I don't know if this was what I wanted it to be to be honest. It's a collection of essays - and it was just a bit...meh? I probably should have read the synopsis on this one to realise it wasn't for me before diving in. I think someone who really likes reading academic-y essay type content will really enjoy this, but I struggled

"Why We Read" is a collection of essays curated by Josephine Greywood, exploring the motivations behind reading non-fiction. Contributors range from well-known writers like Malcolm Gladwell and Michael Lewis to lesser-known voices, each offering unique perspectives.
Diverse in style some essays are insightful while others are seem a bit pretentious - it's a mixed bag.
If you own the penguin modern classics box set you'll know what I mean - some are gems and others are too experimental or forgettable. That said, if you're looking for variety, you'll find it.

If you are looking for a collection of mawkish quotes about reading, this is the book for you.

If sifting through seventy (SEVENTY!) essays for the few with something truly new to say seems a lot, then… probably not.

I don’t know why it wasn’t obvious to me before, that a book about WHY WE READ would be filled with a lot of navel-gazing and verbosity. Asking readers and writers why we read, is like asking a runner why they run, or a cross-fitter why they cross fit. While a variety of journeys abound, it eventually comes down to some sentimental parallel drawn to life itself.

Harsh? Well, I’m known to be self-critical, and I can’t promise that I wouldn’t have written something very similar.

Honestly, I’m way past judging people who don’t read, and I’m way past arguing about fiction vs non-fiction. Sweet or savoury? Cats or dogs? Inhale or exhale? (Borrowing from a meme currently doing the rounds, but apt enough.)

I suppose I struggled to enjoy Why We Read because I kept thinking, “This feels like a high school essay prompt,” and, “The people who read this book most likely already believe in reading,” and so, it felt almost pointless, because I’m becoming less sentimental and I don’t like for reading to be a saccharine, exclusive thing.

I will keep some of the clever quotes, but I still think I would’ve rather read these as a series of blog posts, to dip into every once in a while, than a whole entire book.

3.75 stars on Storygraph/Goodreads

I enjoyed being able to dip in and out of this book, reading an essay every now and then. It meant that it was definitely a slow read. I also found that, after reading an essay that I really enjoyed I would race to read the next one and then, when reading one that didn't quite hit the mark with me I then found it difficult to want to continue. But that will always be the way with edited together stories/essay from a variety of people.

I think it is worth the read and would be a great bedside table book to dip into - making sure to hit a daily read!

A collection of opinions from non fiction authors 'preaching' on why they read nonfiction. That's it....

Some of these opinions were highly condescending and pretentious, and I found it difficult to continue forward with the rest. and there are a lot of repetitive opinions here.

I feel like this book was also not structured well - looks like they just collected essays from authors and published it into one book - which made it hard for me to read because there are either some repetitive ones consecutively or some that feels so contrasting to the previous one that I found it hard to read.

Maybe it would have a worked as a magazine article... but definitely not as a book.

Can't really recommend this to be honest.

A really brilliant non fiction collection talking about the importance of reading. I feel as though this book is great for linguistic students as well as those studying literature. Non fiction can sometimes be quite intimidating but this book really showcases its importance and it was good to hear from a selection of voices in different fields.

I must have had a high expectation for this book but I found this very underwhelming. I requested for this because it sounded as though it had a great concept going on, boasting about seventy authors and asking them the golden question of “Why do we read?” and honestly, I was intrigued. As a book lover, I know why I love to read and it would be so great to also know why authors pursue writing and what ignited their passion for books.

What was underwhelming for me was the execution. Having seventy authors on board seemed like a great idea but personally, I feel that there were just too many of them so each contribution is quite short and cold. While there are some who had very interesting ideas and before I could learn more, their time is up which was quite annoying.

There were also quite a bit of repetition in the answers which could be solved by reducing the number of contributors and expanding on some of the stories. Thank you Netgalley and Penguin Press UK for the arc.

Why we read - this was a really interesting read. It’s made me look more closely at why I choose to read what I read. At times I did find it hard to keep my attention but overall interesting and I am glad I read it.

