The Year of Reading Dangerously: How Fifty Great Books Saved My Life

by Andy Miller

Excellent Book

Genres: Nonfiction, Books About Books, Memoir, Biography, Audiobook, Humor, Literature

Hardcover

First published April 1, 2012

About the author

I believe books represent the best that human beings are capable of; if anything, books are superior to the human beings who create them. I hope that eventually books will become sentient and rise up like some robot army to eliminate their frail human masters. I see the e-book as the crucial first step toward that goal.

I am the author of the following:

* The Year of Reading Dangerously: How Fifty Great Books (and Two Not-So-Great Ones) Saved My Life (Fourth Estate)

* 33 1/3: The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society (Continuum)

* Tilting at Windmills: How I Tried to Stop Worrying and Love Sport (Penguin)

In addition I have edited a lot of books by other people [full list to follow]. I have also written stuff for the Times, the Telegraph, the Guardian, the Independent, Esquire, Mojo, Loops, The Second Pass and more.

I live in Kent, where I am being held against my will.

Please note, I am not any of the following Andy Millers:

Andrew Miller, bestselling novelist, winner of the IMPAC and Costa awards, author of Pure, Ingenious Pain, Oxygen, etc. etc.

Andy Miller, poet, winner of the Yeovil Literary Prize for poetry, author of While Giants Sleep

Andy Miller, television script writer and actor, author of Friday Night Lights

A.D. Miller, novelist, author of Booker-shortlisted thriller Snowdrops, whose Christian name is Andrew

Andrew Miller, pitcher for the Boston Red Sox, whatever that is

Andy Miller, guitarist in Britpop band Dodgy, co-author of ‘Staying Out For The Summer’

Andrew Miller, Labour M.P. for Ellesmere Port and Neston

Andrea Miller, founder of Brooklyn’s Gallim Dance company

‘Andy Miller’, concert pianist played by Gene Kelly in Jacques Demy’s 1967 film musical Les Demoiselles de Rochefort

The Andy Miller on Facebook who counts “Women bringing me sandwiches” amongst his activities and interests. I am not on Facebook. I make my own sandwiches.

Other Andy Millers are available.

Reviews

[Paul Bryant · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is not in any way a discussion of the novels Andy read, this is wiffling and wittering about the novels Andy read. Also, they didn't save his life. I mean, he wasn't ill or dangling from somewhere high. He wasn't in intensive care & someone rushed in a copy of Beloved. But sometimes it's true that he gets hold of a funny idea – like that there are many strong points of similarity between The Da Vinci Code and Moby Dick :

- Quest – one for a whale, one for a grail
- Infodumps by the kilogram
- Unnatural dialogue
- Obsession with symbols and symbolism
- Both authors attempted to make careers as singer-songwriters*
- Both books were hated I mean hated by the critics – Moby had to be rediscovered 50 years after it was published

*except for Herman Melville, he didn’t do that

So yes, this is another account of My Year of Reading (which we all could do and (actually) a lot of us do do here on this very site); and another by a very British middle class type which coming hard on the heels of Nick Hornby (The Complete Polysyllabic Spree) was probably one British middle class guy too many, especially when Andy discourses unwinningly about his upbringing and all the nostalgic bollocks. Ah, where are the Silver Surfers of yesteryear? Gone, grasshopper, now part of the mulch of filthy time itself. Also I’d have done happily without the winsome blether about the wife & kid but then I have a heart of flint.

I always like it when people who are earnestly slogging through classics & think they have a bounden duty to understand, grok & love to bits each one of the smooshy volumes and annoyingly mostly do too (oh Anna Karenina, you shniggypotamus, you) but then smack their frontal lobes hard on something they utterly detest – for Andy this would be Pride & Predge and 100 Years of Solitude . The latter I loved, so ha ha Andy. However he loved stuff I hated so we’re even.

The best chapter is a filleting of the abominable institution of the Book Club – I too have tried a couple of those things and came to similar shamefilled conclusions one of which is

the only people worth talking to are those who completely agree with every nuance of my opinion on every single book

so that would be like nobody then.

MEMO TO SELF

No more autobiographical coming of age shite ever again
Also no more reading about somebody else reading for a long while.

There’s a blurb on the front of this : “Like nothing else I have ever read” – Observer.
Oh my God – I have read seven books like this one! But no more!

[BookHunter M ُH َM َD · Rating 2 out of 5]

أفضل ما في الكتاب المقدمة. و مع أني أحب الكتب التي تتحدث عن الكتب إلا أن آفة هذا الكتاب أن الكاتب تحدث عن نفسه أكثر بكثير جدا مما تحدث عن الكتب. فكرته أن الكاتب ألزم نفسه بقراءة كتاب كل أسبوع لمدة سنة كاملة و راح يقص علينا ظروف قراءة هذه الكتب. ما كنت أتوقعه أن أجد انطباعات عن هذه الكتب – فكرتها الأساسية – نبذة عن المحتوى – مدى رضاه عن الكتاب – لماذا اختاره من الأساس و ما هو تقييمه بصفة عامة. إلا أنه راح يتحدث عن عمله و زوجته و ابنه و تفاصيل حياته و بالمرة يلقى كلمة هنا أو هناك عن الكتاب الذي يقرأه. بالرغم من أسلوبه الممتع إلا أنه لم يكن عند مستوى التطلعات. و برغم هجومه على دان براون و اعتبار أن كتبه هي للتسلية فقط في القطارات فقد جاء هذا الكتاب مناسب أكثر لتلك القطارات.
الكلام ممتع و لذيذ لأنه عن الكتب و ظروف القراءة أو تأجيل مشاريع قراءة لأسباب واهية و عن عمر ضاع في السودوكو و برامج التوك شو بلا أي مردود حقيقي
كل هذا جميل و لكن بعد انهاء الفصلين الأولين عن المعلم و مرجريتا و عن ميدل مارش لم أعرف شيئا عن الكتابين تقريبا و لم يكن لدي أي سبب يجعلني أقرأهما الا ورد اسميهما هنا
الأمر الأخر ان اختياراته للكتب و ان لم يكتب معايير هذا الاختيار فقد وضح فيه عنصرية واضحة لأنه اختار كل الكتب من أمريكا أوروبا و تحديدا من الدول الكبرى و كتاب واحد لماركيز مستبعدا طيف واسع من العالم يضم كتاب و أدباء من الوزن الثقيل. بالطبع هو حر في اختياراته و لكن خطته كانت قراءة كلاسيكيات الكتب و الأعمال العظيمة و هذا هو فقط ما رآه عظيما.
رغم المقارنة الظريفة الا انها لم تقرب أيا من الكتابين لذهن القارئ و رغم أنى فهمت منها أن شيفرة دافنشي كتاب تجاري و سيء الا أنها فشلت في اعطائي انطباع ما عن موبي ديك
أكثر كتاب استفاض في شرحه هو كتاب مصور للأطفال قراه فقط لاستعادة ذكريات و مشاعر الطفولة.
الكتاب في النهاية قد يكون صديق جيد لإضاعة وقت رحلة طويلة أو فاصل بين الكتب الثقيلة و لكنه مخيب للآمال أن تقرأ كتاب يضم بين دفتيه عشرات العناوين لكتب عظيمه دون أن تخرج منه بانطباع عن أيا منها.

