Author: Pat Conroy
Publisher: Nan A. Talese
ISBN: 0385533845
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 278
Book Description
Bestselling author Pat Conroy acknowledges the books that have shaped him and celebrates the profound effect reading has had on his life. Pat Conroy, the beloved American storyteller, is a voracious reader. Starting as a childhood passion that bloomed into a life-long companion, reading has been Conroy’s portal to the world, both to the farthest corners of the globe and to the deepest chambers of the human soul. His interests range widely, from Milton to Tolkien, Philip Roth to Thucydides, encompassing poetry, history, philosophy, and any mesmerizing tale of his native South. He has for years kept notebooks in which he records words and expressions, over time creating a vast reservoir of playful turns of phrase, dazzling flashes of description, and snippets of delightful sound, all just for his love of language. But for Conroy reading is not simply a pleasure to be enjoyed in off-hours or a source of inspiration for his own writing. It would hardly be an exaggeration to claim that reading has saved his life, and if not his life then surely his sanity. In My Reading Life, Conroy revisits a life of reading through an array of wonderful and often surprising anecdotes: sharing the pleasures of the local library’s vast cache with his mother when he was a boy, recounting his decades-long relationship with the English teacher who pointed him onto the path of letters, and describing a profoundly influential period he spent in Paris, as well as reflecting on other pivotal people, places, and experiences. His story is a moving and personal one, girded by wisdom and an undeniable honesty. Anyone who not only enjoys the pleasures of reading but also believes in the power of books to shape a life will find here the greatest defense of that credo. BONUS: This ebook edition includes an excerpt from Pat Conroy's The Death of Santini.
My Reading Life
Author: Pat Conroy
Publisher: Nan A. Talese
ISBN: 0385533845
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 278
Book Description
Bestselling author Pat Conroy acknowledges the books that have shaped him and celebrates the profound effect reading has had on his life. Pat Conroy, the beloved American storyteller, is a voracious reader. Starting as a childhood passion that bloomed into a life-long companion, reading has been Conroy’s portal to the world, both to the farthest corners of the globe and to the deepest chambers of the human soul. His interests range widely, from Milton to Tolkien, Philip Roth to Thucydides, encompassing poetry, history, philosophy, and any mesmerizing tale of his native South. He has for years kept notebooks in which he records words and expressions, over time creating a vast reservoir of playful turns of phrase, dazzling flashes of description, and snippets of delightful sound, all just for his love of language. But for Conroy reading is not simply a pleasure to be enjoyed in off-hours or a source of inspiration for his own writing. It would hardly be an exaggeration to claim that reading has saved his life, and if not his life then surely his sanity. In My Reading Life, Conroy revisits a life of reading through an array of wonderful and often surprising anecdotes: sharing the pleasures of the local library’s vast cache with his mother when he was a boy, recounting his decades-long relationship with the English teacher who pointed him onto the path of letters, and describing a profoundly influential period he spent in Paris, as well as reflecting on other pivotal people, places, and experiences. His story is a moving and personal one, girded by wisdom and an undeniable honesty. Anyone who not only enjoys the pleasures of reading but also believes in the power of books to shape a life will find here the greatest defense of that credo. BONUS: This ebook edition includes an excerpt from Pat Conroy's The Death of Santini.
Publisher: Nan A. Talese
ISBN: 0385533845
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 278
Book Description
Bestselling author Pat Conroy acknowledges the books that have shaped him and celebrates the profound effect reading has had on his life. Pat Conroy, the beloved American storyteller, is a voracious reader. Starting as a childhood passion that bloomed into a life-long companion, reading has been Conroy’s portal to the world, both to the farthest corners of the globe and to the deepest chambers of the human soul. His interests range widely, from Milton to Tolkien, Philip Roth to Thucydides, encompassing poetry, history, philosophy, and any mesmerizing tale of his native South. He has for years kept notebooks in which he records words and expressions, over time creating a vast reservoir of playful turns of phrase, dazzling flashes of description, and snippets of delightful sound, all just for his love of language. But for Conroy reading is not simply a pleasure to be enjoyed in off-hours or a source of inspiration for his own writing. It would hardly be an exaggeration to claim that reading has saved his life, and if not his life then surely his sanity. In My Reading Life, Conroy revisits a life of reading through an array of wonderful and often surprising anecdotes: sharing the pleasures of the local library’s vast cache with his mother when he was a boy, recounting his decades-long relationship with the English teacher who pointed him onto the path of letters, and describing a profoundly influential period he spent in Paris, as well as reflecting on other pivotal people, places, and experiences. His story is a moving and personal one, girded by wisdom and an undeniable honesty. Anyone who not only enjoys the pleasures of reading but also believes in the power of books to shape a life will find here the greatest defense of that credo. BONUS: This ebook edition includes an excerpt from Pat Conroy's The Death of Santini.
