false 113148 3 A recurring theme throughout Anna Quindlen's <I>How Reading Changed My Life</I> 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, true world." Later, she quotes editor Hazel Rochman: "Reading makes immigrants of us all. It takes us away from home, but, most important, it finds homes for us everywhere." Indeed, Quindlen's essays are full of the names of "friends," real or fictional--Anne of Green Gables and Heidi; Anthony Trollope and Jane Austen, to name just a few--who have comforted, inspired, educated, and delighted her throughout her life. In four short essays Quindlen shares her thoughts on the act of reading itself ("It is like the rubbing of two sticks together to make a fire, the act of reading, an improbable pedestrian task that leads to heat and light"); analyzes the difference between how men and women read ("there are very few books in which male characters, much less boys, are portrayed as devoted readers"); and cheerfully defends middlebrow literature: <blockquote> Most of those so-called middlebrow readers would have readily admitted that the <I>Iliad</I> set a standard that could not be matched by <I>What Makes Sammy Run?</I> or <I>Exodus</I>. But any reader with common sense would also understand intuitively, immediately, that such comparisons are false, that the uses of reading are vast and variegated and that some of them are not addressed by Homer. </blockquote> The Canon, censorship, and the future of publishing, not to mention that of reading itself, are all subjects Quindlen addresses with intelligence and optimism in a book that may not change your life, but will no doubt remind you of other books that did. <I>--Alix Wilber</I> 3154214 25 8 1998 How Reading Changed My Life (Library of Contemporary Thought) total:352|5:70|4:142|3:109|2:19|1:12| 352 1295 619 61 3 1 false false Mon Jun 23 09:43:08 -0700 2008 Mon Jun 23 09:47:58 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Fri Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 1999 Thu Dec 25 14:46:52 -0800 2008 Thu Dec 25 14:47:01 -0800 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Thu Oct 22 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Oct 22 17:35:11 -0700 2009 Thu Oct 22 17:35:16 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Thu Feb 26 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Thu Feb 26 14:44:44 -0800 2009 Thu Feb 26 14:59:44 -0800 2009
At one point she discusses gender differences about reading. She either makes or discus...more...]]> 3 1 false false Sun Sep 23 15:06:07 -0700 2007 Sun Sep 23 15:06:07 -0700 2007 4 0 false false Wed Mar 18 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Feb 18 21:25:43 -0800 2009 Wed Mar 18 11:33:18 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 1 false false Fri Jan 18 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Thu Jan 31 08:27:31 -0800 2008 Thu Jan 31 08:28:29 -0800 2008 5 0 false false Thu Jan 01 13:59:04 -0800 2009 Thu Jan 01 14:01:52 -0800 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2003 Sat Aug 30 17:36:23 -0700 2008 Sat Aug 30 17:36:52 -0700 2008 • In books ...more...]]> 3 0 false false Sat Aug 02 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Wed Jul 16 22:46:36 -0700 2008 Sun Aug 03 14:18:26 -0700 2008 more...]]> 3 0 false false Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2004 Wed Dec 19 12:17:18 -0800 2007 Wed Dec 19 12:20:02 -0800 2007 Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader - at any rate, I checked this slim volume out from the library & devoured it in less than an hour.

Quindlen looks at her relationship with books, believing that her dissatisfaction with her ...more...]]> 3 0 false false Fri Mar 20 20:07:02 -0700 2009 Mon Apr 13 06:57:31 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sun Jun 07 15:57:36 -0700 2009 Sun Jun 07 16:02:47 -0700 2009
If you are a book lover then you must read this short essay on how books have affected her life. It's nice to know someone else who...more...]]> 4 0 false false Sun Mar 08 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sun Mar 08 20:09:56 -0700 2009 Sun Mar 08 20:13:59 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Fri Mar 27 17:32:51 -0700 2009 Fri Mar 27 17:34:17 -0700 2009 This was published in 1998 and it would be interesting to read Quindlen's thoughts some 10 years later--especially her thoughts on electronic books and computers.
I like the book lists that ...more...]]> 5 0 false false Sun Apr 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Mon Apr 23 11:31:25 -0700 2007 Mon Apr 23 18:00:10 -0700 2007
It is a book I would recommend to a) anyone who loves books and b) anyone working with youth. Quindlen explains the process of how s...more...]]> 3 0 false false Wed Aug 05 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Aug 05 08:50:54 -0700 2009 Wed Aug 05 16:52:34 -0700 2009 2 0 false false Sun Sep 21 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Fri Dec 28 13:00:41 -0800 2007 Sun Sep 21 20:18:39 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sun Apr 26 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Apr 23 22:19:07 -0700 2009 Sun Apr 26 01:06:29 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Thu Jan 29 13:17:01 -0800 2009 Thu Jan 29 13:17:55 -0800 2009