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How to Buy a Love of Reading
How to Buy a Love of Reading
How to Buy a Love of Reading
Audiobook13 hours

How to Buy a Love of Reading

Written by Tanya Egan Gibson

Narrated by Renee Raudman

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

3.5/5

()

About this audiobook

To Carley Wells, words are the enemy-her tutor's innumerable SAT flashcards; her personal trainer's "fifty-seven pounds overweight" assessment; and the endless reading assignments from her English teacher, Mr. Nagel. When Nagel reports to her parents that she has answered "What is your favorite book?" with "Never met one I liked," they decide to fix what he calls her "intellectual impoverishment." They will commission a book to be written just for her-one she'll have to love-that will impress her teacher and the whole town of Fox Glen with their family's devotion to the arts. They will be patrons-the Medicis of Long Island. They will buy their daughter The Love of Reading.

Impossible though it is for Carley to imagine loving books, she is in love with a young bibliophile who cares about them more than anything. Anything, that is, but a good bottle of scotch. Hunter Cay, Carley's best friend and Fox Glen's resident golden boy, is becoming a stranger to her lately as he drowns himself in F. Scott Fitzgerald, booze, and Vicodin.

When the Wellses move struggling writer Bree McEnroy into their mansion to write Carley's book, Carley's sole interest in the project is to distract Hunter from drinking and give them something to share. But as Hunter's behavior becomes erratic and dangerous, she finds herself increasingly drawn into the fictional world Bree has created and begins to understand for the first time the power of stories-those we read, those we want to believe in, and most of all, those we tell ourselves about ourselves. Stories powerful enough to destroy a person. Or save her.
LanguageEnglish
Release dateJun 25, 2009
ISBN9781400182466
How to Buy a Love of Reading

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Reviews for How to Buy a Love of Reading