[فهد الفهد · Rating 3 out of 5]

سنة القراءة الخطرة

يقرر آندي ميلر المشغول جداً بحياته وطفله أن يقرأ خمسين كتاباً في عام، هذه هي الفكرة التي بنى عليها كتابه هذا، هذا القرار الخطير الذي يقدمه لنا ميلر بفخر ليس إلا الحياة العادية لأغلب قراء القودريدز النشيطين، قراءة خمسين كتاب!! يا حليلك يا ميلر!! الكتاب قد يكون مفيداً لغير القراء أو الكسالى منهم، على أي حال لا يخلو من لمسات لطيفة، ولا تتوقعوا تحليلاً للكتب التي قرأها ميلر.

[Mohamed Shady · Rating 4 out of 5]

يأتي هذا الكتاب كخدعة كبيرة؛ ليست القراءة ما يتحدث عنه "آندي ميلر"، هذه مواقف عاشها قد تكون، وقد لا تكون، متصلة بالقراءة والكتب، لكنها تظل جميلة وتحمل خفة ظل كبيرة.
الكثير من اختيارات "آندي ميلر" لم تفاجئني، هناك مكان للكلاسيكيات بالطبع، وهي الكلاسيكيات المعروفة والتي يبدو أن العالم بأكمله قرأها عداى، غير أني لم أهتم كثيرًا بهذا.
من الجيد دائمًا أن تقرأ عن الكتب من كاتب مخضرم، عاشق للكتب، لأن هذا يتيح لنا أن نقرأ عن أنفسنا كلمات لم نستطع نحن كتابتها.

[Tami Zaabi · Rating 3 out of 5]

||-

كتاب لطيف، مضحك جداً، يقرر فيه آندي ميلر أن يقرأ 50 كتاب خلال سنة واحدة، هذا القرار الذي اتُخذ بصعوبة نُفذ بصعوبة أكبر، لأن ميلر يعتقد بأنّه شديد الانشغال فهو رجل متزوج وله ابن ويملك وظيفة ويعيش خـارج مركز لندن. على كل حال، الكتاب يوضح كيف يمكن للكتب أن تغيّر حياة المرء، ويؤكد أن بإمكان أي شخص مهما كانت ظروفه وشدّة انشغاله إن أراد أن يقرأ سيخلق وقتاً للقراءة .

من الممتع قراءة تجربة شخص في القراءة، أعتقد أن هذا ما نفعله جميعنا في الجودريدز نشارك تجاربنا مع الآخرين، وميلر كتب هذا الكتاب بناءً على تجربته الشخصية بصورة عبقرية ولطيفة وعفويّة أيضاً .

تمّت

[هدى يحيى · Rating 1 out of 5]

كاتب لا يجيد للكتابة
ومترجم لا يجيد الترجمة
هذا هو الكتاب باختصار

نسخة معيبة تسيء إلى دار النشر
اهمال واضح في مراجعة الكتاب
وأخطاء املائية ونحوية بالجملة

[عبدالرحمن عقاب · Rating 4 out of 5]

يمكنني القول بعد هذا الكتاب- وهو الثالث الذي أقرؤه للمترجم نفسه- أنّ اسم (محمد الضبع) على كتاب هو ‏ضمانةٌ مؤكدة على جودة محتواه أولًا، ثمّ على جودة الترجمة. ‏
بعد انقطاعٍ لسنوات عن القراءة، والكذب بشأنِ الكتب، يعود (آندي ميلر) للكتب، ويقرأ 52 كتابًا في عام، فيما ‏اسماه (قائمة الإصلاح). هذا الكتاب هو قصّته الشخصية في هذا العام، ابتداءً من لمعان الفكرة في ذهن (ميلر) ‏وانتهاءً بقراره التفرّغ لكتابة كتابه. ‏
من يحبّ الكتب والقراءة (ويفرّق ميلر بينهما) سيحبّ هذا الكتاب، رغم غرابة كثيرٍ من الأسماء على القارئ ‏العربي. لأنّها من الأعمال الكلاسيكية الانجليزية والروسية وغيرها. فيه حديثٌ ممتع ومتشعّب عن الكتب ‏والكتّاب والقراءة. ‏
وأمّا أسلوب (ميلر) والذي يتضّح من الصفحات الأولى فأسلوب لذيذ ممتع، سلس ومليء بالسخرية والفكاهة، ‏يدعمه الحديث عن الذات والعائلة مما يجعله أكثر حميمية وحيوية في ذهن قارئه. لا تتمالك في بعض المقاطع ‏إلا أن تضحك، وفي غالبها لا تكفّ عن الابتسام.‏
ملاحظاتي السلبية على الكتاب :‏
‏-فصلٌ واحد في الكتاب كان ثقيلاً ومزعجًا، وغريبًا عن جوّ الكتاب ككلّ.‏
‏-بعض التكرار هنا وهناك. ‏
‏-التعريض الكثير والمتكرّر بكاتبٍ أحبّه (هو دان براون)، فما بين السطور تجاوز مجرد النقد الأدبي، واختلاف ‏الذوق. رغم نفي الكاتب لذلك. ‏
‏-أخطاء إملائية وقليل من الأخطاء النحوية، أتمنى أن يتمّ تداركها في الطبعة التالية.‏
شكرًا (آندي ميلر) لجمال الكتابة! وألف شكر ل(محمد الضبع) لجمال الاختيار! وألف ألف شكر لصديقي (محمد ‏صلاح) الذي أهداني الكتاب. ‏

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a reading memoir by Andy Miller of Backlisted podcast fame. I love listening to him on the podcast, so I was pretty sure I would enjoy walking through some books, known and unknown, with him.