Reading for My Life
Author: John Leonard
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1101561009
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 516
Book Description
Right up until his death in 2008, John Leonard was a lion in American letters. A passionate, erudite, and wide-ranging critic, he helped shape the landscape of modern literature. He reviewed the most celebrated writers of his age—from Kurt Vonnegut and Joan Didion to Toni Morrison and Thomas Pynchon. He championed Morrison’s work so ardently that she invited him to travel with her to Stockholm when she accepted her Nobel Prize. He also contributed many pieces on television, film, politics, and the media, which continue to surprise and impress with their fervor and prescience. Reading for My Life is a monumental collection of Leonard’s most significant writings—spanning five decades—from his earliest columns for the Harvard Crimson to his final essays for The New York Review of Books. Here are Leonard’s best writings—many never before published in book form—on the cultural touchstones of a generation, each piece a testament to his sharp wit, fierce intelligence, and lasting love of the arts. Definitive reviews of Doris Lessing, Vladimir Nabokov, Maxine Hong Kingston, Tom Wolfe, Don DeLillo, Milan Kundera, and Philip Roth, among others, display his passion and nearly encyclopedic knowledge of literature in the second half of the twentieth century. His essay on Ed Sullivan and the evolution of television remains a classic. Throughout Leonard’s reviews and essays is a dedicated political spirit, pleading for social justice, advocating for the women’s movement, and forever calling attention to writers whose work challenged and excited him. With an introduction by E. L. Doctorow and remembrances by Leonard’s friends, family, and colleagues, including Gloria Steinem and Victor Navasky, Reading for My Life stands as a landmark collection from one of America’s most beloved and influential critics.
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1101561009
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 516
Book Description
Right up until his death in 2008, John Leonard was a lion in American letters. A passionate, erudite, and wide-ranging critic, he helped shape the landscape of modern literature. He reviewed the most celebrated writers of his age—from Kurt Vonnegut and Joan Didion to Toni Morrison and Thomas Pynchon. He championed Morrison’s work so ardently that she invited him to travel with her to Stockholm when she accepted her Nobel Prize. He also contributed many pieces on television, film, politics, and the media, which continue to surprise and impress with their fervor and prescience. Reading for My Life is a monumental collection of Leonard’s most significant writings—spanning five decades—from his earliest columns for the Harvard Crimson to his final essays for The New York Review of Books. Here are Leonard’s best writings—many never before published in book form—on the cultural touchstones of a generation, each piece a testament to his sharp wit, fierce intelligence, and lasting love of the arts. Definitive reviews of Doris Lessing, Vladimir Nabokov, Maxine Hong Kingston, Tom Wolfe, Don DeLillo, Milan Kundera, and Philip Roth, among others, display his passion and nearly encyclopedic knowledge of literature in the second half of the twentieth century. His essay on Ed Sullivan and the evolution of television remains a classic. Throughout Leonard’s reviews and essays is a dedicated political spirit, pleading for social justice, advocating for the women’s movement, and forever calling attention to writers whose work challenged and excited him. With an introduction by E. L. Doctorow and remembrances by Leonard’s friends, family, and colleagues, including Gloria Steinem and Victor Navasky, Reading for My Life stands as a landmark collection from one of America’s most beloved and influential critics.
How Reading Changed My Life
Author: Anna Quindlen
Publisher: Ballantine Books
ISBN: 0307763528
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 98
Book Description
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • Anna Quindlen presents a “swift and compelling paean to the joys of books” (Booklist). “Like the columns she used to write for the New York Times, [How Reading Changed My Life] is tart, smart, full of quirky insights, lapidary, and a pleasure to read.”—Publishers Weekly “Reading has always been my home, my sustenance, my great invincible companion. . . . Yet of all the many things in which we recognize universal comfort—God, sex, food, family, friends—reading seems to be the one in which the comfort is most undersung, at least publicly, although it was really all I thought of, or felt, when I was eating up book after book, running away from home while sitting in a chair, traveling around the world and yet never leaving the room. . . . I read because I loved it more than any activity on earth.”—from How Reading Changed My Life
Publisher: Ballantine Books
ISBN: 0307763528
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 98
Book Description
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • Anna Quindlen presents a “swift and compelling paean to the joys of books” (Booklist). “Like the columns she used to write for the New York Times, [How Reading Changed My Life] is tart, smart, full of quirky insights, lapidary, and a pleasure to read.”—Publishers Weekly “Reading has always been my home, my sustenance, my great invincible companion. . . . Yet of all the many things in which we recognize universal comfort—God, sex, food, family, friends—reading seems to be the one in which the comfort is most undersung, at least publicly, although it was really all I thought of, or felt, when I was eating up book after book, running away from home while sitting in a chair, traveling around the world and yet never leaving the room. . . . I read because I loved it more than any activity on earth.”—from How Reading Changed My Life
Reading for Their Life
Author: Alfred W. Tatum
Publisher: Heinemann Educational Books
ISBN: 9780325026794
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Book Description
"Because African American adolescent males and face their own challenges, they must identify texts that mark their times and their lives. If we create opportunities for this to happen, they will not only begin to trust the texts, they will begin to trust us, too. Then maybe, we'll hear one of them say, Education is on our side, ' or, 'I used to keep it gutter, but now I am all good.' This is my hope." -Alfred Tatum No reading strategy, no literacy program, no remediation will close the achievement gap for adolescent African American males. These efforts will continue to fail our students, says Alfred Tatum, until reading instruction is anchored in meaningful texts that build academic and personal resiliency inside and outside school. In Reading for Their Life Tatum takes a bold step beyond Teaching Reading to Black Adolescent Males. He shows how teachers can encourage adolescent African American males to connect with reading by defining who they are through textual lineages-texts with significance, carefully chosen for instruction because they are useful to young black males and because they matter. With works ranging from Up from Slavery and Sounder to the contemporary Handbook for Boys, Tatum helps you: understand what adolescent African American male readers need select enabling texts that have worked in Tatum's own teaching build textual lineages by putting meaningful texts at the core of a challenging curriculum engage readers in the curriculum through essential questions, writing, and self-assessment. Click here to see Alfred talking about this book. "African American males are not engaged in a great conspiracy to fail themselves," writes Tatum. "They continue to underperform in school as they wait for educators to get it right." Join Alfred Tatum, use Reading for Their Life, and strive for "a way to squeeze enabling texts for every ounce of possibility they contain for advancing the literacy development of African American adolescent males." Get more information on the state of education for African American males, read Yes We Can: The 2010 Schott 50 State Report on Black Males in Public Education.
Publisher: Heinemann Educational Books
ISBN: 9780325026794
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Book Description
"Because African American adolescent males and face their own challenges, they must identify texts that mark their times and their lives. If we create opportunities for this to happen, they will not only begin to trust the texts, they will begin to trust us, too. Then maybe, we'll hear one of them say, Education is on our side, ' or, 'I used to keep it gutter, but now I am all good.' This is my hope." -Alfred Tatum No reading strategy, no literacy program, no remediation will close the achievement gap for adolescent African American males. These efforts will continue to fail our students, says Alfred Tatum, until reading instruction is anchored in meaningful texts that build academic and personal resiliency inside and outside school. In Reading for Their Life Tatum takes a bold step beyond Teaching Reading to Black Adolescent Males. He shows how teachers can encourage adolescent African American males to connect with reading by defining who they are through textual lineages-texts with significance, carefully chosen for instruction because they are useful to young black males and because they matter. With works ranging from Up from Slavery and Sounder to the contemporary Handbook for Boys, Tatum helps you: understand what adolescent African American male readers need select enabling texts that have worked in Tatum's own teaching build textual lineages by putting meaningful texts at the core of a challenging curriculum engage readers in the curriculum through essential questions, writing, and self-assessment. Click here to see Alfred talking about this book. "African American males are not engaged in a great conspiracy to fail themselves," writes Tatum. "They continue to underperform in school as they wait for educators to get it right." Join Alfred Tatum, use Reading for Their Life, and strive for "a way to squeeze enabling texts for every ounce of possibility they contain for advancing the literacy development of African American adolescent males." Get more information on the state of education for African American males, read Yes We Can: The 2010 Schott 50 State Report on Black Males in Public Education.
My Reading Life
Author: Anne Bogel
Publisher: Ten Peaks Press
ISBN: 9780736983020
Category : Games & Activities
Languages : en
Pages : 192
Book Description
This stylish journal created exclusively for book lovers includes custom reading lists, charming literary quotes, and plenty of room to record what you've read and what you'd love to read. "Books are knowledge. Books are reflection. Books change your mind."--Toni Morrison Designed by a book lover for book lovers, My Reading Life is the ideal companion for all your literary adventures. Anne Bogel, better known online as The Modern Mrs. Darcy, provides you with insightful reading lists for every popular genre and each season. She even helps you determine the kinds of books you'd most like to read based on your interests. You'll also appreciate the sleek, compact design, perfect for taking on the go to the library, bookstore, or your next book club gathering. So much more than just a journal, this book is a joyful celebration of the written word, one that will significantly enrich every day of your reading life.
Publisher: Ten Peaks Press
ISBN: 9780736983020
Category : Games & Activities
Languages : en
Pages : 192
Book Description
This stylish journal created exclusively for book lovers includes custom reading lists, charming literary quotes, and plenty of room to record what you've read and what you'd love to read. "Books are knowledge. Books are reflection. Books change your mind."--Toni Morrison Designed by a book lover for book lovers, My Reading Life is the ideal companion for all your literary adventures. Anne Bogel, better known online as The Modern Mrs. Darcy, provides you with insightful reading lists for every popular genre and each season. She even helps you determine the kinds of books you'd most like to read based on your interests. You'll also appreciate the sleek, compact design, perfect for taking on the go to the library, bookstore, or your next book club gathering. So much more than just a journal, this book is a joyful celebration of the written word, one that will significantly enrich every day of your reading life.
My Life with Bob
Author: Pamela Paul
Publisher: Henry Holt
ISBN: 1627796312
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 256
Book Description
"For twenty-eight years, Pamela Paul has been keeping a diary that records the books she reads, rather than the life she leads. Or does it? Over time, it's become clear that this Book of Books, or Bob, as she calls him, tells a much bigger story. For Paul, as for many readers, books reflect her inner life--her fantasies and hopes, her dreams and ideas. And her life, in turn, influences which books she chooses, whether for solace or escape, diversion or self-reflection, information or entertainment. My Life with Bob isn't about what's in those books; it's about the relationship between books and readers"--
Publisher: Henry Holt
ISBN: 1627796312
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 256
Book Description
"For twenty-eight years, Pamela Paul has been keeping a diary that records the books she reads, rather than the life she leads. Or does it? Over time, it's become clear that this Book of Books, or Bob, as she calls him, tells a much bigger story. For Paul, as for many readers, books reflect her inner life--her fantasies and hopes, her dreams and ideas. And her life, in turn, influences which books she chooses, whether for solace or escape, diversion or self-reflection, information or entertainment. My Life with Bob isn't about what's in those books; it's about the relationship between books and readers"--
The Books in My Life
Author: Henry Miller
Publisher: New Directions Publishing
ISBN: 9780811201087
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 324
Book Description
In this unique work, Henry Miller gives an utterly candid and self-revealing account of the reading he did during his formative years.
Publisher: New Directions Publishing
ISBN: 9780811201087
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 324
Book Description
In this unique work, Henry Miller gives an utterly candid and self-revealing account of the reading he did during his formative years.
The Year of Reading Dangerously
Author: Andy Miller
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 0062100629
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 331
Book Description
“[A] fanciful, endearing account of his experiences tackling classic works of fiction. . . . There is plenty of hilarity in [this] intimate literary memoir.” —Publishers Weekly Nearing his fortieth birthday, author and critic Andy Miller realized he’s not nearly as well read as he’d like to be. A devout book lover who somehow fell out of the habit of reading, he began to ponder the power of books to change an individual life—including his own—and to the define the sort of person he would like to be. Beginning with a copy of Bulgakov’s Master and Margarita, he embarks on a literary odyssey of mindful reading and wry introspection. From Middlemarch to Anna Karenina to A Confederacy of Dunces, these are books Miller felt he should read; books he’d always wanted to read; books he’d previously started but hadn’t finished; and books he’d lied about having read to impress people. Combining memoir and literary criticism, The Year of Reading Dangerously is Miller’s heartfelt, humorous examination of what it means to be a reader. Passionately believing that books deserve to be read, enjoyed, and debated in the real world, Miller documents his reading experiences and how they resonated in his daily life and ultimately his very sense of self. The result is a witty and insightful journey of discovery and soul-searching that celebrates the abiding miracle of the power of reading. “An affecting tale of the rediscovery of great books . . . [by] a friendly, funny Brit.” —Boston Globe “Funny and engaging.” —Kirkus Reviews “Amiable, circumstantial, amusing, charming. . . . [Miller’s] style owes something . . . to Joe Brainard and David Foster Wallace.” —The Times (London)
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 0062100629
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 331
Book Description
“[A] fanciful, endearing account of his experiences tackling classic works of fiction. . . . There is plenty of hilarity in [this] intimate literary memoir.” —Publishers Weekly Nearing his fortieth birthday, author and critic Andy Miller realized he’s not nearly as well read as he’d like to be. A devout book lover who somehow fell out of the habit of reading, he began to ponder the power of books to change an individual life—including his own—and to the define the sort of person he would like to be. Beginning with a copy of Bulgakov’s Master and Margarita, he embarks on a literary odyssey of mindful reading and wry introspection. From Middlemarch to Anna Karenina to A Confederacy of Dunces, these are books Miller felt he should read; books he’d always wanted to read; books he’d previously started but hadn’t finished; and books he’d lied about having read to impress people. Combining memoir and literary criticism, The Year of Reading Dangerously is Miller’s heartfelt, humorous examination of what it means to be a reader. Passionately believing that books deserve to be read, enjoyed, and debated in the real world, Miller documents his reading experiences and how they resonated in his daily life and ultimately his very sense of self. The result is a witty and insightful journey of discovery and soul-searching that celebrates the abiding miracle of the power of reading. “An affecting tale of the rediscovery of great books . . . [by] a friendly, funny Brit.” —Boston Globe “Funny and engaging.” —Kirkus Reviews “Amiable, circumstantial, amusing, charming. . . . [Miller’s] style owes something . . . to Joe Brainard and David Foster Wallace.” —The Times (London)
I Liked My Life
Author: Abby Fabiaschi
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 1250084873
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 273
Book Description
A husband and teen daughter are challenged to redefine their understandings of family when a devoted wife and mother commits suicide and begins meddling from beyond the grave.
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 1250084873
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 273
Book Description
A husband and teen daughter are challenged to redefine their understandings of family when a devoted wife and mother commits suicide and begins meddling from beyond the grave.
Reading Women
Author: Stephanie Staal
Publisher: PublicAffairs
ISBN: 1586488767
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 290
Book Description
When Stephanie Staal first read The Feminine Mystique in college, she found it "a mildly interesting relic from another era." But more than a decade later, as a married stay-at-home mom in the suburbs, Staal rediscovered Betty Friedan's classic work -- and was surprised how much she identified with the laments and misgivings of 1950s housewives. She set out on a quest: to reenroll at Barnard and re-read the great books she had first encountered as an undergrad. From the banishment of Eve to Judith Butler's Gender Trouble, Staal explores the significance of each of these classic tales by and of women, highlighting the relevance these ideas still have today. This process leads Staal to find the self she thought she had lost -- curious and ambitious, zany and critical -- and inspires new understandings of her relationships with her husband, her mother, and her daughter.
Publisher: PublicAffairs
ISBN: 1586488767
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 290
Book Description
When Stephanie Staal first read The Feminine Mystique in college, she found it "a mildly interesting relic from another era." But more than a decade later, as a married stay-at-home mom in the suburbs, Staal rediscovered Betty Friedan's classic work -- and was surprised how much she identified with the laments and misgivings of 1950s housewives. She set out on a quest: to reenroll at Barnard and re-read the great books she had first encountered as an undergrad. From the banishment of Eve to Judith Butler's Gender Trouble, Staal explores the significance of each of these classic tales by and of women, highlighting the relevance these ideas still have today. This process leads Staal to find the self she thought she had lost -- curious and ambitious, zany and critical -- and inspires new understandings of her relationships with her husband, her mother, and her daughter.