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Every Book Its Reader: The Power of the Printed Word to Stir the World

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The announcement of a new book by Nicholas Basbanes is an occasion of joy for any devoted reader who loves reading about books. My copies of Basbanes' works are the backbone of my collection of books about books, and it is he who introduced me to the dazzling world of the "gently mad."

Since reading A Gentle Madness: Bibliophiles, Bibliomanes, and the Eternal Passion for Books, I eagerly await each installment to discover what secret corridors and closed doors he will open next. Basbanes' works act as a secret handshake that allows entry to a world any serious bibliophile longs to enter, a world devoted to the care, handling and love of the printed word.

In Every Books Its Reader, the social history of the book is explored from the perspective of the reader. Basbanes explores the meaning readers give to texts through their personal experiences, and how that experience helps connect with others. He says, "We are not only the product of what we read, we are in association with others who have read the same things."

Early I discovered 84 Charing Cross Road, a book that became a dear friend to be revisited often. Helene Hanff showed what a love of reading can truly bring to a life, the journey one can take through books with a helpful guide. Nicholas Basbanes easily fills this role. His pages resonate with quotes and stories and his love of books fairly bursts off the page. He carries the reader to a new path that leads to books, "a book casually encountered by an imaginative mind, lighting a spark that ignites a flame of creativity...."

At the start of Every Books Its Reader, Basbanes shares a story that ends "...if ever I go to Heaven I know where to find her. I shall go straight over to the corner by the bookcases." When I get there, I shall expect to find Nicholas Basbanes there, holding court.

Armchair Interviews says: IF you LOVE books, you will love this one.

I can never get my fill of Nicholas Basbanes. His love of books, libraries, and reading echo so many of my own traits, making his books treats that will bear innumberable rereadings and savorings.

Every Book Its Reader continues Basbanes' familiar theme of the continuing importance of the printed word in today's society. It expands it by focussing on studies of the libraries of eminent booklovers of the past such as Edward Gibbon and through interviews with great living writers/readers like David McCullough and Harold Bloom. Basbanes branches into fascinating discussions on the art of translation, for example, that illuminate obscure but valuable corners of the world of books.

In other words, there is a wealth of information about books and reading in Every Book Its Reader, but the most important reason to read it is its evocation of the joy of reading. Basbanes and his readers will undoubtedly echo the sentiment of May Lamberton Becker, one of his subjects in Every Book Its Reader, in saying that if we get to heaven, we will meet each other in the corner by the bookcases.

I bought and read this book because I much enjoyed Basbanes' previous trilogy, especially PATIENCE AND FORTITUDE. But compared to his trilogy, this book looks too hurried and thrown together. There has been too little care with the organization and an occasional major gaff intrudes, such as his assertion that some of Goethe's poetry was "set to music by Mozart and Bach" (p. 279). Starting with high expectations, I was disappointed.

Even so, this is a book I will keep, and probably return to, because it still has much to offer. Like his previous books, this is addressed to bibliophiles and deals with topics dear to them. In particular, it deals with readers, many of whom are famous, but some of whom are convicts and some of whom are small children. The book finds a dozen ways to emphasize the value and influence of books. The chapter on physicians and their books should appeal to every doctor on the continent.

Basbanes interviewed a good number of legendary American readers--Harold Bloom, Helen Vendler, Daniel Aaron, Robert Coles--collecting comments that will make this book of interest to common readers and fulltime scholars. Though Basbanes is too much of a gentleman to make much of it, some of these learned people come across as amusing fools, and some flatly contradict each other. Thus Basbanes provides expert testimony that books can be beloved by wildly different people because they read books differently, and because they love different books.

The only author I can compare to Basbanes is the wonderful Holbrook Jackson (an author Basbanes admires, too), because both allow their passion for books to be motive enough: they do not let themselves be distracted (at least not for long) by peeves or pieties. The personalities that guide their readers along are congenial, even affectionate, glad to have your attention and trying to repay it with every page.

Books create or mold the reader intellectually as well as creatively. The power of perception has an affect on an individual, and reinforces who people are and what they want to be. Nicholas A. Basbanes shows readers in his book, Every Book Its Reader: The Power of The Printed Word to Stir the World, that one's desires can be accomplished by exposing oneself to the reading of literature. He takes into account the lives of eminent scholars, such as David McCullough, Robert Fagles, Helen Vendler, Elaine Pagles, Daniel Aaron, Matthew Bruccoli, and many others who were inspired to interpret and translate the greatest literary works of the past, which varied from history to religion. Basbanes explores the world of the book reader, collector, and serious bibliophile.

