Readings: Essays and Literary Entertainments

by Michael Dirda

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 chronicle a lifetime of literary enjoyment.

The crime of his life --
The quest for Scrivener --
Talismans --
Maxims, etc. --
Heart of the matter --
Bookman's Saturday --
Supplementary materials --
Listening to my father --
Romantic scholarship --
Weekend with Wodehouse --
An abecedary --
Mr. Wright --
Heian holiday --
Childhood's end --
The one and the many --
Commencement advice --
Four novels and a memoir --
The October country --
Bookish fantasies --
Pages on life's way --
A garland for Max --
Read at whim! --
Comedy tonight --
Light of other days --
Data daze --
Four-leaf clovers --
Sez who? --
Lament for a maker --
Clubland --
The learning channels --
Guy Davenport --
Eros by any other name --
Frank confessions --
Mememormee --
Tomes for tots --
Three classics --
Vacation reading --
One more modest proposal --
Shake scenes --
After strange books --
Awful bits --
Turning 50 --
Blame it on books --
On the road not taken --
Excursion --
Millennial readings

Genres: Books About Books, Essays, Nonfiction, Literary Criticism, Literature, Criticism, Reference

232 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

Michael Dirda (born 1948), a Fulbright Fellowship recipient, is a Pulitzer Prize–winning critic. After earning a PhD in comparative literature from Cornell University, the joined the Washington Post in 1978.

Two collections of Dirda's literary journalism have been published: Readings: Essays and Literary Entertainments (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2000; ISBN 0-253-33824-7) and Bound to Please (New York: W. W. Norton, 2005; ISBN 0-393-05757-7). He has also written Book by Book: Notes on Reading and Life (New York: Henry Holt, 2005; ISBN 0-8050-7877-0), Classics for Pleasure (Orlando: Harcourt, 2007; ISBN 0-151-01251-2), critical biographical study On Conan Doyle (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2011; ISBN 0-691-15135-0), which received a 2012 Edgar Award, and the autobiographical An Open Book: Coming of Age in the Heartland (New York: W. W. Norton, 2003; ISBN 0-393-05756-9).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_...

Reviews

[Paul Secor · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been rereading some of these essays (they are actually newspaper columns, but they read like well crafted essays) recently. Some of them jumped out at me and almost demanded to be reread. Among them:

"The Learning Channels" - a remembrance of his alma mater, Oberlin College. It was fascinating to read about the various courses and the professors who taught them, but it made me realize that if I had ever been admitted to Oberlin, I would have lasted exactly two days - one day to understand how much things there were over my head, and another day to pack up and get out of town.

"Commencement Advice" - Not a formal commencement speech, but good thoughts about life and ways to live it well, whether you're a graduate or not.

"Guy Davenport" - a tribute to and appreciation of the finest literary essayist of our time.

"Excursion" - to New Orleans, for things literary and otherwise.

"Bookman's Saturday" - Finding a way to visit a local book fair in between family commitments and, once the fair is visited and books are bought, finding a way to get the books into the house without his wife realizing what he bought. (Though, obviously, she can find out by simply reading his column for that week.) Reading about his obsessions over collecting first and rare editions made me feel grateful that I lightened my life by leaving that world behind a while ago.

"Weekend with Wodehouse" - a visit to the biannual convention of the P.G. Wodehouse Society. "When angels in heaven want a book to read, they buy a paperback of The Code of the Woosters, then lean back into a cloudbank and sigh with pleasure over sentences like these:

'Years before, and romantic as most boys are, his lordship had sometimes regretted that the Emsworths, though an ancient clan, did not possess a Family Curse. How little he had suspected that he was about to become the father of it.'"

"Bookish Fantasies" - secret daydreams of book lovers (and writers):

"...and you alone truly understand my work: Count me your greatest fan. Sincerely, J. D. Salinger. P.S Why don't you come up for a visit? The foliage around here is glorious in the fall..."

"Darling, It's a beautiful Saturday morning. The sky is blue, the birds are twittering. Why don't you take off and spend the day visiting dusty secondhand bookstores..."