At the outset, he talked about how he had accumulated books before embarking on his plan to make a “betterment list” and how often he had acquired books he had sometimes claimed to have read (because he felt he should have), but in reality never did.

“I saw I had got it wrong. I had confused “art” with “shopping.” he said. I laughed and I knew I would be in for the ride, wherever it took me. It took me through the streets of London, to a Charles Dickens fair in Broadstairs, and through Andy’s everyday life. This was far more about Andy's experiences than the books he had read, themselves. I enjoyed that…because, as I have already mentioned, I already like Andy.

Some of the books he chose for his fifty were ones I had read; some are on my TBR, waiting; others were total unknowns to me. A few were my own favorites or most hated, and it was so interesting to see his reactions correspond or deviate from my own.

The chapter that compares Moby-Dick or, the Whale to The Da Vinci Code is hilarious and, at the same time, somewhat sad. It says a lot about the rest of us that Dan Brown got fame and fortune and Herman Melville was long dead before his genius was recognized. I also enjoyed his thoughts on Leo Tolstoy and the challenge of trying to read War and peace while raising a baby.

Like everyone on Goodreads, I have my own list of books I have to get to. This was one of them, consider it done.

[Alissa Patrick · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF @ 131 pages.

As a huge bookworm, I have zero patience for book/author shamers- aka judging someone for liking certain book genres or authors. There are genres and authors that I personally don't like. What would give ME the right to judge you if you happen to like an author that I hate? There are so many different books that it seems ridiculous to all like the same thing!!

There are a few authors that come to mind that seem to be in Author Shaming category; if you like their books then there just MUST be something wrong with you!! Off the top of my head, I can think of Stephenie Meyer, EL James, Nicholas Sparks, James Patterson, etc. Some of these authors I cannot stand, but that's ok. If YOU like them, great!!! Books are supposed to be enjoyable, and we all can't like the same ones!!

The author I want to mention that would also fit this category is Dan Brown. It is the discussion of Dan Brown and the DaVinci Code is why I stopped reading this book. The author of this book wrote it to discuss books that changed his life and made him a better person. I know it says right in the title "And Two Not So Great Ones", so I was expecting him to talk about the ones that did nothing for him, What I didn't expect was the entire chapter about Dan Brown and what a completely POS Davinci Code was. He also goes on to judge people who devoured this book but yet have never read Moby Dick.

Well la dee dah, Mr Miller. And a Big F U. You know what? I flipping loved DaVinci Code and I don't care who knows it. I haven't read it in years but your stinker of a book makes me want to read it again. I KNOW it was cheesy. I KNOW it was historically inaccurate. I KNOW I will go to Hell for liking this book (as I was told when I went to go see the awful movie seeing the worst haircut Tom Hanks has ever had).

And you know what? I've never read Moby Dick and I can honestly say I never will. I have zero interest in it, and I don't care if it's the best book ever. I am not a lesser person for liking DaVinci Code. Books are an escape from the bullshit that is life, and excuse ME for your book snobbery, kind sir. So I will not be finishing your book.

[Holly · Rating 1 out of 5]

One star because I found the prose routine while the tone was often glib. Miller is pretentious but without the erudition to back up the pretentiousness. His take on bookclubs was mildly interesting, although his stance as the only real reader in the group was offputting (the three psychotherapists in the group didn't like/understand his book choice). With regard to the content: Miller didn't explore his reading process deeply enough to satisfy me; and he appeared to be a lazy reader (how can someone still say those things about Middlemarch?); many of his book-choices were unappealing to me (but that's okay); and there is much more about his personal life than his reading (put this in the gimmicky stunt for a memoir-category). It's also mistitled: it's pretty safe rather than dangerous, and the author's life was not under actual or existential threat.

Some recent books in this vein that are more insightful about reading and that I enjoyed are Jenny Davidson's Reading Style: A Life in Sentences, Phyllis Rose's The Shelf and Wendy Lesser's Why I Read.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is no secret that I am a fan of books about books; I especially enjoy a bookish memoir. The idea of reading and learning about someone’s bookish life is fascinating to me. Let’s be honest, I blog about books because I think I have an interesting bookish journey to talk about and I want to capture that for posterity sake. I would love to learn how to write a bookish memoir, so I read anything I can get my hands on. I have even written a post asking for recommendations for books about books and I am always on the look out for more.

I am not sure how I discovered Andy Miller’s memoir The Year of Reading Dangerously: How Fifty Great Books Saved My Life but I do remember being really excited about it. I ordered the book and it sat on my shelf for a little too long. With a holiday to America planned, I packed the book in my suitcase and was determined to read it. Turned out Simon Savidge from Savidge Reads started talking about this book about the same time and now I look like I was just following him in an effort to be as cool as he is.

Andy Miller worked as an editor at the time of writing this book (I assume he still does) and found himself only reading for work. On impulse he picked up a copy of The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov and something just clicked for him. He set out to read ten books, which he called The List of Betterment, which consisted of books he has once lied about reading or felt he should read. This list obviously expanded over the course of the year but it was his starting point into rediscovering a passion for reading.

My discovery for reading was not unlike Andy Miller’s except mine involved Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, the 1001 Books Before You Must Read Before You Die list and it wasn’t a lost passion. I loved this book, I was so happy to read about all the awesome books Miller was reading in the course of the year. While this memoir is not healthy for my TBR and judging by Andy Miller’s glowing praises for Absolute Beginners by Colin MacInnes, I really need to get onto this novel first.

My only problem with this memoir is that Miller didn’t spend enough time talking about my favourite novels, like Frankenstein by Mary Shelley and Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky. Iwas happy to see that The List of Betterment not only includes canon but also involves books like The Essential Silver Surfer Vol. 1 by Stan Lee. It is just good to see a memoir that doesn’t just involve highbrow literature. He even considered calling this book How Fifty Great Books (and Two Not-So-Great Ones) Saved My Life referring to Dan Brown.

