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17th out of 149 books
—
157 voters
How Reading Changed My Life
A recurring theme throughout Anna Quindlen's How Reading Changed My Life is the comforting premise that readers are never alone. "There was waking, and there was sleeping. And then there were books," she writes, "a kind of parallel universe in which anything might happen and frequently did, a universe in which I might be a newcomer but never really a stranger. My real, tru...more
Paperback, 96 pages
Published
December 22nd 2010
by Ballantine Books
(first published August 1st 1998)
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Nov 26, 2012
Steve aka Sckenda
rated it
3 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Readers in a Slump
Shelves:
about-books
“I am not alone. I am surrounded by words that tell me who I am, why I feel what I feel.”
Writer Anna Quindlen writes a paean to the privilege of growing up as a reader. The best part of her was ensconced in her comfy home in suburban Philadelphia, where she travelled with her books to the great houses at Tara, Manderley, and Thornfield Hall. “My home was in Philadelphia, but I really lived somewhere else. I lived within the covers of books and those books were more real to me than any other thi...more
Writer Anna Quindlen writes a paean to the privilege of growing up as a reader. The best part of her was ensconced in her comfy home in suburban Philadelphia, where she travelled with her books to the great houses at Tara, Manderley, and Thornfield Hall. “My home was in Philadelphia, but I really lived somewhere else. I lived within the covers of books and those books were more real to me than any other thi...more
If you have been a book lover since you were a child, this book is for you! I felt as though Quindlen was speaking directly to me, and expressing my same thoughts about reading. She talks of changes as she grew up (50s/60s) with books like Friedan's The Feminine Mystique and how today things are changing with technology. She writes "It's 30 years since man first walked on the moon, and when people sit down to a big old fashioned supper it is still a plate of roast beef and mashed potatoes, not a...more
The part of this book that I liked talked about what it means to be a lover of books. Her voracious reading of books as a girl mirrors my childhood as an avid reader. I would brush my teeth reading a book! I would hide under the covers with a flashlight reading books so my dad wouldn't know I was still awake! I liked that she challenged the perception "non-lovers of books" have about book lovers being lazy because they read so much. She also reinforces my belief that we don't always have to read...more
Before sending this to an interested fellow bookcrosser, I flipped through the pages as a way of saying goodbye. I ended up reading the whole book again! Initially, this book was required reading for a college seminar course about "how we read." It was the best course of my life for many reasons, but this book was one of probably 20 books I was reading in a 3-month period. So I'm sure I got more out of it this second time.
It's wonderful! Inspiring! Quindlen is an outstanding writer who makes any...more
It's wonderful! Inspiring! Quindlen is an outstanding writer who makes any...more
“Sedition has been the point of the printed word almost since its inception.” The sentence tugged at my heart. I know it well because at where I came from, print, among many other ways of expression, has been an excruciatingly censored business. Every reader has his or her own journey with books, the quote reminded me mine. While the author’s journey was a precocious and quiet child who breezed through the literary world to appease her romantic and nomadic sense. I was more like a begrudging mal...more
The book is a testament to the joy and importance of reading. The author, who wrote nonfiction (as a journalist and columnist) for most of her career and more recently novels, recounts the role books have played in her life in a mere 70 pages (plus 12 pages of suggested reading lists). My library had it categorized as memoir, but it's much more than that. The edition I read was published by the Library of Contemporary Thought, in which "America's most original voices tackle today's most provocat...more
Quindlen is one of my favourite writers, and this book only adds to that feeling. In four short chapters, Quindlen talks about reading and the effect it has had on her life. The first chapter talks about the joy of reading and of being a bookworm. The second chapter talks about the development of reading in her life, the books that she started with and how she came across them. It emphasizes reading as a way to experience the other, to travel without going anywhere, to escape while still being p...more
Reading is a lonely pursuit and we can often forget that there are many of others throughout the world who love the land of books so much as us. Anna Quindlen is one such person, and she kindly enough shares her thoughts on reading and readers in How Reading Changed My Life.
