Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.7 AVERAGE
3.7 AVERAGE
4.5 stars. A very quick read at only 70 pages that I know every avid reader would appreciate. I saved several quotes to come back to and am glad I own it. I appreciated the vocabulary used throughout and although I likely won’t read majority of the books recommended in it (there are some lists in the back) it spoke to me as a reader and I hope to read more by her.
I mean, did I cry? Obviously. Did I highlight long passages? Obviously. Did I see myself, in various passages, as a kid, as a teenager, as a college student, as a sometimes reluctant reader of the classics, as a semi-mortified reader of the popular nonsense? Obviously.
While reading this whole book, I was thinking about [b:The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle|310146|The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle|Avi|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348243806s/310146.jpg|997358]. How for me, even though I was already a major reader by the time I found it (or it came along--I actually don't remember how old I was or how it was introduced to me), that was the book that topped all books. I read it over and over again, in a row. I still read it every few years. As I've tried to pick up the novels that friends and authors were committed to as children that I never read or latched onto--The Phantom Tollbooth, A Wrinkle In Time--nothing sticks like Charlotte Doyle, so I was thrilled to see it in Quindlen's list of "10 Books For Girls Who Are Full of Beans." And then I Googled "full of beans."
Anyway, read this, it is lovely. It makes me feel less bad about hating the books I hated as a precocious kid trying to read beyond my years (ages 10 - 22) and great about being a reader who talks about reading.
While reading this whole book, I was thinking about [b:The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle|310146|The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle|Avi|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348243806s/310146.jpg|997358]. How for me, even though I was already a major reader by the time I found it (or it came along--I actually don't remember how old I was or how it was introduced to me), that was the book that topped all books. I read it over and over again, in a row. I still read it every few years. As I've tried to pick up the novels that friends and authors were committed to as children that I never read or latched onto--The Phantom Tollbooth, A Wrinkle In Time--nothing sticks like Charlotte Doyle, so I was thrilled to see it in Quindlen's list of "10 Books For Girls Who Are Full of Beans." And then I Googled "full of beans."
Anyway, read this, it is lovely. It makes me feel less bad about hating the books I hated as a precocious kid trying to read beyond my years (ages 10 - 22) and great about being a reader who talks about reading.
كتاب ممتع ، العنوان لا يمد للمحتوى بصلة، يتحدث عن مشاكل بعض القراء و النشر و الكثير من التوصيات.
"Books are the plane, and the train, and the road. They are the destination, and the journey. They are home."
Anna Quindlen's How Reading Changed My Life is a collection of four essays on reading and all its joys and merits. The first one outlines how Quindlen first came to love books and how it marked her out as an oddity growing up. The second looks at a brief history of publishing and what the act of reading entails. The third explores a history of reading and what it has come to mean to us over the years, with an added criticism of literary elitism (bookish snobbery, as we like to call it). The last pokes fun at the despair that came around when ebooks became a thing, and defends the importance of experiencing a (physical) book.
Of course, this is a dry summary of some of the topics that Quindlen delves into in her book. What struck me, what endeared the book to me, was the love of books that Quindlen weaves into her essays. This is a book about books and about reading, but it is also a personal reflection of the self and how meaningful stories are. Throughout the book, Quindlen drops these thoughts that resonated with me, like this bit where she talks about how reading has so many purposes:
Most importantly, though, this book made me feel connected, not just to books and reading, but to the rest of the world who loves reading as much as I do. It created a human connection that reminded me, as books do, that I am not alone.
"All of reading is really only finding ways to name ourselves, and, perhaps, to name the others around us so that they will no longer seem like strangers. Crusoe and Friday. Ishmael and Ahab. Daisy and Gatsby. Pip and Estella. Me. Me. Me. I am not alone."
Anna Quindlen's How Reading Changed My Life is a collection of four essays on reading and all its joys and merits. The first one outlines how Quindlen first came to love books and how it marked her out as an oddity growing up. The second looks at a brief history of publishing and what the act of reading entails. The third explores a history of reading and what it has come to mean to us over the years, with an added criticism of literary elitism (bookish snobbery, as we like to call it). The last pokes fun at the despair that came around when ebooks became a thing, and defends the importance of experiencing a (physical) book.
