Introducing "it's a quick read"

Hi! Welcome to “it’s a quick read.” I’m thrilled that you’re here.

I am a lifelong reader. Truly, I truly cannot remember a time when I didn’t take great comfort from reading. Books have been there for me through some of the hardest and the happiest times in my life. They have shaped my worldview, expanded my imagination, and inspired me to take on new challenges. Characters in books have made me laugh, cry, and ultimately, feel like there is someone else out there in the world who just gets it. Reading has helped connect me to new friends, and the best conversation starter in the world is quite simply, “What are you reading right now?”

The thing is, I know that not everyone feels this way. I know that reading can be a real struggle for some, not interesting for others, and hardly a feasible priority for so many. But the joy when a self-proclaimed non-reader finds a book that speaks to them? It’s incredible, it’s magical! That may sound cheesy, but I have had a handful of friends over the years (you know who you are) who have confidently declared they “hate reading” or won’t touch an entire genre with a 10-foot pole. And then suddenly, there’s a switch: they find comfort in the pages of new stories and forge connections with other readers. I think that’s pretty amazing and worth celebrating.

So that’s what this is. A celebration of reading.

“It’s a quick read” purposefully pokes fun at the number of times I use that turn of phrase to describe how much I adore a book. I used to be self-conscious about how quickly I churned through books. It was a smoke signal to the world that rather than going out and about, I was continually tucking in with a new book, choosing to explore fictional worlds or delve into the intimate lives of my memoir heroes.

Now, “it’s a quick read” is used equally to describe the 200-page romcom that I breezed through in under 12 hours and pulled at my heart strings (nods to The Man I Never Met), and the 500-page drama that took me two weeks to get through but was the type of book I simultaneously couldn’t put down and never wanted to end (The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue still lives rent-free in my head). My hope is that this newsletter will be a quick read in your inboxes each month, and more importantly, an opportunity to celebrate your own reading and connections with other readers.

It feels vulnerable to be putting this out there. But talking about reading and finding my fellow readers has never led me astray. Let’s find that magic together.

Stephanie