How Reading Changed My Life

“Books are the plane, and the train, and the road. They are the destination and the journey. They are home.” 

I have enjoyed reading this book. It is a memoir of a bookworm; she talks about her experience with books as well as her experience with reading and writing. The book examines subjects many of bibliophiles are familiar with such as the need for a physical book in your hand and she discusses it in an original manner:

"It's 30 years since man first walked on the moon, and when people sit down to a big old fashioned supper it is still a plate of roast beef and mashed potatoes, not a capsule and a glass of water. When they buy a creamsicle, it's 3dimensional, wet and cold and wonderful. That's because people like the thing itself. They don't eat mashed potatoes with gravy because they just need to be nourished, but because mashed potatoes and gravy are wonderful in so many ways: the heat, the texture, the silky slide of the gravy over your tongue. And that is the way it is with books. It is not simply that we need information, but that we want to savor it, carry it with us, feel the heft of it under our arm. We like the thing itself. It is not possible that the book is over. Too many people love it so."

I really can relate to many of Quindlen's experiences as a reader. Quindlen shares also other stories such as Oprah Winfrey’s; sad story which left me in tears. The book is wonderful and inspiring. The writer takes a common subject and develops it in very enjoyable topic.

How Reading Changed My Life is a short volume of reflections on the role reading has played in Anna Quindlen's life and development as a writer. It is a quick, easy, and entertaining read, and one in which I find Quindlen’s experiences with reading often reflect my own. I highly recommend it to all the bookworms.