How to Buy a Love of Reading: A Novel [Paperback]

Read Tanya Egan Gibson's posts on the Penguin Blog.

A playful, witty, and remarkably accomplished debut novel about how reading can save your life

Asked to name her favorite book, sixteen-year-old Carley Wells answers, Never met one I liked. Her parents are horrified and decide to commission a book to be written just for her. They will be the Medicis of Long Island and buy their daughter The Love of Reading. At first, Carley's sole interest in the project is to distract Hunter, the young bibliophile she adores. But as Hunter's behavior becomes increasingly erratic, Carley begins to understand the importance of stories-and how they are powerful enough to destroy a person. Or save her.

Tanya Egan Gibson's debut novel is an irresistible work of metafiction that dazzlingly embeds a book within the book, and boasts an unforgettably fresh narrator whose journey towards embracing literature will make you fall in love with reading all over again.Brimming with literary allusions, commentary on the rich and famous, and the necessary ingredients for a successful novel, Gibson's ingenious debut succeeds on many levels.
-Booklist

Gibson creates a literary work that is fresh, complex and compelling.... All the themes in the novel are richly drawn and universal - love, saving someone, the question of what reality really is, loneliness, betrayal. The conflicting themes create a palpable sense of tension as the end of the book approaches. Which will prevail - love or loneliness? Salvation or betrayal? The best thing a book can do is to make its reader think. Just as Carly is transformed as she works on her novel, Gibson's How To Buy a Love of Reading gives the reader equal opportunity to embark on a worthy, entertaining mental stretch.
-Fort Worth Star-Telegram

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