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

by Anne Bogel

C. S. Lewis once wrote, “Friendship . . . is born at the moment when one man says to another, ‘What! You too? I thought I was the only one.’”

this: if my real life reminds me of something I read in a book, I’m reading well—and I’m probably living well, too.

people who think decorating consists mostly of building enough bookshelves.” We are readers. This is how we decorate.

Just as I’m all the ages I have been, I’m all the readers I have been.

read. In his excellent book The Opposite of Spoiled, Ron Lieber defines “rich” as having everything you need and most of what you want—the essentials, and a lot more besides. He does not explain how insatiable book lust fits into this scheme, but it does appear that when it comes to books, I am wealthy—incredibly so.

Thousands of years ago, the Greek philosopher Heraclitus wrote, “No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man.”

“You know everything you need to know about a person from the answer to the question, What is your favorite book?”