There is so much to talk about within this memoir, especially when talking about the fifty books mentioned in the book. I’m hoping that I can find some more great bookish memoirs to follow this one. The Year of Reading Dangerously is essentially a book about connecting with great books and the positive effects reading has on a reader. I highly recommend the book and I hope the Andy Miller will write a follow up about his continuing bookish journey.

This review originally appeared on my blog: http://www.knowledgelost.org/book-rev...

[غيث الحوسني · Rating 3 out of 5]

طالما كنا نهرب من قراءة بعض الأعمال الهامة دون أسباب واضحة أو منطقية، وأحيانا أخرى تضعنا الظروف في مواقف محرجة، إذ من المستحيل أن ننكر قراءة عمل مهم كالجريمة والعقاب ونحن لم نقرأ صفحة منه أصلا حفاظا على البرستيج، لقد استمتعت بقراءة هذا الكتاب المجنون، توقفت أحيانا مستسلما لنوبات الضحك، وأحيانا كثيرة كنت أظنه يعنيني فأخجل من نفسي.

اعجبتني فكرة إنشاء قائمة من ٥١ كتابا اطلق عليها الكاتب بقائمة الإصلاح، كتب من أجمل ما خطة الإنسان في مختلف العصور، إلا أنه -الكاتب- كان ثرثاراً في مواضع عدة تسببت بتصدع الفكرة إلى درجة قد تظن أن هذا الكتاب جاد فعلا؟ أم كتب لأجل السخرية وحسب!

[Erica]

I was halfway through "Books Three to Five" and the amount of dread and boredom I felt while re-reading the same paragraph over and over started growing exponentially.
The author takes some time to explain that this is not a book of book reviews or literary criticism, it's how the Shelf/List of Betterment books he read for his be-a-better-reader/person project changed him, helped him grow, made him stop lying about books he'd read but hadn't really, etc.
And I just didn't care. I didn't agree with his thoughts, I didn't disagree, I didn't even pay attention because I was not interested. It was like listening to someone who thinks he's pretty cool pontificate on how he reached his absurd levels of coolness and I was just...meh.
So I gave up and returned it and I love that I'm doing that more and more often because it clears up so much space on my To Read list; I get to the next thing so much more quickly!

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Popsugar Challenge 2020 - A book about a book club

I wasn't sure how I'd feel about this as essentially its a non fiction about a guy reading fiction and i wasnt sure that this would be something I'd enjoy in book format but i did.

Andy has a List of Betterment, 50 books (pretty much all classics apart from one Dan Brown) and he reads dangerously for one year, joins a book club, ropes his wife into reading War and Peace and starts a blog.

There's a warning in the beginning that this book contains spoilers however at this point in the game most people know what classic titles are about so I don't think you need to be too cautious of that.

I really love booktube, book blogs, bookstagram, anything bookish really and this felt really similar and had me hopping over to add books to my wish list constantly and maybe one day soon I'll compile my own list of betterment!

Thanks for all the recommendations Andy!

[Emma · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love to read. I'm betting you do too, or you wouldn't be here. Second only to the pleasure of reading for yourself, is reading what somebody else thinks about reading. The foundation of Goodreads is precisely this premise, so i know i'm not alone in this. Which is why books like these always pique my interest. A whole book telling me what someone thinks about other books. Brilliant.

Despite the rather overdramatic and irrelevant title, this is quite a funny book. It is part autobiography, part lecture. Miller is an editor and, as such, accords himself with the authority to discuss books 'properly', sometimes getting a bit uppity about those of us who dare to review books without the requisite knowledge or training.

But in the Internet age, where comment is free and everyone is entitle to a wrong opinion, blockheads write zealously, copiously and for nothing.

Still, if anything, this work suggests editors are no more able to be 'right' about books than anyone else. That is the beauty of them. Whatever you think about a novel, to someone else, you will be wrong. You didn't understand it, you didn't 'see' the underlying themes, you missed the point...etc etc. For some, this will not stand! They must defend their favourite book/author to the death.

For me, this is exactly why I read reviews. Not just to find people who agree with me, but to see why people don't. It is the differences in our understanding that are the most interesting. I may disagree but i'm not going to curse your eternal line for daring to opine something individual. Because what you say about books, what you read, why, how, when: all of these things tell me more about you than about the book. Sure, I could read your profile and see the 'facts' you've put there, but I would bet that perusing your reading list and your reviews would better explain just what kind of person you are. What things are important to you. How you see the world. What you think about love/friendship/politics/faith. All these things are hidden in our relationship with books, and how we describe them to others.

Two parts, in particular, stood out for me in this book.

Firstly, that Miller's 'List of Betterment' reflects an attitude towards literature that most of us would recognise. Whether it's the 'new bestseller' or the classic 'i can't believe you haven't read ___', there is an ever growing list of BOOKS WE SHOULD READ. Yet there is no answer about whether we really should, or why. Miller certainly doesn't have the answer.

Secondly, the section on booksellers. For me, it was spot on.

Quote from Orwell: A bookseller has to tell lies about books, and that gives him a distaste for them'.

If you love books more than you love selling them, then eventually that discrepancy will get the better of you.

This feeds directly in to BOOKS WE SHOULD READ by adding BOOKS WE SHOULD SELL. When bookselling changed from recommending books I thought people would love, to selling books that needed to be sold, or were popular, or were on promotion, that was when I was gone.
"Because you've spent over £10 today, would you like this book for £3.49 that your other purchases suggest you probably have no interest in and weren't planning to buy?"
Too many lies. I find the refreshingly honest (for the most part) reviews from 'blockheads' on the internet much more palatable than the faux enthusiasm of someone who wants to sell me something.

Let me leave you with my favourite line from the whole book:

Is it wrong to prefer books to people?
Not at Christmas.

Now ain't that the truth.

[نبال قندس · Rating 4 out of 5]

النجمة الرابعة لأن الكاتب خفيف دم وضحكني كذا مرة

[Ilze Folkmane · Rating 1 out of 5]

A working father whose life no longer feels like his own discovers the transforming powers of great (and downright terrible) literature in this laugh-out-loud memoir.

It is a truth university acknowledged that advertising is a tricky thing, perhaps especially when it comes to selling books. Publishers have to entice readers to buy their books, but at the same time they have to retain some semblance of honesty. The sentence above illustrates how such tricky advertising can be done. On some level it implies that the main character has been very distant from literature. Judging by a couple of reviews that I’ve read about this book, I was not the only person who was very surprised to find out that the author of the book, who is simultaneously the main character, actually had parents who read a lot and took him to library a lot, studied English lit at university and works as a book editor. But I guess that tag line A book editor who has problems adjusting to middle-aged family life remembers that reading can be fun in a vaguely amusing book does not sell as well.

