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Why I Read
Why I Read: The Serious Pleasure of Books | Wendy Lesser
29 posts | 9 read | 34 to read
The founder and editor of The Threepenny Review and award-winning author of Music for Silenced Voices draws on a lifetime of pleasure reading and decades of editing to describe a life lived in and through literature, exploring plays, poems and essays as well as a range of fiction and nonfiction works from a variety of perspectives. 15,000 first printing.
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niftytiffd
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🫠

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PatriciaU
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Been thinking about this lately and came across this infographic from the Scottish Book Trust. Why do YOU read?

Aimeesue Because I‘m insatiably curious 🤷🏻‍♀️ I like to learn as many things as possible. 6mo
30 likes1 comment
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Blueberry
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😀😊👩‍🍳👨‍🌾👩‍🔬👨‍🔧👩‍🎤💂‍♂️👸👳‍♂️

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Wellreadhead
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Suet624 Loved your essay! 5y
63 likes2 comments
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unique
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SW-T
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So true 😊😊😊

Happy reading everyone! 📚

swishandflick Love this graphic! ❤️ 5y
JoScho 🖤🖤🖤 5y
Come-read-with-me @sw-t Another great choice! Thanks for sharing! 5y
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megnews ❤️❤️❤️ 5y
AmyRebecca I feel this should be a poster for the children's section of the library 💜 5y
SW-T @swishandflick 😊😊😊 5y
SW-T @Come-read-with-me Welcome! 😊 5y
SW-T @AmyRebecca 😊😊😊 5y
34 likes9 comments
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SW-T
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“I don‘t believe one reads to escape reality. A person reads to confirm a reality he knows is there, but which he has not experienced.” ~Lawrence Durrell

#quotes #litsyquotes

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DrSabrinaMoldenReads
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Pickpick

Its a question that I have often asked myself. I read, buy and think about books compulsively as many others here do. I loved Lesser‘s perspectives on this question. She eloquently captures in thought-provoking ways our book love and acknowledges how difficult it is to understand and explain. A major treat is leaving this book with a new booklist of works of which I am not familiar. This book was a delight. ⭐️⭐️⭐️🌟

31 likes3 stack adds
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DrSabrinaMoldenReads
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Reading is, to a certain extent, a compulsion.

MrBook Aye, that! 😎🙌🏻 6y
RebL I admire how the upper shelves are orderly and the bottom shelf is like whatever. 6y
43 likes3 comments
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DrSabrinaMoldenReads
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There is no such thing as purely impersonal reading. We bring ourselves to whatever we do, and the more honestly and seriously we do it, the more we bring along the whole of ourselves.

Art: liveinternet.ru

Becker Such a pretty picture 6y
DrSabrinaMoldenReads Yes! I am always on the lookout for pretty pictures on Pinterest and Instagram @Becker 6y
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DrSabrinaMoldenReads
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Why am I doing this? I am devouring this book for some reason. I bet most might think it would not be all that good...and I have some reports I have to get done for work by tomorrow morning 🤦🏽‍♀️

MrBook Ooooh! 6y
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DrSabrinaMoldenReads
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“Nothing takes you out of yourself the way a good book does, but at the same time nothing makes you more aware of yourself as a solitary creature, possessing your own particular tastes, memories, associations, beliefs.-Wendy Lesser, “Why I Read”
Photo: Pinterest

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DrSabrinaMoldenReads
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“Reading has the virtue of being one-to-one. It‘s just you and the book, enclosed within a private space; in some ways that means it‘s just you, alone with an inert object that you are temporarily bringing to life.”

Photo: Pinterest (A perfect childhood memory; the inner child that still exists.

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BekaReid
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"Reading literature is a way of reaching back to something bigger and older and different. It can give you the feeling that you belong to the past as well as the present, and it can help you realize that your present will someday be someone else's past."

DrSabrinaMoldenReads I loved that quote, too. 6y
11 likes1 comment
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BekaReid
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Yeah, it's too cold to venture out today. Lazy, new year's continues.

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Moray_Reads
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I saw this interesting tweet over Christmas. What 5 books would most accurately express your reading taste? #myreadingtaste

Simona M.Thien - Do Not Say We Have Nothing; L.Tolstoy-Anna Karenina; U.Eco - The Name of the Rose, Yuval Noah Harari - Homo Sapiens; D.Smith- Rasputin 7y
vivastory For the magical realism Rushdie's "Midnight's Children," for the satire & social commentary Vonnegut's "Breakfast of Champions," for the interweaving of the personal & the historical, the intimate & the epic Hugo's "Les Miserables," for the speculative treatment of historical issues Butler's "Kindred" & for the character study Atwood's "Alias Grace" 7y
51 likes2 comments
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Alicia
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My Mom brought me this book when she came to visit! I think she knows me. 🤓📚

LeahBergen 👍🏻 7y
AbstractMonica Ooooo 👏🏼 7y
96 likes10 stack adds2 comments
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BookBabe
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My favorite #readinghabit is reading snuggled up with #Coale and a cup of tea! 😸❤️🍵📚

#jubilantjuly @RealLifeReading

rubyslippersreads I always enjoy seeing what you and @MrBook are reading and eating. 😊 7y
RealLifeReading 👍👍👍 7y
catebutler This is so fun! Always enjoy seeing your posts pop up! 7y
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MrBook 😍😍😍😻😻😻 7y
BookBabe @rubyslippersreads hehe! Thanks! 😊❤️ 7y
BookBabe @catebutler Thank you, that's so sweet of you to say! ❤️❤️❤️ 7y
96 likes6 comments
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rubyslippersreads
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My #readinghabits include reading with my #bestbuds Nicky and Sadie (although this isn't either of them 😄.). Also, the anti-social statement above doesn't apply to #Littens. 😂 #jubilantjuly

BookBabe ❤️❤️❤️❤️love the pic! What an adorable kitty! 😻 7y
Kalalalatja Great list! 👌 7y
BookBabe And I read in bed too, otherwise I can't fall asleep! 😄🙌🏻 7y
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BookBabe Actually, your entire list describes me perfectly...just replace the iPad with a Kindle, and one of the felines with @MrBook 😂 7y
MrBook @BookBabe Indubitably! 😎👍🏻 7y
Jinjer Your list describes me, too, just replace the kitties with my 90-yo Mom who is sitting next to me with her Kindle. 7y
SharonGoforth Yes!!! That's me, too, except I only have 1 cat and most of the time I read physical books (but will read with Kindle or Nook on occasion). 7y
EvieBee This is the cutest picture I ever saw!!!! And I too am a book floozy. Sometimes I try to go steady with one but it doesn't work. (edited) 7y
batsy I don't think I can go to sleep without reading a book either 👍 I love this picture, too cute. 7y
Lmstraubie Great picture! 😸 7y
LeahBergen I've given up even attempting a TBR list. 😆 7y
rubyslippersreads @LeahBergen I think a TBR list is too confining for a #bookfloozy. 😄 7y
rubyslippersreads @BookBabe @Kalalalatja @Jinjer @SharonGoforth @EvieBee @batsy @Lmstraubie Thanks! Nicky and Sadie are jealous that some random Internet cat is getting all these compliments. 😹 7y
Dolly Amazing bookmark!😂 7y
rubyslippersreads @Dolly 😹😹😹 7y
RealLifeReading Ok that's the first I've heard of #bookfloozy 😂👍👍 7y
Purrfectpages Great picture! 7y
92 likes18 comments
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Andrea313
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Holiday weekend to-do list. #booksandbooze #currentlyreading

rubyslippersreads You should have a great weekend with Nicholas & Alexandra, Anne, and Jane. 😄 7y
Andrea313 @rubyslippersreads I'm sure I will! Anne and Jane, in particular, are old friends. ☺ 7y
8 likes2 comments
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Lmstraubie
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Good morning Littens! Have a wonderful day! Happy Reading! 📚📚📚

britt_brooke 💚💚💚 8y
24 likes1 comment
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Sydsavvy
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BarbaraTheBibliophage
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This popped up in my FB memories today. I posted it last year ... and STILL received no books. C'mon December 21st!

#secretsantabookexchange #wintersolsticebookexchange

LeahBergen Yes!! 👍🏼👍🏼 8y
MrBook 😂👏🏻🙌🏻 8y
brilliantglow Yes!!! 8y
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BooksForEmpathy Haha!! 8y
OliverDepp Accurate 8y
MemoirsForMe 😁👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 8y
BookishMarginalia Love it! 8y
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Sydsavvy
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I'm needing a book today that makes me feel like this moment, when this little sweetheart came into my life. #rescuedogsoflitsy ❤️❤️❤️ Suggestions? #dexterlove #rescuedogs

MemoirsForMe Adorable! 8y
Varshitha Cutie❤️ 8y
Karkar What a cutie 🐶🐶❤️❤️ 8y
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LeahBergen Jack Russell??!! I'm dying!!! 8y
LeahBergen Is this Gus? 8y
Sydsavvy He's a Rat Terrier, named Dexter. Awesome dogs. Teddy Roosevelt's went with him on his journeys. Can run all day AND cuddle all day, best of both worlds. 😊 @LeahBergen 8y
LeahBergen I really NEED to get another dog soon. I've been puppyless for far too long (about 3 years now since my Jack Russell died). I will definitely get another little terrier! 8y
Sydsavvy @LeahBergen awe!!! Well, we had just lost a dog and weren't actively looking for a replacement but my husband kept sharing shelter dog pics to me. I finally said to myself, the very next one, no questions asked. He won't leave my side, he knows. 8y
slhbooks What an adorable pup! I love pet adoption stories🐾❤️🐾❤️🐾 8y
29 likes9 comments
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Jess_Read_This
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📚Just call me the Mayor of Failure...I've been sworn into office this afternoon. #cartoon #failure #buyallthebooks #bookish #needmoreboolshelves #bookhaul #reader #bookworm #booknerd

PurpleyPumpkin You are not alone. 😂 8y
26 likes1 stack add1 comment
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MemoirsForMe
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Be still my heart! 😍This has got to be my favorite section in the bookstore. Here's a shout out to one of the coolest bookstores in Santa Barbara: The Book Den. 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 #getindie

29 likes2 stack adds