I love this collection! It's an insightful, fascinating reach into the thoughts of contemporary writers and a love letter to books and reading! I have been recommending it to all my book lover friends and to those who need a bit of encouragement to spend more time picking up a book.

Like other reviewers, I have given this book five stars. I really enjoyed the book, felt it was well written and had a number of twists and turns that were cleverly created.

This is a really interesting premise. However, after trying to read it on multiples occasions, I have come to the conclusion that this is the kind of book you dip into rather than sit and work your way through.

There are some essays that I really enjoyed. There are others which felt sanctimonious and self-indulgent.
As a teacher, I think there are definitely some good examples/ sound bites that I can share with reluctant readers OR use for analysis of how to structure an argument.

Where it does fall short, however, is the lack of introduction. It feels like this interesting collection could have been curated in a "tighter" way, that would help the reader navigate it more easily.

I picked this from @netgalley shelf and it has lingered on my TBR shelf for a while. It's 70 essays (some longer/shorter than others) from non-fiction writers, answering the question "Why we read". I didn't love the first few essays and felt they were similiar, so was wondering what I was going to get from this book.
I kept going, thankfully, as some of the essays are astounding. The variety of people writing brings such depth, perspective and thinking to the question that I was simply astounded.... in a kindof having to stop reading to think about what the essay writer was saying kindof way!
Whilst about non-fiction, I felt a lot of the thinking equally applies to fiction writing.
This is the type of book that you could read several times and different essays to strike you each time. I am astounded that this has been my only 5 star read so far this month, I definitely could not have predicted this.
The downside of reading this book is that you will wan to increase your To Be Read list significantly.
Well done to all the writers who contributed and to Jospehine for the editing.

An interesting collection of essays from non-fiction writers talking about why they love to read. It works as a dip-in book and some of the essays are more interesting than others. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC.

I picked this book up every weekend to read an essay or two at a leisurely pace while eating breakfast and it was perfect. It felt like the authors were with me at the table and sharing a special moment.

I think this book will appeal to people who read a lot of non fiction. It isn’t ‘why we read’ in the sense of the author, you and me as ‘we’ but as a group of well known people and why they read. I loved it. I felt like I was sitting with fascinating people getting an insight into their mind.

There are the usual reasons people read - education, entertainment, research, personal interest - but other reasons pop up. Steven Pinker thinks literacy is an engine of human progress. Jennifer Jacquet believes the reader gets results from non fiction that are different to the same writers fiction - she mentions Joan Didion and Ursula Le Guin among others.

I think if you pick up this book and read a couple of the articles you will be rewarded. It is not a book to read through in one sitting. For me it is to be dipped into as a treat.

I was given a copy of this book by Netgalley

Insights into why the featured authors read

I’ll be honest, while the title accurately describes the book it wasn’t what I was expecting. Rather than being a book on why we read drawing on the experiences of the writers it’s a collection of short essays written by each if them talking about why they read.

While this gave me insights into each of the writers I felt that it’s really a book for people who already avid readers. I don’t think that people who aren’t already readers would be drawn to this book or that it would make them want to start reading more.

In some ways I felt that this was a missed opportunity and that the book could have been so much more had it used the essays as source materials and actually looked at why we read. For me it was more a book to dip into than one to read cover to cover.

Such a good book, so informative and so insightful
Thank you netgalley for this amazing arc in exchange for an honest review.
I’ll re read this all the time as it’s so useful.

A really thought provoking set of essays by authors, a nice read on a slow weekend or whilst commuting. Its not the kind of book you would want to read if your not a big fan of reading or of essays.

This was an interesting albeit not groundbreaking read, consisting of essays by a range of contemporary non fiction authors on the subject of why we read. Unfortunately some of the essays came across as rather pretentious and overall there wasn't a great deal of helpful new material in here sadly.

This book was a really fascinating read and insight into the highly personal reasons other people have fallen in love with reading. As always, reading other people manages to put into words something you often can't, and finding that experience of being encapsulated into a book put into words in so many different ways felt like unlocking a new part of myself.