WILL SCHWALBE has worked in publishing; digital media, as the founder and CEO of Cookstr.com; and as a journalist, writing for various publications, including The New York Times and the South China Morning Post. He is the author of the New York Times best seller The End of Your Life Book Club and coauthor, with David Shipley, of Send: Why People Email So Badly and How to Do It Better.
"In Books for Living the brilliant Will Schwalbe takes us on a
personal journey through a life of reading. But like any great
journey, it is far more than an accumulation of miles, or words.
Books for Living is a map, a chart, to the places deep inside
ourselves where books can take us. It's about how stories, how
characters, inspire us, guide us, reveal us. Books For Living is
now one of my favorite reads of all time, and I know I will revisit
it over and over. But be warned. It's also quite an expensive book
to read since I kept calling my local bookseller and ordering the
volumes Will mentions in each chapter. This is a beautiful,
powerful, warm, funny, awe-inspiring odyssey. An absolutely
astonishing gift to all of us who have spent our lives loving
books." --Louise Penny "There are many folks we love...but the
first are in books we took to bed when we were sneaking our
flashlights under our blankets to enjoy the last few words. These
will probably not be our last love under blankets but the first to
teach us to trust. Books for Living encourages us to pull those
quilts up to warm us and to teach us to express our hopes and
dreams...with a kind universe smiling on us this will only be our
first...not our last lesson in comforting...exciting...exploring
words." --Nikki Giovanni
"Will Schwalbe's Books for Living is a scintillating look at the
places books take us. And the books! From The Odyssey to The Girl
on the Train, The Little Prince to Reading Lolita in Tehran, with
stops in places well-traveled and completely unexpected, Schwalbe
uncovers lessons in and around books, including lessons that have
nothing to do with the content of the reading. A profound, engaging
exploration of the uses to which we put the books of our lives."
--Thomas C. Foster, author of How to Read Literature Like a
Professor "Why do we read and what is to be found there? Reading
itself is Will Schwalbe's great topic, and there is no one better
to bring alive the nourishing, challenging intimacy of entering the
worlds that books offer us. Each great book we read is an encounter
with another human soul, and in this shimmering gem of a book Will
Schwalbe miraculously enables his readers to truly experience that
depth of different human connections. Along the road we get an
accidental memoir with the storied Schwalbe a quietly compelling
hero at the center. If we truly need books, as Schwalbe shows us we
do, it is because we need each other." --Elizabeth Alexander,
author of The Light of the World "Books for Living by Will Schwalbe
lives wonderfully up to its title. He offers an easy tone, sections
chapter by chapter of his chosen stories and their affiliations to
our own lives. He reminds me of a diviner who walks the open
fields, taps, and reveals something rarely talked about, or perhaps
never noticed, in one story or another, but is important. That's a
thrill! I can't imagine a person who loves books not being
grateful. Any season of the year, this book is a gift." --Mary
Oliver "I very much enjoyed it . . . inspiring and charming . . .
Books, to Schwalbe, are our last great hope to keep us from
spiraling into the abyss. It's an old-fashioned thesis--that this
ancient medium can save civilization--but I happen to agree. Books
build compassion, they inspire reform. They remain, Schwalbe
writes, 'one of the strongest bulwarks we have against tyranny.'
And man, do we need bulwarks right now. Lots of bulwarks . . . Read
Schwalbe's book." --A.J. Jacobs, The New York Times "Instead of
trying to dust off some forgotten tome and convince us of its
value, [Schwalbe] focuses on its pressing relevance at some
critical juncture in his life. He isn't arguing -- and certainly
not shilling -- on behalf of a book or author; he's passing on his
own experience and leaving us to identify with it or not. Of course
we do identify with it, typically, in large part because Schwalbe
presents himself so convincingly as an Everyman. He doesn't
pretend, or even aspire, to the scholarly expertise of Denby and
Dirda, or to Gottlieb's breezy insider status. He conveys this
humility with his easygoing, egalitarian tone and his high-low
eclecticism, which ranges from Homer's The Odyssey and Melville's
Bartleby the Scrivener to E.B. White's Stuart Little and Paula
Hawkins' The Girl on the Train....Books for Living is [a] gift, and
one that keeps giving." --USA Today
"Moving....Schwalbe truly shines....Pleasant....It should convince
even reluctant readers to pick up a book." --Boston Globe "Each
chapter about a beloved book--Stuart Little, David Copperfield,
Song of Solomon, Bird by Bird--is a finely crafted, generously
candid, and affecting personal essay, none more moving than the
homage to his boarding-school librarian, who subtly steered him to
James Baldwin's Giovanni's Room, having 'realized that I was gay at
just about the same time I did.' In this warmly engaging,
enlightening, and stirring memoir-in-books and literary
celebration, Schwalbe reminds us that reading 'isn't just a strike
against narrowness, mind control, and domination; it's one of the
world's greatest joys.'" --Booklist *starred review*
"Schwalbe's tremendous experience with reading and his stellar
taste make for a fine guide to the varied and idiosyncratic list of
books for which he advocates. By the end of the book, all serious
readers will have added some titles to their to-read lists."
--Publishers Weekly *starred review* "First-rate....Schwalbe's
enthusiasm for what he covers is contagious. He suggests enough
fascinating books to keep you reading well through 2017." --San
Francisco Chronicle
"Witty, warm, [and] insightful....A field guide to a handful of
titles that might entertain, stir up trouble, or--yes--even save
the life a reader already has." --Shelf Awareness, *starred
review*
"Schwalbe's 'manifesto for readers' is not about his favorite books
but those that helped him when he had a need. Written in a chatty,
conversational style, the book is thematically organized by a wide
variety of needs: slowing down, searching, trusting, napping,
praying, etc.... In an age when the number of readers is declining,
a delightful book like this might just snare a few new recruits."
--Kirkus Reviews
"A delicious indulgence to anyone who loves talking about books and
listening to others talk about them, this book recounts some of
Schwalbe's favorite books. He discusses books that helped him
through tough times, books that taught him, and books that molded
him. This book will get you excited to read like nothing else can."
--Signature Reads "A love letter to reading, bibliophiles will
close the last page with a few more entries on their to-read list."
--Real Simple
"Wonderful....Every chapter...has tempted me to tap the Buy button
on my Kindle. The variety of books included is wondrous....Please
buy Will Schwalbe's new book and however many life-giving books he
points you toward. I swear you won't regret it!" --Medium
"This is a charming collection, one that reminds us of the value in
reading. It opens new and creative ways of thinking about beloved
works, and serves to introduce lesser-known stories that are
equally deserving. It takes a special kind of writer to make
writing about reading appealing. And we are fortunate to have that
writer in Will Schwalbe. Books for Living allows us to reflect and
appreciate our own list of books that have influenced the ways we
navigate the world. What could be more worth our while?"
--Washington Independent Review of Books
"Thoughtful and diverting...Schwalbe's reading triggers deeply
honest, often raw memories of departed friends and mentors, of past
mistakes, or prompts the acknowledgement of personal
foibles....Poignant." --BookPage
"In each stand-alone chapter, Schwalbe intimately--and
anecdotally--explains a literary work's impact on his life. His
books choices are diverse (David Copperfield and The Taste of
Country Cooking both find space in the pages) and sometimes his
takeaways are slightly surprising.... The casual but polished way
in which Schwalbe writes about some of his favorite books--and
smartly peppers in his own life's stories--makes for an engaging
and easy read. Books For Living quietly reminds readers that books
are works of art that carry great import in our lives, and might
even leave you wondering what your own list of books for living
might look like." --5280 "Very much a work for our age....Books for
Living is not an elitist compendium. It is eclectic in books it
considers....Vital." --The Anniston Star
"A sweet and utterly restorative series of vignettes about how
books - the right books, at the right times - can not only deepen a
life but save it." --The Christian Science Monitor
"In many ways, Books for Living is less an account of the specific
books he cherishes than it is a gentle nudge to encourage readers
to recall or seek out the kinds of books that will provide them
with the meaning, solace and enlightenment he's gleaned from his
cherished picks....Schwalbe is an engaging, often self-deprecating
companion throughout, and it's as easy to imagine him sharing these
insights in a friendly conversation over a coffee as it is to read
them on the page....Anyone who shares his passion for books will
have it sparked by his enthusiasm and unadulterated joy at these
encounters with the written word. And those who haven't yet been
seized by that marvelous affliction may succumb at the hands of
this delightful work." --Bookreporter
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