Ruined by Reading: A Life in Books

In this wonderfully written and enchanting meditation, Lynne Sharon Schwartz explores what the act of reading means - an act that is in danger of being lost today. She interweaves the story of her Brooklyn childhood with vivid memories of particular books, from a black leather-bound Harvard Classic edition of the Grimm and Andersen fairy tales, to the popular novels condensed by Readers Digest, to A Tale of Two Cities. Schwartz offers a deeply felt insight into why we read and how what we read shapes us. Without books, she asks, "how could I have become myself?" Reading and writing for Schwartz are inextricably linked, and here she gives an intimate glimpse of how she became the writer she is today. Books and movies, books and paintings, books and childhood, books and life itself are the subject of this delightful and touching literary excursion. Ruined by Reading will renew your passion for books in this electronic age. Reading it is a deliciously indulgent act of protest for all those who treasure the joys of the printed word.