Description

In this delightful memoir, the book critic for NPR’s Fresh Air reflects on her life as a professional reader. Maureen Corrigan takes us from her unpretentious girlhood in working-class Queens, to her bemused years in an Ivy League Ph.D. program, from the whirl of falling in love and marrying (a fellow bookworm, of course), to the ordeal of adopting a baby overseas, always with a book at her side. Along the way, she reveals which books and authors have shaped her own life—from classic works of English literature to hard-boiled detective novels, and everything in between. And in her explorations of the heroes and heroines throughout literary history, Corrigan’s love for a good story shines.

About the Author

Maureen Corrigan is the book critic for NPR’s Fresh Air. Her reviews and essays have appeared in The New York Times, Newsday, The Nation, The Boston Globe, The Village Voice, and other publications. Winner of an Edgar Award for criticism, Corrigan also regularly writes a mystery column for The Washington Post and teaches literature at Georgetown University. She lives in Washington, D.C., with her husband and daughter, both avid readers.

Praise For…

“Irresistible. . . . Corrigan has some wonderful insights. . . . Book lovers will be busy checking her lists, searching for new ‘leave me alone’ titles.” —The Washington Post Book World

“Corrigan’s eclectic taste and skillful assessment of new writers as well as those long dead are particularly astute.” —USA Today

“[A] brilliant and funny narrative of [Corrigan’s] own reading life, which ranges from her Catholic childhood to graduate school and a career as a professional reader. . . . Utterly original.” —Chicago Tribune

“Corrigan is erudite without being the least bit pretentious. . . . Dipping into Leave Me Alone, I’m Reading is a little like visiting that friend whose house is always full of books and who always sends you home with one you’re excited to read.”—Detroit Free-Press