The Quiet Skill of Putting a Book Down
Many readers carry a private guilt. They started a book, lost interest somewhere around the fourth chapter, and never finished it. The bookmark sits there …
Why Rereading a Book Can Feel Like Meeting a Stranger
There is an old idea that you never read the same book twice. The words on the page stay fixed, but the person holding the …
How to Run a Book Club People Look Forward To
Joining a book club can transform reading from a solitary pleasure into a shared one, but a club only works if it is set up …
In Praise of the Quietly Brilliant Novelist
Every so often a writer comes along whose work quietly rearranges the furniture in your head, and you find yourself pressing their books on everyone …
The Quiet Rewards of Reading a Book Twice
Most readers treat a book as a one-way journey. You begin on the first page, move steadily toward the last, close the cover, and file …
Arranging a Home Library You Will Actually Return To
Buying books is easy. Living with them well is harder. Anyone who reads seriously for a decade or two ends up with more volumes than …
Reading Several Books at Once Without Losing the Thread
There is a widely repeated piece of reading advice that sounds like common sense: finish one book before you start another. Reading several at once, …
Learning to Say What a Book Did to You
You close a book, sit with it for a moment, and feel that something has happened to you. Then a friend asks what it was …
Hardback or Paperback: Which Should You Buy?
If you have spent any time in a bookshop lately, you will have noticed that hardbacks and paperbacks of the same title often sit side …
Your Questions About Our Book Reviews, Answered
Readers ask us all sorts of questions, and a few come up again and again. We have gathered the most common ones here, with honest …