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Nov 20, 2011

C rated it:

When I looked at the jacket cover for this book, the phrase "Never met a book I liked," caught my attention. However, my initial assumption that this would be a light-hearted, satirically funny book turned out to be very wrong. The book was certainly full of satire interwoven in the dialog and behavior of the characters, with a particular focus on the class-conscious, nouveau riche parents and their high-school age children. But the real weight of the story and what resonated long afte More...

2 comments like (3 people liked it)

Oct 29, 2011

John rated it:

I am not a book reviewer -- never write them and only on rare occasions read them. I think my reluctance to embrace the book review genre is that, for the most part, the reviewers seem too interested in impressing the reader with their skill at word manipulation and incisive analytical skills.

Yet, in thinking about this book, it occurred to me that the type of book review I could learn from would be the same style I use when trying to understand software, or a website, or, God forbi More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Mar 30, 2009

Colleen rated it:

I really enjoyed this book despite what I think is fairly deceptive flap copy. I expected a much more tongue-in-cheek narrative that this book offers- the satire is fairly light in my opinion. Despite that, the story itself is compelling, and Carley (who I disliked in the beginning) develops into a character with wonderful depth. Her struggle to survive while trying to save her best friend is unexpectedly poignant, and I enjoyed watching Carley slowly come to recognize her own worth outside o More...

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

Oct 31, 2011

Kelli rated it:

When the answers on her English questionnaire draw criticism from her teacher regarding her disinterest in academics, the parents of fifteen year-old Carley Wells take drastic measures and hire a failed meta-novelist to move in to their mansion and write a story for Carley’s sixteenth birthday. They optimistically hope this will engender a love of reading in their daughter as well as providing Gretchen Wells with a chance to outdo her socialite friends and neighbors. While Carley’s father, Fran More...

5 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 01, 2009

Kim rated it:

How to buy a love of reading? Start by buying this book. I was lucky enough to read a galley of this wonderful book that will be out in May. Egan Gibson reminds me why I love to read- because I love to fall in love with characters and want to rip the heads off of others and sometimes those roles shift, because I love when an author can so artfully navigate the blurry line between the classes, a clear nod to Fitzgerald and, for me, Ethan Canin, but with a voice that is so instinctively, purel More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 03, 2009

Jackie rated it:

Gibson had me at the title, I have to say. And the premise is very interesting:after 15 year old Carly admits on a school questionnaire that she's "never met a book I liked", her very rich, very status conscious parents decide to commission a book just for Carly. They actually hire an author to move into their house(well, mansion, complete with it's own bra museum) and write a book that Carly would actually like to read. That starts a lot of balls rolling in their little, monied tow More...

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

Apr 16, 2011

Pamela rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Apr 09, 2011

The rated it:

Tanya Egan Gibson's intriguing debut How to Buy a Love of Reading is w/o a doubt an engrossing novel.

Gibson's cast of characters are engaging, delightful & interesting. Gibson's writing is truly beautiful.

Juggling all the characters points of view while keeping How to Buy a Love of Reading flowing smoothly instead of tumbling into murky verbiage is where Gibson shines.

Gibson's players are painted w/rich, robust colors mesmerizing you right from the start. The More...

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Mar 25, 2011

Kristen rated it:

I lay awake after finishing this book, after having a good cry, after having been spending every possible moment with it for a week, writing reviews in my head....

"Stunning. Surprising. Sumptuous. Smart. Sad."

I devoured every paragraph like Carley and Amber devoured the "brioche-swaddled pears and seafood-stuffed dumplings and a mound of beluga and countless tiny meat pies and a silk wedge of Fromage d'Affinois with peppery crackers and slices of duckling n More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Nov 01, 2010

Pam rated it:

It will always be debatable, whether the “greats” of yesterday (Homer to Emerson to Fitzgerald) would still have written about deep things, had that been alive, today. Or, as some might propose, would Homer be a cheesy romance writer, Emerson a gossip columnist and Fitzgerald a head writer for The O.C.? There is, simply, no way to tell, lacking that windbag pundit Wells’ time machine, but the real point is that what we deem deep, looking back, may very well have been, to their then-modern-day cr More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 27, 2010

Teresa rated it:

How to Buy a Love of Reading is about a high school junior named Carley Wells. Carley s only interests are reality TV and Hunter Cay, the most popular boy and the love of her life. Carley s parents, who have more money than sense, are worried about Carley s lack of appropriate interests, so they decide to give her an interest in literature by commissioning a novel in honor of her Sweet 16. The author will live at the Wells residence and write a novel that meets Carley s approval. The only pe More...

