I'd Rather Be Reading: The Delights and Dilemmas of the Reading Life

by Anne Bogel

If I could read only great books for the rest of my days, I would be happy. But finding those books—for myself or any other reader—isn’t so easy. A “great” book means different things to different people.

To readers, those books—the ones we buy and borrow and trade and sell—are more than objects. They are opportunities beckoning us. When we read, we connect with them (or don’t) in a personal way.

A great book. That’s all you want. But reading is personal. We can’t know what a book will mean to us until we read it. And so we take a leap and choose.

There are few one-size-fits-all prescriptions for the reading life. This spurs all sorts of readerly dilemmas, but it also brings readers endless delight.

How good it is to be among people who are reading.