#Our Reading Lives

I read better and remember stories longer when my reading is accompanied by white noise — whether it's rain or ocean noises. But why?

Working at the library that was my safe haven has been satisfying in a way I’d never experienced. It went beyond satisfaction to healing.

Playing a Charlotte pastiche in a musical gave me a profound appreciation of Charlotte Lucas and Pride and Prejudice overall.

Borrowing cookbooks from the library has reinfused my baking life with joy — even if I don't end up using any of the recipes.

Many read the Choose Your Own Adventure novels as children, but even if you didn't, they hit a little differently when read by adults.

A zine collection is also a resource and a service. Mostly, though, it's a delight. It's so much fun. It's joyful. It's surprising.

Bedtime stories are common for young children, but we're missing out if we stop reading aloud when we grow up.

Growing up, I loved reading Sunday comic strips but was an adult before I read Calvin and Hobbes. The child I was didn't seem to care.

I can't deny that Latin American horror books hit very close to home. There is a certain kind of terror in the everyday terrors they depict.

One reader reflects on the books she's reread, wondering what made them so appealing in the first place.