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Sep 22, 2010

Ann rated it:

I had higher hopes for a book about books. I nearly put it down, never to pick it up again, a couple of times during the first half of the book. It took a turn for the better at the mid-point, but I was still a bit disappointed in most of the characters. It's fiction, but, still, I wanted to like them. But, it's hard to like characters who are caricatures of over-the-top, nouveau rich like those seen on "Real Housewives" and "My Super Sweet 16". The adults in the story were m More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 18, 2010

Jen rated it:

Carley Wells hates words, and doesn't understand why anyone would choose to read a book for fun. Slightly overweight and ridiculously rich, Carley is constantly berated by her glamourously bitchy mother to be smarter and thinner, to fit in better in the wealthy and appearance conscious town of Fox Glen. Carley's only escape from a life of criticism, therapy and tutors, is the friendship she shares with the rich and handsome playboy Hunter Cay, who is madly in love with books, booze and pills. Fo More...

3 comments like

Jul 21, 2010

Ruth rated it:

If I had known how much sex there was in this book, I probably wouldn't have picked it up. I have a habit of not finishing books that contain almost any amount of scandalous activity.

But I finished this one. And I'm not sorry.

I won't say I didn't skip some parts (and wished I had skipped some others), but those were few and far between.

Overall I thought it was a nice throw-back to Great Gatsby, with so much more. It's about learning to be yourself, living for you More...

0 comments like

May 04, 2010

Mona rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

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Mar 08, 2010

Margaret rated it:

Not nearly as clever as the author thinks it is. The story pulls from "The Great Gatsby" (apparently intentionally) and "Less Than Zero" (apparently uinintentionally). A rich, social-climbing Long Island couple, upset that their schlumpy daughter has no interest in books or school, commissions an arty author from the wrong side of Brooklyn to write a book that catering specifically to the daughter's interests.

But that's really a subplot to the daughter's unrequit More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Dec 20, 2009

Sharon rated it:

This is easily one of the most well-written books I've ever read. Gibson is a master of creating a core of real, flawed characters whose relationships and demons seem to mirror each other as they interact.

The premise of the book is that a status-seeking mother (and father) want to create a party for their daughter's Sweet Sixteen party. They decide to buy her an author that will create the perfect story for her (and of course, the theme of the story will match the theme of the party) More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 30, 2009

Shannon rated it:

The title of this book grabbed my attention as I walked through the library. I was in a bit of a rush - picking up books on hold, grabbing a new round of books for my daughters and parked in the 20 minute parking - but the cover's rows of books coupled with the title to pull me in. I stopped, picked it up, and read the front and back comments by other authors. Thinking it sounded worth a try, I put it in my bag and moved on. Having only the cover and comments from other authors to go on, I w More...

8 comments like (2 people liked it)

Aug 17, 2009

Aarti rated it:

This book is the meeting point of the sex, drugs and money of Gossip Girl and the long-winded existentialism of Dawson's Creek. The heroine even says to the hero, "You're, like, part of me." Deep stuff.

And that's really what this book is- deep thoughts buried in teenage angst wrapped in a drug-induced haze and sitting on a great big pile of money. I am not familiar with many children of millionaires and billionaires, but I can't imagine that every single one of them is a dr More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 14, 2009

Amanda rated it:

This book really surprised me. When I first started reading it, I really didn't like it. It opens up with scenes at various rich parties with various rich kids and their ridiculous parents. It was opulent and whiny and gross. I thought the same of Carley, the main character, a fat rich girl who cares about nothing except her best friend (and unrequited love) Hunter Cay. To be frank, Carley pretty much disgusted me. She was cloying, overly dramatic, prone to blindness where Hunter was concerned. More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Aug 01, 2009

Rachael rated it:

To everyone else, Carley Wells seems to be stuck going nowhere. But Carley’s just living her not ambitious life. She can’t help but be unmotivated by her tutor’s SAT flashcards, her mother’s desperate desire for her to lost weight, and her crazy English teacher’s assignments. All Carley really cares about is finding the quirks in life and Hunter Cay, the beautiful boy who doesn’t mind her imperfections. Unfortunately, Carley won’t stay that way if her parents have anything to do about it. In a f More...

