Doris Lessing on Reading

'Girl Reading' by Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot

“There is only one way to read, which is to browse in libraries and bookshops, picking up books that attract you, reading only those, dropping them when they bore you, skipping the parts that drag – and never, never reading anything because you feel you ought, or because it is part of a trend or movement. Remember that the book which bores you when you are twenty or thirty will open doors for you when you are forty or fifty – and vice-versa. Don’t read a book out of its right time for you.”

Doris Lessing in her 1972 Preface to The Golden Notebook

You might also be interested in reading:

Some Thoughts on Reading

One thought on “Doris Lessing on Reading”

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.