Rating: 3.4108910643564356 out of 5 stars
3.5/5

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  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    It will always be debatable, whether the “greats” of yesterday (Homer to Emerson to Fitzgerald) would still have written about deep things, had that been alive, today. Or, as some might propose, would Homer be a cheesy romance writer, Emerson a gossip columnist and Fitzgerald a head writer for The O.C.? There is, simply, no way to tell, lacking that windbag pundit Wells’ time machine, but the real point is that what we deem deep, looking back, may very well have been, to their then-modern-day critiques, fairly trivial. And, looking forward, what we toss off as pulp, today, may be hailed by future generations as the wisdom of days gone by, unappreciated during its time.All of this said, I’m not sure (though, again, who knows what the future may hold) that How to Buy a Love of Reading will make the cut. With all of the backdrop and drinking of Fitzgerald’s timeless, Long Island miseries mixed with either a jab or an attempt at Pynchon’s satirical absurdity, Gibson’s would-be parody falls a bit flat of or far from greatness. Mentioned throughout and quoted tirelessly (at least, it seemed, for the author) was one of my favorite authors, Fitzgerald. I do think, however, it might take a bit more than wild nights and western Long Island to pair the two writers together.The curtain opens on Carley Wells, a sympathetically pathetic high school junior. Pleasantly plump, virtually friendless, academically clueless and reality-t.v. obsessed, she finds herself both locked into and locked out of a society that values everything she is not. Those around her, including her parents and two best friends, hoard gossip and waste money, but she seems completely out-of-place, in a useless, rather than poetic, sort of way.Instead of acting as some sort of metaphoric commentary on the evils of Society, the “character” ff Carly (for she really never develops beyond a reality show version of a scripted extra) appears to have no grounding, neither in the mystical world of the North Eastern elite nor in, what is usually the antithesis of such a thing, usually, some crunchy-granola or artistically subversive backlash against the haughty gaudiness.There are points of redemption that pop up, not in any one character, but in slivers of interaction. There are two writers (one too successful, one decidedly not successful at all) and a Boy, with an capital B, that hint at something deeper. Of course, I was never really sure that they were mentioned, superficially, to show Carly’s lack of understanding or written vaguely because they really weren’t supposed to be taken that deeply at all, even perhaps, by the author. Regardless of the intent, the few moments of higher thinking weren’t enough to bring Fitzgerald anywhere near this story. The whole thing reminded me of a half-hearted attempt at merging an episode of The O.C. and Gossip Girl without any of the funny parts.I really don’t mean for this to come off as terrible as I’m sure it must. There were moments of insight; I just wish that those had been the main focuses, rather than the humdrum cliches that made up most of the book. Of course, there’s an eternal optimist in every cynic and I’ll be interested in Tanya Egan Gibson’s next book to see if she manages to get away from the teen angst to go for the heavier stuff.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    In an age when even the most middling members of the middle class come up against constant discounting of their achievements and frequent reminders to "check their privilege," "How to Buy a Love of Reading" does a great job of reminding readers that being a "privileged" kid does not necessarily mean that one has had a perfect, easy life. Both Hunter and Carley have ineffective parents, who are either mostly absent (except when doling out punishments) or totally overbearing. Both try to bear the pressure of keeping up a certain expected appearance in Fox Glen while struggling emotionally in silence, their needs and feelings being made the responsibility of hired help and therapists rather than addressed at all by the people who should care most about them.One scene that affected me particularly strongly, simply because it was so believable, was the section in which Hunter struggles with the letter he is expected to write to Princeton with his application, not because he is a poor writer, but because his college counsellor finds fault with everything he writes. The struggles and accomplishments about which he attempts to write are shot down as "Pseudo-hardship" and "Thinly-veiled braggadocio" (133) because they come from a "privileged boy," discounting the value of some very real things that Hunter has achieved. Because he is rich, he is thought to have had no "real" struggles and overcome no "real" obstacles. Yet, we see that Hunter is stretched so far in so many ways in his struggle to satisfy others' expectations that he turns to substance abuse to try to cope. He is not a weak person, nor a "drama queen;" he is simply forced to handle an enormous amount of stress, fear, shame, and guilt despite his "privileged" life, which is a very real struggle for many young people today.Next time an acquaintance mentions something about "checking your privilege," recommend Gibson's book. With any luck, it might open someone's mind a bit to the fact that "spoiled rich kids," while they might not be starving or hurting for luxury, are still real people with real problems, like everyone else.At the same time, Gibson does a great job of bringing ALL of her characters back down to earth in the reader's eyes, including the starving artist and literary elitist, Bree, and her very-much-not-starving-but-still-elitist friend Justin. Carley's determined dislike of Bree's heavily-footnoted meta-fictional work, which made her the pet of her university teachers but which no one in the "real world" really likes, calls the value of deeply technical and "artistic" work, which may be very interesting as art but to which no one but a select few can really relate, into question. Justin, the "rock star" of the literary world, is flawless in the eyes of the public, but the reader soon becomes privy to several of his important faults. The reader can clearly see that being rich and famous does not make someone a good, kind person, just as being poor and struggling does not preclude a person from being pretentious or snobbish. Human beings are human beings, regardless of how much money they have, and this message of equality is something that I very much appreciated in Gibson's book.The one major problem that I had with "How to Buy a Love of Reading" was that Carley, around whom the story supposedly revolves, is a very flat, forgettable character. A few days after finishing the book, I had to check the dust jacket just to remember her name. One certainly feels for her during the moments when she is important to the plot, and, indeed, her emotional pain made me cry at times, but then she just fades into the background as the story continues to focus on Hunter and Bree. Carley just seems to pop in for an interlude from time to time and then vanish.All in all, I very much enjoyed Gibson's book and would recommend it to others. It is definitely a great ride from beginning to end; it will make you laugh and cry along with the teenaged characters no matter how much older than them you are, and the subject matter offers ample opportunity for discussion and debate about many different topics, from the struggles of the upper class to those of the poor, and from art to drug use to peer pressure and beyond.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I used to sneer at people who claimed that a novel or movie could ever change their minds on something or change their perspective. Why would anyone be so keen to surrender a piece of their mind to a mere story that some stranger wrote?How to Buy a Love of Reading is the rock upon which my indifference has been dashed. It is an amazing novel, combining both an earnest and gut-wrenching coming-of-age in the pitiless environment of the ultra-rich families of Fox Glen, and cold and clinical metafiction which not only dissects the story, but also dissects itself, following the metafictional desire to self-criticize and self-consume. To know that this is Tanya Egan Gibson's debut novel is astounding. This is definitely my favourite kind of novel, the kind that's packed with creativity (another of my favourites in this vein is The Female Man, by Joanna Russ). I highly invite people with open minds and hearts to read it.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I am not sure that the characters were complete, realistic or even likeable, but the meta writing kept me fascinated. I find my mind lingering on the characters and coming back to certain passages or ideas brought up in the book. Most definitely one of the most interesting books I have read in a while.

