Ruined By Reading

A Los Angeles Times Book Review Best Book of 1996

'Without books how could I have become myself?' In this wonderfully written meditation, Lynne Sharon Schwartz offers deeply felt insight into why we read and how what we read shapes our lives. An enchanting celebration of the printed word.Ferociously intelligent. . . . Schwartz obeys the laws of gravity, but also manages to float free of the Earth at times, and almost to fly. -Frederick Busch, Los Angeles Times Book Review

"This slender rhapsody on the joys of reading will be gobbled up like the rarest and finest chocolate." -Jonathan Yardley, The Washington Post

"Provocative. . . . A moving memoir. As Schwartz defines for herself why she reads, she helps others understand their literary obsessions." -John Espey, Chicago Tribune

"I was at home in this book as if I was, in fact, at home in one of our old big chairs reading myself into life." -Grace Paley, author of Long Walks and Intimate Talks

"Lynne Sharon Schwartz successfully maps the gray areas of a passion some might find hard to classify as a true addiction: reading books. The accuracy of Schwartz's insight made this addicted reader, at least, feel uncomfortably well seen; she nailed me, page after page." -Stacey D'Erasmo, New York NewsdayLynne Sharon Schwartz is author of the acclaimed novels The Fatigue Artist, Leaving Brooklyn, and Disturbances in the Field. She lives in New York City.