EVERY BOOK ITS READER is not a tribute to the greatest books ever written. However, Basbanes reminds readers the effects those books have had on people. There are many highlights present within the book, but one worth mentioning was the discussion of James Joyce's serious approach to the reading and writing of FINNEGANS WAKE. Joyce exclaims that for every reader that attempts to read the text, each and every one of them should read at the same rate in which it was written in order to effectively get the gist of the semantics and sentence construction. Despite his recommendation, the book remains one of the most challenging to read.

From another perspective of the meaning and significance books have on the reader is Robert Coles's commentary about his friend and colleague, writer Walker Percy. This most likely is the theme of Basbanes's book. It may sound sentimental, but it may also ring true to those who have read an enormous book, and it has left a lasting effect. Coles states: "The other person's words and thoughts become part of yours, and connect with you, and reading is a kind of human connection" (263).

In essence, Basbanes romanticizes the effects the "great" books of the past have had on scholars. From THE ODYSSEY to THE GRAPES OF WRATH there is a longing for the past, and their presence in college literature classes may be missing. The only flaw of Basbanes discussion is the lack or minimum participation by "other" scholarly voices of world literature. Possibly space may have been a constraint? Nonetheless, his narrative becomes somewhat fractured near the conclusion of the book when he briefly lists and mentions renowned African American writers of the twentieth century, and the unique story about Malcom X.

Nevertheless, EVERY BOOK ITS READER shows readers the longevity of the printed written word. Basbanes suggests that books will never be obsolete as long as people have an interest to venture to different lands and storylines in the form of a book.

Of course I'm going to read this book, it's about books, and what diehard reader worthy of the name isn't going to fall head over heels in love with it? One caveat, though, he'd recommend an author or a book and I'd have to stop reading his book and go get theirs. For example, on the very first page of the first chapter (appropriately titled "The Magic Door"), Basbanes writes about May Lamberton Becker, a book reviewer for the Saturday Review of Literature in the last century and the author of A reader's guide book, in which Lamberton writes of a farmwife in in Pennsylvania in 1921 who writes to her as follows: "May I ask you to tell me of a few books that you have loved, that have made you sit up and just shout with delight? I am going to buy four new books this winter and I want four friends to stay by me, to read over and over." Becker prints the letter in her column and the woman is inundated with books from all over the country. And Becker's book is now on my to-read shelf.

Sometimes Basbanes is overwhelmed by his own enthusiasm and wanders off topic, but it's worth the minimal slog that results when you stumble across nuggets like the story about Abigail Adams, in England with John after the war, who receives a letter from a friend back home which informs her that son John Quincy is starting to think himself quite the intellectual. She sits down and writes this reproof to son John Quincy:

"If you are so conscious to yourself that you possess more knowledge upon some subjects than others of your standing, reflect that you have had greater opportunities of seeing the world, and obtaining a knowledge of mankind than any of your contemporaries. That you have never wanted a book but it has been supplied to you, that your whole time has been spent in the company of men of literature and science. How unpardonable would it have been in you to have been a blockhead."

You go girl. And then there is the passage from author Dorothy Thompson's review of Hitler's Mein Kampf:

"Americans can now read the text of the book that has shaken Western civilization...Let it be said that if the world is overthrown by this document and the man behind it, it is overthrown without benefit of grammar or literary style."

And then there is Thomas Hobbes starting a translation of the Greek epics because, at the age of 86, he was bored. A product of the Age of Reason, he wrote out most of the gods.

A wonderful book for anyone interested in the history of reading, writing and literature.