    Not at all what I expected, I expected fluffiness and got something much more substantial.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I really enjoyed this book. It was an easy read, but really enjoyable. At times I did feel as if the content was a bit young as the main characters are teens, but the spackling of adult characters throughout helped keeping me from falling into a nostalgic choma. I love how Gibson doesn't take herself too seriously, but manages to poke a little fun at bibliophiles, artsy people, and those who consider themselves "high class" or "low class."

    Overall, I adored the characters she created and her ability to keep the story moving. Fun stuff.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I wasn't sure how I felt about the book as I was reading it. However, the fact that I was still thinking obsessively about the characters two days later led me to the realization that it is a good novel. A real twist on a common theme: overweight girl falls in love with most popular boy; this is a story of deep love, more money than sense, and profound sadness. The reason I picked the book up was because of the title. To think that someone would need to buy a love of reading is really foreign to me. When I found out that the Hampton-rich parents of the books main character literally did just that - buy an author to live in their home so that their daughter could look smarter than the other kids, I just had to laugh. It is 'keeping up with the Joneses' to the extreme - in a way that only people with enough money to live in the Hamptons would do with a straight face.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    It will always be debatable, whether the “greats” of yesterday (Homer to Emerson to Fitzgerald) would still have written about deep things, had that been alive, today. Or, as some might propose, would Homer be a cheesy romance writer, Emerson a gossip columnist and Fitzgerald a head writer for The O.C.? There is, simply, no way to tell, lacking that windbag pundit Wells’ time machine, but the real point is that what we deem deep, looking back, may very well have been, to their then-modern-day critiques, fairly trivial. And, looking forward, what we toss off as pulp, today, may be hailed by future generations as the wisdom of days gone by, unappreciated during its time.All of this said, I’m not sure (though, again, who knows what the future may hold) that How to Buy a Love of Reading will make the cut. With all of the backdrop and drinking of Fitzgerald’s timeless, Long Island miseries mixed with either a jab or an attempt at Pynchon’s satirical absurdity, Gibson’s would-be parody falls a bit flat of or far from greatness. Mentioned throughout and quoted tirelessly (at least, it seemed, for the author) was one of my favorite authors, Fitzgerald. I do think, however, it might take a bit more than wild nights and western Long Island to pair the two writers together.The curtain opens on Carley Wells, a sympathetically pathetic high school junior. Pleasantly plump, virtually friendless, academically clueless and reality-t.v. obsessed, she finds herself both locked into and locked out of a society that values everything she is not. Those around her, including her parents and two best friends, hoard gossip and waste money, but she seems completely out-of-place, in a useless, rather than poetic, sort of way.Instead of acting as some sort of metaphoric commentary on the evils of Society, the “character” ff Carly (for she really never develops beyond a reality show version of a scripted extra) appears to have no grounding, neither in the mystical world of the North Eastern elite nor in, what is usually the antithesis of such a thing, usually, some crunchy-granola or artistically subversive backlash against the haughty gaudiness.There are points of redemption that pop up, not in any one character, but in slivers of interaction. There are two writers (one too successful, one decidedly not successful at all) and a Boy, with an capital B, that hint at something deeper. Of course, I was never really sure that they were mentioned, superficially, to show Carly’s lack of understanding or written vaguely because they really weren’t supposed to be taken that deeply at all, even perhaps, by the author. Regardless of the intent, the few moments of higher thinking weren’t enough to bring Fitzgerald anywhere near this story. The whole thing reminded me of a half-hearted attempt at merging an episode of The O.C. and Gossip Girl without any of the funny parts.I really don’t mean for this to come off as terrible as I’m sure it must. There were moments of insight; I just wish that those had been the main focuses, rather than the humdrum cliches that made up most of the book. Of course, there’s an eternal optimist in every cynic and I’ll be interested in Tanya Egan Gibson’s next book to see if she manages to get away from the teen angst to go for the heavier stuff.