This chapter examines the role of reading in the lives of enlightened Jewish women. A salient feature emerging from the personal testimonies left by the enlightened Jewish women discussed in this book is the prominent place of reading in their lives. These women had at their disposal not only the indispensable skill of literacy, shared by the ever-growing reading public across Europe, but also — thanks to the relative financial comfort which allowed most of these women to delegate housework to others — the necessary spare time to use it, and in most cases no children of their own to make additional demands on their time and attention. Thus, they were able to make reading a primary activity to which they dedicated a significant amount of time and effort. An illustrative account of real craving for books — unthinkable in earlier centuries, especially among women — may be found in Henriette Herz's memoirs. Ultimately, reading served as a source of knowledge no less than as a means of entertainment, and simultaneously fulfilled an important social function, being a prerequisite for social interaction in the modern world, the basis for cultured conversation, and a recurrent theme in learned correspondence.