"With your permission, the Library of America would be honored to gather your literary journalism of the past twenty years. We envision a volume of approximately 1000 pages. Happily, Mr. Joseph Epstein has volunteered to compile and introduce the selection..."

"Dad, I just want to thank you for staying on my case about reading. I really love books now and can't thank you enough, especially considering all the grief I used to give you and Mom..."

Readings is a book I find myself returning to again and again.
Michael Dirda's enthusiasm for books and, more importantly, reading is infectious.

[Upik · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I was a green college student in Indonesia, I attended a talk by a well-known Indonesian economics professor, an Ivy-League graduate, an ex-activist. Impressed by his credentials, I asked him about good books to read, books that liberate the mind and break the claustrophobic, one-sided liberal economics we read in class. (Mind you, this was during Suharto's "golden" period).

To my chagrin, he sneered at me, and with a look of derision barked, "Anda kan mahasiswa! Harusnya anda tahu buku-buku apa yang harus anda baca!" (You are a college student, you should by now know what book to read!). So much about revering an ex-activist. And what is more depressing is that I used to believe him!

Michael Dirda's "Readings: Essays and Literary Entertainments" proved him wrong. This is a book that gently guides you to what books to read and why. And since Dirda is a voracious reader, he can direct you to less-known -obscure even- but wonderful books that cater to your inclinations and leanings no matter what they are, and no matter who you are. In my case, I have been wondering about Western Canon that I should read (Harold Bloom's book is on my shelf, but his style of writing is a bit of a put off. At least for right now). He recommends Iliad, St. Augustine's Confession, Dante's Inferno, and a lot of Shakespeare arguing that they provide the basic plots and structure much imitated by later writers. On a lighter side, I found P.G. Wodehouse's Bertie and Jeeves adventure through him (well, my significant half mentioned that earlier, too). He even listed 100 titles for those in search of hilarity (and of course, Wodehouse is first on the list).

"Readings" consists of forty-six chapters taken from Dirda's weekly column in The Washington Post. Each chapter addresses various themes and topics ranging from romantic scholarship to his laments on required summer reading for high school students in Washington DC. This book is unique in that in each chapter, Dirda offers a list of readings as an alternative to best-sellers list which less literate people like myself tend to consult when picking a book to read. I have already dedicated a pocket notebook to jot down some of his suggestions. As a result, I am reading Right-Ho, Jeeves at the moment (He suggested five Wodehouses).

Dirda writes well. His essays are crisp, clean, witty, and sympathetic without being too instructive. Looking back at the "barking professor", I learn from Dirda: You can be an authority without having to bark at a timid, young college student.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Growing up in a suburb of Washington DC, the Washington Post was an integral part of my childhood, especially the three pages of comics in the back of the Style section. As I got older, I appreciated how great it was, to have a daily serious newspaper and "the funnies" at once (this is partly why, despite living in NYC for almost 20 years, I have never warmed to the New York Times, which seemed self-consciously pompous by comparison). In the 1990s, I had moved to the city to work in publishing, but went back to DC often to visit my parents (and my childhood home, with its swimming pool). Having no car, I traveled by Amtrak. The four hour train ride back to New York was among the best parts of those weekends, because I would have with me a thick stack of Washington Post Book Worlds, which my father thoughtfully left in my bedroom each Sunday, in a growing pile, in anticipation of my next visit. There was something very cozy about those train rides, and the orgy-like pleasure of a huge number of book reviews to dip into at once. My favorite part of the Book World was easily Michael Dirda's column on the reading life. Discursive, personal, sometimes funny, sometimes wistful, but always filled with an infectious love of reading and books. Often very obscure ones -- reading his essays made me feel as though I was part of an exclusive club. Sometimes they were just a tiny shade too personal; every now and then in the later columns, I felt more aware than I wanted to be of hints of a mid-life crisis. He sometimes seemed to be fed up with parenting, marriage, and the grind of book reviewing (hard to be sympathetic there, how many book reviewers have won a Pulitzer for their work), teaching, for him, being the road not taken. Still, he was a very good companion on those rides. I sometimes even felt as though he were occupying the seat next to me (our conversations were very witty).

