Changing My Mind: Occasional Essays is a collection of essays written by Zadie Smith and was first published in 2009. Smith is a British author, essayist and professor of creative writing. She is known for numerous best-selling novels, perhaps most famously White Teeth.
In terms of focus, Changing My Mind centers on Zadie Smith and her extreme passion for reading and how her way of thinking and absorbing information has changed over time. She criticizes the way people analyze novels and turn them into long boring essays and writing that everyone hates to read. Smith describes how she gets so absorbed in any book she reads and how that habit was in her since childhood. She says that she "inhales books" and takes them with her in dinner time because she feels that they are a meal in theirselves. Smith also states some of her personal characteristics that made her who she is. She offers the essays through different topics in her unique point of view.
The collection received many positive reviews. For one, Goodreads rated it as 3.8 out of a 5-star rating. Peter Conrad in his book review in the Guardians said: "It's good to know that, while my body rusts, I can keep my mind stretched and nimble by reading Zadie Smith." Time newspaper wrote: "She has the gift David Foster Wallace had: the mere act of watching her think — about Kafka, Buffy, her father, her writing habits, whatever attracts her critical intelligence — makes you feel smarter." True to its title, Zadie Smith's essay collection may change your views about various things. Her way of writing is unique and intriguing, and infused with a healthy dose of skepticism and sarcasm.
