Customer Reviews

Reading Life: Books for the Ages

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This interesting looking title and eye catching cover caught my eye one afternoon during a rainy retreat at the local Barnes and Noble. I quickly surveyed the pages and soon found myself reading to gauge interest. Twenty minutes passed and the book was still in my hands. A few minutes later there it sat in a rain splattered plastic Barnes and Noble bag resting on the front seat of my Sienna. This was a rare risk for me. I am not prone to spontaneous and careless purchases of books and especially one with an author and book I never knew existed. Well, I took the book home and in the next few days I found myself unable to stop turning the pages until I found the last one.

So what did Sven Birket write that so consummed me? The quick answer? Sven Birkert offered himself as dialoging partner of eleven great novels.

In "Reading Life," Sven Birkerts surveys a list of eleven great novels and how they uncovered a bevy of insights in his personal thinking and formation. Through each title Birkerts openly shares personal thoughts and recollected memories parelleling the specific novel selection such as "The Catcher in the Rye," and Knut Hamsun's "Pan." What he uncovers about his reaction and thoughts through the static print of each novel were surprisingly dynamic.

I assert that "Reading Life" is not a selection of elucidations and newer insights attempting to bring greater meaning to eleven great novels. "Reading Life" instead is a provocation to impress your own reactions, life memories, thoughts and feelings through the pages of each book in partner with Sven Birkerts through eleven great titles. "Reading Life," is an invitation to continue the dialogue. Good novel reading is always a two way street, a conversation with the author.