Thoughtful ideas on the art of reading

from Eudora Welty, a most thoughtful writer

Those of us who love books and reading can’t get enough about books and reflections on reading. I hope you enjoy these thoughtful ideas on the art of reading in this Literary Ladies lite Sunday edition.

Eudora Welty (1909 - 2001) was just as avid a reader as she was a writer. She made graceful points on how reading thoughtfully can make one a better thinker and writer.

Welty won numerous awards for her writing, among them, a Pulitzer Prize (for The Optimist’s Daughter, 1973), an American Book Award, National Medal for Literature, and The Presidential Medal of Freedom. She was a six-time winner of the O. Henry Award for Short Stories.

Welty dispensed gentle wisdom on the subject of how being a good writer is intertwined with the love of reading. Here are several of her ideas on the art of reading gathered from her nonfiction books, notably On Writing and One Writer's Beginnings.

Disappointment that a book has to end

"My main disappointment was always that a book had to end. And then what? But I don't think I was ever disappointed by the books. I must have been what any author would consider an ideal reader. I felt every pain and pleasure suffered or enjoyed by all the characters. Oh, but I identified!" (Conversations with Eudora Welty, 1984)