Nothing impresses me than people who know everything about one topic. I have some friends who are like that about fashion; they can eagerly discuss every individual collection from that fall’s Fashion Week, can name a favorite designer and actually explain what it is they like about that designer’s style and look, and then name a bunch of other designers I’ve never heard of. One of these friends also knows everything about politics, naming off politicians and their policies like she does fashion designers and collections. I’m not quite sure how she has the time to absorb so much information, but good for her.

I am not really this sort of person naturally. I like fashion, I (kind of) like politics, but even when I’ve made attempts to gather information about such subjects it kind of leaves my brain after a few hours. I read VOGUE regularly but still cannot name more than the designers everyone knows. During campaigns, I make a point of visiting politicians’ websites and looking them up… but a few days later I no longer remember their stance on the issues. I’m not sure why this happens, but it just does.

However, nothing appeals to me more than “being an expert in my field.” Last spring, when I realized that I would love to be a book critic, I decided that it was time to start my self-education on literature, and I realized that I would have to immerse myself and constantly make an effort in order to self-educate myself to the extent the information would stick.

I made some obvious changes in my life, such as switching my homepage from the New York Times homepage to the New York Times Review of Books homepage. I can now list more new releases and authors than I used to, but recently realized that I know even less about politics than I used to.

I try to do more subtle things, such as taking mental note of the author of every book review I’ve read. Slowly, I’m starting to recognize names more and more, such as Aimee Bender, who has reviewed for the New York Times and is an author herself; Mark Athitakis and Jane Ciabattari, who are both members of the National Book Critics Circle (I read this organization’s blog quite frequently now, too); Megan O’Grady, who is the book editor for VOGUE; and Lev Grossman, who often reviews books for TIME. Nothing would be cooler than, for example, meeting Megan O’Grady and actually knowing who she is.

By spending more time at literary blogs like the NBCC’s, I also learn more about new releases and famous literary critics from the past, such as Susan Sontag and Edmund Wilson—both of whom I have yet to read.

As part of my self-education, I am constantly on the quest to read all the “classics” I managed to miss in high school. (I feel like I missed so much because I went abroad junior year, which is when my high school taught American Lit.) I want to be able to speak about literature and make comparisons between books because I am actually familiar enough with the world of literature to make concrete statements about it.

The problem with literature is that there is so much out there, it seems like I am always behind other people. Luckily, I have a lifetime to keep teaching myself about the world of books, and once I am out of school I will perhaps have a little more free time on my hands.

Although I did partly make the decision to focus so much of my life on being better informed about literature because I want to be more desirable candidate for future jobs, I also simply love learning more about it. Maybe I can’t retain information about fashion or politicians, but at least I seem to be getting more and more knowledgeable about literature.