Classics for Pleasure (Paperback)

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. In this casually brilliant collection of great book recommendations, Dirda, a Pulitzer Prize–winning critic for the Washington Post Book World, discusses titles ranging from well-known favorites such as Sherlock Holmes and Beowulf to more obscure writers such as Jaroslav Hasek and John Masefield. Dirda is a charming and exceedingly well-read host, erudite without slipping into pretension. He is more generous and less canonical than Harold Bloom, to whose work Dirda owes a debt in style and substance. The book creates a pleasurable but somewhat maddening sensation in the committed reader, who will be tempted to read most of Dirda's selections based on his brief summations. The complete works of Christopher Marlowe are summed up in five eventful pages, and Dirda makes Edward Gibbon's History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire sound so essential over the course of three pages that one forgets it would take the better part of a year to actually read. Dirda's greatest accomplishment, however, is rescuing many formerly illustrious masters from the dustbin of our culture's pitifully short memory: James Agee, G.K. Chesterton and Ernst Junger are just three who benefit from their inclusion in this indispensable volume. (Nov.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

The book critic for the Washington Post offers a wealth of personal takes on works of fiction, poetry, drama, and other nonfiction prose that have come to be regarded as classics and thus, he fears, are generally thought of as "difficult, esoteric, and a little boring." It is Dirda's conviction that "great books speak to us of our own very real feelings and failings, of our all-too-human daydreams and confusions," and to broadcast that sentiment widely, he supplies energetic, even exciting, 3-page essays on approximately 90 authors. He arranges his selections into nontraditional categories, from "Playful Imagination" ("the realm of every sort of laughter—wit, irony, repartee, satire, gallows humor, imaginative exuberance, the fanciful and the surreal") to "Heroes of Their Time" ("the heroes range from a slayer of monsters to striking coal miners, from Persia's greatest champion to the dirt-poor of Depression-era America"). Provides true inspiration to shut off HBO and start reading. Hooper, Brad --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Mariner Books; Reprint edition (November 10, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0156033852
• ISBN-13: 978-0156033855
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #20,199 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

47 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Expanding your horizons, October 24, 2007

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

This review is from: Classics for Pleasure (Hardcover)

Michael Dirda is the go-to man for great reading. If you want to find intensely pleasurable reading in titles you never thought to pick up, he will expertly guide you and easily convince you of what you should read next. His tastes range from the conventional classics to the unexpected gems to genre writing and titles far afield from the usual literary lists. His enthusiasms are infectious, his tastes are broad, his explanations of why the title chosen is worth your while are persuasive.

As with his previous books, Dirda is the informed cicerone through the labyrinth of literature, a dependable companion whose advice is wise, witty and informed by the love of books. Hours in his company is time well spent.

28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Classical Picaresque, December 26, 2007

By	Ken C. (MA) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

This review is from: Classics for Pleasure (Hardcover)

Meandering (at a delicious, leisurely pace) through Michael Dirda's CLASSICS FOR PLEASURE, one feels as though he is riding shotgun through a world of both well-known and unknown wonders with an expert guide. And though Michael Kinsley, in his blurb, writes, "Michael Dirda is the best-read person in America. But he doesn't rub it in," he forgets to add this: Dirda seems to fervently hope you will not only appreciate his literary expertise, but will also rise to meet it. His voice is that generous and unpretentious.

Dirda divides his mostly 2-4 page descriptions of classics you should read into these novel categories: Playful Imaginations, Heroes of Their Time, Love's Mysteries, Words from the Wise, Everyday Magic, Lives of Consequence, The Dark Side, Traveler's Tales, The Way We Live Now, Realms of Adventure, and Encyclopedic Visions. Those titles alone are like browsing colorful glossies at the travel agency. You can't wait to jump in.

In Realms of Adventure, Dirda shows his range of tastes, including writers as varied as Rudyard Kipling and Dashiell Hammett. In reviewing H. Rider Haggard's KING SOLOMON'S MINES, Dirda shares a typically fascinating piece of trivia: "He [Haggard] had reportedly boasted that he could write a better novel than Robert Louis Stevenson's TREASURE ISLAND. His brother challenged him to prove it, and KING SOLOMON'S MINES was the result." At the end of the essay on Haggard, Dirda plays coy: "Is it better than TREASURE ISLAND? As a boy I thought so, but happily there's no need to choose between them." Nevertheless, Dirda's job is done. The less well-known H. Rider Haggard's two books, KING SOLOMON'S MINES and SHE are added to the reader's (THIS reader's, anyway) already listing "To-Be-Read" pile.

Which brings me to this: Bibliophile's beware. Dirda's beguilingly delightful insights into the works of some 88 authors will literally charm you onto turf where angels formerly feared to tread ("angels" being your former reading self). In the section Encyclopedic Visions, he even makes Edward Gibbon's HISTORY OF THE DECLINE AND FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE sound tempting. Not that I'm going to go there anytime soon. First there are too many formerly unknown or forgotten shorter classics I want to visit: Jean Toomer's CANE, Edward Gorey's AMPHIGOREY, Lucian's THE TRUE HISTORY, and E.T.A. Hoffman's short stories, for starters.

Bottom line? This is a great resource to own for those of us who love to live by the oft-repeated words, "So many books, so little time." It's a problem we not only can, but love to, live with...

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Both high school and college-level holdings will find it revealing., December 2, 2007

By	Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Classics for Pleasure (Hardcover)

To many the idea of reading the classics for pleasure and as leisure choice may seem incongruous, but CLASSICS FOR PLEASURE offers a rebuttal to this notion, arguing that classics are so because people have found they withstand the tests of time. Essays from a Pulitzer prize-winning author introduce nearly ninety selected world classics from horror and adventure to children's literature and poetry, grouping them thematically and reviewing the works that have influenced literary and social traditions for generations. Both high school and college-level holdings will find it revealing.