The Lost Art of Reading

The Lost Art of Reading by David L. Ulin (2010) is subtitled: “Why Books Matter in a Distracted Time.” I'm not sure what led me to this book, but right away I got into it; it felt like talking to a friend about books and reading—something I wish happened more often, since it's my favorite thing to think and talk about. It's essentially an extended essay about where literature is in this time of increasingly fragmented ways of engaging (well, c. 2010, or so, which isn't really so different than 2017). He talks about ebooks and reading on the screen vs. reading actual books—just his observations, how he feels these things evolving. Mostly, though, for me, the book is a kind of inspirational mediation on how important reading and literature is to him—a “quiet revolution”—as well as some other people he quotes from—and it's often very much in line with how I feel, and it gives me hope in a very deep way.