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    I'd Rather Be Reading: The Delights and Dilemmas of the Reading Life
    I'd Rather Be Reading: The Delights and Dilemmas of the Reading Life
    I'd Rather Be Reading: The Delights and Dilemmas of the Reading Life
    Audiobook2 hours

    I'd Rather Be Reading: The Delights and Dilemmas of the Reading Life

    Written by Anne Bogel

    Narrated by Anne Bogel

    4/5

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    About this audiobook

    For so many people, reading isn't just a hobby or a way to pass the time--it's a lifestyle. Our books shape us, define us, enchant us, and even sometimes infuriate us. Our books are a part of who we are as people, and we can't imagine life without them.I'd Rather Be Reading is the perfect literary companion for everyone who feels that way. In this collection of charming and relatable reflections on the reading life, beloved blogger and author Anne Bogel leads readers to remember the book that first hooked them, the place where they first fell in love with reading, and all of the moments afterward that helped make them the reader they are today. Known as a reading tastemaker through her popular podcast What Should I Read Next?, Bogel invites book lovers into a community of like-minded people to discover new ways to approach literature, learn fascinating new things about books and publishing, and reflect on the role reading plays in their lives. The perfect gift for the bibliophile in everyone's life, I'd Rather Be Reading will command an honored place on the overstuffed bookshelves of any book lover.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherChristianAudio.com
    Release dateSep 4, 2018
    ISBN9781545908778

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    Reviews for I'd Rather Be Reading

