Closely Reading is for people who love literature, relish ideas, and want reading to be a reflective practice — not a checklist.
Sound like you? Nice to meet you.
I’m Haley. I have my PhD in literature and now I use this space to share my skills, guide read-a-longs with an incredible community of readers, and help us all more deeply appreciate the books we read. What else? Well, I love my two cats, my fiction-writer husband, and soy lattes with cinnamon.
What is closely reading?
Most simply, it’s the art of good conversation about books.
Here, you’ll learn about your readerly self. How to annotate your books. How to read more slowly and intentionally. And how to reflect and respect what you’ve been reading, without using vague star ratings.
What you can expect
Closely Reading is a place for readers who want to slow down, sharpen their attention, and find depth in the books they love. Each week I share essays, guides, and questions that turn reading into a thoughtful, sustained conversation about ideas and experience.
You’ll receive things like writing exercises. Analytical prompts. Full reading guides for our next batch of chapters in whatever book we’re reading right now. And even monthly “reports” on what I’ve been reading, studying, making, and listening to.
🔎 Get the full archive of 7+ novel guides, as well as occasional bonus essays and exercises
I offer tiered pricing, starting at just $15 a year, to make my archives available to students and educators:
💌 $15/year: Thoughtful support for students, academics and educators
📚 $25/year: The classic close reader (Most popular!)
🪴$50/year : The sustaining member
✨$100/year: The patron of the literary arts
Welcome to the art of conversation
This painting inspires me every week.
In this painting, two suited figures hover side-by-side, their stance ever-so-slightly turned toward the other. One figure has a hand raised, as if he’s making a salient argument. The other holds a cane, somehow sturdying him in the floating sky. We don’t know what they’re talking about, but that’s beside the point. The point is conversation itself.
A good conversation suspends you in time and space — leaves you floating in the “air of ideas,” as Edith Wharton once called it. “It’s the only air worth breathing,” a character in her novel The Age of Innocence says.
I agree. There’s nothing like a good conversation.
The best writing, like an artful conversation, should wrap you up in that suspended, floaty feeling and, by doing so, help you connect with your own ideas, beliefs, and desires.
Whether you’re part of the Closely Reading book club or just popping by for weekly essays, I hope you’ll find opportunities to engage in artful conversations here — and to connect with other close readers as you do.
Feeling the love
"Thank you for the affordable option! I’m a high school English teacher, so I want to support writers, though my budget doesn’t always allow. I appreciate your view of reading intentionally and find it fun to think about my reading as a reader and not as a teacher. Thanks so much for what you do!”
-Leslie Hill
“I finally decided to upgrade because I’ve enjoyed the read-alongs and I appreciate all the work you are doing to put them together!”
-Jennifer DAlessandro
“Closely Reading with haley larsen, phd is your permission slip to write in your books. Artful conversation about books read slowly, from classics like Nella Larsen’s Passing…to recommendations of steamy or spooky reads worth talking about, she’ll inspire you to read whatever you choose with extra attention.”
-Abra McAndrew, via BookStack Directory: Part 6
A whole world of Closely Reading
Closely Reading has become its own little universe over the last few years. At the links below, you can find book recommendations, annotation supplies I use myself, and Closely Reading merch designed by yours truly.
Reading lists:
Edith Wharton and her world: for books by Wharton and others in her literary moment, like Henry James and Nella Larsen.
Closely Reading: this is simply a collection of some of my favorite books. Everything here is especially apt for close-reading exercises and annotations.
Annotation supplies:
Tools and resources I recommend, especially for our book club members.
Work-from-home must-haves, based on my 7+ years working from a home office as a reader, writer, and editor.
Merch:
Bookish gifts for yourself and the readers you love
