As the subtitle makes clear, Why We Read: On Bookworms, Libraries, and Just One More Page Before Lights Out presents a playful frolic through one book lover's memories of a life lived with her nose in a book. Pennsylvania native Shannon Reed (Why Did I Get a B?), hearing-impaired since childhood, was often punished for her impairment, but found friends in books: "Reading was always safe and always good company." After beginning this work by having "bitten through to the chewy nougat core of my personal answer" to "why I read," she turns this "celebration of books and reading" into a lighthearted examination of the reasons other people have for their devotion to the written word.
The result is a joyous meander through the world of book love. Chapters feature anecdotes from her years as a teacher and the books she has taught, including George Saunders's "weird but great" Lincoln in the Bardo. There are also stories about her students, among them the young man who sneered at anything other than "real books" yet misattributed Moby-Dick to Nathaniel Hawthorne. Chapters aiming for comic relief with titles like "Calmed-Down Classics of American Literature for the Anxiety-Ridden" strain to be funny, but the rest of the book is a genial collection of opinions and recollections. "Life is so much better with books than without," Reed writes. Those who agree will find welcome company in this cheerful work. --Michael Magras, freelance book reviewer