Read Harper Lee's passionate defense of books

(Image credit: MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images)

published 19 February 2016

In 2006, Harper Lee wrote a letter to Oprah Winfrey about her lifelong love of books — a letter that was then published in Oprah's magazine, O. "Do you remember when you learned to read, or like me, can you not even remember a time when you didn't know how?" Lee writes in the letter. She goes on to passionately detail a childhood spent swapping books with friends:

Now, 75 years later in an abundant society where people have laptops, cell phones, iPods, and minds like empty rooms, I still plod along with books. Instant information is not for me. I prefer to search library stacks because when I work to learn something, I remember it.And, Oprah, can you imagine curling up in bed to read a computer? Weeping for Anna Karenina and being terrified by Hannibal Lecter, entering the heart of darkness with Mistah Kurtz, having Holden Caulfield ring you up — some things should happen on soft pages, not cold metal. [Letters of Note]

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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.