I recieved a free copy of this book from net galley in exchange for an honest review. I have been unable to download a copy of this book in any format, so was unable to read it at all.

I picked up this book to learn something new about the way I read. Unfortunately this book was not it. It is a very short quick read and there is just not much new information here. This book seems to be aimed at those who do not read a lot. Some of the suggestions were downright horrifying for a book lover. I could never imagine purposely destroying books. There is not enough here for a full length book. Overall I was disappointed.

I did not know bibliotherapist was a job title until this book and now I have created a fantasy career for myself.

Ella Berthoud says her mother modeled that it's not possible to miss out on life by reading too much. But Berthoud reminds us that it is possible to read too mindlessly.

She lays out a delightful plan for reading more mindfully in her book. As a bibliotherapist, she gives us tools in The Art of Mindful Reading to help us become our own bibliotherapists as we get more out of our reading.

“As a bibliotherapist, I believe that every novel you read shapes the person that you are, speaking to you on a deep, unconscious level, and altering your very nature with the ideas that it shows you.”

She points out that reading might help you live longer—it slows your heart rate and produces a stress-reducing meditative state in your brain. But she also explains how to enjoy reading more. She gives advice on how to lose yourself in a book. She encourages exercises on discovering a new awareness of reading, depending on whether you’re an auditory, visual, or kinesthetic reader.

She encourages her readers to create a reading nook, to learn passages by heart, and how to make reading a daily habit.

Berthoud points out that we read for different reasons—knowledge, wisdom, emotional intelligence, excitement, escapism,catharsis. Not only does it matter what we read for these reasons, it also matters how we read.

Regardless of the kind of reader you are, you'll hear advice in this book to help you read more mindfully.

My thanks to Net Galley for the review copy of this book.

taking what would perhaps be a niche interest and making it something all lovers of books and story broadly would enjoy coming away from better for the experience

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.

While the author of this book tried to convey the importance of the love of reading, I felt like she was down talking to the reader, instead of dealing with an adult who knew how to read poetry for example, it seemed she talked to a younger child in school, who needs to be taught to look closer at the words presented. Nothing turns me off more from a book than feeling like the Author underestimates the intelligence of the reader, and instead of showing a mindful way of reading, she made me wish I would have not wasted my time, picking up this particular book.
Not for anyone who reads a lot, or not even for the average casual reader. You may get some information out of this work if you have never actually read more, than you were told to read in school.

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.

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.

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.

THE ART OF MINDFUL READING by Ella Berthoud is a book that I really thought I would like because I have taught classes on mindfulness. In addition, I think it is extremely important for my high school students to think critically about a variety of texts. However, this book did not meet my expectations. Chapter One does discuss "how you might use reading to develop your emotional intelligence,"but note the use of second person which results in a kind of "preach-y tone," making it difficult share excerpts with adolescents, however much they might benefit from the bibliotherapist's well-meaning advice. Sadly, there is not much new here. For example, writing a six-word memoir is an exercise we have been doing with students for years and, similarly, our book group discussions almost always feature food from the book that was read. The ideas may be solid or not (I question the feasibility of building your own mini street library outside your home), but trying to access them through the Bluefire reader app was especially frustrating. I am currently not able to recommend this text. I appreciate the advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

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