Scan barcode
A review by mymillionpages
A Reader on Reading by Alberto Manguel
3.0
I somehow missed the part that this was a series of essays spanning almost 20 years and so while reading I found it very disjointed. I would be very interested in a couple of chapters and then it would completely lose me. I found this book started and ended very strong but the middle just didn't grab me at all even though they were beautifully written. Each chapter started with a quote from either Alice in Wonderland or Through the Looking Glass. Sometimes they would fit, sometimes they wouldn't and it seemed as if a lot of the quotes were being forced in.
I did really enjoy "The Library at Home" essay. My library has changed a lot since it first began. I have purged and given away a lot and somehow accumulated even more and so I found one passage to especially resonate with me, "Every time I would ask myself how it happened, this exuberant accumulation of paper and ink that once again would cover my walls like ivy."
"The End of Reading" was definitely my favourite essay. Manguel mentioned he had a sudden surgery and only had one book on him with no time to prepare. I have recently been spending a lot of time in the hospital and this is actually something I have thought about a lot. I even have a stack of easy reading books at home so if I do end up needing an extended stay I can send someone to get them. Kind of weird now that I've admitted to it though.
There is also a lot of mention of ebooks versus print in this essay. I went from only reading print to only reading on an ereader to now mostly reading print. After experiencing some health issues I have taken to slowing down and establishing a weekly library trip which has helped me immensely, something I can't get by just purchasing or borrowing straight from my e-reader but that is not to say that I enjoyed books any less in one format or another and I will continue to utilize both. This last essay is quite bleak and I don't really agree that reading electronically is the death of reading and that we cannot fully understand, absorb or criticize information we have read on a screen, "especially young people" or that it has taken away any learning abilities.
As a whole, I was most engrossed in The Numinous Library" section and it was a great way to end things off.
This book is full of food for thought and the experience of reading it is definitely enhanced if you take the time to ponder each essay after reading it. It is beautifully written driven by a true passion. There are a lot of politically charged essays which I did not expect to be reading and wasn't overly invested in them. This was my first Alberto Manguel book and will definitely be looking into other books by him as his writing truly is wonderful.
I did really enjoy "The Library at Home" essay. My library has changed a lot since it first began. I have purged and given away a lot and somehow accumulated even more and so I found one passage to especially resonate with me, "Every time I would ask myself how it happened, this exuberant accumulation of paper and ink that once again would cover my walls like ivy."
"The End of Reading" was definitely my favourite essay. Manguel mentioned he had a sudden surgery and only had one book on him with no time to prepare. I have recently been spending a lot of time in the hospital and this is actually something I have thought about a lot. I even have a stack of easy reading books at home so if I do end up needing an extended stay I can send someone to get them. Kind of weird now that I've admitted to it though.
There is also a lot of mention of ebooks versus print in this essay. I went from only reading print to only reading on an ereader to now mostly reading print. After experiencing some health issues I have taken to slowing down and establishing a weekly library trip which has helped me immensely, something I can't get by just purchasing or borrowing straight from my e-reader but that is not to say that I enjoyed books any less in one format or another and I will continue to utilize both. This last essay is quite bleak and I don't really agree that reading electronically is the death of reading and that we cannot fully understand, absorb or criticize information we have read on a screen, "especially young people" or that it has taken away any learning abilities.
As a whole, I was most engrossed in The Numinous Library" section and it was a great way to end things off.
This book is full of food for thought and the experience of reading it is definitely enhanced if you take the time to ponder each essay after reading it. It is beautifully written driven by a true passion. There are a lot of politically charged essays which I did not expect to be reading and wasn't overly invested in them. This was my first Alberto Manguel book and will definitely be looking into other books by him as his writing truly is wonderful.