Thus, in the interest of honesty, I must say that The Year of Dangerously bugged me from the get-go, and not only because of the aforementioned problem. I did not understand Miller’s style or, more precisely, the footnotes after every second sentence. I thought that footnotes are for expressing interesting comments and facts not directly related to the paragraph or chapter itself, but Miller just uses them randomly, even though sometimes the footnote text could easily fit in the chapter itself. Besides, the whole book is so whiny, condescending and pretentious – yes, of course, first world people have problems, too, but Miller somehow manages to convey them in an incredibly displeasing and alienating way, while being offensive at the same time. For example, he claims that people tend to be negative towards the book clubs because most of the participants are female, so book clubs are seen as ‘intellectually feeble’. Miller sort of distances himself from this opinion. Sort of. Not really. He also writes that that’s the trouble with stereotypes: they are not wholly disconnected from the truth and starts the paragraph with the statement that he has been fortunate to have stumbled upon a mixed group. Because, God forbid, that he should discuss books with, gasp, women!!! At one point Miller goes as far as saying that most men do not love reading books (which might be true, what do I know), but those who do are mostly myopic, weak-chested or lame. The he goes and singles his wife out as lucky because she managed to find him, a book lover who is none of those things. Oh, the joy!

Perhaps I just wrote this just because Miller was so negative towards e-books. Miller proclaims that if you like reading, this [Kindle] is the object, unbeknownst to you, you have been waiting for; but if you love reading as I do, you may struggle to comprehend what all the fuss is about. I love reading and I am a huge fan of actual, physical books, but I still consider Kindle to be the best thing I have ever bought – it gives me an opportunity to read and discover so much more. So Miller’s statement seems belittling, snobbish and, hey, look, my favourite word in this review, pretentious. It is not for Miller to say who loves books more. I know that it is not exactly what he says, but it seems heavily implied, and that’s just something that I can’t get over.

I think that recently I’ve started to write extremely negative reviews just to get rid of all the bile that has accumulated in me, but I just can’t help myself. I am happy for Miller – he managed to find joy in something that seemed to be long forgotten by him. It helped him to change his life a bit (though, the cover say – completely). I went in expecting to have an expedition through literature (also said on the cover), but ended up having a course in Andy Miller. It’s simply not what I wanted.

[Nigeyb · Rating 4 out of 5]

The premise behind The Year of Reading Dangerously: How Fifty Great Books (and Two Not-So-Great Ones) Saved My Life is that Andy Miller, a writer, editor, former bookseller, and latterly the co-presenter of the wonderful Backlisted Podcast, concluded that he should return to reading notable books, having got out of the habit. He created what he dubbed A List of Betterment and soon his commute was taken up with reading. His List of Betterment started with 12 books but, having knocked them off in three months, he increased it to 50.

If you like books and reading you are pretty much guaranteed to enjoy The Year of Reading Dangerously: How Fifty Great Books (and Two Not-So-Great Ones) Saved My Life. It's part literary criticism, part memoir, part musings on reading trends and modern life, and mostly entertaining and interesting.

The parts that grabbed my attention the most were those books we'd both read - a pleasingly high percentage. When we agreed on a book, it was better still. Isn't our taste impeccable? And this despite Andy's inexplicable and callous dismissal of two classic books by W. Somerset Maugham.

4/5

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

“What makes a great book? That depends both on the book and the operator...we must acknowledge that greatness recalibrates itself from person to person and book to book.” Miller’s bibliomemoir includes a very odd selection of books, some of them obviously canonical Great Books, but also a lot of male, cult books (one on Kraut rock, Bukowski, etc.) or lefty stuff. I didn’t really have enough in common with him in terms of literary taste to sustain my interest.

However, I loved his section on Iris Murdoch’s The Sea, The Sea and its protagonist’s dreadful hodgepodge meals, his scorn for magic realism is amusing, and the chapter comparing and contrasting Moby-Dick and The Da Vinci Code (the not-so-great book of the subtitle) is absolutely hilarious. This book was adapted from a blog and yet is too unstructured; it leaps around in time and doesn’t stick to the reading schedule. In fact, in total Miller only discusses half of the books from the List of Betterment in any detail; the other 25 are only mentioned in passing, or appear on the appendix’s full list. I have a feeling I would have preferred reading this as a blog.

Usually I’m the first to validate bibliotherapy, but I felt the book’s title and subtitle were overblown. Miller was a bookseller and then a London book editor, commuting in each morning from Kent. In essence, what he did was start reading a bit more on his train rides, and eventually (though outside the one-year time frame, I suspect) worked up his courage to go freelance. Did these particular 50 books really ‘save his life’? I’m not sure one can say that of any set of books.

Nicest passage: “When we find a painting or a novel or a musical we love, we are briefly connected to the best that human beings are capable of, in ourselves and others, and we are reminded that our path through the world must intersect with others. Whether we like it or not, we are not alone.”

Nicest one-liner: “So this is the way the List of Betterment ends, not with a bang but with a Wooster.” (Code of the Woosters by P.G. Wodehouse, that is.)

[It was reassuring to see that Miller very nearly abandoned Of Human Bondage, a novel I’ve been too daunted to try even though it’s on the School of Life bibliotherapists’ list of “Books to read in your 30s.” He doesn’t think much of Somerset Maugham in general, but believes this one especially was bloated by several hundred unnecessary pages.]

Related reading: Two bibliomemoirs I preferred this year were My Life in Middlemarch by Rebecca Mead and How to Be a Heroine by Samantha Ellis.

[Nada Elshabrawy · Rating 4 out of 5]

جميل جدا
اختيارات الكاتب مش الأكثر عبقرية و لكن حديثه عن الكتب ممتع و شيق.

[Becky · Rating 1 out of 5]

Meh. I knew I was in trouble when the introduction bored and annoyed me with the author's desperate attempts to seem witty and clever, both regarding the conceptual-but-ultimately-rejected titles for this book, and all of the Not-Andy-Miller people that he is not, but I decided to continue... Now I'm sorry I bothered.

