''I cannot say enough about How to Read Now... Check it out'' Roxane Gay''A red-hot grenade... One of my favourite books of the year'' Jia Tolentino''Energetically brilliant, warmly humane, incisively funny'' Andrew Sean Greer''I gasped, shouted, and holler-laughed . . Phenomenal'' R.O. Kwon''A wake-up call. A broadside. A rich and brilliant war cry'' Chris PowerHow many times have we heard that reading builds empathy? That we can travel through books? How often have we were heard about the importance of diversifying our bookshelves? Or claimed that books saved our lives? These familiar words - beautiful, aspirational - are sometimes even trueBut award-winning novelist Elaine Castillo has more ambitious hopes for our reading culture, and in this collection of linked essays, she moves to wrest reading away from the aspirations of uniting people in empathetic harmony and reposition it as thornier, ultimately more rewarding work. How to Read Now explores the politics and ethics of reading