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

by Anne Bogel

You shouldn’t tell another grown-up what to read, or when, or how. Unless they ask, even the best book recommendation—with everything it telegraphs about your opinion of the reader—can feel like the literary version of unsolicited advice: unwelcome, unwanted, unhelpful.

School is over, classes are done, and we become responsible for our own reading lives. Nobody else is in charge of what we read; those decisions are now all ours.

but now I experienced the freedom to read not out of duty, nor for a grade, but because I wanted to. And because they were good. I got acquainted with my library’s wall of paperback classics

No, a good book is exciting to return to, because even though I’ve been there before, the landscape is always changing. I notice something new each time I read a great book.

her question was daunting for another reason: I felt like I’d been asked to lay my soul on the table. Reading is personal and never more so than when we’re sharing why we connect with certain books.