Leave Me Alone, I'm Reading: Finding and Losing Myself in Books » (Reprint)

Maureen Corrigan is the book critic for NPR’s Fresh Air. Her reviews and essays have appeared in The New York Times, Newsday, The Nation, The Boston Globe, The Village Voice, and other publications. Winner of an Edgar Award for criticism, Corrigan also regularly writes a mystery column for The Washington Post and teaches literature at Georgetown University. She lives in Washington, D.C., with her husband and daughter, both avid readers.

“It’s not that I don’t like people,” writes Maureen Corrigan in her introduction to Leave Me Alone, I’m Reading. “It’s just that there always comes a moment when I’m in the company of others—even my nearest and dearest—when I’d rather be reading a book.” In this delightful memoir, Corrigan reveals which books and authors have shaped her own life—from classic works of English literature to hard-boiled detective novels, and everything in between. And in her explorations of the heroes and heroines throughout literary history, Corrigan’s love for a good story shines.

The Washington Post - Brigitte Weeks

The less successful retrospective parts of this book are a pity because Corrigan has some truly wonderful insights. I wish she'd said more about books she loves and less about Catholic school and her disenchantment with graduate education, but anyone who loves Charlotte Bronte, Dorothy Sayers and the poems of Stevie Smith is for me "a kindred spirit" (as Little Women's Jo March would say). Book lovers will be busy checking her lists, searching for new "leave me alone" titles. As Corrigan tells us, "Unforgettable books take us to places we didn't even suspect existed, places we may not even have wanted to go." And she's right.