This was a charming, thoughtful read! *How to Read a Book* isn’t really a “how-to” guide—it’s more about love, loss, and connection through books. Monica Wood does a great job of showing how stories can bring people together and help us heal. It’s heartfelt, a little quirky, and perfect for book lovers who enjoy stories about stories.

This book had a lot of potential, and I loved some of its messages, though it was definitely darker than I expected in parts. I thought the theme of forgiveness, especially with regard to some of the main characters and their pasts, was powerful. I liked the bookshop and the parrots and what they represented but wish they connected a bit more. There was a bit too much "insta-love" for me in here, and those representing the judgment of religion felt caricaturish. While I did want a bit more cohesiveness, I did appreciate what the book was expressing.

This will for sure be one of my favorite books of the year. WOW, what a great story of kindness, forgiveness, redemption and found family. Monica Wood is such a talented writer and she has a way of making you fall in love with the protagonists in this book. Violet, Harriet and Frank are complicated, multi-dimensional characters and I hated to see this end. Chills, tears, all the emotions for the beautiful ending. Bravo!!

I enjoyed this. It was well written and I was invested in the story. I am hoping to read more by this author. I feel this is an underrated book and more people should pick it up.

I chose this book for book club, and we all were pleasantly surprised! What a different but fascinating story. I liked the way the characters were connected and bound together in this story. We really thought the prison part was written well, First, the prison part showing the guidelines and schedule for the prisoners was interesting., and then loved the book club element. This story had a beautiful message of forgiveness.

A lovely, heartwarming story that was just what I needed to escape from the constant barrage of disturbing news. I loved all three main characters; flawed but compassionate and caring as all of us strive to be. Book passages and bookstores, incredibly intelligent parrots, prisons and prisoners, a visit to a machine shop, forgiveness and guilt, and second chances all have a significant role in this wonderful novel. Thank you to NetGalley and Mariner Books for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

How to Read a Book intertwines the lives of three distinct characters who find themselves connected in unexpected ways. The plot isn’t the driving force, but rather the stunning character and setting development by Monica Wood. This will go down as one of my favorites of 2024!

One of my most recommended books of 2024! Thoughtful, inventive, and open-minded. Perfect for a wide range of readers.

I really enjoyed this Monica Wood book, as I have with her previous books. I loved the setting (probably becausse I live in Maine) and the characters were relateabble. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced copy.

Violet is released from prison after a fatal drunk driving accident. She has limited family connections and is racked with guilt about what she’s done.

As she attempts to readjust to civilian life, Violet is surprised by the kindness of others, including Harriet, an older woman and former teacher who ran the book club at the prison where Violet was. Harriet is a widow and her niece is moving away for college.

Violet also encounters Frank, who works at the local bookstore and is now a widower as a result of Violet’s accident. It’s safe to say Frank didn’t expect to see Violet either and is still coming to terms with his marriage, different than what it may have seemed on the surface.

How to Read a Book a story with several themes related to family, in its various forms, guilt, forgiveness, and friendship. The primary message being that people are not their worst mistake. I felt for Violet, Harriet, and Frank as they faced their emotional challenges. I didn’t love the ending though I enjoyed the story overall and especially liked the reading theme — 3.5 stars

"Every week, they began with an invocation: I am a reader, I am intelligent. I have something worthy to contribute."

This is the invocation Harriet starts every book club session she conducts in the prison.

* * * * *
Reviewing the book is almost the last part of my process - after that it gets archived back on shelves that only pass by me if there are mentions, or cross-references that have turned up in my latest hunt and scramble. Knowing that, especially on new reads that have burrowed deep within me, I drag my feet (fingers?) on the review. . .this has been one of those. I love this book. Don't be surprised if it floats to the very top in the 2024 wrap-up.

There are three narrators in this tale: Violet, Harriet and Frank. There are a bundle of other great characters, but these make sure the three-legged stool supporting this comforting and hopeful book will uphold a questing reader. Its message is a gift that hit me straight in the heart. Terrible happenings surround everyday life, and how we muck through it is meaningful; this author's statement is powerful - it's ok to take it all in, the good, bad and ugly - all at once, and keep breathing, give yourself space, and . . .yes. . .pick up a good book and read it slowly. Nothing more from me on the storyline. I urge you - do yourself a favor and read this book.

I will say this - this is a book about how reading the wisdom of others however they present it - fiction, poetry, non-fiction - however it is done is a worthy resource for gathering hope, help and healing. A worthy tool, an effective remedy, a value builder and a significant solace. An antidote to Everyday. The good ones and the bad ones. And the awful ones. An enhancement for Everyday. The best ones. Those filled with ennui.

