two immature, selfish, and irresponsible people in my life who expect me to do magic and save our lives miraculously. Yes, I just confessed that I don’t like my parents. I don’t hide it! I’ve been a failure myself, too.

I think now you know why I read fiction. To escape reality. I don’t drink alcohol nor do drugs, but fiction does me the same favor. Fiction distracts my mind and takes me to worlds and places where I can forget all about my anger and frustration (mainly with myself) and tame the beast in me.

I’ve created Noteworthy.IR to write about the books, stories, and authors that I like. My words are simple, but I hope my pieces and posts are understandable and clear enough to leave no room for misunderstandings and confusion. The main purpose of this blog is to help me organize my mind and read more and more in English.

I think this is enough for the first post. What a shame that I wrote about my parents! But I’m sick of hiding my feelings and thoughts. How long can I live like this? I have no clue. Then I’ll write unapologetically. I hope you don’t mind!