Why We Read

This was more of a memoir/tongue-in-cheek nonfiction about the reasons the author reads, with some bonus advice about how we can use her experiences to improve our own reading. It's basically a series of essays about various topics related to reading--everything from the author's early experiences in a library to how to read horror if you're a scared reader to teaching a classroom of students how to appreciate Lincoln in the Bardo to a lot more diverse topics.

Not a lot connects one essay to the next except the author's life and reading, but it was an interesting listen none-the-less. It was a great audiobook for me to listen to, as I feel like if I were reading it I would start getting bored of the meandering-ness of the book. I did get some things out of it, and really liked her approach to working in poetry that I might consider doing, but not a lot will stick with me now that it's done.

I do think the author has a great sense of humor and outlook on life though. It was an amusing book to listen to, if nothing else.

I'm a sucker for things about books. Whether it is the PBS documentary special The Great American Read, or the different books that talk about books, I can't get enough of them. And there is a good reason why. Reading is a very isolating activity to begin with, often just you and the book. Couple this with how we readers are few and far between, and you have a hobby that can sometimes seem downright lonely. This is why I like books about reading as I can revel in the topic with another reader. Enter Shannon Reed's Why We Read. I had thought going into this that this book would be part love letter, part psychological exploration of the why and what reading does to our brains. Did I get that? Well, sort of.

This book does have a few good things going for it. Reed loves her books in that kind of cozy fun way that stuffy academics will never seem to understand. She isn't here for the symbolism or the belated historical metaphors or some other such nonsense. She is just here to have a fun time reading everything from The Great Gatsby to the latest harlequin romance novel. One particular passage that I enjoyed was her section on the libraries she has discovered over the years because I am a frequent user of libraries myself.

Then there is the humor in this book. She will often write different observations about readers that had me saying ‘That's so true!' with a chuckle and a smile. She also adds different sections like How to Tell if You're An Adult in a YA novel that had me laughing out loud. Reed is willing to recognize and love books for all they are worth, tropes and all, which makes this very refreshing for a reader to read.

But some things kept holding this book back. One of the biggest is that it did not fulfill my expectations when it came to the title. We never discover the ‘why' of Why We Read, at least in the psychological sense. This is because she helps us to see why reading is important because of all the skills and personal development one can get from reading, such as being more empathetic, and an increased vocabulary. Useful? Yes. Was it what I expected from the title? No.

Then there are some of the sections of this book that I could not get into. For example, she spends a whole two chapters on cookbooks. Look, I love a good meal as much as the next guy, but cookbooks just seem to me like the dime-a-dozen section of the used bookstore all featuring either some fad diet or the latest celebrity chief on the cover. I skipped these parts of the book.

So, this book was fine. Not anything excellent, but it was nice being able to ‘converse' with someone about the books that they loved, even if, at times, I didn't understand why. I give it a three out of five.