My Reading Life

This is one of Conroy's best works. My Reading Life breaks down Conroy's writing background and tells how his mentors had an inpact on him. Conroy tells much about what he felt about his many experiences reflected in his books. He also goes into wonderful detail about a great mentor, Gene Norris.

I have heard more than 240 books on Audible. Right now, this is my favorite.

This short, but rich and honest book is full with content. If you have ever wondered what inspires a modern writer to write than this is the book for you. By its end, you may want to be a writer or be a better writer.

This book should be required reading for all English students, lovers of literature, teachers, and parents. Yes—teachers and parents—because as Conroy beautifully explains, it is because of these people—because of the actions they took to enrich his reading life—that he is one of today's best storytellers. And why he is with us still (listen to the book to learn more).

And if you love rare book stores, then you’ll enjoy chapter six. But it is after chapter 12 that you’ll want to read War and Peace. At the very least by its end, perhaps you'll be like me and simply want to hear more of Conroy's work.

Please click YES if this review was helpful to you. Enjoy the read.

Mr. Conroy provides some moments that sparkle; most enjoyable were his moments of humor and honesty. I found the review of Gone with the Wind too lengthly. At the end he seemed to get caught in a net of melancholy metaphors; but overall I thank him for the insights. His voice told the story best.

Southen literary booklist.

The biography of Julia Peterkin. For its southern litlerary connection.

His mother.

Pat Conroy, the Southern Consummate Student and Teacher.

Listening to the Audible edition is like a fireside chat with Conroy. I am now rereading the Southern great books he mentions. Fascinating!

I became interested in the book after hearing Pat Conroy speak about it online somewhere. I really enjoyed this audiobook. I will never forget his story about his mom reading Gone With The Wind to him for the first time when he was 5, and how she made it come alive.

He's a dynamic person and a terrific storyteller, and I'm glad he narrated his stories himself. What a life! What passion for the books he's read and the people who have taught him! I still occasionally "flip through" this audiobook if I'm running around town and need something satisfying to listen to. Very satisfying.

Well- read and passionately read. I loved listening to Mr. Conroy's voice. I don't think anyone else could have read this for h im.

A very enjoyable tour of the literary influences that helped shape Pat Conroy as a writer. It is relatively short and very entertaining. Any reader will find useful perspectives on books familiar and unknown, as well as opinions with which to disagree. The fine, Southern-accenting reading by the author himself is a great bonus.

I would definitely recommend this book--and to be read again and again. It's a truly inspiring memoir about the drive to learn, about wide-ranging reading, about the adventures, wisdom, and solace that accumulates from the thousands of books one reads in a lifetime, that become, as the author points out, like a city of manifold treasures in the mind, with streets one can wander and revisit at any time. If you, like the author, can mention Freya Stark, Rumi, Margaret Mitchell, Manolete, and Pablo Neruda practically in one breath, you will have found a kindred spirit in Pat Conroy. There is great story-telling in this book, quite a bit of poetry masquerading as prose, and some characters you will become as fond of, as terrified by, and as inspired by as the author. Conroy's narration of his book is easy on the ear and, for this reader at least, goes straight to the heart. A book this passionate would not ring as true if it were voiced by a professional narrator. This book will convince you that you need not travel to the four corners of the earth to gobble up life. Books, Conroy irrisistably proves once again in this memoir, will take you anywhere you wish to go.

Education of a Wandering Man by Louis Lamour. In the 1930's, the author traveled the United States as a hobo and worldwide as a seaman and even as a prize-fighter, reading every book he could get in his hands along the way. While he labored as a tree-feller, cattle-skinner, or abandoned-mine guard, he was reading Shakespeare, Joseph Conrad, and Montaigne. All this before he sold his first short story and Hollywood discovered that his story-telling made great motion pictures, just as Conroy's did and do.

There are many well-etched characters in this memoir, including an inspiring high school teacher (happy forever are those lucky to have had one!). My favorite character, though, is his mother, who sensed his love of reading very early, fed it with a continuous stream of books from the library, and added her own conversation, with a voice so memorable he literally hears it in every word he writes as he is writing it.

Yes. Conroy gives lots of information on the authors and books that he loved and that influenced him. I thought that might be a guide as to how I should spend some of my reading time.

I laughed when I read about Conroy's trip down the Chattooga just because he had read Deliverance, by Dickey.

Yes. The professional narrator is better for his fiction, but he is better for talking about himself.

Yes

As a huge fan of Pat Conroy's books I was excited to see that he narrated this himself. It is very interesting to hear "My Reading Life" in his voice because it is a personal account of his life. I particularly enjoyed hearing about his interaction with other writers in the Atlanta area and the places they would hang out and meet. It also gives some insight into and further appreciation for many of his novels. I have always wanted to meet him and after listening to this audio book I felt as if I had.