Download or read book Reading Acts written by Barbara Ryan and published by Univ. of Tennessee Press. This book was released on 2002 with total page 316 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Researching documents left by "common" readers, contributors suggest that American literature was experienced in a way not previously revealed by examinations of literary criticism. Ryan (English, U. of Missouri in Kansas City) and Thomas (English, Montana State U.) present 11 essays that discuss the act of reading as related to women's agency, "ordinary" critics of the critics, class and consumption, and societal reaction to single-parenthood. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR