Rating: 
Summary: Catching the reading bug
Review: This brief book, basically an extended essay, focuses on how reading shapes a person from childhood on. Quindlen's familiar, articulate style makes the book a joy to read.I definitely could identify with much of what Quindlen says. I still remember the books that touched me deeply during childhood, and how wonderful it is to re-read an old favorite and recover that fascination. Quindlen recounts a letter from a young fan that begins, "I guess you could say I am a bookworm!" This book is a reminder that there are many bookworms in existence, for whom reading is as important as any other life activity. Bravo to Quindlen for celebrating readers and reading!
Rating: 
Summary: Enjoyable read, great gift for booklovers
Review: This delightful short book (or perhaps long essay) is filled with the insight and wisdom that characterizes Quindlen's work - touchingly personal while articulate and accessible, so much of her reminiscences resonate with the experiences of booklovers and writers. Her heartfelt adoration of the distinct pleasures reading can bring - as a child reading Nancy Drew while friends are out playing, or as an adult on an airplane traveling for business - were right on. Her praise of reading "for pleasure," not for "advancement or superiority," were especially refreshing to hear from someone so highly respected, insightful, and intelligent. I'm often sheepishly hiding my latest Jane Green novels from the faculty at the college where I work, so it was nice to feel unashamed about the sheer delight I enjoy when reading, regardless of whether I'm reading Jane Austen or Helen Fielding.
Don't expect a direct answer to the question inherent in the title - the book is a celebration of the act of reading and is much more universal than the particular ways that reading shaped or changed the life of the author. Instead, the book prompts a personal reflection on how reading affected one's own life, guided along by Quindlen's wise words. For those of you who love reading but don't always agree with Quindlen's politics, fear not: this book is much more about reading and with the exception of concerns and criticisms about book banning and burning, the focus of the book is largely elsewhere.
This book would make a great gift for the booklovers in your life - I'm giving it to my mother-in-law, an elementary school teacher who adores children's books and participates in multiple book clubs. It's a wonderful reminder of the joys of reading, and Quindlen's writing skill makes this particular read (as with all her work) that much more enjoyable.
Rating:
Summary: A BOOK TO SAVOR
Review: THIS WONDERFUL BOOK TOUCHED MY HEART THE DAY I PURCHASED IT JUST BEFORE CHRISTMAS DAY AROUND THREE YEARS AGO. I SPENT A FEW DAYS JUST ENGROSSED IN IT. ALL THE BOOKS THAT KEPT ME INSIDE LIKE ANNA HERSELF: I REMEMBER MY MOTHER EVEN NOW SAYING "DON'T READ - TALK TO ME WHILE YOU ARE HERE" - ANNA TOUCHED ON THE LOVE OF BOOKS LIKE NO OTHER PERSON HAS. THAT WONDERFUL COMMON THREAD WE ALL SHARE - THE LOVE OF READING AND THE LOVE OF WORDS AND THE LOVE OF BOOKS. AT THE BACK OF THE BOOK HER LISTS WERE COMPARABLE TO WHAT I READ, BUT I HAD FUN CHANGING AND COMPILING MY OWN, AND IT DID BETTER THAN THAT, IT CHALLENGED ME TO READ SOME OF THE BOOKS I HAD NOT READ BEFORE. THIS BOOK IS MY "COMFORT READ" WHEN NOTHING ELSE WILL DO - THIS IS THE BOOK I REACH FROM MY SIDE TABLE AND IS MY FRIEND, IT IS A BOOK TO SAVOR. I WISH MORE PEOPLE NEW ABOUT THIS BOOK AND NEW OF ITS CONTENTS, EVEN THOUGH ONLY THIN, IT IS MIGHTY POWERFUL AND MAKES ME FEEL PASSIONATE, LIKE ANNA, READING HAS CHANGED MY LIFE, A LIFE I ENJOY, AND AMONG FRIENDS - ALWAYS.
Rating:
Summary: Quindlen Understands.
Review: While this book can at times be a bit defensive, Quindlen has a right to be. Readers, she points out, have been belittled, called stuck up, and tracked down in police states. We're almost an endangered species. At times, I celebrated with her the joys of discovering a book sure to become a lifelong friend; at other moments, I found myself sniffling and holding back tears at encounters with people who do not, and never will, understand and so must belittle those of us who read.
At some points, the memoir crawls, but there isn't any part of it that isn't vital to Quindlen's overall message. This, along with Fadiman's "Ex Libris," is book I lend out with the knowledge that the borrower will insist in keeping it.
Rating:
Summary: How has reading changed our lives?
Review: Why does a reader read? How does one become a reader? How does a book change one's life? From where does our passion spring? How does one define "literature?"
Upon reading this short book, I knew Quindlen was right. Reading is an amazing experience. I've been reading since I was old enough to remember; reading for me was a means of escape, as a way to relieve stress. It still is. Here, Quindlen explores why reading is special to her. Many of us have been "seduced" by books, in much the same way that Quindlen and I have. We all have "friends" within the books we read, who make us feel at home, who we can return to time and again. Reading for many people is as necessary as breathing. We do it because it sustains us, gives us life.
Quindlen also reveals to us why she became a writer. Many writers start out as readers, and this is certainly true of our author. This thought-provoking little book will remind you of why you read, or how you decided to become a writer.
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