Disclaimer: I did not listen to the entire book. I skipped the chapters/sections pertaining to books that I intend to read (eventually) and did not want spoiled. If I had never heard of the book, or have no intention of reading it, which was admittedly a large majority of the book, I went ahead and listened.

So, I contemplated DNF'ing this in the introduction, then again in Chapter 2, when he did the really atrocious impersonation of Arnold Schwarzenegger, and then AGAIN in Chapter 3, wherein there's this:

"So one of us goes to work in London, sometimes two of us. If it's me, I make sure I have enough time to eat breakfast, which is the same breakfast I eat every day except Sunday. Half a grapefruit, a glass of orange juice from a carton, a slice of whole meal toast and marmite, and a mug of strong black coffee, brewed in a one-person cafetiere. On Sundays, I have good coffee, warm croissants, and strawberry jam. [...]
*Footnote: In the interests of full Patrick Bateman-like disclosure, here are the brands which make up this breakfast. Grapefruit - Jaffa(?), pink, organic. Orange juice - Grove Fresh Pure, organic. Bread - Kingsmeal, whole meal, medium sliced. [Continues for ALL ingredients.]

That is necessary to call out, because when he got to Book 6, The Sea, The Sea (which was Book 4 for me, since I had skipped The Master and Margarita and Middlemarch) he went on and on about how the protagonist of The Sea, The Sea moves to a cottage in order to write his memoirs, "the book we are reading" (IE: The Sea, The Sea), and "catalogs, in the fruitiest terms imaginable, his every swim, thought, and meal". He then goes on to say that this character is a "buffoon" and that his "self-obsession ran wild".

Oh, my, how the pot calls the kettle black. Is that not what you are doing here, Mr. Miller?? Is it not EXACTLY that?

If you're being intentionally ironic, you missed.

I kinda stopped caring about what he had to say after that. I still listened, skipping the chapters about books I didn't want him to ruin, but honestly, it would have been better for everyone had I just given up after the intro. Most of the books he was so impressed with having read hold just about zero interest for me, and much of this book just comes off as pretentious and self-congratulatory nonsense.

Give this a pass.

[Bianca Winter · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Year of Reading Dangerously: the philistines among you will ask 'what's so dangerous about reading anyway?' Andy Miller's book provides an irrefutable answer.

The Year of Reading Dangerously is about what happened to Andy Miller after he decided to read for 'betterment'. It's his story – a story encompassing an early love of libraries, a professional relationship with the book industry, a few disastrous encounters with Douglas Adams and a seemingly endless string of lies about books.
I say it's Miller's story because, although it has fifty great books at its heart, it avoids the potential pitfall of being a succession of reviews. It attests not to what the books are about (there's a bit of that, of course – bluffers take note), but to what the experience of reading those books was like for Miller and thus it whets, rather than sates, the appetite for those books. For the bookish it's a series of affirmations: yes, I've glossed over the fact that I may not have actually, personally, read that book; yes, I've felt that euphoria at finishing something difficult; yes, I've occasionally found books much more interesting than people; yes, I've poured my soul into a letter to a writer that's had a profound effect on me; but no, in my idiocy, I didn't have the wisdom you displayed, Andy Miller, in not sending the afore mentioned letter.
Don't be fooled into thinking this just a story (just a story? Stories are what we live and breathe for) - it's also a challenge. A challenge to think deeply about the way that you live your own life, to think about what might need saving, to think about what you have been, and what you may become. It's a challenge 'not to be a light-weight' your whole life.
Unfailingly comic, uncompromisingly honest and unflappably Miller, The Year of Reading Dangerously will be a fresh, funny and fierce companion to the reading life for many.

Frankly, though, how widely it can be recommended matters not a jot to me. What makes this a great book is the way it expresses how fundamental reading is to *my* life. It perfectly illustrates the potency and vitality of a (contradictatorial*) interior life. It portrays the quintessentially emotional endeavour that reading is and can be. It demonstrates the ecstasy possible when an author and a reader connect through words (and the worlds created by them). Perhaps Miller's greatest feat, though, is in capturing an authentic reading experience – an experience that simultaneously holds both the frisson of the moment of reading, and an evocation of the imprint a great book can leave on your soul.


*I'm taking a massive liberty by poaching this Miller-coined phrase. I'm not exactly sure I interpreted the meaning correctly, but then, he is much cleverer than I am. And that's why I'll definitely be reading this book twice (it's reached the 'read-aloud-to-one-another-before-bed' pile in my household, which is high praise indeed!)

[Raya راية · Rating 3 out of 5]

"هل يُعتبر هذا خاطئاً؟ أن أفضّل الكتب على البشر؟"

لفتني هذا العنوان وأنا أسير في المكتبة قبل ما يقارب العامين وقررت اقتناءه. يحكي كاتبه، آندي ميلر، وهو محرر للكتب، عن قصة انقطاعه لمدة طويلة عن القراءة، وكيف وضع "قائمة الإصلاح" التي قرر بها أن يستعيد حبه وشغفه القديم للقراءة، وكيف قرأ 50 كتاباً قبل أن يبلغ الأربعين من عمره. كتاب لطيف، أشبه ما يكون بحديث طويل بين الأصدقاء يتخلله حديث عن الكتب ومشاغل الحياة والعمل والأسرة وبعض الذكريات والتأملات.

كثيراً ما أتسائل: هل سيأتي يوم وأمر فيه بأزمة "انقطاع أو توقف" عن القراءة؟ صدقاً لا أعلم ولكني أحاول أن أقتنص من يومي القليل من الوقت المخصص للقراءة.

"لكن لا تقرأي، كما يقرأ الأطفال، لأجل المتعة، أو كما يقرأ المتفائلون، لأغراض التعلم. لا، اقرأي لإنقاذ حياتك."
-غوستاف فلوبير، رسالة إلى الآنسة لوغوير دو شانتبي

...

[Veronique · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5*

I very much enjoyed this ‘biblio memoir’. Miller’s mission of reading 50 books in one year was compelling, and through his chatty tone, funny, irreverent, and heartfelt. Did I agree with all he said? No. Did I mind? Of course not. On the contrary, I loved seeing another bookworm’s view and experience.

Will others like this? Well, it all depends if you’re ok with Andy's voice, which I’m sure won’t be to everyone’s taste. He is opinionated, but then it is his life, his perception, his feelings.

