The Art of Mindful Reading

This is a quirky and original book which looks at reading in a novel (pun absolutely intended) way. I was drawn to this as I suffer from a variety of long-term, incurable illnesses all of which cause chronic pain and reading is a hobby I partake in every day. I read an extensive amount from both the non-fiction and fiction genres and it's true that I primarily pick up a book in order to aid relaxation. That is why The Art of Mindful Reading very much appealed to me, and it didn't disappoint with its engaging descriptive but conversational style of writing, meditative exercises, intriguing anecdotes, and expert insight where the author reveals the enriching potential of reading for mindfulness.

This is a beautiful quality book with text and illustrations that complement each other perfectly and the whole package looks and feels sophisticated and extensively researched. Ella Berthoud is a bibliotherapist prescribing literary cures to readers everywhere, who regularly gives talks on reading ailments and mindful reading at bookstores and festivals across the UK, so it's safe to say that she knows her onions when it comes to this wonderful topic. I loved it so much that I've purchased a hardcopy for my bookshelf and recommend to all readers as something unique and delightful.

Although rather concise in terms of print length at less than 150 pages, it is mighty in terms of its content and heart. Many thanks to Quarto Publishing Group - Leaping Hare Press for an ARC.

What a delicate and precious book! I adore the illustrations ! It is also agreable to read and talks to the reader in such a fascinating way! What is more, I did not know you could be a "bibliotherapist", I love this idea! As a lover of books, as an author, as a blogger and as a literature teacher, this book resonated with me: it explores mindfullness while reading and so much more, for instance losing yourself in a book, the healing power of reading...
It offers theory but also exercises, tests and an index to be able to check out topics of interest to you easily.
I'm definitely ready to embrace the wisdom of words and I highly recommend this amazing book! Thank you!

Written by a therapist, this may work well in an office setting.  Written out, just seems like a list of platitudes.

I've read since a young age, and like the idea of learning to "read mindfully".  While not bad, I just didn't get excited reading this.  I think everything was too quick, or out of context.  Such as changing your reading environment; sounds like a good idea, but how realistic is "go find a body of water and rent a boat"?  Reading on a boat sounds OK, I'm not against the basic idea, but that seems like a lot of work for a reading afternoon.  

Much of the book is like that, it sounds good at first glance, and I'm sure this is helpful to some people... but I think the target audience are people who already read mindfully?  One line asks rhetorically, something like "Remember when you were a kid and were reading several books at once?  One from the library, one from school, etc"... First of all, no, I hate doing that.  I can if one book is fiction and one is non-fiction, or at least very different genres/styles, but I don't if I can help it.  Second of all, anyone who is doing that is probably already doing most of what this book advises.  Seems like if written to someone who doesn't already consistently read, there should be more practical advice... again, in a therapist setting, this may be much more useful.

A quick read, I think it's worth reading.

**I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Another lovely Quarto book this is absolute perfection a book about reading Ella Berthoud shares her love of reading from a family childhood trip.There as so many thoughtful essays ,exercises to enhance the pleasure of reading This would be a lovely gift for all your bookworm friends. #netgalley #quartobooks

LITERARY TEA
I adore the offerings from Quarto Publishing Group — Leaping Hare Press and this latest perfectly illustrates why. The topic is totally my literary cup of tea, the text and design beautifully done, the concept of reading as a therapeutic, spiritual endeavor appeals deeply.

The author writes:
“What begins as a jumble of marks, black against white, conjures colours, monsters and beasts, emotions, laughter and tears. Eventually the process becomes ... as natural to us a breathing — and just as necessary.... If reading is your daily bread, then how best should it be consumed?”

She answers in language poetic, with attention paid to all aspects of this endeavor besotted by humans since the first written word.

AUDIO, VISUAL, KINESTHETIC?
There are exercises to enhance reading experiences, including determining if you are an audio, visual or kinesthetic reader (I’m an audio who pronounces words silently as I read them) and strategies to follow to enhance your particular enjoyment. (For audios like me, reading aloud is prescribed. How did the author know that I’ve been reading sections of this lovely book to my husband?)

HULA HOOPING
Included are an array of of mindful exercises such as acting out scenes, creating a biblio-nook, keeping a journal, reading while doing yoga or for those with ADHD frenetic activities such hula hooping, reading ‘round a campfire ... or I would add with your Beloved before a roaring private fire or in bed together.

I WANNA BE ...
And oh my stars does the author’s bio read as one I’d love for myself: “Ella Berthoud is a bibliotherapist prescribing literary cures to readers everywhere, who regularly gives talks on reading ailments and mindful reading at bookstores and festivals across the UK. She lives with her family in West Sussex, England and likes to hula-hoop as she reads.”

5 STARS AREN’T ENOUGH!
There is so much goodness in this small volume (144 pages) that I would give it infinite stars if I could. But I can only do 5 so 5 it is, along with my highest marks!

