Part One: On the Art and Joy of Reading
Why We Read
How To Know If You Are a True Reader
Why Children's Stories Are Not Just For Children
Literature as Time Travel
Why Fairy Tales Are Often Less Deceptive Than 'Realistic' Stories
The Case for Reading Old Books
On the Role of the Marvellous
Growing Up Amidst a Sea of Books
On Encountering a Favourite Author for the First Time
Why Movies Sometimes Ruin Books
How to Murder Words
Saving Words from the Eulogistic Abyss
The Achievements of J. R. R. Tolkien
On the Dangers of Confusing Saga With History
On Two Ways of Traveling and Two Ways of Reading
Part Two: Short Readings on Reading
Word Combinations
Sincerity and Talent
Prose Style
Not In But Through
Pleasure
Originality
The Up-To-Date-Myth
Keeping up
Wild Tastes
Real Enjoyment
Literary Snobs
Re-reading Favourites Each Decade
Reading and Experience
Free to Skip
Free to Read
Huck
The Glories of Childhood - Versus Adolescence
Jane Austen
Arts and Literature
Art Appreciation
Look, Listen, Recieve
Talking About Books
The Blessings of Correspondence
In Praise of Dante
On Alexandre Dumas
The Delight of Fairy Tales
Language as Comment
Communicating the Essense of Our Lives
Mapping My Books
On Plato and Aristotle
Imagination
If Only
On Shakespeare
On Hamlet
On Leo Tolstoy
Advice for Writing
Good Reading
Appendix: Journal Exercises for Reflecting on Your Reading Life