And what of his List of Betterment? I’ve read 8, 3 of which are all time favourites. We meet on some titles but otherwise differ quite a bit. It always fascinates me how us bookworms can have the same love of books, the same means of escape, and yet gravitate towards such dissimilar worlds. It is great though since you get to widen your horizons :O)

P.S. If you want to test Andy’s tone, listen to one of the excellent Backlisted podcasts, which he co-hosts (https://www.backlisted.fm)

[Radwa · Rating 4 out of 5]

الكتاب ده وقع في طريقي بالصدفة لأني كنت أعجبت باختيارات محمد الضبع في الترجمة، فحطيته في خطتي لمجرد أنه المترجم (ولو أن الترجمة مش أفضل حاجة للأسف يعني)، بس وقعت في حب الكتاب وأسلوب آندي ميلر من المقدمة لوحدها، اللي حسستني أني داخلة على كتاب يشبه كتاب جون غرين الأخير، The Anthropocene Reviewed.

اللي هيفتكر أن الكتاب ده عبارة عن مراجعات 50 كتابا قرأهم ميلر هيخيب ظنه جدا فلازم تعرفوا أنكم مش هتقروا كتاب بيسرد رأيه في الكتب اللي قرأها وفقط، اللي يحب يقرأ كتاب يجمع بين المذكرات ويوميات القراءة والنقد الأدبي لأعمال أدبية كلاسيكية ومعاصرة واليوميات وحس الفكاهة الظريف وخفة الدم من شخص بيقدر يحول أبسط الأفعال والأنشطة اليومية لشيء تستمع بالقراءة عنه، فالكتاب ده ليكم. اختلفت معاه في حاجات واتفقت معاه في حاجات بس حبيت الكتاب من أول لآخر صفحة، وأدركت أني بحب النوع ده من المقالات لما تكون مكتوبة حلو. في الكتاب ده كل فصل بيتكلم عن كتاب أو أكثر وسط حياته اليومية واهتماماته الأخرى وذكرياته وعلاقته بالكتب وعمله في مجال النشر ومحاولته للرجوع للقراءة بغرض الاستمتاع بعد انقطاع طويل عنها وانشغاله بالقراءة في العمل فقط. الكتب اللي اختارها تقليدية نوعا ما وأغلبها كلاسيكيات، بس أعتقد الشخص اللي هيختار يكمل الكتاب ويستمتع بيه مش هيكون بيدور على اقتراحات جديدة أو غريبة للقراءة قد ما هيكون مستمتع بتجربة القراءة والأسلوب نفسه.

منتظرة كتاباته الجاية لأنه للأسف كتبه اللي فاتت كلها خارج نطاق اهتماماتي تماما (واحد منها عن الرياضة وواحد عن فرقة موسيقية معرفهاش)، يعني أنا متأكدة أن أسلوبه حلو وكل حاجة، بس محتاجة يكون الموضوع عندي شبه اهتمام بيه على الأقل. عموما، أنا فعلا برشح الكتاب ده وهسعى أني أقتنيه بلغته الأصلية عشان قوائم القراءة والكتب اللي في آخر الكتاب وغالبا هقراه تاني.

[Shaikha Alkhaldi · Rating 3 out of 5]

كتاب لطيف يروي فيه آندي ميلر رحلة طويلة قضاها في قراءة خمسون كتاباً عظيماً، كان قد كذب بشأن قراءتها في الماضي، منها الروايات والكلاسيكيات وبعض كتب السياسة والفلسفة.
بعض الاختيارات كانت متوقعة مثل المعلم ومرغريتا وموبي ديك وكبرياء وتحامل وجين ايير وغيرهم.
كان مشروعه يتضمن قراءة عدد من الكتب مما شعر أنه يقوم بعمل بطولي، وخلال قيامه بهذا الجهد ومعاناته، كان يجد دهشة الحب من النظرة الأولى أو لمعان ضوء ينير الطريق أمامه كلما أنهى كتاباً.
وقد غيرته الكتب وألهمته وجعلته يشعر بالتواضع الشديد، ولكنه رغم ذلك مازال ينتظر كتابا آخر يستطيع أن يزلزله ويدهشه تماماً.
.
يعيب الكتاب الثرثرة الزائدة والإسهاب في كل شيء ماعدا كتبه التي قرأها.

[نادية أحمد · Rating 2 out of 5]

صدمتني ميلر
أو عذراً لأنك صادق وأنا من صدمت نفسي بتوقعاتي
الغريب العجيب إنّه قرّاء نهمين والقصد متعودين
على القراءة، قيّموا الكتاب تقييم عالي!

بإختصار هذا ملخّص لتجارب شخص لم يكن قارئ
أو قارئ بسيط، متقطّع القراءة
ويقرّر بلحظة حاسمة وحازمة مع نفسه
أن يصبح قارئ من الطراز الأول الذي يأخذ
القراءة والكتب على محمل الجد
فيختار قائمة بدقّة من كتب شعر بأهميتها وقيمتها لديه
واحتياجه هو كان المعيار الأساس لإختيار القائمة

وبدأ رغم ظروفه التي اعتبرها قمة الصعوبة
_ وهي كونه متزوج ولديه طفل ويساعد كثيراً
في أعمال المنزل؛ حيث زوجته نالت قسطاً عالٍ
من الدلال، وكونه يعمل بعيداً عن لندن_
في قائمة اختياراته
طرح للقارئ الكتب بنوع من التفاوت
فمثلاً عرض كتابي:
_ مدل مارش
_ المعلم ومارغريتا
بشكل مفصّل جداً
لكن دون تحليل للكتابين بمقدار نسخ لصق
أو ملخّص لهما!
وهذا ما لم أتوقعه
لأنّ توقعي كان أن أجد بمثابة شيء قريب من
برنامج "القودريدز"
حيث التفصيل والتحليل وسبر أغوار النصوص
والأسلوب والفكرة.

يعني نستطيع القول بأنّها قائمة تزكيات
بناء على وجهة نظر شخصية وخاصة من ميلر.

في النهاية أدرج:
* خمسين كتاباً ضمن مسمى " قائمة الإصلاح "
* مئة كتاب كان لها تأثير كبير عليه
وقد استعارها من قوائم هنري ميلر التي أنها
بها كتابه " الكتب في حياتي"
* ثلاثة وثلاثون كتاباً تحت بند:
كتب مازلت أنوي قراءتها.

