When I was little, I read all the time. Everywhere I went, I had a book under my arm. I vividly remember getting in trouble for reading ahead during English class in elementary school, but in my defense people were just too slow when reading out loud. For me, books …

Is there something in the human soul that makes us blame ourselves for not reading the books we feel we should have? A few years ago, Amazon gave us a “list of books to create a well-read life” (or at least to make us feel bad for not reading enough). …

by Herman Melville Moby-Dick is a story told in 212,507 words. These words, considered among the most classic in the history of literature, are important. But just as important as “Call Me Ishmael” is the period that follows. Without punctuation, the first two lines of the book would read something …

A few years ago, a list of popular books was circulating online with this subtitle: “The BBC thinks most people will have read only 6 of the 100 books below. How many have you read? The list was not actually published by the BBC, but was probably inspired by the …