Some like novels,some the classics,some plays,some history,some mysteries,some poetry,some philosophy,some military,some fiction,some non-fiction,some biographies,and on and on.What readers read ,is different with just about everyone. Some even like to read 'books about books';and that is what we have here. I have read several of Nicholas A. Basbanes' books, as well as others who write these kinds of books. I would imagine ,that the more one reads, the more books like this are of interest to them.
Granted,'books about books' are usually written by very literary people who talk mainly about classics and other books that have had a great impact amongst what one thinks is the literary establishment.This includes not only writers ,critics,literary professors,publishers,booksellers,astute collectors,custodians of libraries and collections.What all these people have in common, is a love of books and reading.
That is not to say,that unless you belong to that group;this book would not be interesting to you.
Not everyone,and for that matter,only a small percent of people become avid readers. Regardless of what one likes to read,there is a lot in this book that you will find very interesting.
What do you think about the business of writing notes,comments,underlining and whatnot,in the margins of our books? Some think that is a major taboo.What does an astute bibliophile have to say about it? You will be surprised;I knowI was.I did not realize the interest in this area and there is even a name for it;"marginalia'.
What did some of the world's famous read. People like Hitler,Thomas Edison,Coleridge,Flannery O'Connor,Oliver Wendell Holmes,Robert Frost,the Wright Brothers,Marquis de Sade,and others are discussed as are their book collections and reading interests.
As you read this book ,you'll be impressed how many books some people are able to read.A good example is critic,author and educator Harold Bloom
who has been reading continually from the age of five,can sustain a pace of upward of a thousand pages an hour,more than fifteen pages a minute.A friend of his said;"There is no one in the world who has read as much and remembered as muh as Harold."When asked if his mind-boggling speed applies to works he relishes and savors ,word for word;he said "no,not at all.I don't speed-read Shakespeare,but I know it all by heart anyway,so it doesn't matter."Find out what Bloom answered when asked to choose "the one book, above all others ,that he would take with him on a forced exile.
If you are an avid reader,regardless where your interests lie,you'll love this wonderful look into the Literary World by someone who has spent a lifetime in it.

Mr. Basbanes continues his stream of seemingly unending book lore in this splendacious volume of 12 essays and approximately 40 b&w photo illustrations. I cannot envision any way that one might go wrong in purchasing this book. The previous ten reviewers provided excellent accounts of the work, so my only purpose is to add two recommendations that may be of interest to some. One, if you enjoy Basbanes' books, pick up any or all of the books about books written by Alberto Manguel. His viewpoints on books are recounted more from his personal reading experiences and provide a beautifully written counterpart to Basbanes' fine works. Two, if you really cherish books, consider a subscription to the rather lavish Fine Books & Collections magazine which has resumed its printed publication after a two-year hiatus. (Mr. Basbanes is a regular contributor.)

This is the best book I have ever read people that love books. I've read book lists, books about book collectors, books about bibliophiles, books where the author secludes himself and tackles a genre and I've never found one that made me want to buy, keep or lend it. They all failed by either being too much about the author and his own bookworm tendencies or simple superficial lists that are tiresome to read when they run book length. This book captures the common aspects of the serious readers. I grabbed this book from the 'new and notable' shelf at my library and I love it so much I'm buying it and giving it as gifts to my bookworm friends.

"Every Book its Reader"s is another book about books by Nicholas Basbanes. You may have seen the affable Basbanes on Book-TV. He is filled with arcana, anecdotes and fascinating stories of book culture. In this work he looks at the influence books have had in the human story.
We learn about such great works of literature as "Dox Quixote"; "The Communist Manifesto"; "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson "Uncle Tom's Cabin"
penned in 1852 by Harriet Beecher Stowe and countless others.
Basbanes visits Matthew Bruccoli who is the most famed collector for the works of Francis Scott Fitzgerald. Bruccoli has a massive collection of Fitzgerald pictures, belongings and first editions at the University of South Carolina. My favorite person discussed by Basbanes is the inimitable Harold Bloom who has over 25,000 books in his personal library, knows most of Shakespeare by heart and can reputedly read 1,000 pages an hour! Bloom advocates the works of DWM (Dead White Males) who stand at the apex of fiction. Other folks of interest are Daniel Aaron founder of the Library of America and physician/author Robert Coles. We meet Dr. Sherwin Nuland who has a massive medical library. We learn of efforts to bring books to impoverished children and the use of literature in working with parolees.
Basbanes visits the lives and libraries of such past bibliophies as Dr. Samuel Johnson; the Wright Brothers and Thomas Alva Ediston. He even discusses the literary interests of Adolf Hitler and devotes a chapter to religious works especially the Bible. The chapter on James Joyce and "Ulysses" was of interest.
Basbanes obviously loves reading and the people who write and read the best books. His books are good tomes to curl up with on a cold rainy evening as you learn and delight in the printed word.

Chock full of anecdotes and stories this book is beautifully written, engrossing anyone with even the slightest interest in how reading effects us. Very entertaining and thought-provoking.