Readings: Essays and Literary Entertainments [Paperback]

Michael Dirda (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 2003

"For some time now, the best book critic in America has been Michael Dirda."—Michael M. Thomas, New York Observer

Intimate, humorous, and insightful, Readings is a collection of classic essays and reviews by Michael Dirda, book critic of the Washington Post and winner of the 1993 Pulitzer Prize for criticism. From a first reading of Beckett and Faulkner at the feet of an inspirational high-school English teacher to a meeting of the P. G. Wodehouse Society, from an obsession with Nabokov's Lolita to the discovery of the Japanese epic The Tale of Genji, these essays chronicle a lifetime of literary enjoyment.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

If you have never happened upon Michael's Dirda's "Readings" column in the Washington Post Book World, yours is a sorry fate indeed. One never knows what one will find there, except that it will come filtered through the witty, unpretentious, voracious, book-besotted being that is Michael Dirda. In one column, Dirda introduces Guy Davenport, "the best literary essayist since Randall Jarrell and Cyril Connolly"; just as ardently, he reports elsewhere on a weekend convention of the P.G. Wodehouse Society. Another column finds Dirda spatting with his spouse over the preferred fate of his children's outgrown books (she says get rid of them; he hides them in the garage). Yet another column--several, actually--find him fondling and justifying the purchase of some first edition or another. Dirda writes about books he has (sort of) stolen, teachers who mattered, and an early 11th century Japanese novel (Murasaki Shikubu's The Tale of Genji). He even discusses his secret desire not to read so many books. "I sometimes think that a passion for omnivorous reading has seduced me into a lifetime of one-night stands," he says, "while the less promiscuous have managed to find a single true and more fulfilling love." For our sake, Mr. Dirda, keep up those love affairs--that passion is contagious. Those many Dirda enthusiasms, presented here in a collection of 46 "Readings" columns, will ignite fires aplenty in the curious reader's mind. --Jane Steinberg --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review

A delightful compendium of Dirda's most memorable essays revels in seven years' worth of bibliophilic passion....For any book lover who...doesn't know what to read next, Dirda will provide a lovely and genial guide. (Kirkus Reviews )

Michael Dirda may be as close to the ideal as we are likely to get. (Annie Proulx )

Michael Dirda is a superb literary essayist, and Readings should provide deep delight for discerning readers. (Harold Bloom )

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Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company (October 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393324893
• ISBN-13: 978-0393324891
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #746,850 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Smart bites & bright lights, October 17, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Readings: Essays and Literary Entertainments (Hardcover)

A bright, funny, thought-provoking collection of the best writings of the best critic of writing in America today (and one of the best writers from THE WASHINGTON POST). Organized like a good CD of rock/country/jazz anthems, Dirda's 15 minute essays range from growing up to growing old, and loving books the whole way. Unlike many critics, Dirda is no snob, and he loves books that thrilled us all at all ages, from Rex Stout to Stendhal. He's funny, self-deprecating. This book can serve as a timeless road map when you're looking for something good to read, and if you never get farther than its pages, you'll still have a great trip. If you're not luck enough to live in the D.C. metro area, now you're lucky enough to have this book to buy; if you do live in whining distance of the Capital dome, now you can buy this book and have all those Dirda clippings you cut out but can't find.

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting essays; will make you buy more books . . ., May 13, 2001

By 

Mike Christie (Austin, TX USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Readings: Essays and Literary Entertainments (Hardcover)

At age 13, Michael Dirda chanced upon Clifton Fadiman's "The Lifetime Reading Plan", a collection of short essays about a hundred great books. These days, Fadiman is regarded as middlebrow, says Dirda, but "for a young boy [it] did precisely what it intended: it made classics sound as exciting as Tarzan or Fu Manchu." Thus began a lifelong infatuation with reading and books.

"Readings" collects forty-odd essays about a book fanatic's life, all taken from the "Washington Post Book World." Dirda is a fine critic, with thoughtful and perceptive comments scattered throughout this collection. But I say book fanatic, rather than critic or reviewer or even reader, because these essays are not about literature. They *are* literature; they're reminiscences and ruminations about things bookish.

I'm a book collector, like Dirda, and I find him wonderful: precise, witty and entertaining -- but I wonder how many others, who don't suffer from book addiction, will really understand this book. If you've ever lusted to get every book by an author; or to get a first edition of your favourite book; or to collect a full set of books of some special kind (like those fifties Ace double paperbacks, with an upside down book in the back -- cool!) then you'll understand Dirda perfectly. If you don't know what I'm talking about, you may not.

However, James Herriot once said that enthusiasts are endearing but fanatics are irresistible, and I think most people will find Dirda a delightful fanatic. He is funny when he relates a diary of his Saturday (including sneaking off to a book fair and picking up several good finds), or a list of writer's secret fantasies (J.D. Salinger loves your work and invites you to visit!); he's argumentative when he asserts that Homer, Plato, Ovid and Dante are better assignments as high school reading than Kingsolver, Styron, Dorris and Tan; and he's always informative. Everything sounds so interesting when he writes about it. He makes you want to read it all -- Wodehouse, Shakespeare, even the erotic novel he found lying in a puddle at age 14.

His anecdotes are good, but readers will also find his habit of lists invaluable. I started to make notes of books I'd like to read as I went through this collection, but soon gave up -- every other essay provides a list. It's easier just to bring this book to the bookstore to refer to as you browse. One essay lists a hundred recommended comic novels; another gives the essential Wodehouse; another recommends twenty-odd children's books; and there are more: vacation reading, genre bests, an alphabet list. Between the lists and the offhand recommendations you are likely to find yourself a lot poorer when you've finished the book.

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a dangerous book, February 28, 2003

By 

audrey (white mtns) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Readings: Essays and Literary Entertainments (Hardcover)

If you carry around a list of books you must find, if you've ever hidden new (or used) books from someone who thought money could be better spent (!) on food or electricity, if you've ever fantasized about meeting your favorite authors .... you will have found a kindred spirit in Michael Dirda, book lover and essayist, who has collected 46 of his Washington Post Book World articles here for you.

Wide-ranging but never overextended, Dirda impresses me not only for his erudite commentary but because he manages to rattle off titles and lists and names without ever seeming patronizing; he discusses a multitude of literary concepts without ever being condescending; and he relates a remarkable and far-reaching knowledge without ever sounding arrogant.

Dirda is knowledgeable and funny, intelligent and affectionate, as he considers Wodehouse, maxims, criminally-bad retention, Chesterton, Irish and French novelists, children's books, vacation reading, comedic novels, Beerbohm, Oulipo, the Internet, death, genre reading, Benson's Lucia, private clubs, teachers, autobiographies and getting in shape. And he reveals some interesting information about pre-presidential Jimmy Carter!

If you love books, you will thoroughly enjoy these observations. But beware! When you are finished you will have drawn up a LONG list of books that you did not know existed but which you cannot now live without.

Stimulating. Thought-provoking. Fun. All learning should be so enjoyable!