    4/5

    523 ratings45 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Every bookworm should read this book, It’s about us! Loved!
    • 4/5
      The book is a bibliophiles delight, dream and provides for several moments of mutual agreement over bookshelves, editions, library, childhood reading memories and all things books.
    • 5/5
      Very charming and relatable. Gave me some sense of heimweh for my days working in a big secondhand bookstore where the right book showed up at the right time, and regulars asking for book recommendations were a highlight of my days.
    • 5/5
      Como lectora logras identificarte con absolutamente todo! Ligero, perfecto para una tarde en las que no sabes qué leer, terminas con muchas recomendaciones más, y con el recuerdo del amor que tienes hacia los libros!
    • 5/5
      A beautiful book for all the readers out there. I loved listening to it so much!
    • 5/5
      She put into words what I’ve experienced as a book lover but never thought anyone else would feel or experience as well! Love her voice! Love her podcast! Anne is my bible for my book life and book recommendations!
    • 5/5
      I'd say this put most of delima of into word that I can't articulate thanks so so much this is a really good book
    • 4/5
      I decided to read this after loving Anne's podcast What Should I Read Next and would highly encourage fellow fans of the podcast or her Modern Mrs Darcy blog to read this too. I'd Rather Be Reading has all of Anne's thoughtful insights along with lots of moments where you will no doubt be nodding along in agreement.
    • 4/5
      Wonderful book. Book lovers will find a kindred spirit among these pages.
    • 4/5
      Utterly delightful collection of essays celebrating the joy that is a life of loving and reading books!
    • 4/5
      Short book about the reading life.
    • 5/5
      Delightful from beginning to end! This book felt like a cozy conversation with a kindred spirit! Any bibliophile (or aspiring bibliophile) will find something here that will leave them inspired and reinvigorated to value the role of books in our lives.
    • 4/5
      How sweet it is :-) Thoroughly enjoyed this collection of short essays on the life of a bibliophile. I enjoyed the book's punchy brevity and still found so much with which to nod my head in agreement. This will be a great gift book and I will definitely be sharing the joy.
    • 5/5
      Beautiful little gem of a book that really does celebrate the reader. I loved it!
    • 3/5
      Actually, I'm would give this one a 3.5. It is 145 pages of bookish thoughts. It is a nice "gift book" for bookish friends and family. It reads like a collection of blog posts and is a bit repetitive and has a few chapters that droned on a little but overall it was enjoyable.
    • 4/5
      A cozy little book, too short. I only recently discovered Anne Bogel's podcast What Should I Read Next? and I adore it. This collection of brief essays is a sort of summary of her reading life, and what books have meant to her. Pleasant comfort reading.
    • 5/5
      So, I ended up finishing How About Never? Is Never Good for You? entirely too quickly last night and needed something else to read while waiting for sleep to claim me. The bookshelf right next to my bed held this slim little tome and it felt just right.And it was. A slim volume of 21 essays about books, reading books, owning books, borrowing books, and becoming the books you read. Each one well written and thoughtful, touching on subjects that any dedicated reader has faced before, be it library fines or a dearth of bookshelves and the space to keep them.It was a pleasant, relaxing read that reminded me that slump or not, I’m a book nerd and will always, always be a reader.
    • 4/5
      I love books about books and this one hit the nail right on the head. My favorite essay is the one where she talks about when here house was right next door to the library, and I could fantasize that my house was right next door to my favorite library too. Even though I'm lucky enough to be easy walking distance to 2 branches of my towns library. Among other of my favorite topics were how to organinze your book shelves and the joy of rereading.
    • 4/5
      I’d Rather Be Reading by Anne Bogel promotes our bookish enthusiasm as she reflects upon the many aspects of being a book lover. From arranging one’s book shelves to remembering that one book that first totally drew you in, she reminds you of the books and memories that shaped you into the reader you are today. This is a very short book that was over all too soon, but it left me with a strong desire to visit my library, tidy my shelves or just grab my latest book and disappear for a few hours.Although she does mention a few books along the way, this author isn’t trying to provide you with lists or ideas for your next read. Instead of telling you what to read, she understands that reading taste varies and a “great” book means something different to all of us. She encourages the reader to think about what books really spoke to us, what genre we love to indulge in, what author do we impatiently wait for. She also encourages us as readers to take chances, as we never know what magic we are going to find when we open a new book.I’d Rather Be Reading is a lovely escape as the author assures us that we belong to an exclusive, but not small club, whose world revolves around books and reading. As she says, “I’m grateful for my one life, but I’d prefer to live a thousand.” Luckily, we can do exactly that by reading.
    • 3/5
      I stumbled upon Anne Bogel’s I’d Rather Be Reading: The Delights and Dilemmas of the Reading Life a few days ago at a used-book bookstore and snatched it right up, figuring that Bogel had to be a kindred spirit. And, even though the book was a little less inspiring than I expected it would be, I was correct about Bogel. She is.I’d Rather Be Reading consists of an introduction and twenty-one short “reflections” on readers, reading, and the books we love so much. Really avid readers know how difficult it is to pass by books like this one when we run across them unexpectedly. I think we enjoy these so much because reading a book about the joys of reading is almost like having a private conversation with a stranger who actually gets who we are. There are lots of us out here in the real world, but it is not every day that we run into each other, so books like I’d Rather Be Reading (along with book blog commenting) are the next best thing. “But avid readers know a great book doesn’t exist only in the realm of the material. The words between those covers bring whole worlds to life. When I think of the characters and stories and ideas contained on a single shelf of my personal library, it boggles my mind. To readers, those books — the ones we buy and borrow and trade and sell — are more than objects. They are opportunities beckoning us. When we read, we connect with them (or don’t) in a personal way.”And then, there’s this tidbit: “We are readers. Books are an essential part of our lives and of our life stories. For us, reading isn’t just a hobby or a pastime; it’s a lifestyle.”Bogel even touches briefly on one of my own pet peeves:“We know the pain of investing hours of reading time