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jasanin's review
2.0
2.5 I expected to enjoy this more than I did, which is a bit disappointing. Not a bad read overall though, it just kind of felt like an extended essay to me.
therealbookaholic's review
2.0
In many ways this was a philosophical presentation by Schwartz on the importance of literature/ writing/ reading in her life. A biography which allowed for many “soap box” ramblings, musings and analysis. I found the book, not “text”, to be okay.
Because I am one who enjoys reading books about books, or even works by others discussing why they love books, this second hand piece was picked up on a recent visit to half priced books in Pittsburgh, PA. I did like many of her insights concerning the beauty of the written word, and I can also relate with her struggle on which book to read next; facing the 'ought' to read pile and the 'want' to read pile with a tense expectancy. There were occasional reflections on classic literary works which I would have liked to have read more about. She is extremely bright, a master of the written word, and very well read. I think she would have been a striking professor and critic, and possibly she is that already. She has other works in print so it may be worthwhile investigating Schwartz’s other works to get a different take on her style.
Because I am one who enjoys reading books about books, or even works by others discussing why they love books, this second hand piece was picked up on a recent visit to half priced books in Pittsburgh, PA. I did like many of her insights concerning the beauty of the written word, and I can also relate with her struggle on which book to read next; facing the 'ought' to read pile and the 'want' to read pile with a tense expectancy. There were occasional reflections on classic literary works which I would have liked to have read more about. She is extremely bright, a master of the written word, and very well read. I think she would have been a striking professor and critic, and possibly she is that already. She has other works in print so it may be worthwhile investigating Schwartz’s other works to get a different take on her style.
boomt's review
2.0
Of course I was hooked by the title. The impetus for writing the book is a NY Times piece by a Chinese scholar whose Buddhist belief "has curbed his appetite for books" because "To read more is a handicap. It is better to keep your own mind free and to not let the thinking of others interfere with your own free thinking." This is the foil for Schwartz' ode to reading as the portal to richer life experience. If this be ruin, then bring it on.
Her earliest reading experience consists of charming adults by "reading" words on the page of the New York Times at three and a half. She describes a childhood of passionate, free-range reading, followed by a college epiphany that these individual books are part of a vast landscape of "literature". As an adult she relishes the freedom to read books whether they are found by design or by serendipity.
In the best passages, she describes the reading as a sort of magical communion between author and reader through the medium of narrative. However, she is presumptions when she dismisses literary criticism because somehow the magic triangle of the author, book, and reader vanishes in the instant book becomes "text"--as if there is no further insight beyond the author's voice. Also, there is a bit too much conceit in her preference for dead authors because, "I know my own times. I am in them ... It is the times of the dead I do not know." Certainly a lot of dreck is published, but I find the best living authors provide fresh perspective on contemporary experience.
Her earliest reading experience consists of charming adults by "reading" words on the page of the New York Times at three and a half. She describes a childhood of passionate, free-range reading, followed by a college epiphany that these individual books are part of a vast landscape of "literature". As an adult she relishes the freedom to read books whether they are found by design or by serendipity.
In the best passages, she describes the reading as a sort of magical communion between author and reader through the medium of narrative. However, she is presumptions when she dismisses literary criticism because somehow the magic triangle of the author, book, and reader vanishes in the instant book becomes "text"--as if there is no further insight beyond the author's voice. Also, there is a bit too much conceit in her preference for dead authors because, "I know my own times. I am in them ... It is the times of the dead I do not know." Certainly a lot of dreck is published, but I find the best living authors provide fresh perspective on contemporary experience.
polywogg's review
3.0
PLOT OR PREMISE:
Schwarz starts with a commentary by a Chinese scholar that some people are handicapped by reading too much, and not thinking enough about what they read. From there, she looks at the books she has read in her life and the role they have played. It is not a heavy analytical tone throughout, but rather a personal commentary on the books that have been important to her in her life, and the elements of her life that took place in and around books.
.
WHAT I LIKED:
"There are a number of sections that are quite well done, such as:
.
- Emptying your mind for meditation vs. filling it up during a life spent reading (pg. 14);
- On the un-importance of the authors vs. the impact of the words themselves (pg. 17);
- A life spent reading (pg. 96);
- Choices of reading material (pg. 107);
- Ruined by reading (pg. 114); and,
- On self (pg. 119)."
.
WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE:
Some of the sections could have benefited from a bit more analysis and historical context, not just the personal impact in her own life.
.
BOTTOM-LINE:
Tone was pleasant, but not a serious work
.
DISCLOSURE:
I received no compensation, not even a free copy, in exchange for this review. I am not personal friends with the author, nor do I follow her on social media.
Schwarz starts with a commentary by a Chinese scholar that some people are handicapped by reading too much, and not thinking enough about what they read. From there, she looks at the books she has read in her life and the role they have played. It is not a heavy analytical tone throughout, but rather a personal commentary on the books that have been important to her in her life, and the elements of her life that took place in and around books.
.
WHAT I LIKED:
"There are a number of sections that are quite well done, such as:
.
- Emptying your mind for meditation vs. filling it up during a life spent reading (pg. 14);
- On the un-importance of the authors vs. the impact of the words themselves (pg. 17);
- A life spent reading (pg. 96);
- Choices of reading material (pg. 107);
- Ruined by reading (pg. 114); and,
- On self (pg. 119)."
.
WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE:
Some of the sections could have benefited from a bit more analysis and historical context, not just the personal impact in her own life.
.
BOTTOM-LINE:
Tone was pleasant, but not a serious work
.
DISCLOSURE:
I received no compensation, not even a free copy, in exchange for this review. I am not personal friends with the author, nor do I follow her on social media.
bookcrazylady45's review
5.0
I love this book. It speaks to me. It gave words to a feeling, an understanding I had always had that I am a reader who cannot remember what I have read but I do remember every single book I have ever read, I remember the cover, I remember whether I liked it, whether it was a keeper, a book to be reread sometime in the future. She speaks of having an inchoate sense of texture and dynamics. She speaks of having, after years, a feel, a texture, an aura, a fragrance. I have always thought of taste, smell, feel as what I retained of books I had read. She talks about people who review books they haven't actually read. They read other reviews, the read the jacket blurb and look at the cover picture and extrapolate a sense of the book but never experience it and claim that minimal action as 'having read' the book. Not in my experience, I feel that is cheating. I have never marked a book read until I have actually read it to the end, at which point it has a chance of being reread in the future, given away, or set on the shelves as a trophy to effort and appreciation.
londonmabel's review
4.0
Just some author I've never heard of--her meandering thoughts about reading, and reading when she was young, and the impressions various books made on her. But it was great! There were so many parts I identified with, even if my own experiences were with other books. A nice little volume for those who worship at the foot of the book.
sometimesjess's review
5.0
"If we make books happen, they make us happen as well. Reading teaches receptivity, Keats's negative capability. It teaches us to receive, in stillness and attentiveness, a voice possessed temporarily, on loan. The speaker lends herself and we do the same, a mutual and ephemeral exchange, like love. Yet unlike love, reading is a pure activity. It will gain us nothing but enchantment of the heart. And as we grow accustomed to receiving books in stillness and attentiveness, so we can grow to receive the world, also possessed temporarily, also enchanting the heart" (118).
Schwartz tells us and shows us, in all ways imaginable, that reading is a sensual rather than intellectual pleasure.
Schwartz tells us and shows us, in all ways imaginable, that reading is a sensual rather than intellectual pleasure.
bookwormmichelle's review
5.0
This is less a book than one long essay reflecting on reading and life and memory. Schwartz begins with a quote from a Chinese Buddhist scholar who said "To read more is a handicap. It is better to keep your own mind free and to not let the thinking of others interfere with your own free thinking." She then takes this quote with her and reacts to it as she evaluates her lifetime of reading. I always love to compare my own reading to those of "book-book" authors; like Schwartz, I began reading very young, did most of my reading outside of school, and we read many of the same books and poems when young.
