“Susan Olding’s essays in Big Reader are soaring, searing love letters to the reading life. Profound, intimate, and breathtakingly beautiful.” – Helen Humphreys, author of Rabbit Foot Bill

“Big Reader is a perfect collection of essays, especially for those of us who rediscovered a love of reading during challenging times. As we delve into Olding’s life flavored by literature, she becomes that smart friend we adore, in whose company we become our brightest selves.” – Brenda Miller, author of An Earlier Life

“If these essays were glass bells and you struck them one by one with your favourite pen, they would ring with the purest, clearest notes, each chapter in its singularity contributing to the gorgeous orchestral music that this book is. Olding has found exactly the right balance between the details of her life and the wide reach of research and obsession. This book pays tribute to what the essay has done in its long and honourable past and what it continues to do in the hands of a remarkable thinker and wordsmith.” – Lorna Crozier, author of Through the Garden: A Love Story (with Cats)