#Our Reading Lives

Our Reading Lives features stories about how books and reading have shaped who we are and how we live.

When Books Make Us Remember

The parts of books we remember tell us a little more about who we are and who we wish we could be.

How to Read Problematic Baby Books

On that moment when the book you're reading to your kid has racist or sexist parts: do you keep going, or stop?

My Bookstore Anniversary

After celebrating her 10th anniversary with a bookstore, one book buyer reflects on how many things have changed, both for herself and the store.

An Invocation for Writers: May Your Work Be Banned

A call for writers to create art that is a light in our current darkness.

How a Book Taught Me to be a Better Partner

A memoir from a husband about his wife in a psych ward landed in my lap to teach me all the things my partner and I had been discussing just weeks earlier.

How a Pile of Sticks and a Pile of Books Created an “I Got This!” Attitude

When your parents made you go outside to play instead of letting you stay in and read, books could still be the source of fun.

My Neighborhood Barnes & Noble Is Closing and I’m Sad About It

A neighborhood once flush with bookstores is losing its Barnes & Noble--the fourth store it's lost in recent years.

The Two-Person Book Club

Find book clubs overwhelming? Maybe just try the buddy read!

I’m in 10 Book Clubs

How one reader started her fascination with book clubs, and why she keeps joining more.

Reading Shakespeare is Absurd, But Still Amazing

Want to read all of Shakespeare's plays? It's a lofty mountain to climb, and an absurd one.