GRATITUDE
Thanks to Ella Berthoud, Quarto Publishing Group — Leaping Hare Press and NetGalley for the review copy. Opinions are mine. Pub Date 04 Jun 2019. #TheArtOfMindfulReading #NetGalley

The Art of Mindful Reading is a delightful book with some nice exercises and stories. It is well written and I had no problem with the download.

The Art of Mindful Reading is a beautiful book that celebrates readers.

When reading, do you picture every scene in your head? You are a visual reader. If you hear the words you are reading silently in your head, you are a dynamic reader. If you walk, highlight passages, or fidget when reading, you are a kinesthetic reader. The author includes tips to increase the pleasure of reading for every reading type.

Who knew that there was a profession called bibliotherapist, which the author of Art of Mindful Reading calls herself? The author encourages mindfulness, or living every moment fully, while reading. Though this is a short book, there are many creative ideas to increase your reading pleasure. For example, reading can be childlike by moving reading to unusual places perhaps in a specially created nook either inside or out of your house. I don’t think this book will make your Instagram-addicted daughter want to read books but it is a great gift for someone who already enjoys reading. 3.5 stars rounded up to 4 stars!

Thanks to Leaping Hare Press and NetGalley for a copy in exchange for my honest review.

Cant review because its not in Kindle form. Will pay more attention to that before requesting. Thanks.

Bibliotherapist Ella Berthoud shows why reading is important for the brain, for personal health and what makes it a mindful experience.

To be honest, I already practice a lot of the things that were mentioned in the book, really, a lot of them. But, even I took home a few things that I want to try out, like writing six word memoirs.

I'd recommend this book to anyone who thinks they don't have enough time for reading, reading is boring, reading is a selfish past-time, but also to anyone who is an avid reader. Obviously, even avid readers can still gain something from this book.

My dad taught me to read when I was 3 years old and I have never stopped. This book says everything I believe about reading. I've read through good and bad times and have lost myself over and over again. I didn't know I was reading mindfully, I was just reading oblivious to everything and everyone. I really enjoyed this book.

Thank you NetGalley for my copy.

Excellent! This one is s must read and will be on the keeper shelf of many book lovers !
I loved it .

This was a really interesting look at how changing your reading style can benefit you. Instead of only reading those books you find entertaining or easy to read, you should diversify what you read. I found this to be an insightful book.

First of all I really love that there is such a thing in this world as a bibliotherapist. This author brilliantly shows all of us, not just people who’ve lost their passion for reading, but all of us… How to be more present and engaged with whatever we are reading. She gives lots of practical suggestions as well as intriguing examples. It is beautifully written, and beautifully laid out and would make an excellent gift for any book lover in your life.

Thanks to NetGalley, the author and publisher for an advanced reading copy of this book in exchange for my honest review

I am amazed on how useful this book turned to be. It is filled with different tips, projects and ideas in order to get the most of your reading and to spread the love for books around you. Me likes!

Many thanks to Netgalley and Quarto Publishing / Leaping Hare Press for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I very much enjoyed this inspiring, well-written book; I particularly liked the ideas about keeping a book journal and instructions on how to read while doing yoga! The cover and illustrations are also stunning. I recommend this book to all avid bookworms and will definitely be buying copies as gifts for friends.

Did you love reading when you were a child or a teenager? Do you find it hard to make the time to read now? This wonderful little book will help you to regain that love, and deepen your experience of reading. Ella Berthoud discusses how to discover what kind of reader you are, and provides several reading exercises to choose from.

Research has shown that reading fiction is similar to meditation, so it is actually good for you! Ella Berthoud shows readers how to make it even more 'mindful'. First, she suggests that you decide what kind of reader you are - visual, aural or kinaesthetic, so that you can use your imagination to better effect. For example, I think that I am mostly a visual reader, so I like to imagine the details of scenes in my head, rather than actually acting it out.

The exercises which Berthoud suggests include having a reading nook, so that you can settle down with a good book in your private place, learning poems off by heart, and re-reading beloved children's books. I also like her ideas about writing about a book in six words and keeping a book journal. A book treasury for favourite quotations, scenes and poems is another idea. Some of these exercises do seem like a lot of work, unfortunately, but they are worth it - I used to keep a Commonplace Book, another name for a book treasury and I remember loving it. If only I had kept it!Many famous people, including Vivien Leigh and Alec Guiness, have kept Commonplace Books.

This lovely book is well-worth buying if you want to make your reading more mindful and enjoyable.

I received this ebook from Net Galley in return for an honest review.

An interesting exploration and investigation on how mindful reading can be helpful and therapeutic.
The author describes the different types of readers and how different senses can be involved whilst reading.

Different techniques and way of reading are presented and practical suggestions are offered in order to enjoy reading even more.

Whilst I enjoyed the book and the style of writing,it personally didn’t add more knowledge to what I previously knew.