Of course, this is a dry summary of some of the topics that Quindlen delves into in her book. What struck me, what endeared the book to me, was the love of books that Quindlen weaves into her essays. This is a book about books and about reading, but it is also a personal reflection of the self and how meaningful stories are. Throughout the book, Quindlen drops these thoughts that resonated with me, like this bit where she talks about how reading has so many purposes:
"So what does it mean, that Peyton Place by Grace Metalious sold more copies than Sanctuary by William Faulkner? It means that reading has as many functions as the human body, and that not all of them are cerebral. One is mere entertainment, the pleasurable whiling away of time; another is more important, not intellectual but serious just the same. 'She had learned something comforting,' Roald Dahl wrote in Matilda of his ever-reading protagonist, 'that we are not alone.' And if readers use words and stories as much, or more, to lessen human isolation as to expand human knowledge, is that somehow unworthy, invalid, and unimportant?"
Most importantly, though, this book made me feel connected, not just to books and reading, but to the rest of the world who loves reading as much as I do. It created a human connection that reminded me, as books do, that I am not alone.
"All of reading is really only finding ways to name ourselves, and, perhaps, to name the others around us so that they will no longer seem like strangers. Crusoe and Friday. Ishmael and Ahab. Daisy and Gatsby. Pip and Estella. Me. Me. Me. I am not alone."
“Books are the plane, and the train, and the road. They are the destination, and the journey. They are home” That pretty sums up the book. I love reading about people who love books as much as I do
Anna Quindlen, an author and journalist, discusses the impact of reading on her life by discussing a variety of titles she read from childhood into adulthood. She talks about how books transported her to different places and cultures. She was influenced by the books at her home and her school, but also by the books she was able to borrow from a neighbor. She analyzes the first book she ever completely fell in love with and why on reading it again she has different feelings. She touches on why women enjoy reading and the response of her college professors to some of her favorite books from her childhood. Quindlen ends with book lists on various topics.
I discovered that my childhood was a lot like Quidlen's as I much preferred reading to any other activity. It was interesting to see which books impacted her life, and I have to like anyone who lists P&P as the top choice to save in a fire!
I discovered that my childhood was a lot like Quidlen's as I much preferred reading to any other activity. It was interesting to see which books impacted her life, and I have to like anyone who lists P&P as the top choice to save in a fire!
i read this one several years ago. it's a great book for librarians and book lust fans, and i plan to pick it up again soon.
A book about being a bookworm?! Be still my heart! Anna Quindlen is a gifted writer and I simply adored her reminsicings on reading through childhood, her recollections of particular favorite books -- I liked it so much that I was reading aloud whole passages to my husband. I wasn't quite as enthralled with the discussion on banned books (maybe because I couldn't identify with it as readily). But I did think the book lists in the back were fun (even though I shake my head at her omission of Les Miserables from her "thick, wonderful reads" list and her inclusion of Sons and Lovers on "books to save in a fire" -- she notes that such book list are subjective, anyway, and it's true.)
Just like [b:A Short Guide to a Happy Life|100286|A Short Guide to a Happy Life|Anna Quindlen|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1320522593s/100286.jpg|96695], this book is entirely quotable. I wanted to scribble down the whole thing in my notebook. Here are a couple of my favorites:
"We read in bed because reading is halfway between life and dreaming, our own consciousness in someone else's mind." (p. 20)
"Books are the destination and the journey. They are home." (p. 70)
A slim, well-written book that every reader will enjoy.
Just like [b:A Short Guide to a Happy Life|100286|A Short Guide to a Happy Life|Anna Quindlen|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1320522593s/100286.jpg|96695], this book is entirely quotable. I wanted to scribble down the whole thing in my notebook. Here are a couple of my favorites:
"We read in bed because reading is halfway between life and dreaming, our own consciousness in someone else's mind." (p. 20)
"Books are the destination and the journey. They are home." (p. 70)
A slim, well-written book that every reader will enjoy.
I'm obsessed with Anna Quindlen and can't wait to go home and finish this essay/book.
Enjoyable. Many great portions and nuggets of literature wisdom. Slightly dated in the last chapter in her rant about laptops not being companionable since E-readers and smart phones had yet to emerge in 98'. I'd recommend but skip the end. I loved her voice throughout was chuckle out loud worth in parts