I really enjoyed this memoir and will probably listen to a few chapters again in the future. It’s part love letter to reading, part deconstruction of the writer as artist and also a rallying cry for the predominance of story. As he writes…'The writers who scoff at the idea of primacy of stories either are idiots or cannot write them. Many of their novels could be used in emergency situations where barbiturates are at a premium and there has been a run on Unisom at the pharmacies. The most powerful words in English are "Tell me a story," words that are intimately related to the complexity of history, the origins of language, the continuity of the species, the taproot of our humanity, our singularity, and art itself.'I have read all but one of Pat Conroy’s books and, while flippant critics may dismiss him, I think he’s one of the great storytellers of our time and I mean that as the highest form of praise. I’ll always follow the story down whatever rabbit hole he takes me. Leave the prize-winning tomes with snob appeal, the dystopian chronicles, the torturous tales for others, tell me a good story and tell it to me well, that’s what I ask of a book and its author.So with great pleasure, I listened to Pat Conroy tell me how reading informed his life and brought him to the craft of writing. Conroy writes to explain his own life to himself he tells us. It was rewarding to hear him extol the virtues of books from War And Peace to Tolkien’s trilogy and his dissection of Gone with the Wind has unearthed a desire to finally put it on my reading list. All that said, if you’re not a fan of Conroy’s florid language and can’t appreciate his Southern soul, then I would pass on this one. This was an audiobook read by the author, and I was often sure Conroy was drunk. He slurred his words so often, and I couldn't tell if he was even interested at times. I will always read a book about loving books, and Conroy's joy with Tolstoy made me want to tackle these classics that I had always been meaning to devour. However, Conroy's purple prose drove me nearly insane after awhile. Everything was a metaphor or simile. Everything was dripping in adverbs. Yuck. He seems to think that by admitting his undying love for Thomas Wolfe he may be excused from these awful habits. NONONO. Because it was an audiobook which I listened to in my car, I found myself listening to every third sentence while alternately rearranging my grocery list or mentally setting my fantasy football lineup. His love of literature comes through, and the relationship with his English teacher helps to drive the interest in this book. And that's another thing. Almost everyone he talks about in this book are all people he just adored, but they seemed to be curmudgeons who didn't like him or his writing. And these were his favorite people supposedly. He's been married a few times, and it made me wonder A)about his relationships with people, and B)whether his family had good reason to be angry with his portrayal of them in books. Conroy's book is entertaining in it's way, but it can old pretty quick too.
What do You think about My Reading Life (2000)?
Pat Conroy never ceases to make me feel more alive. God bless Pat Conroy!
—sharoner
Mr. Conroy could have cut this book down to maybe like 50-60 pages max.
—Cheryl
Oh my, for anyone who claims to be a book freak.
—AllyCatt
