The meaning of reading

In the summer of 2013, Peter Steiners, a passionate lover of literature, learned he had ALS and that his life was nearing its end. Six months later, he began writing a weekly column for the NRC Handelsblad newspaper, connecting the course of his illness to the books he had read or reread. Kafka, Dickens, Reeve, Shakespeare, Szymborska, and fifty other authors became companions on his journey. In *The Meaning of Reading*, Steiners describes his physical decline and his journey through medical institutions with simplicity and humor. Classics such as *The Count of Monte Cristo*, *The Office Seven*, *Oblomov*, *The Magic Mountain*, and *Hadrian‘s Diary* serve as starting points for reflections on helplessness, loss, surrender, and pain, as well as on the beautiful things that can be found in a terminal illness. *Reading with ALS* is not just a poignant story of impending death, but also an extraordinary look at world literature. It is a book about the solace and meaning of reading.