A review by booksandyarniness
The Art of Reading by Damon Young

4.0

A college reading level book on different aspects of the philosophy of reading, it was, at alternating times, both intensely interesting and interminably dense. Although the first half was more engaging, I got the feeling that the latter half was aimed at a more erudite audience. Likely this is due to two things: the materials being compared in these sections (how many people have really read ALL of J.Joyce''s Ulysses?), and the section on where he talks about pleasure reading done for escapism as a negative. Considering how much of the average library's content would fit the bill of escapist literature, this viewpoint is a hard sell. That said, one of the best aspects of this book is the "Lumber Room" section--- an annotated bibliography of the items quoted in this book, and why they were chosen.Overall, I'd give this a 3.5 ⭐