Some tidbits I especially enjoyed:
Schwartz posits that the reason many of us have trouble with operating modern electronic devices is that the reader's mind runs on narrative, and devices don't. She has a hilarious "narrative" her daughter wrote called "Instructions for a Happy VCR". Hey, I like this idea better than just blaming my age.
Loved this quote: [Reading] didn't replace living; it infused it, till the two became inextricable, like molecules of hydrogen and oxygen in a bead of water. (ok, she means ATOMS, but still)
Another: There is nothing to match the affinity of people who were defined and nourished by the same book, who shared a fantasy life.
More: Maybe the words on the page are not even the true book, in the end, only a gateway to the book that recreates itself in the mind and lasts as long as we do.
I loved her reflection when one of her children learned how to read: "And so the younger one was launched on the perilous journey, crossing the bridge that can never be recrossed. I could only watch as mothers do when children leave home to seek their fortune, knowing that from now on her adventures would be beyond my ken, I could neither protect nor accompany her. The written word was about to carry her off like the tornado took Dorothy." I'm not sure I totally agree--I did try to "accompany" my children a bit by reading TO them, and still do--but I do know (actually, I hope and pray) that they have their own internal relationship with books that I know little about.
I liked this thought on book lists and choosing books: Months, even years, go by. I return to my list to find I've read perhaps a third of the books on it, not bad, under the circumstances. But by then I am a new person, with a new list under way. The unread books get carried over, and over, until eventually I cross them out. They are no longer necessary. I can hardly recall what allure they held for the person I used to be.
And this on reading randomly: Or perhaps randomness is not so random after all. Perhaps at every stage what we read is what we are, or what we are becoming, or desire.
Loved this sentence, she is discussing "public" speech like that by news anchors and politicians: "Have any of them, lately, spoken a sentence bearing the shape of the thought that inspired it?" This seemed a very Charlotte Mason thing to say.
This was thoughtful, contemplative, slow, delightful.
Some tidbits I especially enjoyed:
Schwartz posits that the reason many of us have trouble with operating modern electronic devices is that the reader's mind runs on narrative, and devices don't. She has a hilarious "narrative" her daughter wrote called "Instructions for a Happy VCR". Hey, I like this idea better than just blaming my age.
Loved this quote: [Reading] didn't replace living; it infused it, till the two became inextricable, like molecules of hydrogen and oxygen in a bead of water. (ok, she means ATOMS, but still)
Another: There is nothing to match the affinity of people who were defined and nourished by the same book, who shared a fantasy life.
More: Maybe the words on the page are not even the true book, in the end, only a gateway to the book that recreates itself in the mind and lasts as long as we do.
I loved her reflection when one of her children learned how to read: "And so the younger one was launched on the perilous journey, crossing the bridge that can never be recrossed. I could only watch as mothers do when children leave home to seek their fortune, knowing that from now on her adventures would be beyond my ken, I could neither protect nor accompany her. The written word was about to carry her off like the tornado took Dorothy." I'm not sure I totally agree--I did try to "accompany" my children a bit by reading TO them, and still do--but I do know (actually, I hope and pray) that they have their own internal relationship with books that I know little about.
I liked this thought on book lists and choosing books: Months, even years, go by. I return to my list to find I've read perhaps a third of the books on it, not bad, under the circumstances. But by then I am a new person, with a new list under way. The unread books get carried over, and over, until eventually I cross them out. They are no longer necessary. I can hardly recall what allure they held for the person I used to be.
And this on reading randomly: Or perhaps randomness is not so random after all. Perhaps at every stage what we read is what we are, or what we are becoming, or desire.
Loved this sentence, she is discussing "public" speech like that by news anchors and politicians: "Have any of them, lately, spoken a sentence bearing the shape of the thought that inspired it?" This seemed a very Charlotte Mason thing to say.
This was thoughtful, contemplative, slow, delightful.