On a side note,the format of the e-book made it quite difficult to read.
Thanks to Quarto for the ARC in exchange of an honest review.

Thank you Netgalley and Leaping Hare Press (Quarto Publishing Group) for the ARC of this book

This is a wonderfully, beautiful, original book which looks at reading which I try to do everyday. The book is insighful, full of anecdotes and really appealed to me and didn't disappoint.

The book says everyone about reading and doing it mindfully and more. To me not being able to read would be a real problem and this really points out why I feel like that.

I really enjoyed this book and would highly recommend it.

Also posted on Amazon

Thank you Quatro - Leaping Hare Press and Netgalley for this ARC.

I really enjoy this range of “Mindful” books and this was no exception.
An enjoyable book helping the reader discover different or new opportunities for reading and how to get more out of their reading life.

Bibliotherapist Ella Berthoud book considers if you are reading mindfully and starts off by discussing the three types of readers: auditory, visual and kinaesthetic.

The book includes six chapters with exercises to try, suggestions for where and when to read, when to give up on a book, re-reading books from your past, explaining DEAR Time (my daughter's high school does this daily already) and setting up street libraries to name but a few.

As an avid reader already, much of what she suggests is obvious, so I found this book more aimed at the non or infrequent reader.

I received this book from netgalley in return for a honest review.

I picked up this slim 144-page volume in hopes of learning how to deepen my mindfulness practice by integrating it into my reading life. Unfortunately, I was disappointed by how little of the content actually had to do with the practice of mindfulness. The author seemed to assume that the reader knew what mindfulness was as the introduction dealt almost entirely with the author’s introduction into reading. In fact, the mindfulness exercises seemed to be disjointed adjuncts to the text in which they were set. The majority of the book dealt with where to read, how to choose what to read, and what to do with what you’ve read. The relatively large section on what else to do while reading - hula hooping, walking, and other physical pursuits - seemed antithetical to how I understand the practice of mindfulness. As did the strong recommendation to read multiple books of different types at the same time.

Had the book been billed as a guide for refreshing your reading habits, I might have been more kindly disposed toward it. There were some good suggestions along those lines, such as creating a “Golden Treasury” of scenes and quotes from beloved books so that they would always be easily on hand. The long section about the shared reading experience had a few interesting suggestions, although not all were practical. And the section about maintaining a reading journal was probably the best section of the book because it offered some interesting suggestions about what to record. But the sections about culling and curating your library felt like I was reading Marie Kondo. If you are mindfully considering each book in your library, why would you set an arbitrary goal of culling by ten percent?

Overall, I’m happy that this book was a light and easy to read as it was, because it truly wasn’t a major time investment. For the few items of interest that I found, it was probably worth the time.

This book is written by Ella Berthoud a Bibliotherapist. Here she teaches us how to actually and digest books, perhaps in a way we have never done before.

The book teaches us how reading mindfully will change how we experience reading. Through meditative reading technics and exercises, Berthoud gets us to reassess our reading habits.

The Art of Mindful Reading may seem like a small book but every page has a goal and a reason. Berthoud uses knowledge and humour to show us just how little we take in when we read. Not just about the meaning we take from books but also how we read, where we read, how our reading habits change from childhood and that we should return to those.

I was immediately taken with this book. At once I could see what it was that Berthoud was hoping to achieve and I let her lead me there.

Berthoud gives some great ideas for learning to immerse yourself into books. Particularly I enjoyed the ideas she gave for book nooks or free libraries.
Though I did not take time to use the exercises in this book I quickly knew I would be buying a copy of this book for my self.

The Art of Mindful Reading was a short, clear and encouraging book. It provided mindfulness practices during every state of the book, including ones to help the reader discover what kind of reader that they are. Berthoud creates exercises that encourage and accept that every book reader is different. The book is the perfect length to create a mindfulness practice, it goes into the right amount of detail to allow the reader to sit down and go through the whole book, or break it up over time, building a mindfulness practice of reading from nothing. This book (and possibly the whole series) goes on my list of great mindfulness tools because it also gives some of the research behind why reading, mindfulness and especially mindful reading benefits the reader.

This is a good book that teaches us how to get more out of reading. The suggestions provided are easy to do with little or no cost. Contrary to what the title may seem, the goal is not speed reading or note taking but offers good substantive ideas such as:

Creating a reading nook, inside or out.
Read where you won’t be disturbed.
Be mindful of everything around you when taking a walk.
Practicing mindful while writing, beginning with your name.

There are other discussions about listening to audiobooks while doing other activities; Giving yourself permission to abandon a book after 50 pages; and sharing your reading. I enjoyed tidbits about comfort reads. The author suggested to create food from recipes found in the book you are reading.

One of the most loved ideas was not to close a book and immediately move onto another one. Take time to bask in the world you recently left.


I received an ARC from Quarto Publishing through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This in no way affects my opinion or rating of this book.