Why We Read
On Bookworms, Libraries, and Just One More Page Before Lights Out
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- USD 19.99
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- USD 19.99
Publisher Description
*NATIONAL BESTSELLER*
*A WGN Radio Best Book of 2024*
*A Good Housekeeping Reads pick*
A hilarious and incisive exploration of the joys of reading from a "beloved and wonderful writer" (George Saunders), teacher, bibliophile, and Thurber Prize Semifinalist
We read to escape, to learn, to find love, to feel seen. We read to encounter new worlds, to discover new recipes, to find connection across difference, or simply to pass a rainy afternoon. No matter the reason, books have the power to keep us safe, to challenge us, and perhaps most importantly, to make us more fully human.
Shannon Reed, a longtime teacher, lifelong reader, and New Yorker contributor, gets it. With one simple goal in mind, she makes the case that we should read for pleasure above all else. In this whip-smart, laugh-out-loud-funny collection, Reed shares surprising stories from her life as a reader and the poignant ways in which books have impacted her students, featuring fan-favorite classics to contemporary works and more:
On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous The Wizard of Oz Gone Girl Their Eyes Were Watching God Little Fires Everywhere The Diary of Anne Frank Jane Eyre …and more!
From the varied novels she cherishes to the ones she didn’t, Reed takes us on a rollicking tour through the comforting world of literature, celebrating the books we love, the readers who love them, and the ways in which literature can transform us for the better.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this loving ode, Reed (Why Did I Get a B?), a creative writing lecturer at the University of Pittsburgh, serves up witty reflections on the joys of books. When "reading, I was never lonely, the way I sometimes felt in real life," Reed writes, describing how as a child she found books to be a welcome respite from talking with others, whom she often struggled to understand because of a hearing impairment. Recounting notable episodes from her reading life, she recalls becoming an "excellent skimmer" as a kid by participating in a Pizza Hut program that rewarded students with slices for each book read and discusses drawing motivation from subpar books she reviewed in her 20s ("If they can publish a book, who's to say I can't?"). Reed blames elitist disdain toward genre fiction for turning off many would-be readers and encourages people to pick out whatever books they're personally drawn to. The meditations on reading are at once wry and heartening (she calls the habit "a dear friend who's always there for me but never, ever asks for a slice"), and the humor amuses (a list of "signs you may be a character in a Shakespearean play" includes "you are dead, but still speaking"). Bibliophiles will find much to love.
