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A Love of Reading, The Second Collection: More Reviews of Contemporary Fiction
Fourteen brilliant new reviews from the author of A Love of Reading. Passionate, thought provoking, and witty.
A Love of Reading, the Second Collection contains 14 new reviews of modern classics from a discriminating, highly entertaining, and prodigiously well-read guide.
In a stimulating selection, ranging from Margaret Atwood’s Alias Grace to Zadie Smith’s White Teeth, and from Charles Frazier’s Cold Mountain to Sheri Holman’s The Dress Lodger, popular literary critic Robert Adams skilfully interweaves a nimble and enlightening discussion of plot, theme, and characterization with fascinating historical, biographical, and literary context. Adams is repeatedly drawn to the spectacle of less-than-perfect humans making their way in a hostile world, and as a result his reviews are a hugely satisfying mix of rich pathos and abundant humour. In the words of the Calgary Herald, they are “a bibliophile’s dream.”
A Love of Reading, the Second Collection contains 14 new reviews of modern classics from a discriminating, highly entertaining, and prodigiously well-read guide.
In a stimulating selection, ranging from Margaret Atwood’s Alias Grace to Zadie Smith’s White Teeth, and from Charles Frazier’s Cold Mountain to Sheri Holman’s The Dress Lodger, popular literary critic Robert Adams skilfully interweaves a nimble and enlightening discussion of plot, theme, and characterization with fascinating historical, biographical, and literary context. Adams is repeatedly drawn to the spectacle of less-than-perfect humans making their way in a hostile world, and as a result his reviews are a hugely satisfying mix of rich pathos and abundant humour. In the words of the Calgary Herald, they are “a bibliophile’s dream.”
272 pages, Hardcover
First published March 18, 2003
2 people are currently reading
23 people want to read
About the author
Robert Adams
3 books8 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.
See this thread for more information.
Robert Adams was born in Wales in 1937, spent his youth in London and has been a Montrealer since he came to Canada in 1964. He studied at the London School of Economics and at Concordia University and McGill University in Montreal.
He taught History and English for thirty-six years. For the last eight of those years he was the Chair of the Modern Languages Dept. at College de Bois-de-Boulogne in Montreal.
Since 1994, he has been giving an annual series of book reviews on stage, alone, to sold-out audiences at the Oscar Peterson Concert Hall at Concordia University in Montreal. Since 1997 he has given a parallel series at the Hart House Theatre at the University of Toronto. He has often been a panelist on CBC Radio's "Talking Books", and is a sought-after guest-speaker at literary functions. His talks are regularly telecast on TV Ontario's "Big Ideas" and on Book TV. His second book, A Love of Reading, was a national best-seller in 2001. In May, 2005, he was featured on PBS - TV in Paul Larson's "Art Express". In the same month the Montreal Jewish Public Library held a gala evening in his honour. Robert Adams was also the 2005 keynote speaker at the Canadia Jewish Book Awards in Toronto.
http://www.writersunion.ca/ww_profile...
See this thread for more information.
Robert Adams was born in Wales in 1937, spent his youth in London and has been a Montrealer since he came to Canada in 1964. He studied at the London School of Economics and at Concordia University and McGill University in Montreal.
He taught History and English for thirty-six years. For the last eight of those years he was the Chair of the Modern Languages Dept. at College de Bois-de-Boulogne in Montreal.
Since 1994, he has been giving an annual series of book reviews on stage, alone, to sold-out audiences at the Oscar Peterson Concert Hall at Concordia University in Montreal. Since 1997 he has given a parallel series at the Hart House Theatre at the University of Toronto. He has often been a panelist on CBC Radio's "Talking Books", and is a sought-after guest-speaker at literary functions. His talks are regularly telecast on TV Ontario's "Big Ideas" and on Book TV. His second book, A Love of Reading, was a national best-seller in 2001. In May, 2005, he was featured on PBS - TV in Paul Larson's "Art Express". In the same month the Montreal Jewish Public Library held a gala evening in his honour. Robert Adams was also the 2005 keynote speaker at the Canadia Jewish Book Awards in Toronto.
http://www.writersunion.ca/ww_profile...
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
January 31, 2014
How seldom we get an elongated review of good books. Robert Adams in print not so emphatic as when he lectures but still he delves into pockets of conclusion one might not bring to mind on our own. The reviews in this book tended to pad the historical times of each story to help us understand the political undercurrents of what appears on the surface plot. Still, after reading his critique on Zadie Smith's "White Teeth", I'm not convinced to give this author another try.
November 25, 2013
Just read a few of the essays on books I've read (and one or two I haven't). The author's "lectures" seem a bit superficial; I would expect more critical analysis in a university-level class. However, he give a lot of historical context for books not set in present day, and that's kind of nice. Overall meh.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews