Why We Read, Shannon Reed
Why We Read, Shannon Reed
List: $24.99 | Sale: $17.50
Club: $12.49

Why We Read
On Bookworms, Libraries, and Just One More Page Before Lights Out

Author: Shannon Reed

Narrator: Paige McKinney

Unabridged: 8 hr 54 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 02/06/2024


Synopsis

A hilarious and incisive exploration of the joys of reading from a teacher, bibliophile, and Thurber Prize Semifinalist

We read to escape, to learn, to find love, to feel seen. We read to encounter new worlds, to discover new recipes, to find connection across difference, or simply to pass a rainy afternoon. No matter the reason, books have the power to keep us safe, to challenge us, and perhaps most importantly, to make us more fully human.

Shannon Reed, a longtime teacher, lifelong reader, and New Yorker contributor, gets it. With one simple goal in mind, she makes the case that we should read for pleasure above all else. In this whip-smart, laugh-out-loud-funny collection, Reed shares surprising stories from her life as a reader and the poignant ways in which books have impacted her students. From the varied novels she cherishes (Gone Girl, Their Eyes Were Watching God) to the ones she didn’t (Tess of the d’Urbervilles), Reed takes us on a rollicking tour through the comforting world of literature, celebrating the books we love, the readers who love them, and the ways in which literature can transform us for the better.

About Shannon Reed

Shannon Reed is a lecturer in creative writing at the University of Pittsburgh and a contributor to The New Yorker's “Shouts & Murmurs” pieces. Her work has also appeared in Real Simple, The Paris Review, Slate, LitHub, Longreads, The Guardian, AFAR, The Washington Post, and The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, and most notably, McSweeney's. She holds an MA in Educational Theatre and Teaching Secondary English, and an MFA in Creative Writing.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Karen on May 20, 2024

At first, I wasn’t sure the direction this book was going. I felt myself completely understanding of the author’s early stories as to how she turned to reading. I couldn’t help but feel compassion towards her as she shared how she was hearing-impaired and how reading gave her a sense of home and saf......more

Goodreads review by Martha on December 30, 2023

Why We Read is less about why WE read and more about why the author reads. I expected more of a rumination on appeal characteristics and why certain genres appeal to certain types of readers. What I found was a very funny, very identifiable rumination on the author's life as a reader. As a scaredy c......more

Goodreads review by Julie on January 18, 2024

George Saunders, a writer I admire (full disclosure: I am a paid subscriber to his online Story Club), recently posted a prepublication chapter from this forthcoming book of essays, in which writing teacher Reed describes the experience of teaching Saunders’s eccentric, imaginative novel Lincoln in......more

Goodreads review by Adrienne on December 29, 2023

I really enjoyed this one! I related to Shannon's experiences as a 50 year old who grew up reading as many books as she could get her hands on. Each chapter is named as responses to the title: Why We Read. I love learning about how other people take in words. What do they think about as they read? W......more