Relearning to Read is the latest mind-expanding book from Ann Morgan. The English author is probably best known for her Reading the World project and subsequent book, in which she read a book from every country in the world over the course of a year.
While that project clearly worked at increasing her own horizons, this latest book pushes things further, hinted at by its subtitle: ‘adventures in not-knowing’.
The book asks readers to examine their own reading habits and turn them on their head. Morgan suggests that while comfort reading has its place, we should instead be getting comfortable with discomfort in our reading, that we don’t necessarily need to enjoy or even understand what we’re reading, and that we’ll be better readers and people as a result.
Read more:
- New children’s laureate Frank Cottrell-Boyce: ‘Children need reading now more than ever’
- Half of UK adults don’t read for pleasure
It’s a fascinating exploration of the reading process, what it can achieve and how it shapes us. Tackling issues like authenticity, gender, politics, comedy, genre and language, the book gently coaxes us to widen our scope, deepening our understanding of the diversity of human experience and the world in general.
It’s ambitious stuff, but Morgan pulls it off in a witty and conversational narrative that nonetheless digs at some profound stuff about how we relate to the world around us.