Books/Reads presented (it's possible I missed one here or there - please let me know if you find one - I'd be pleased to correct my list):

Scar Tissue
To Kill a Mockingbird
Of Mice and Men
The Great Gatsby
Ethan From
Franny and Zoey
Catcher in the Rye
Spoon River Anthology (I now have my own copy on my bedside table - it will be my 2025 morning read)
The House on Mango Street
Wuthering Heights

Poems of William Butler Yeats, including:
When You Are Old
A Prayer for My Daughter

Poems of Maya Angelou, including:
Phenomenal Woman

All the stars, with their own bookmarks at my favorite spots. . . .see quotes below.

*A sincere thank you to Monica Wood, Mariner Books, and NetGalley for an ARC to read and review independently.* #HowtoReadaBook #NetGalley

This book surprised me. I wasn’t sure I would like it but I did. I loved the role books played in making connections between people, empowering them and helping to stave off loneliness. A quirky group forms an unlikely friendship and it is heartwarming. And I love the birds!

I worked on this title directly for work so I cannot provide a review without bias. That said, I absolutely LOVED this and would recommend it to anyone who asked.

Really enjoyed this book. My book club chose it for our monthly pick. The story was well told and was about 3 main characters and how their lives intertwined around the love of books.

A story about guilt, kindness, second chances, and the power of books, How to Read a Book follows three characters as they cross paths and become an unlikely support for each other. This was a lovely read.

Thank you to #NetGalley and #MarinerBooks for a free copy of #HowToReadABook by Monica Wood. All opinions are my own.

Violet Powell, a twenty-two-year-old from rural Abbott Falls, Maine, is being released from prison after serving twenty-two months for a drunk-driving crash that killed a local kindergarten teacher. Harriet Larson, a retired English teacher who runs the prison book club, is facing the unsettling prospect of an empty nest. Frank Daigle, a retired machinist, hasn’t yet come to grips with the complications of his marriage to the woman Violet killed.

When the three encounter each other one morning in a bookstore—Violet to buy the novel she was reading in the prison book club before her release, Harriet to choose the next title for the women who remain, and Frank to dispatch his duties as the store handyman—their lives begin to intersect in transformative ways. This book is a hopeful story about second chances, found family, forgiveness and the magic of books. I really enjoyed it.

Thanks to NetGalley ane the Publisher for this Advanced Reader Copy. All opinions are my own.

I loved this so much. A bookstore is the main setting in this beautifully written story of forgiveness, found family and the power of stories.

This short but powerful novel is about three characters - Violet, Harriet, and Frank. We first meet 22 year old Violet where she is serving time in prison and is in the prison book club 60something volunteer Harriet runs. Violet runs into Harriet in Portland, ME after her release, and both of them encounter Frank at a local bookstore - but he also has a connection to the crime Violet was in prison for.

This book is under 300 pages, but really packs an emotional punch - it’s about loneliness and connection, guilt and forgiveness and redemption, and about the power of books and literature too. (Plus some fascinating stuff about African grey parrots). The characters are flawed but sympathetic and really come to life, and the writing is just lovely. I’d say this reminds me of an Ethan Joella book - and if you know my taste, you know that’s a big compliment. I also read and loved Monica Wood’s book The One in a Million Boy, but this book was even better, and one I’ll continue thinking about. Looking forward to discussing with my book club!

4.5 stars

There are three points of view in this story. The most important POV, Violet's, begins as she sits in her book group in prison. Violet is young, she's serving time for something that she takes responsibility for, and she's also smart and sensitive.

The woman who runs this reading group, Harriet, is the second POV. Harriet went back to school later in life and became a teacher. She has retired but wants to do something to help and has hit upon the book group idea for women in prison.

Finally, Frank, a retired man who has found a place for himself as a handyman at an independent bookstore and who is tied to Violet by her crime. We didn't get as much of Frank as the other two but that's probably fine.

I liked all of these characters. They all had flaws but were all generally good people who could be compassionate to others and who wanted to find a way to a life with meaning. These three all end up knowing each other and spending some time with each other despite the ways in which their relationships began. I ended up caring about them.

There are definitely some flaws in the story too. The women in Frank's life (his wife and daughter) were written pretty unsympathetically. I suppose we needed to not be on their side in order to be on Frank's, but the author's compassion to her characters definitely did not extend to these women and that was a missed opportunity. I might have liked Frank better if the women in his life were more multifaceted than being self-centered and dramatic.

Violet gets a job working as a research assistant with African gray parrots. I might have rated the book a bit higher based on this alone. I like birds and am somewhat familiar with just how smart and charming they are, and the author nails this. I wanted more of the birds and less of Violet's boss Misha.

Unfortunately Violet wants more of Misha than she or he should really get, and these choices were a low point of the book for me. I know that Violet is young, but ugh.

Overall I was impressed by the book and would try another by this author.

This is an unusual story of a woman, Violet, who went to prison for killing a woman because she was driving drunk. While in prison she joins a book club and becomes friendly with the leader, Harriett. After her release she becomes a patron of Harriett's book store. She meets Frank, the handyman and discovers he is the husband of the woman who died. The story is about letting go of guilt, seizing second chances, and the power of books to change our lives.