in a book we enjoyed right up until the final chapter’s truly terrible resolution…”And these quotes are all from just the book’s introduction, so yeah, Anne Bogel gets it.Bogel’s topics for reflection include these:Confessing your literary sins — all those classics you’ve never read,The difference between searching for the next perfect read and having the book find you instead,The unbelievable good luck of living right next door to a city library,How books allow readers to live thousands of different lives,The great fun of organizing and reorganizing your bookshelves — over and over again,The danger of becoming a “book bully” who pushes books on friends and family,All the different readers she has already been during her (relatively short) lifetime,How library due dates motivate her to read more and read faster,How your reading choices influence your real-world coming-of-age,The joy of meeting a “book twin,”Re-reading (“Again, for the First Time”),Personal bookshelves being the true “windows to the soul,” andThe difficulty of remembering off the top of your head which books you read even one month ago.Bottom Line: While I’d Rather Be Reading is fun, and sometimes inspirational, it left me feeling that the author had only skimmed the surface of most of her chosen topics. Some of the chapters read more like introductions to an idea or topic than true reflections, and I was often left wishing for more. I suspect that I would have enjoyed this one more if I had found it a couple of decades earlier (impossible, I know, because I’d Rather Be Reading was published in 2018), making me think that I’ve already read too many similar books — and that maybe there’s just not that much left to say.
    • 4/5
      A small book of short essays about reading and being a bookish person, including pieces about such things as organizing one's bookshelves, reading the acknowledgements, recommending books to others, and the time the author spent living directly next door to a public library. It's all pleasant enough, I suppose; it's genuinely hard for me not to find the ramblings of fellow book nerds at least mildly pleasant. It's all very, very slight, though, and there's a certain hard-to-articulate feeling of glibness about it all that I don't exactly love. Bogel also does that thing where, despite an essay early on celebrating the wide variety of readers and reading experiences, she often lapses into talking about her own bookish habits as if they were universal among book-lovers. I think I have to forgive her that a bit, though, as I'm pretty sure we're all guilty of it at one time or another.My immediate impression of this volume, really, was of something that might make a decent stocking stuffer for avid readers. Having finished it, I'd say the stocking stuffer vibe feels pretty accurate: a cute enough little thing, but not exactly substantial.
    • 4/5
      Bogel is best known as the host of the What Should I read Now podcast, so I heard her soothing voice as I read this.In this book she discusses so many aspects of being a reader, from packing a stack of books for vacation to having an acquaintance, someone you hardly know, ask for book recommendations, to the danger of looking at a good friend's bookshelf and being surprised. She discusses the many ways a reader can track their reads, and she reminisces about the many years, as a young family, that she lived next door to a library and would drop in multiple times a day.This book, with it's lack of a plot, just booky topics, would be a great palate cleanser between more intense reads.
    • 4/5
      Books don't need to be as individualised as people seem to be saying nowadays. Books come to us through the eyes, ears and speech of others. 'Mediated' as the jargon would have it, by many, many other people before we get to them. Then as we read them and finish them, most of us can't stop gassing about them. Books are like refrigerated moments in the general shash of conversation. We go into the fridge to read them, suspending usual social practices like conversation and eye-contact with others. But on either side of the refrigerated moments readers (and some non-readers) are in constant social interaction with what we have read. On the other hand, forget I said, “Books don't need to be as individualized”. I think that has to be re-phrased as: 'it's impossible for books to be individualized, as various points in the production and reception of them, there is a vast amount of social stuff going on. I can also argue that the act of reading is itself socially derived. That's to say, we read with the language we have acquired socially, the reading strategies we have acquired socially and the social experience (our mind-set, attitudes, personality, etc.) that we have acquired socially.Where should I start with this simplistic, narrow minded vision of books and reading? Writing, especially fiction, is a gesture that is driven by alienation. By a discontent with the world and about your condition in it. Therefore it appeals with people that seek answers where their everyday life failed to deliver. If you're not looking for an empathic exchange of thoughts, yeah, reading is useless. But the person reading “The Count of Monte Cristo”, for example, isn't busy partying or seeking the wisdom of his grandfather (given that his grandfather is alive, let alone smart); it's somebody who needs solitude and a break from his everyday environment.Go Wittgenstein on me if you like, it won't take anything away from the fact that fiction has a purpose in the shaping of one's identity. Those people might be alienated, but they are not better, not worse than you.I’m with Bogel on this: Reading is a social act of protest against an age of Distraction.
    • 4/5
      Short lightly intense memoir essays on reading and a life of reading. There should be more book lists. More than I liked I wanted to know what book she was talking about but it wasn't named.
    • 5/5
      I suspect that most of us love books about books or reading. I know I do, but I typically don't like heavyweight books. I prefer lighthearted, breezy books about reading and this one absolutely fits the bill. For Bogel, a reading tastemaker and blogger, books are part of life and, in this short (160 page) book, she talks about books that first grabbed her and how she became the reader she is. As I read this in nearly one sitting, I found myself saying constantly "YES!! that's me, too."Of the 21 short chapters, particular favorites for me include Bogel's chapter on living next door to a public library (which had me dreaming of such a thing); book bossiness (something I definitely try not to be); and, most especially, the chapter on bookworm problems. On bookworm problems, I think she presents maybe 100 of them and I excitedly said yes that's me for virtually all of them.This is a fun little book about reading which I think many readers would enjoy (since I don't want to engage in book bossiness, I won't say "you must read this." Probably my favorite book of the year so far.
    • 3/5
      This was a very relatable read. I found myself nodding along or going, “Hey, that’s me!” through the chapters. Of course, I didn’t relate to every single thing that was talked about in the book, but you get the idea.