وآخر صفحة في الكتاب، هي مجموعة
ملاحظات لأندية القراءة
جاء أغلبها على هيئة تساؤلات مثل:
١) كم عدد الكتب التي قرأتها من قائمة الإصلاح؟
ماهي كتبك المفضلة من بينها؟
٢) من حق أي شخص إبداء رأيه، تتفق أم تختلف؟
٣) هل فهمت ماذا كان يحاول آندي ميلر إنجازه
خلال سنة القراءة؟وإن لم تفهم،
على من الخطأ؟ عليك أم عليه؟
ودواليك.

إحساسي تجاه الكتاب والكاتب؛
لم أحبهما ولم أنسجم معهما
ذكرني ميلر بثرثرة إليزابيث في كتابها:
طعام صلاة حب

ولازلت أذكر صديقها جون عندما جمعت تبرعات
ل توتّي و والدتها؛ أخبرها:
" اسمعي، في المرة القادمة التي ترغبين فيها بالبكاء
على اللبن المسكوب،
هلا حرصتِ على أن تكوني موجزة" ص٣٣٦

وهذه العبارة سأعمل ريتويت لها وأخبر ميلر:
" اسمع، في المرة القادمة التي ترغب فيها بتأليف كتاب،
هلا حرصتَ على أن تكون موجِزاً وبعيداً عن التشتّت والثرثرة!".

الفائدة الوحيدة والتي بناء عليها سأمنح الكتاب نجمة؛
هي أنّ فكرة كتابه وقفة مع الذات للتشجيع
والبدء بالقراءة.
ثمّ عمل قائمة في بداية كل عام لتحديد وانتقاء الكتب
التي ستُقرأ على م��ار العام والإلتزام بها.

فقط.
انتهى الكتاب.


عنوان الكتاب: سنة القراءة الخطرة (سيرة قارئ ونصف رواية)
اسم المؤلف : آندي ميلر
سنة النشر: ٢٠١٦
الناشر: دار كلمات
اسم المترجم: محمد الضبع
عدد الصفحات: ٣٢٨

نادية أحمد
٢٤ جولاي ٢٠١٧

[Hussain Hamadi · Rating 3 out of 5]

مراجعة وتقييم كتاب 📘
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اسم الكتاب : سنة القراءة الخطرة
اسم الكاتب: آندي ميلر
ترجمة : محمد الضبع
دار النشر : كلمات
عدد صفحات الكتاب : ٣٢٨ صفحة
نوع الكتاب : سيرة ذاتية
تقييم ال Goodreads :
3.32
نوع القراءة : ورقي 📖
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📌 ملخص الكتاب :-..
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القراءة وحب تملك الكتب والاستحواذ على الجديد هل بالضرورة يجتمعان في شخص واحد؟! كم كتاب خططت لقراءته ولم تفعل؟! كم كتاب شدك نحوه وجود هالة من القراءة له وودت ان تكون منهم؟! ما الذي نستفيده من قراءة اعمال ادبية رائجة ؟!
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يتناول الكاتب سيرة ذاتية للمؤلف يستعرض من خلالها محنة إتمام القراءة التي عانى منها والتي قادته لقائمة اطلق عليها اسم ( قائمة الإصلاح )وتحتوي هذه القائمة على ٥٠ كتاب من الأشهر والأكثر شهرة في عالم الادب الكلاسيكي.
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كيف استطاع ميلر ان ينجز هذه القائمة وكيف اختار اساسا الكتب لهذه القائمة؟! وما الذي عكسته تلك التجربة وغيرت حياته على حد قوله؟!
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لمعرفة الاجابة عن تلك الاسئلة اترك لكم خوض هذه التجربة درن حرق.
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📌 أسلوب الكتابة :-..
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👈🏻 استخدم الكاتب اسلوب السرد المباشر في الكتاب مع إعطاء بعض الفكاهة البسيطة في السرد.
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👈🏻 استعرض الكاتب أوجه القصور في عملية إتمام القراءة والدوافع التي تدعوا بعض القراءة للادعاء بقراءة بعض الكتب في اللقاءات الثقافية.
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👈🏻 أوضح الكاتب اسلوب الدعم الذي وفرته له زوجته لتحقيق هدفه في إتمام ( قائمة الإصلاح ) دون افساد نهج حياته الإجتماعية.
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🖊 التقييم :-.
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📝 أعطيت الرواية 3.5 /5 ✨ . حينما تبدأ بقراءة الكتاب يتضح لك الاسلوب سلس وسهل ومرح لحد ما ولكن بعد منتصف الكتاب تجده انتهج اسلوب سرد جاف نوعا ما وأكثر رتيبة ونمطية مما أشعرني ببعض الضجر.
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📌 ،تقييمي للكتاب هو رأئي الشخصي 😊✌🏻.
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#مراجعة_وتقييم #سنة_القراءة_الخطرة #آندي_ميلر #تحدي القراءة_للعام_٢٠١٨ #الكتاب_رقم_١٦ #قناة_مع_كتاب .
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[Lea · Rating 1 out of 5]

I picked this up because I have just started listening to the Backlisted Podcast, presented by Andy Miller and John Mitchinson, and I LIKE that podcast. It's fun, it's clever, it has quickly become one of my favourites. So I thought I'd read Andy's book and that it would be as entertaining as Backlisted. IT'S NOT. Jesus Christ, it's really not.

God, this was awful. I love reading books about other people reading books, but this was just so dreary. It's a lot more memoir than anything else, and his life is freaking BORING AS HELL. I mean, he has everything. He has a nice job, a nice house, a family. And he makes the whole thing sound like absolute torture. What passes for excitement in his life is when he gets a thrill out of people "assuming he's a communist" because he's carrying The Communist Manifesto.

When he DOES talk about books, I just couldn't relate. Just to mention one of the things that bothered me, his list of 100 books which have influenced him most contains a whopping 9 titles by women authors. He somehow received an English degree without reading "Jane Eyre" or any Austen (he claims he read "Emma" for uni but "doesn't remember it at all"). And then he does try to read Austen and loathes it (unforgivable).

I finally had enough of his whining and condescension and quit.

[Diane Barnes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Amusing account of a man spending a year reading all the books he claimed to have read, but never did. Plus one he actually read that he wished he hadn't. "The Davinci Code".