There are chapters in this book about her voracious reading as a child, book censorship, the future of books, and the companionship between readers. The final topic is perhaps exemplified in my personal experience with this...more
There are chapters in this book about her voracious reading as a child, book censorship, the future of books, and the companionship between readers. The final topic is perhaps exemplified in my personal experience with this...more
I can't believe how far I'll travel to go to a library- even though there's one less than half an hour's walk away from where I live. They may all be set up the same way (Dewey decimal, by subject, by author's last name in alphabetical order) but some of the books are different. It's amazing what I'll find to read by browsing through the rows that I wouldn't normally run across had I just been using the computerized library catalog- a book I didn't even want to read (or even know existed) until...more
I love Anna Quindlen's thoughts on reading, and I love knowing that there are others out there who feel the same way I do about books and reading. Some favorite quotes:
"...it never seemed to me like a book, but like a place I had lived in, had visited and would visit again, just as all the people in them, every blessed one-Anne of Green Gables, Heidi, Jay Gatsby, Elizabeth Bennet, Scarlet O'Hara, Dill and Scout, Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot-were more real than the real people I knew."
"In bo...more
"...it never seemed to me like a book, but like a place I had lived in, had visited and would visit again, just as all the people in them, every blessed one-Anne of Green Gables, Heidi, Jay Gatsby, Elizabeth Bennet, Scarlet O'Hara, Dill and Scout, Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot-were more real than the real people I knew."
"In bo...more
This was a very cozy love letter to reading and being a reader that, if writing were only sentiment, I could have written myself. I kept wanting to quote bits of this book to people nearby or online. There is also a small cache of reading lists (a thing I love too much) at the end of the book.
The only place where this book falls flat is when she talks about electronic reading--things have changed since she wrote this book, and it's a bit painful.
**
"Many of her books were older books, with that...more
The only place where this book falls flat is when she talks about electronic reading--things have changed since she wrote this book, and it's a bit painful.
**
"Many of her books were older books, with that...more
I like to get to know what a writer think about reading. Anna did a fabulous job digging into her personal experiences with reading books, but it seems to me too superficial or cursory review of books. I expected that she could do better than this.
In particular, the pleasure she felt while traveling to neighbor's basement resonates with my excitement of meeting great books in a neighborhood used book store. I wish I had the exactly same neighbor at my early age. Borrowing books from a local libr...more
In particular, the pleasure she felt while traveling to neighbor's basement resonates with my excitement of meeting great books in a neighborhood used book store. I wish I had the exactly same neighbor at my early age. Borrowing books from a local libr...more
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 The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle. 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...more
While reading this whole book, I was thinking about The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle. 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...more
Another book from a fellow-traveler to enjoy. I love to read books by people who love books, and especially by women who had the same experiences in childhood that I had. I think we all thought we were alone at the time, but how I delight in reading this: "Like so many of the other books I read, it never seemed to me like a book, but like a place I had lived in, had visited and would visit again, just as all the people in them, every blessed one . . . were more real than the real people I knew."...more
This is a short book (or perhaps a lengthy essay - my copy has 70 pages followed by a few more of books lists) in a series called "Library Of Contemporary Thought" The note at the back said it was a monthly series that "tackles today's most provocative, fascinating, and relevant issues, giving top opinion makers a forum to explore topics that matter urgently to themselves and their readers."
Other books available in this series include:
News Is A Verb: Journalism At The End Of The 20th Century by...more
Other books available in this series include:
News Is A Verb: Journalism At The End Of The 20th Century by...more
A dear friend just gave me this for my birthday. At 84 pages, it's a slim book and sure to be a quick read. But I'm two chapters in and am trying to savor every word. I love books about reading, because I always seem to find kindred spirits within.
*I've included How Reading Changed My Life on my "writing books" shelf because in my mind, reading books are writing books. Quindlen indirectly addresses this, in fact, in my favorite essay in this book.
