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Books that Saved My Life

Reading for Wisdom, Solace and Pleasure
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( 188 ratings, 38 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
Books that Saved My Life by Michael McGirr explores the profound impact of literature on the author's life by examining diverse works from 'Pride and Prejudice' to 'To Kill a Mockingbird'. McGirr blends personal anecdotes and insightful reflections with the themes and ideas found in each book, celebrating the transformative power of reading. It's both a memoir and a tribute to the enduring influence of stories.
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Format: Hardback
$4000
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

You might enjoy this book if you have a passion for literature's power to impact and transform lives. It's an engaging exploration of how different books have influenced and enriched the author's perspective, weaving personal anecdotes and cultural insights. If you appreciate stories about the profound effects of reading, this book may resonate with you.

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Books that Saved My Life

A profound, funny and uplifting collection of reminiscences about a life in books, now available in a smaller, competitively priced format.

A profound, funny and uplifting collection of reminiscences about a life in books

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

A profound, funny and uplifting collection of reminiscences about a life in books.

Here are forty texts to read at some stage in your life—forty texts that can enrich you in all manner of ways. Some are recent, like Harry Potter; some ancient, like Homer and Lao Tzu. There are memoirs (Nelson Mandela), poetry (Les Murray) and many of the world's great novels, from George Eliot's Middlemarch to Toni Morrison's Beloved.

Our guide, in entertaining short essays about personal encounters with each of these works, is Michael McGirr—schoolteacher and former priest, reviewer of hundreds of novels and lifelong lover of literature. His humour and insight shine through in stories that connect the texts he has selected with each other, and connect us to them.

Never prescriptive, and often very funny, this book is an invitation to reflect on—and share with others—the extraordinary gift of reading. It is a gift that is taking me a lifetime to unwrap, McGirr writes. The excitement has never worn off.

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

This collection of essays by Michael McGirr is celebrated for its intimate and edifying reflections on literature's power to shape lives. The book's anecdotes are praised for their humour and emotional depth, with reviewers highlighting McGirr's ability to connect with readers through heartfelt stories. His essays, often compared to good sermons, blend wisdom with humour and offer a deeply personal exploration of literature. Readers find the gratitude in McGirr's writing infectious, making it a delightful and thought-provoking read.

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781925773149

Publisher: Text Publishing

Format: Hardback

Date Published: 29 October 2018

Country: Australia

Imprint: The Text Publishing Company

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Width: 145.0mm

Height: 217.0mm

Weight: 0g

Pages: 288

About the Author

Michael McGirr is the bestselling author of Snooze- The Lost Art of Sleep, Things You Get for Free and Bypass. He has reviewed almost one thousand books for various newspapers; his short fiction has appeared in Australian and overseas publications; and he has been a publisher of Eureka Street and fiction editor at Meanjin. He teaches at St Kevin's College in Melbourne.

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