This book is made up of essays the author has written about her love of books, reading, and her experiences as a teacher of literature and writing. From an early age Shannon inhaled books; she couldn't get enough. She lived at the library, surrounded herself with books, and found a lot of solace in books as a person who is hard of hearing. She could escape into so many other worlds.
Now, as an adult, she teaches writing and literature at a college level, and is continuously surprised at the connections novels make in a world where reading is often dismissed as "boring". Her stories are pretty interesting. In one essay, she finds herself teaching a class on vampire literature. She herself avoids any kind of horror novels (terrifying nightmares as a child), but has to not only teach a class and read the books, but support a student who is also deeply afraid to read horror novels. In another essay, she talks about the connections modern high school students made with Bronte's Jane Eyre, much to her surprise. She was expecting most of the students to not read the novel at all, but instead, they had robust conversations and couldn't wait to get to class to talk in-depth about Jane and her life.
She talks about reading for pleasure instead of her earlier years where she raced through books just to be able to say "Oh yes, I read that". And yes, even taking yourself out of your comfort zone and reading something that may be difficult or not at all what you'd normally read. One of her most interesting essays talks about Lincoln in the Bardo, and how she read it to teach a class and for the life of her couldn't understand it, and confessed that to her students. It began a journey they all went on together, and became one of her most interesting reading experiences.
If you are a lover of books and are interested in exploring the reading life of other book lovers, pick this up. You can read a chapter and put it down without losing any flow.
Rating: 4/6 for an interesting read about books, a love of reading, and how it all changes with time, life experiences, and the people you meet along the way.
Available in hardcover, ebook, and audio.
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