“He has only half learned the art of reading who has not added to it the more refined art of skipping and skimming.” – Arthur Balfour, British statesman Learning to skim will help you survive those long, descriptive passages that bore you to tears. Read more

“I much prefer working with kids whose life could be completely upended by a reading of a book over a weekend. You give them a book to read – they go home and come back a changed person. And that is so much more interesting and exciting.” – Russell Banks, American writer and poet Read more

“Whatever our bedtime was as kids, we could stay up an extra half hour if we were reading. My parents didn’t care as long as I was under the spell of a Stephen King or a Douglas Adams. Now I read in bed. I read at work. I read standing in line. It’s like, ‘Hello, my name is Nathan and… Read more

“Some of the most famous books are the least worth reading. Their fame was due to their having done something that needed to be doing in their day. The work is done and the virtue of the book has expired.” – Moliere, French actor and playwright I definitely think some classics fall into this category — they were important in their… Read more

“While we are reading, we are all Don Quixote.” – Mason Colley, American aphorist One of the great things about reading is the way that it lets us live other lives and play other roles. Read more

“Sometimes, reading a blog, which I do infrequently, I see that generations of Americans have been wilfully crippled, and can no longer spell or write a sentence.” – Alice Walker, author and activist A friend of mine jokes that I’m the only person she knows who uses semi colons in text messages. I agree that text speak is damaging our language,… Read more

“Reading isn’t good for a ballplayer. Not good for his eyes. If my eyes went bad even a little bit I couldn’t hit home runs. So I gave up reading.” – Babe Ruth, legendary American baseball player Now there’s a nightmare for you! I don’t know if I would have given up reading — or given up baseball. Read more

“Every time there’s a revolution, it comes from somebody reading a book about revolution. David Walker wrote a book and Nat Turner did his thing.” – Mike Tyson, professional boxer, referring to David Walker’s book, An Appeal to the Coloured Citizens of the World   Read more

“Easy reading is damn hard writing.” – Nathaniel Hawthorne, American novelist I do a fair amount of writing and I agree so strongly with this. Writing something smooth and easy to read? Not as easy as it looks. Read more

“The worst thing about new books is that they keep us from reading the old ones.” – John Wooden, American basketball player and coach That is a great description of my book problem: so many new books come in that they bury the older ones! There are classic books that I would love to go back and read, if only I… Read more