0 comments like

Jul 23, 2009

Kirsten rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jul 01, 2009

Jennifer rated it:

Reviewed by Cat for TeensReadToo.com

Life in the upper class enclave of Fox Glen is not kind to those refusing to keep up appearances; people who are overweight, academically underachieving, and generally social outcasts. People like Carly Wells. Somehow, all of this is still bearable thanks to Carly's love for hard partying, Fitzgerald quoting, all-around golden boy and best friend, Hunter Cray.

When her parents crown themselves the Medici of Fox Glen by hiring struggling More...

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Jun 17, 2009

Erica rated it:

How To Buy A Love Of Reading
Tanya Egan Gibson
Pages: 400
Publisher: Dutton Adult (May 14, 2009)

Rating: 4.5 stars

Fall in love with reading all over again.

To Carley Wells, words are the enemy. Her tutor’s innumerable SAT flashcards. Her personal trainer’s “fifty-seven pounds overweight” assessment. And the endless reading assignments from her English teacher, Mr. Nagel. When Nagel reports to her parents that she has answered “What is your favorit More...

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Oct 12, 2011

Bethany rated it:

Wow.
This is truly a unique book... "unique" doesn't even begin to describe it or do it justice; I feel like I am letting down Hunter, Bree, Justin, and Tanya by settling for the word "unique" as a modifyer. But I only have three minutes of my lunch break left to do this.
At first, the un-announced and abrupt narrator changes were a bit confusing, but as I got into the groove of the novel, I really enjoyed the differences between Hunter and Carley and Bree and Just More...

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Jun 02, 2009

Rachel rated it:

This is not a book that can be easily put down and picked up again. I don't think I've read a book in a long time that needs to be 'chewed and swallowed' quite like this one. Egan's writing is like the treasure in an archeological dig-you have to dig deep to get to it. (And yes, I know exactly how cliched that sounds.) She is very easily able to explore the irony of a neighborhood that can buy their children birthday parties involving plaster sculptures made in each of the guest's faces, but can More...

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Mar 08, 2011

Kaye rated it:

I just finished How to Buy a Love of Reading last night. I've got to say, nowadays in between my "tight" work schedule and my tendency to procrastinate and my short attention span and my sudden impulses to just lie around and do nothing, it's a miracle I finished reading a book in less than a week. Lately I've been finding it increasingly hard to sit still and read without my mind drifting off, going places and wondering when will I actually get there. It's hard to sit still when there More...

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Aug 23, 2009

Autumn rated it:

I wanted to rate this book a 4.5 but that is not a goodreads option (why is that?) so I went with 4 stars. The story concept is interesting but didn't exactly blow me away, the characters live in a posh life that I had a hard time relating to and the ending was wanting.
BUT, there was something about it, you know? I thought the writing was a little heavy yet it was also incredibly beautiful. this author has the perfect metaphor was every fleeting emotion that you've ever experienced. I t More...

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Aug 05, 2010

Girls Gone Reading rated it:

How to Buy a Love of Reading is a novel that, early on, seems entirely determined by its setting. The characters live near the “Eggs” that Gatsby spoke of, and their pretension is just the same. Their language is just as unbelievable. Their wealth is unattainable. And just like Gatsby, you could focus on all of these overblown elements, but then you would miss the whole story. You would miss the point: that no of this other stuff matters. All that matters is how you feel about yourself.

More...

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May 11, 2010

Erin rated it:

The first 30 pages were a painful slog through a badly edited, amateurish jumble of words. I took a break. Once past page 50 or so, I devoured the rest within 24 hours. There still were occasional sentences that I had to re-read 5 times before putting together the intended meaning (Gibson needs to work on clarifying her pronouns) but once the initial setup was made in those first 50 pages, an amazing story found its rhythm. The characters have such dimension and color, the relationships and laye More...

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