Today, my father, the house with my bedroom where the Book Worlds were stacked, and The Washington Post Book World itself, they are all gone, but somehow all still very real. The memories of the train rides and the bookish wallowing in newsprint have a vitality that is not quite matched by the actual physical presence of the hardback with the collected columns on my shelf.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this in parallel with two other books of pieces by literary critics: Joseph Epstein's "In a Cardboard Belt" and Maureen Corrigan's "Leave me Alone I'm Reading". Of the three, Dirda's book is hands-down my favorite. Epstein is far too heavy on vitriol, with little compensating wit, and his style has a pompous, 'I'm smarter than you', aspect to it that is downright unattractive. Corrigan's book has charms of its own, but doesn't manage near as many laugh-out-loud moments as I found while reading Dirda's pieces.

There are so many terrific pieces in this collection. In no particular order, ten of the forty-six that really tickled my fancy:

Weekend with Wodehouse. (the biannual convention of the P.G. Wodehouse society)
Mr Wright. (tribute to his high-school English teacher)
Commencement Advice.
Four Novels and a Memoir. (a devastating sendup of several bestselling genres)
Bookish Fantasies.
Comedy Tonight. (a list of 100 amusing comic novels)
Sez Who? (Different experiences while browsing for books)
Excursion. (a weekend in New Orleans)
Talismans.
Vacation Reading.
Mememormee. (Why he's not a fan of memoirs)

There are another ten that could just as easily have made the list. What I enjoyed about Dirda's essays are his infectious enthusiasm for books and reading, which comes through in every piece, his wit and humor, as well as a certain generosity of spirit (conspicuously absent, for instance, in Epstein's book). EVen his brilliant takedown of the various bestseller genres is obviously done with affection.

This book has left me eager to seek out more of Dirda's work. Recommended for all fans of books and reading.

[Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

I checked Dirda's essays from the library at 8:00 pm, started reading them at 9:00, and didn't close the book again until 5:40 the next morning just as the sun was coming up out of the ocean. The essays are so short, it's easy to convince yourself to read just one more. And they're hilarious, and sentimental, and nostalgic, and informative, and preachy, and ego-centric, and most of all enthusiastic about reading and books and book collecting and writing and drawing pleasure from the printed word.

My two favorite essays were "Comedy Tonight," little more than a bare list of 100 funny novels written during the 20th century, almost none of which I've read, or even heard of. And "The One and the Many," which questions why we read and what it means to have read a book. But really almost all of the essays are a mine of useful recommendations. I filled five pages of my little moleskin notebook with authors and titles to research and read.

If you're feeling a little weary of your current reads or blasé about reading in general, dip into this lighthearted but rewarding anthology and recharge your batteries.

[Keith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Michael Dirda is the Pulitzer Prize winning book critic of The Washington Post. For years I have enjoyed my occasional encounters with his always perceptive reviews. Only recently did I discover that he has published four books of essays from the Post. Readings is the first of these, originally published in 1999, and it is a delightful expedition through Dirda's experience of reading and of teaching literature. Through all of these it is crystal clear that beyond being a critic and reviewer Dirda is a bookman and I can think of no higher compliment. A bookman is one who finding himself away from home and with a leisurely moment heads to the nearest bookstore. A bookman who decides to get fit immediately heads to the public library and checks out a boatload of fitness books. A bookman's first love is books and often it is not a specific love of one good book or even one type of book but rather a eclectic and erotic love for all books. Dirda's essays bear this out. If he goes to a literary conference or has a sabbatical we are always informed of his book buying adventures. When he is in Florida and having just turned 50 spends a week without books - falling into that seedy tropical ennui so familiar to readers of Conrad and Greene - it is both poignant and hilarious when he finally returns to the world of books. The books he promotes in these pages are wondrously eclectic, from the classics, to forgotten gems of past centuries, to mysteries and science-fiction, The whole spectrum of the written word.

