or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
 
 
Express Checkout with PayPhrase
What's this? | Create PayPhrase
More Buying Choices
48 used & new from $0.78

Have one to sell? Sell yours here
 
   
Book by Book: Notes on Reading and Life
 
 

Book by Book: Notes on Reading and Life (Paperback)

~ (Author) "Much of Book by Book has been gleaned from a small notebook into which I have copied striking quotations and passages from my reading..." (more)
Key Phrases: Cyril Connolly, James Joyce, Jane Austen (more...)
4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)

List Price: $14.00
Price: $11.20 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details
You Save: $2.80 (20%)
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
In Stock.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.

Only 2 left in stock--order soon (more on the way).

Want it delivered Tuesday, November 17? Choose One-Day Shipping at checkout. Details
21 new from $2.00 26 used from $0.78 1 collectible from $6.77

Formats

Amazon Price New from Used from
  Kindle Edition, May 2, 2006 $9.99 -- --
  Hardcover, May 1, 2006 -- $2.94 $0.93
  Paperback, April 30, 2007 $11.20 $2.00 $0.78

Frequently Bought Together

Book by Book: Notes on Reading and Life + Classics for Pleasure + Bound to Please: An Extraordinary One-Volume Literary Education
Price For All Three: $33.61

Show availability and shipping details

  • This item: Book by Book: Notes on Reading and Life by Michael Dirda

    In Stock.
    Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
    Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details

  • Classics for Pleasure by Michael Dirda

    In Stock.
    Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
    Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details

  • Bound to Please: An Extraordinary One-Volume Literary Education by Michael Dirda

    In Stock.
    Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
    Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details


Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

Bound to Please: An Extraordinary One-Volume Literary Education

Bound to Please: An Extraordinary One-Volume Literary Education

by Michael Dirda
4.7 out of 5 stars (7)  $12.21
Classics for Pleasure

Classics for Pleasure

by Michael Dirda
4.8 out of 5 stars (11)  $10.20
Readings: Essays and Literary Entertainments

Readings: Essays and Literary Entertainments

by Michael Dirda
4.8 out of 5 stars (14)  $11.86
An Open Book: Chapters from a Reader's Life

An Open Book: Chapters from a Reader's Life

by Michael Dirda
5.0 out of 5 stars (2)  $11.53
The Yellow-Lighted Bookshop: A Memoir, a History

The Yellow-Lighted Bookshop: A Memoir, a History

by Lewis Buzbee
4.6 out of 5 stars (31)  $11.20
Explore similar items

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. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.


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 --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

  • Paperback: 192 pages
  • Publisher: Holt Paperbacks (May 1, 2007)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0805083383
  • ISBN-13: 978-0805083385
  • Product Dimensions: 7.3 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #155,718 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

More About the Author

Michael Dirda
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Visit Amazon's Michael Dirda Page

Inside This Book (learn more)
First Sentence:
Much of Book by Book has been gleaned from a small notebook into which I have copied striking quotations and passages from my reading. Read the first page
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Cyril Connolly, James Joyce, Jane Austen, Ezra Pound, Madame Bovary, George Santayana, Gustave Flaubert, Owl Mother, Robertson Davies, Wallace Stevens, Emma Bovary, Guy Davenport, World War
New!
Concordance | Text Stats
Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Search Inside This Book:

What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

Book by Book: Notes on Reading and Life
59% buy the item featured on this page:
Book by Book: Notes on Reading and Life 4.1 out of 5 stars (15)
$11.20
Classics for Pleasure
18% buy
Classics for Pleasure 4.8 out of 5 stars (11)
$10.20
Bound to Please: An Extraordinary One-Volume Literary Education
11% buy
Bound to Please: An Extraordinary One-Volume Literary Education 4.7 out of 5 stars (7)
$12.21
An Open Book: Chapters from a Reader's Life
7% buy
An Open Book: Chapters from a Reader's Life 5.0 out of 5 stars (2)
$11.53

Tags Customers Associate with This Product

 (What's this?)
Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
 

Your tags: Add your first tag
 

 

Customer Reviews

15 Reviews
5 star:
 (7)
4 star:
 (6)
3 star:    (0)
2 star:
 (1)
1 star:
 (1)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.1 out of 5 stars (15 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
40 of 41 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Breezy yet Serious, May 24, 2006
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.
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
44 of 47 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
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.
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
14 of 14 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 (Seattle, Washington) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)      
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.
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)


Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
 
Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Sparkling mind
A deeply thoughtful, inspiring book. Dirda's knowledge is not only vast, but insightful and his prose is terrific.
Published 13 months ago by Lauren B. Davis

5.0 out of 5 stars A worthy read
Page 120: In fact, the rapport between a reader and his or her book is almost like that between lovers. Read more
Published 13 months ago by Teh Ai Lee

1.0 out of 5 stars Very Disappointed
The book is not what I was expecting. It is just a collection of quotes not a literary guide to reading. Very disappointed....
Published 17 months ago by S. Cremona

4.0 out of 5 stars A Professional Reader's Sage Advice
This is not a "Dummy's Guide to Becoming Erudite." "Book by Book" is a goulash of recommendations, opinions, quotations and other gems of literary, visual and musical arts Dirda... Read more
Published 21 months ago by J. A. Geary

2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing
I bought this book based on the reviews and was totally disappointed by the writing as well as the content.
Published 23 months ago by Mad4books

4.0 out of 5 stars four and 1/2 stars.
this was my first look at the words of michael dirda, and i liked what i saw. this book did about everything that one of its kind could be asked of. Read more
Published on August 26, 2007 by fluffy, the human being.

5.0 out of 5 stars Exploration of books and life
Professional reviewer and columnist for the Washington Post Book World, Michael Dirda has, "Set down some of what I've learned about life from my reading. Read more
Published on August 9, 2007 by Reading my way thru life

4.0 out of 5 stars Literary Self-help manual
Probably the leading book critic in the US, Michael Dirda's long experience with reading is essentially summarised in this little volume. Read more
Published on May 21, 2007 by Stephen A. Haines

4.0 out of 5 stars A Book by a Book Lover for Book Lovers
Michael Dirda's "Book by Book" is an interesting, breezy book about books. The author lays out his purpose in writing this book in the preface: "We turn to books in the hope of... Read more
Published on March 30, 2007 by Jay Young

5.0 out of 5 stars Dirda celebrates the reading life
The factual data and anecdotes in this book are sublime in their instruction and a boon to introspection. I have become an instant fan of Michael Dirda. Read more
Published on January 9, 2007 by C. J. Taylor

Only search this product's reviews



Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 


Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
Search all Amazon discussions
   



So You'd Like to...


Create a guide

Product Information from the Amapedia Community

Beta (What's this?)


Look for Similar Items by Category


Look for Similar Items by Subject

 

Feedback

If you need help or have a question for Customer Service, contact us.
 Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
Is there any other feedback you would like to provide?

Your comments can help make our site better for everyone.


Your Recent History

 (What's this?)

After viewing product detail pages or search results, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in.