Readings: Essays and Literary Entertainments

by Michael Dirda

Book Overview

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...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0393324893
• ISBN13: 9780393324891
• Release Date: October 2003
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Length: 232 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.3" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

A Passion For Books And Literature

The writings of Michael Dirda are a wonderful gift to anyone who loves books and literature. "Readings" is a collection of his columns from the Washington Post's "Book World" section. The contents are as varied as a well-stocked library. His learning, his wit and his breadth of his interests make this book equally inviting. Within these covers you'll find an appreciation of P.G. Wodehouse, an excursion into the literary world of New Orleans, the story of his guest membership in New York's Yale Club (and its wonderfully inviting library), a discussion of Japanese literature, ruminations on turning 50, the pleasures of book-shopping...and I haven't begun to exhaust the variety. Read this volume and understand why Francine Prose calls Dirda "a cultural treasure" and why Annie Proulx says he may "be as close to the ideal critic as we are likely to get." One cautionary word to readers of Dirda's delightful memoir published last year, "An Open Book": as he notes there, he adapted some of the autobiographical pieces from this book for that memoir. But the overall amount of overlap is small. And a second cautionary note to all: be warned that your "must read" list is likely to grow even longer once you've immersed yourself in Dirda's enthusiasms. If you cherish fine writing in its many forms, you should love this book.--William C. Hall

Pleasure in books

Dirda is a critic and editor at the Washington Post, notable for his erudition, his enthusiasm, and his wide-ranging reading--not just in respectable, "literary" fiction but in mystery and science fiction as well. It's common to make a distinction between "reviews" (ephemeral, plot-focused, intended to attract or warn off readers) and "criticism" (intellectual, in-depth, insightful, aimed at people already familiar with the works in question)--but Dirda's columns often blur this distinction in the most welcome way.Readings collects these columns, including pastiches of Wodehouse and Pepys, appreciations of comic masterpieces, articles on soft-core porn, hard-boiled thrillers, science fiction, fantasy, forgotten classics and not-quite-classics, The Tale of Genji, the obsession of bookcollecting, and much more. Reading the book felt like making a new friend: Dirda offers a delightful mix of appreciations on books I know and books I always meant to try and books I'd never even heard of. Above all, he manages to convey the heady *pleasure* of reading--that we do this, really, heretically, hedonistically, not for our greater good but because it's just plain fun.

a dangerous book

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!

a book for the incurable reader

Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Michael Dirda is one of the main reasons I read the Washington Post Book World every Sunday. In his book, "Readings: Essays and Literary Entertainments," Dirda assembles forty-six of his best essays (all of his Book World editorial columns are good) to delight the reader who, like him, is an incurable book aficionado. Although the idea of reading a book about reading books may sound a bit redundant, Dirda's exciting, humorous, wide-ranging, and engaging narrative will not lose the reader's attention. He is a scholarly bibliophile in every sense of the term, minus any pretension. His love of books is infectious, and there is no escaping Dirda's charm and wit. The chapters "The Crime of His Life," "Listening to My Father," "Mr. Wright," "Commencement Advice," "Clubland," "Turning 50," and "Bookman's Saturday" are especially good. For the reader who finds himself (or herself) swamped with reading wish-lists, tirelessly hunting for a first edition, obsessing over collecting all of a particular author's works, finding unparalleled solace in the library, and generally spending more time reading than doing anything else, this is the book for you. I have seen Mr. Dirda speak about this book on C-SPAN2's "Book TV" and on open university's "The Writing Life," and he is just as enthusiastic about reading in person as he is on paper. I highly recommend this book to everyone who loves to read.

Smart bites & bright lights

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.