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Carly, the protagonist of “How to Buy a Love of Reading”, is an overweight, unhappy, and unmotivated 16-year old living in her family’s mansion near Long Island Sound. Her best friend, Hunter, is a year older, a soccer star, and extremely popular. Their friendship is slightly twisted, with regular all-night cuddling sessions in either Carly’s bedroom or Hunter’s private home on the family estate. The book holds some interest simply as a glimpse inside the lives of the unbelievably wealthy – each section is started with an invitation to a gala, soiree, or black tie fundraiser. The heart of the story is Carly and Hunter’s unlikely friendship and Carly’s inability to help her friend as he plunges deeper into the world of alcohol and prescription drug abuse. The premise of the story seems superfluous, other than to display the true wealth of the characters. Carly’s parents “buy” her an author, Bree McEnroy, for her sixteenth birthday, commissioning her to write a book their daughter will like. While the book uses the parts of a story (theme, setting, etc.) to structure the novel, this plot line ultimately distracts from what was a full story by itself. The last few chapters are unexpected and rushed, but the epilogue ultimately leaves a smile on the reader’s face.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    How to Buy a Love of Reading is a novel that, early on, seems entirely determined by its setting. The characters live near the “Eggs” that Gatsby spoke of, and their pretension is just the same. Their language is just as unbelievable. Their wealth is unattainable. And just like Gatsby, you could focus on all of these overblown elements, but then you would miss the whole story. You would miss the point: that no of this other stuff matters. All that matters is how you feel about yourself.Tanya Egan Gibson openly says that she was no fan of Fitzergerld in her youth (her appreciation came later-like a fine wine), but it is his work that ironically ties this piece together for the young, high school Carley. Carley’s best friend Hunter-Mr. Unbelievable- is like no high school student that I have met. He lives alone. He has $60,000 at his immediate disposal. He is given LOTS of alcohol by adults. Hunter becomes Gatsby; he spends most of the novel beating his “boat against the current”, trying to undo who he has become. And it is in this quest-the quest to learn to love books, but mostly to love who you are-where How to Buy took me in.I worry that some readers would start How to Buy and would focus on the surface elements. Other readers would get tired of the superficial vocabulary, the diverse characters. They would think that this was all the novel was about. How to Buy a Love of Reading has a lot more interesting things going on if you can take the time to visit the land of Gatsby. If you become like Carly and just take the time to look.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    It's witty, smart and ironic. The ending ties it all together and you realize it was all a story, written by someone who started out hating books.
  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    Not nearly as clever as the author thinks it is. The story pulls from "The Great Gatsby" (apparently intentionally) and "Less Than Zero" (apparently uinintentionally). A rich, social-climbing Long Island couple, upset that their schlumpy daughter has no interest in books or school, commissions an arty author from the wrong side of Brooklyn to write a book that catersspecifically to the daughter's interests. But that's really a subplot to the daughter's unrequited love with the handsome, drunk boy next door, although the fact that the kid sounds like a bad copy of Jeremy Irons in Brideshaead Revisited makes it hard to see what the attraction is (or how this kid ended up on Long Island). The author in the book is fond of meta-fictional devices, which yes, I GET IT, and there's a book within-a-book, and what the author clearly thinks is a witty, intelligent takedown of reality TV. Frankly, the fictional TV series the daughter is obsessed with sounds waaaaaaaay more interesting than anything going on in the story itself
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Oh man. This book...I started out liking it, I got frustrated with it in the middle, and by the end, I was in love and cried. And the description doesn't do it justice.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Part snarky parody, part biting social commentary, part witty meta-fiction, part beautiful lyricism - this book isn't going to be for everyone, but its sheer audacity in the unique department and its brutal honesty make it a story I'm not likely to forget anytime soon.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Carly has "never met a book she liked" so her well-to-do parents decide to hire an author to write a novel just for her - one she'll have to love. Hilarity ensues.This is an ambitious, smart novel which I highly enjoyed. Not only does it have a very original structure - sections are divided by literary device - but it also presents main characters that are worth spending time with. I loved the relationship between Carly and her crush/best friend - golden boy alcoholic and avid reader Hunter. But the relationships between supporting characters, such as Carly's author, Bree, and her college chum and literary idol Justin (who happens to live in Carly's community) are just as compelling.This is one of those that you could definitely read a second time and pick up on a lot that you might have missed the first time around. I thought some of the novels within the novel sounded brilliant and I wouldn't mind reading them too!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I enjoyed the story in How to Buy a Love of Reading, but I LOVED everything else—the references and allusions to great literature, the subtle social commentary, the smart humor, the sharp and decidedly un-melodramatic exploration of teenage angst, and every last nuggets of nerdy goodness. I can’t even really explain it—there are just a ton of wonderful little gifts for booklovers hidden in this book. So you should read it and find out. Read my full review at The Book Lady's Blog.