Book by Book: Notes on Reading and Life [Hardcover]

Michael Dirda (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0805078770 | ISBN-13: 978-0805078770 | Publication Date: May 2, 2006 | Edition: First Edition

A Pulitzer Prize-winning critic's often surprising meditation on those places where life and books intersect and what might be learned from both

Once out of school, most of us read for pleasure.Yet there is another equally important, though often overlooked, reason that we read: to learn how to live. Though books have always been understood as life-teachers, the exact way in which they instruct, cajole, and convince remains a subject of some mystery. Drawing on sources as diverse as Dr. Seuss and Simone Weil, P. G. Wodehouse and Isaiah Berlin, Pulitzer prize-winning critic Michael Dirda shows how the wit, wisdom, and enchantment of the written word can inform and enrich nearly every aspect of life, from education and work to love and death.

Organized by significant life events and abounding with quotations from great writers and thinkers, Book by Book showcases Dirda's considerable knowledge, which he wears lightly. Favoring showing rather than telling, Dirda draws the reader deeper into the classics, as well as lesser-known works of literature, history, and philosophy, always with an eye to what is relevant to how we might better understand our lives.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Longtime Washington Post Book World staff writer and Pulitzer-winning critic Dirda writes a guide to reading and its life lessons ranging widely and pithily through the universal themes of learning, school, work, love, childhood and spiritual guidance. Dirda's message is simple: if reading is to be life enhancing, we need to focus our attention on books that are rewarding. Dirda encourages readers to forge a subjective and intimate relationship with books. He urges readers to spend less time on brand-name authors and more time discovering the books that truly excite them, paying attention to works from the past, including the classics. With humor and pragmatism, Dirda sets forth advice for building a hypothetical guest-room library: "Ideally items should be family, cozy, browsable, above all soothing" (and include a Jane Austen novel). Throughout are eclectic snippets of writing gleaned from a lifetime's reading; Dirda draws on a notebook in which he has recorded striking quotations and passages, and his volume has the agreeable feeling of a commonplace book . Highly cultured yet never pretentious, Dirda's survey convincingly demonstrates what a wealth of life lessons—moral, emotional and aesthetic—a good library can contain. For those who enjoy books about reading, and for all those seeking to encourage others to read, Dirda's brief yet suggestive book will inspire. (May 5)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Dirda, a distinguished book critic at the Washington Post Book World, continues his campaign to educate readers. In his fourth book, this well-read, well-intentioned generalist presents a commonplace collection of excerpts from admired works gathered under topical headings. Dirda's selections are enticing, and he writes knowledgeably about diverse literary matters, but his commonplaces are in the self--improvement mode and are based on his belief that one learns invaluable lessons about life from reading. Aligning himself with such advocates of tolerance and reason as Thoreau and Isaiah Berlin, Dirda offers reflections on work and leisure, love and death. He also provides useful must-read lists fashioned in the great books tradition and spanning the literary universe from Cicero to Dr. Seuss. But when he offers advice on dental care and exercise, he loses his way. Dirda means to be philosophical in his coverage of body and soul, and some readers will appreciate his self-help approach, but this is a prescriptive catchall that dilutes Dirda's literary acumen and turns literature into something small, like a pill. Donna Seaman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.; First Edition edition (May 2, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0805078770
• ISBN-13: 978-0805078770
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.7 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,245,473 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

43 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Breezy yet Serious, May 24, 2006

By 

Jeffrey Demers - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Book by Book: Notes on Reading and Life (Hardcover)

This book is fun to read. Seemingly, it is very light reading as it is packed with lists, quotes and aphorisms. This book spoke directly to me because it is the product of Dirda's life of learning. With more and more people retreating further into escapism they are missing the joys and challenges that are possible through self improvement and life long learning. Dirda is right- who knows what book will speak to whom- so keep reading a healthy variety of books and you will be amazed. Dirda provides endless recommendations for reading.

This was my first experience with Dirda- a Washington Post book editor. I have been very pleased so far. I took more notes in this book than the books I used in college. Dirda's insights, gentle instruction and recommendation make this a memorable book (and one that I will always keep on my desk). This book will make a great gift for all readers and bibliophiles. It will also be good for those that have allowed their literary pursuits to diminish as the work is an effective call to the book life and all pleasures therein.

46 of 49 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Literary Enthusiasms, May 11, 2006

By 

Charlus "charlus" (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Book by Book: Notes on Reading and Life (Hardcover)

Another book of literary lists, interpolated with aphorisms on love, work, vacations and much else, culled from over fifty years of reading and collecting by this omnivorous Washingtom Post critic. What distinguishes this book from similar tomes is the wonderful taste, intelligence and wit Dirda brings to the enterprise. The pleasure he had in assembling his annotated lists is contagious: what to stock a guest-room library with, how to get children interested in reading, what music to take to a desert island, what are the best contemporary romantic novels, and so on. A book to browse, to debate and to take to heart.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful notes, meditations, recommendations, and leads, January 1, 2007

By 

Andrew S. Rogers (Stamford, Connecticut) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Book by Book: Notes on Reading and Life (Hardcover)

I get the impression that Michael Dirda didn't so much *write* this book as he organized and edited his collections of thoughts, favorite quotations, and recommended-readings-for-all-seasons-of-life.

Which is perfectly fine, because what he's assembled is a fine little meditation on "reading and life" that makes an accessible and inspiring way to mark my tradition of starting the new year with a book about books.

Dirda's passion for books and reading is evident, infectious, and defiant. Although I don't have children myself, I was happy to write down in my own "commonplace book" his declaration on page 73 that "Children need to read, and then to read some more. Quantity matters far more than quality," he continues, "there will be plenty of time for the classics. But when starting out, the young should be immersed in a culture of the sentence, not the screen."

The author covers a lot of ground in this thin book, discussing not only quality children's lit, but also poetry, "matters of the spirit," and more, guided by his belief in the central role reading must play in any fully-lived life. It's a refreshing and powerful affirmation -- and when combined with Dirda's informed recommendations, makes for a great way to start a new year.