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Reading

Reading

Last updated: December 20, 2024

    The best books on Libraries, recommended by Richard Ovenden

  • Read
    The best books on Libraries - The Care of Books: An Essay on the Development of Libraries and Their Fittings, From the Earliest Times to the End of the Eighteenth Century by John Willis Clark

    1

    The Care of Books: An Essay on the Development of Libraries and Their Fittings, From the Earliest Times to the End of the Eighteenth Century
    by John Willis Clark

  • Read
    The best books on Libraries - Palaces for the People: How Social Infrastructure Can Help Fight Inequality, Polarization, and the Decline of Civic Life by Eric Klinenberg

    2

    Palaces for the People: How Social Infrastructure Can Help Fight Inequality, Polarization, and the Decline of Civic Life
    by Eric Klinenberg

  • Read
    The best books on Libraries - The Library Book by Susan Orlean

    3

    The Library Book
    by Susan Orlean

  • Read
    The best books on Libraries - The Library: A World History by James Campbell & Will Pryce (photographer)

    4

    The Library: A World History
    by James Campbell & Will Pryce (photographer)

  • Read
    The best books on Libraries - The Library at Night by Alberto Manguel

    5

    The Library at Night
    by Alberto Manguel

  • Knowledge is power and nowhere has it been better preserved down the millennia than in libraries. Here Richard Ovenden, author of Burning the Books and the librarian in charge of Oxford University's Bodleian Libraries, talks us through books that shed light on what libraries are and what they do, and why they remain absolutely vital in our digital age.

  • The best books on Libraries - The Care of Books: An Essay on the Development of Libraries and Their Fittings, From the Earliest Times to the End of the Eighteenth Century by John Willis Clark
  • The best books on Libraries - Palaces for the People: How Social Infrastructure Can Help Fight Inequality, Polarization, and the Decline of Civic Life by Eric Klinenberg
  • The best books on Libraries - The Library Book by Susan Orlean
  • The best books on Libraries - The Library: A World History by James Campbell & Will Pryce (photographer)
  • The best books on Libraries - The Library at Night by Alberto Manguel

The best books on Libraries, recommended by Richard Ovenden

Knowledge is power and nowhere has it been better preserved down the millennia than in libraries. Here Richard Ovenden, author of Burning the Books and the librarian in charge of Oxford University’s Bodleian Libraries, talks us through books that shed light on what libraries are and what they do, and why they remain absolutely vital in our digital age.

The best books on Libraries, recommended by Richard Ovenden

    Key Books in the History of Women Readers, recommended by Belinda Jack

  • Read
    Key Books in the History of Women Readers - The Book of the City of Ladies by Christine de Pizan

    1

    The Book of the City of Ladies
    by Christine de Pizan

  • Read
    Key Books in the History of Women Readers - The Worth of Women by Moderata Fonte

    2

    The Worth of Women
    by Moderata Fonte

  • Read
    Key Books in the History of Women Readers - The New Blazing World by Margaret Cavendish

    3

    The New Blazing World
    by Margaret Cavendish

  • Read
    Key Books in the History of Women Readers - An Essay on the Art of Ingeniously Tormenting by Jane Collier

    4

    An Essay on the Art of Ingeniously Tormenting
    by Jane Collier

  • Read
    Key Books in the History of Women Readers - The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir

    5

    The Second Sex
    by Simone de Beauvoir

  • The freedom to pick up a book is something we take almost for granted today but women readers have faced all manner of obstacles throughout history, says Professor Belinda Jack, author of The Woman Reader. She recommends five key texts in the history of women readers.

  • Key Books in the History of Women Readers - The Book of the City of Ladies by Christine de Pizan
  • Key Books in the History of Women Readers - The Worth of Women by Moderata Fonte
  • Key Books in the History of Women Readers - The New Blazing World by Margaret Cavendish
  • Key Books in the History of Women Readers - An Essay on the Art of Ingeniously Tormenting by Jane Collier
  • Key Books in the History of Women Readers - The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir

Key Books in the History of Women Readers, recommended by Belinda Jack

The freedom to pick up a book is something we take almost for granted today but women readers have faced all manner of obstacles throughout history, says Professor Belinda Jack, author of The Woman Reader. She recommends five key texts in the history of women readers.

Key Books in the History of Women Readers, recommended by Belinda Jack

    The best books on The History of Reading, recommended by Leah Price

  • Read
    The best books on The History of Reading - Reading the Romance by Janice Radway

    1

    Reading the Romance
    by Janice Radway

  • Read
    The best books on The History of Reading - A History of Reading by Alberto Manguel

    2

    A History of Reading
    by Alberto Manguel

  • Read
    The best books on The History of Reading - Too Much To Know by Ann Blair

    3

    Too Much To Know
    by Ann Blair

  • Read
    The best books on The History of Reading - Used Books by William H Sherman

    4

    Used Books
    by William H Sherman

  • Read
    The best books on The History of Reading - The History of Reading in the West by Guglielmo Cavallo and Roger Chartier (editors)

    5

    The History of Reading in the West
    by Guglielmo Cavallo and Roger Chartier (editors)

  • We can learn about the past not just through what was written but how it was read. Historian of books Leah Price tells us about reading aloud in Roman times, Gutenberg-era marginalia, and Middle Age solutions to information overload

  • The best books on The History of Reading - Reading the Romance by Janice Radway
  • The best books on The History of Reading - A History of Reading by Alberto Manguel
  • The best books on The History of Reading - Too Much To Know by Ann Blair
  • The best books on The History of Reading - Used Books by William H Sherman
  • The best books on The History of Reading - The History of Reading in the West by Guglielmo Cavallo and Roger Chartier (editors)

The best books on The History of Reading, recommended by Leah Price

We can learn about the past not just through what was written but how it was read. Historian of books Leah Price tells us about reading aloud in Roman times, Gutenberg-era marginalia, and Middle Age solutions to information overload

The best books on The History of Reading, recommended by Leah Price

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We ask experts to recommend the five best books in their subject and explain their selection in an interview.

This site has an archive of more than one thousand seven hundred interviews, or eight thousand book recommendations. We publish at least two new interviews per week.

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