Read With Me

What we do

I know so many people — thoughtful, intelligent, motivated people — who avoid reading the classics. And for understandable reasons: they’re busy, they don’t know what to read, they’ve never been taught how to enjoy it, they have unpleasant memories of tedious discussions in high school English class.

If you too are intimidated, uninitiated, jaded or disillusioned...read with me. Let me show you what reading can be.

At Read With Me, I will guide you through timelessly important and stirringly beautiful works of literature, in a manner that allows you to grasp them intellectually, connect with them emotionally, and, ultimately, learn better how to live.

Lisa VanDamme

Founder of VanDamme Academy and Read With Me

How it works

Curated CollectionUsing the app, you can listen to the book read aloud by Lisa in manageable sections of half-an-hour to an hour long. Each of those sections is then recapped in a “focused summary” that helps highlight what was important.

Bringing the books to lifeAfter each reading, Lisa makes brief commentaries on it that are meant to transform your experience of the text - enabling you to connect with the characters, see the emerging themes, find favorite moments, and develop a deep personal attachment to the book.

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Where to begin?

Literary Journeys are curated collections of books designed to help you achieve a specific goal. We designed these journeys to take away the stress of choosing where to start and what to read next.

If you're new to classic literature or unsure where to start, I recommend our Literary Foundation journey.

This journey includes five books that are accessible and suited for building your love of literature. Each book, read by Lisa VanDamme, is divided into small, manageable sections. Accompanying each section is a focused summary and commentary, designed to help you follow along more easily and learn how to meaningfully connect with each work.

If you've noticed that you no longer read as often as you used to, or perhaps you've stopped reading altogether, we have a suggestion to reignite your passion for literature. Consider starting a journey with Victor Hugo's 'Les Misérables' as your guide.

In an era dominated by smartphones, reading has become a skill that requires regular practice. What better way to hone this skill than by starting this magnificent book?

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Your Literary Foundation

Discover or re-discover your love of literature through stimulating, powerful, and thought-provoking stories, plays, and poems.

4h 27m

51m

14h 51m

25h

2h 31m

9h 56m

6h 37m

1h 41m

35h 15m

8h 3m

57m

8h 25m

13h 58m

3h 11m

About Us

Read With Me was founded by Lisa VanDamme, a school founder and literature teacher with big ambitions to provide students with an exceptional education and a joyful learning experience. Her life’s purpose is to show people that literature can be an invaluable tool in the quest for a more fulfilling life.

Professor of English and literature enthusiast Mark Edmundson puts it best: the value of reading is “the joy of seeing the world through the eyes of people who—let us admit it—are more sensitive, more articulate, shrewder, sharper, more alive than they themselves are,” and of discovering “that life is bigger, sweeter, more tragic, more intense - more alive with meaning than you had ever thought.”

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What People Are Saying

"Your reading is achingly packed with emotion, your voice so expressive, I feel carried away by it. I wonder sometimes if I'm feeling my emotions, or yours."

Sunny Lohmann

"It's like having someone whisper in your ear, ‘Notice this!’ or, ‘Don't worry about that!’ right when you need it. This has really helped me get to the core of the book. I think I've learned more about the right way to experience and analyze literature in the few weeks that we've been together than in my 20 years of formal education."

Lauren Meyer

Make exciting and meaningful works of literature part of your life

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