*I've included How Reading Changed My Life on my "writing books" shelf because in my mind, reading books are writing books. Quindlen indirectly addresses this, in fact, in my favorite essay in this book.
Jan 29, 2011
Megan
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Shelves:
favorites,
non-fiction,
1998,
books-about-books,
thoughtful,
must-buy,
lists,
quick-read,
relatable,
short,
reflective,
cozy,
female-author
Anna Quindlen has written an amazing little book for book-lovers everywhere. She touches on subjects many of us bibliphiles are familiar with--our beloved books from childhood and how our opinions of them change, the need for a physical book in your hand (as opposed to an e-reader), and the stereotype that we as voracious readers are loners, weird, or lazy. Even if you don't love to read, I can only imagine that this book would encourage you to and change your mind. I felt the book was the perfe...more
This was more an essay than a book. I've read several of this type of thing, a sort of kinship among those who read, a celebration of feeling different and finding solace in books. I always enjoy them. I would have probably rated this one higher if it was the first one I've read, but it didn't say anything new to me about reading.
This also had some charmingly random lists of suggested reading. And it may have convinced me to download The Forsythe Saga, so there's that.
The end is a bit dated, as...more
This also had some charmingly random lists of suggested reading. And it may have convinced me to download The Forsythe Saga, so there's that.
The end is a bit dated, as...more
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 wo...more
An unnecessary book in my opinion as it discussed very common sense themes in today's reading circles...typically men read for function and women read for entertainment. Women want to discuss their reading, many men don't. Some books make some women cry and the book may be cathartic. That's kinda it, in a nutshell. Uneventful.
Interesting book. Anna Quindlen describes her enjoyment of reading through her life. She includes references to many books and some anecdotes about her family, other authors, and reading in general.
At one point she discusses gender differences about reading. She either makes or discusses a generalization that women enjoy more fiction and men enjoy information. I'm not fond of statements like this without reference to relevant research. And even properly supported, I'm not sure what if anything t...more
At one point she discusses gender differences about reading. She either makes or discusses a generalization that women enjoy more fiction and men enjoy information. I'm not fond of statements like this without reference to relevant research. And even properly supported, I'm not sure what if anything t...more
This was a delightful little book about books and the love of reading. It spoke to me in many different counts.
A couple of my favorite quotes:
"Reading became the pathway to the world, a world without geographic boundaries or even the steep risers of time...Experience, emotion, landscape: the world is as layered as the earth."
"Every night I read before I went to bed, and I was raising nine kids. I needed to escape, and I needed to use my imagination, and whatever part of my brain was left. It wa...more
A couple of my favorite quotes:
"Reading became the pathway to the world, a world without geographic boundaries or even the steep risers of time...Experience, emotion, landscape: the world is as layered as the earth."
"Every night I read before I went to bed, and I was raising nine kids. I needed to escape, and I needed to use my imagination, and whatever part of my brain was left. It wa...more
Oct 23, 2011
Greg
rated it
3 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Other bookworms...
Shelves:
thought-provoking
How Reading Changed My Life is a short (71 page) volume of reflections on the role reading has played in Anna Quindlen's life and development as a writer. It is a quick, easy, and entertaining read, and one in which I found Ms. Quindlen’s experiences with reading often reflected my own. I recall on one occasion being approached by a group of my nieces and nephews at my wife’s family reunion (many years ago…they are now grown and many have been converted to reading). I was sitting on the grass re...more
Musings on books and reading and their place in this writer's world and life. Spoke volumes to me as relative to the same topic in relationship to my own life. I love reading books about reading books and about books and about love of books.
I enjoyed Quindlen's reminiscences about growing up with books. As she recalled a neighbors basement filled with books that she borrowed and read; I too could remember a relatives home filled with books. I recalled the feeling I had when I pulled books from those shelves and how the books felt in my hands and the musty smell of them.
Like Quindlen I have had a love affair with books all my life. Reading this book is like remembering an old lover. I got a warm, fuzzy feeling thinking about the pla...more
Like Quindlen I have had a love affair with books all my life. Reading this book is like remembering an old lover. I got a warm, fuzzy feeling thinking about the pla...more
"And a book provides what it always has: a haven. I remember the first year after my second child was born, what I can remember of it at all, as a year of disarray, of hours from sunrise to sunset that were horribly busy but filled with what, at the end of the day, seemed like absolutely nothing at all. What saved my sanity were books....And as it was for me when I was young and surrounded by siblings, as it is today when I am surrounded by children, reading continues to provide an escape from a...more
Mar 06, 2011
Victoria Evangelina Belyavskaya
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
everyone who loves books and reading
~TIME OUT OF TIME~
I love being on planes, love being in airports; sometimes I truly feel that I like journey more than the destination: it is a time out of time, a moment in life to fully relax and take all the responsibility off my shoulders, and, as Anna Quindlen helped me to fully realize, a time to read:
"This is what I like about traveling: the time on airplanes spent reading, solitary, happy. It turns out that when my younger self thought of taking wing, she wanted only to let her spirit so...more
"Perhaps it is true that at a base we readers are dissatisfied people , yearning to be elsewhere to live vicariously through words in a way we cannot live directly through life. Perhaps we are the world's great nomads , if only in our minds"
everyone in goodreads could absolutely relate to her in this book. a magnificent amount of love toward reading. that's why I could enjoy this book. Unfortunately , she mentioned too much about that book , this book , without particularly explain why the books...more
everyone in goodreads could absolutely relate to her in this book. a magnificent amount of love toward reading. that's why I could enjoy this book. Unfortunately , she mentioned too much about that book , this book , without particularly explain why the books...more
This is more of a longish essay, about the virtues of reading and how reading shaped the author’s life.
Love the ending: "I travel today in the way I once dreamed of traveling as a child. And the irony is that I don't care for it very much....This is what I like about traveling: the time on airplanes spent reading, solitary, happy. It turns out that when my younger self thought of taking wing, she wanted only to let her spirit soar. Books are the plane, and the train, and the road. They are the...more
Love the ending: "I travel today in the way I once dreamed of traveling as a child. And the irony is that I don't care for it very much....This is what I like about traveling: the time on airplanes spent reading, solitary, happy. It turns out that when my younger self thought of taking wing, she wanted only to let her spirit soar. Books are the plane, and the train, and the road. They are the...more
This book is a little dated (pub. date 1998), so Quindlen's prediction that computers wouldn't impact publishing - or the newspaper industry! or brick-and-mortar bookstores! - reeks of wishful thinking (that we all shared). But her love letter to books is fun and very familiar - lots of book titles that create emotion just by reading them.
"I think children who have critical judgment are as dreadful and unnatural as dogs who wear coats."
"A book group provides one small way for the two selves (min...more
"I think children who have critical judgment are as dreadful and unnatural as dogs who wear coats."
"A book group provides one small way for the two selves (min...more
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Anna Quindlen is an American journalist and opinion columnist whose New York Times column, Public and Private, won the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary in 1992.
She began her journalism career in 1974 as a reporter with The New York Post. Between 1977 and 1994 she held several posts at the New York Times. She left journalism in 1995 to become a full-time novelist. She currently writes a bi-weekly colu...more
More about Anna Quindlen...
She began her journalism career in 1974 as a reporter with The New York Post. Between 1977 and 1994 she held several posts at the New York Times. She left journalism in 1995 to become a full-time novelist. She currently writes a bi-weekly colu...more
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“Books are the plane, and the train, and the road. They are the destination, and the journey. They are home.”
—
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“In books I have traveled, not only to other worlds, but into my own.”
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More quotes…
Jan 08, 2013 11:57am
Oh we must make room for guilty pleasures. I...more
Jan 08, 2013 10:32pm