      In I’d Rather Be Reading, Anne Bogel (Modern Mrs. Darcy and What Should I Read Next?) writes about all things books. From how people organize their shelves, to common bookworm problems, to utilizing the library… she gets it all. Some of my favorites included the relatable problems (pretty sure I said yes to all of them) and the section on being book bossy. I think those of us who want others to read our favorite books can be guilty of being this “book bossy” that Anne writes about. It takes a while, but we learn that we cannot force our favorites onto others (even thought they really should read them!).

      Of course she also talks about her love for libraries and bookstores, which again, relatable. I think if we bookworms had our way, we’d spend all our free time (and money) in one or both of those places.

      One of my favorite chapters was at the end, where Anne talks about wishing she had logged the books she read as a child. I have actually been thinking the same thing lately. It would be so amazing to look back and see exactly how many books I read, when I read them, and what I thought of them at at the time. I think if I could go back and do one thing over in my life, that would be it – starting a reading journal in my very young age.

      Again, I mostly enjoyed the book, though I did find some parts where my eyes sort of glazed over. But overall, this was a cute read and I’m sure most, if not all, bibliophiles will appreciate this book one way or another.
    • 4/5
      I am one of those readers that loves books about books and books about reading. I don't know why because in many ways they are a waste of valuable reading time and yet....And here is another book on this topic which is very enjoyable. It is only short - only took me about an hour to read. But I smiled and nodded and thought yes at several points. My favourite quote is from beginning of Chapter 7:"People read for a multiplicity of reasons.Nearly forty years in, I can tell you why I inhale books like oxygen: I'm grateful for my one life, but I'd prefer to live a thousand.....especially when I can do it from my own comfy chair"
    • 5/5
      This was a delightful listen. I enjoyed that rather than go on about specific books (though there were mentions throughout), this was more about her overall love of books and reading. She’s the type of reader I think I’d like to have as a friend.
    • 3/5
      "For so many people, reading isn't just a hobby or a way to pass the time--it's a lifestyle. Our books shape us, define us, enchant us, and even sometimes infuriate us. Our books are a part of who we are as people, and we can't imagine life without them."

      Filled with quick enjoyable essays, I felt like I was just having a conversation about books with a friend. Very relatable topics about everything from carrying heavy loads of books from and to the library, organizing bookshelves, and so what if you are a rereader of books, to keeping a record of books read list. Highly recommend this book for the "Ah, that's so me too," moments.
    • 5/5
      I really enjoyed this chatty little book about the joys of a reading life.