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How to Read Now
by
83/99
Critics' Rating Index
37/99
Readers' Rating Index
90/99
Scholars' Citation Index
89/99
Volume of Reviews
48/99
Volume of Reader Ratings
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About This Book
How to Read Now explores the politics and ethics of reading, and insists that we are capable of something better: a more engaged relationship not just with our fiction and our art, but with our buried and entangled histories. Smart, funny, galvanizing, and sometimes profane, Castillo attacks the stale questions and less-than-critical proclamations that masquerade as vital discussion: reimagining the cartography of the classics, building a moral case against the settler colonialism of lauded writers like Joan Didion, taking aim at Nobel Prize winners and toppling indie filmmakers, and celebrating glorious moments in everything from popular TV like The Watchmen to the films of Wong Kar-wai and the work of contemporary poets like Tommy Pico. At once a deeply personal and searching history of one woman's reading life, and a wide-ranging and urgent intervention into our globalized conversations about why reading matters today, How to Read Now empowers us to embrace a more complicated, embodied form of reading, inviting us to acknowledge complicated truths, ignite surprising connections, imagine a more daring solidarity, and create space for a riskier intimacy--within ourselves, and with each other.
Reviews
"This is not a collection of essays to race through; instead, it should be read thoughtfully and with an open mind to encourage fresh understanding."
"From reading Jane Austen to the fear and hatred fueling book challenges, Castillo's investigations are incisive, reorienting, sometimes funny, and truly revolutionary."
"How to Read Now proceeds at a breakneck pace."
"How to Read Now compels us to dispel any incurious approach to both books and the world."
"I still found Castillo's fiction much more compelling than her essays ..."
"Despite its declarative title, How to Read Now is not so much an instruction manual as an earnest invitation...What emerges is an engaging and provocative conversation with a playful interlocutor who wanted me, her reader, to talk back ..."
"In critical essays that examine everything from fantasy novels to award-winning classic literature, Castillo outlines the limitations of America's reading culture."
"Simple, profound point ..."
"Castillo's knowledge, along with her firebrand style and generous humor, result in a dynamic and necessary look at the state of storytelling."
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