Let me start off by saying I adored I’d Rather Be Reading by Anne Bogel! It was so sweet and pure and loving and fuzzy in all the right ways. I flew through this in one evening and may have shed one or two tears…. (Ok yes, I cried. So what?). Not to mention, I am loving this watercolor cover and am envious of this perfect library. Fun fact: this cover is actually a painting of Anne’s home library. #Goals!

I’ve seen a ton of hype surrounding this book online, mostly Instagram. I finally picked it up and swept through it in just a few hours. It is a short, quick read full of fun and lighthearted essays surrounding a common theme: READING! She discusses why we read what we read, why we love to read what we read, and why reading is so important, plus why it’s so important to connect with other bibliophiles. I think this book is pretty self-explanatory so instead of analyzing this, I’ll leave you with a few quotes I enjoyed.

“We can’t know what a book will mean to us until we read it. And so we take a leap and choose” – Anne Bogel, I’d Rather Be Reading

“People read for a multiplicity of reasons. Nearly forty years in, I can tell you why I inhale books like oxygen; I’m grateful for my one life, but I’d prefer to live a thousand — and my favorite books allow me to experience more on the page that I ever could in my actual life” – Anne Bogel, I’d Rather Be Reading

“I’m all the readers I have been…I’m still the twentysomething who doesn’t know how to vet contemporary fiction, the new releases filling the bookstore shelves that haven’t yet had the opportunity to stand the test of time, who somehow keeps finding her way to one modern lackluster title after another until — burned by too many disappointing modern works — she decides to reacquaint herself with the works that have endured: Jane Austen, Eyre Anna Karenina. (And thereby learning the timeless lesson that would serve me well in the years to come: if you’re looking for a great book, going old is never a terrible idea). – Anne Bogel, I’d Rather Be Reading

If you love to consume books the way I do, then you will find this book loving, insightful, and a rather refreshing break among your reading list. Give it a try – it is definitely a book that deserves a place on your bookshelf!