You’d be hard-pressed to find a better gift for the reader in your life than Anne Bogel’s collection of essays about the reading life.

Like many readers around the globe, I’ve been following Bogel’s podcast “What Should I Read Next” for several years, so when she writes a book, I want to read it. She is also the author of Reading People and Don’t Overthink It (release date: March 3 and it’s already the #1 new release on a certain multi-national tech corporation based out of Seattle that I don’t like to promote.)

Published in 2018, I looked for this book every time I went to an indie bookstore and didn’t find it “in the wild” until last month on a trip to Charleston.

Bogel covers every “delight and dilemma of the reading life” such as confessing your literary sins (hilarious!), the books that “find” you at just the right time, organizing your bookshelves (also funny and accurate!), how not to be “book bossy” with your reader friends and dealing with assorted bookworm problems such as minimizing your collection when every book “sparks joy” and dealing with the inevitable book hangover.

“I can still picture the scene. A late fall afternoon, southern light slanting through the tall windows onto the wooden desks of our fifth-grade classroom, our teacher sitting primly in her straight-backed chair, legs crossed at the ankles, a worn copy of Where the Red Fern Grows in her hands. Not one of us knew what we were in for.”

Chapter 3 – I’d Rather Be Reading – Anne Bogel

Since this sweet book is only 156 pages with 21 chapters, I struggled not to tear through it in one sitting – but instead allowed myself one essay in the morning and one at night. It’s truly a book that lovers of the written word will treasure.

Happy Reading!