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Ages 16-Adult. The world of "How to Buy a Love of Reading" is that of the rich and the literary elite. In one of their many attempts to fix her and at the same time upstage the neighbors, fifteen-year-old Carley's parents hire a destitute meta-novelist to write a book to Carley's specifications to be debuted at the girl's Sweet Sixteen birthday party. The story chronicles the characters' - including Carley, her best friend Hunter, her writer Bree, her neighbor and best-selling reclusive author Justin - problems with family, relationships, drugs, insecurities, and writing. Dense themes of pseudo-intellectualism and meta-fiction put this novel in between adult and teen audiences, although most of the story is in a young adult environment. Recommended for medium and large public libraries in adult or teen fiction
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    "How to Buy a Love of Reading" centers around a situation where someone is trying to do just that -- some wealthy parents decide to pay an author to write a book specifically to appeal to their shallow, anti-literary daughter. Not surprisingly given that set-up, the parents, daughter, and hired author all have significant emotional stuff going on that churns to the fore over the course of the book.While I could see this book genuinely appealing to readers who enjoy the Gossip Girl / Nanny Diaries genre of "rich people behaving badly", for me it was a dry and irritating read.Myself, I love reading the most when I actually *like* the people I'm reading about, at least a little -- after all, reading can be like spending time with a new friend, hearing their story. I don't need the characters in every book to sound like wonderful, amazing people who I want for my new BFF, but there does need to be something about them I find appealing. And the reality is that with this book, there was not a one of the main characters who I'd be interested in spending any time with.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    How to buy an identity for you and your child seems to be the hidden title of this book. My favorite parts run along this theme. The characters in this story try to create who they are with money. Worse they try to sculp the identity of their children, to disasterous results. The parents look at the characteristics of their children and attempt to erase what they don't like. It ends up erasing their entire identity until they don't know who they are and what they like. When we pull at the loose threads of a tapestry, we don't remove those threads, but unravel the entire work.The book had many intersting angles, but dabbles too much with the meta-fiction concept. Whether to appear clever, or to make fun of those who use the concept. It detracts from the story. It was enoyable read, overall.was the first domino in a series that overturned who I was..." —p132Amber once said that was the reason she had no female friends...she pretended no eyes were upon her" p 27...and her always returning favors with bigger favors p 27Carley was disappearing, letting insubstantial people chip off pieces of her self p 5
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This was definitely a page turner! I loved it. It took a few chapters to really get into the book, then I had a hard time putting it down. Tanya Egan Gibson really spins a unique story. The plot is really unique, which really got my attention. Also, she writes in different point of views, which generally makes a story better. You hear from the main character Carley, her best friend Hunter, the author Bree, and a few others. It's really interesting hearing insight from more than one or two characters.Also the ending is really unsuspected. You don't really consider it. Gibson leaves you with a definite ending, but two possibilities of what it meant, which leaves you pondering.All the characters were realistic, and as the story goes on you see each grow in their own individual ways, some for the better, while others for the worse. You find yourself really feeling for the characters as they encounter problems.Overall, it was a great debut novel, I'd definitely recommend it to everyone!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I really enjoyed this book despite what I think is fairly deceptive flap copy. I expected a much more tongue-in-cheek narrative that this book offers- the satire is fairly light in my opinion. Despite that, the story itself is compelling, and Carley (who I disliked in the beginning) develops into a character with wonderful depth. Her struggle to survive while trying to save her best friend is unexpectedly poignant, and I enjoyed watching Carley slowly come to recognize her own worth outside of Hunter's reflected glory. There was plenty of scope for wry laughter once Bree (and her painful novel) make an appearance. Bree's level of narrative deconstruction will entertain anyone who's ever endured a college writing class. Her efforts to find a narrative truth are unexpectedly assisted by Carley's hatred of books and refusal to accept Bree's idea of storytelling.Gibson perfectly captures the feelings of isolation and confusion that all teenagers experience (no matter their parents' socio-economic situation), and ably crafts a realistic (though rather surreal) story. Highly recommended.