The final essay in the book, "Millenial Readings," addresses the approach of the 21st century, Dirda is prescient in his awareness of how things might change but he has confidence that art and literature will survive the digital tsunami. He has a different and again a poignant sense of regret about something else:

More and more I sense that focused reading, the valuing of the kind of scholarship achieved only through years spent in libraries, is no longer central to our culture. We absorb information , often in bit and pieces and sound bites; but the slow, steady interaction with a book, while seated quietly in a chair, the passion for story that good novels generate in a reader, what has been called the pleasure of the text --this entire approach to learning seems increasingly, to use a pop phrase, "at risk." Similarly, even a basic knowledge of history, classical mythology, and the world's literatures now strikes many people as charmingly antiquarian. Or irrelevant. Or just sort of cute.

That's a quote from thirteen years ago. Where are we now?

[Margaret · Rating 4 out of 5]

Michael Dirda is a writer and senior editor for The Washington Post Book World; this is a collection of his essays and reflections on books, criticism, and book collecting. In the preface, he urges his readers to go slowly, not to "rush through these essays all at once," but as soon as I read the first few, I knew it would be a struggle not to devour the whole book in one sitting. (I managed to ration it out to three or four evenings.) I haven't actually read most of the books Dirda writes about, by authors from Nabokov to Jack Vance, but his thoughts are so engaging that it didn't matter, and in fact, I had to restrain myself from writing down every single book he mentions and adding them all to my to-be-read list. If you're a devoted reader, you'll love this book; I came out of it feeling as though I'd made a new friend, one just as crazy about books as I am.

[Lauren · Rating 5 out of 5]

Michael Dirda is one of those people I want to be when I grow up, which is a problem given that I've already grown up and failed to become Michael Dirda. Maybe it'll happen right after I write this. You never know.

This is a collection gathered from Dirda's column with The Washington Post Book World, and he was given license to write about anything, as long as it touched on books in some capacity. The result is a book of laidback, conversational essays on everything from his father to a PG Wodehouse convention to deciding he really needs to own seventeen books by an author he hasn't actually red yet to the rediscovery of lost minor classics. There are parodies of different genres and a list of fantasies had by various book devotees--"Speaking professionally, I'm sorry to say that your condition is somewhat worrying, though not serious. What you need is lots of fresh sea air, a long cruise perhaps through the Caribbean or Mediterannean. Basically, you should just lie in a first-class lounge chair and read mysteries and P.G. Wodehouse for the next two months. I'm sure I can convince your insurance company to foot the bill..." So you've got a range here, from thoughtful analysis of the need for a canon to personal reflection to sheer play.

Part of what makes this so compelling for me is that Dirda is just immersed in books in a really appealing way. In addition to the traditional Western literary canon, he has a wide and deep frame of reference guided by his own quirks of taste: old school adventure novels, commonplace books (made up of quotes that personally spoke to the compiler), comic novels, essay collections, club stories, Lord Dunsany, Jack Vance, and so on and so on. His enthusiasm is endearing and persuasive, i.e., he's already made me buy a lot of books. It's rare to come across this kind of intellectual passion, to the point where it's hard to describe it--not stuffy, not too highbrow to get along with, but joyfully knowledgeable and joyfully curious.

If you want him talking about specific books--or just taking a more journalistic, less personal approach--things like Classics for Pleasure are great. While Readings still has me jotting down titles and authors, it's more about the appeal of his company, and if you don't like his voice, you probably won't get along with it. But if you do, this is peak fun Dirda--chatty, funny, and clearly living a life overflowing with books.

[Vicky Hunt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book Thoughts from a Booklover
Dirda is a literary critic for the Washington Post who has an appetite for books across various genres. This book is a collection of his bookish articles spanning the decade of the nineties. I enjoy, as always just reading his ramblings about books he has read, collected, or sought in vain; with my pen in hand of course to take note of tasty morsels that I may want to read for myself in future. His words are not only personable, but human and relatable. I recommend his articles and books highly wherever you can find them (public library), since he is now semi-retired. If you enjoy book recommendations and articles on the world of books, this is a great source that is not behind a paywall.

[فهد الفهد · Rating 3 out of 5]

Readings: Essays and Literary Entertainments

حصل مايكل دايردا على جائزة البولتزر عن مقالاته النقدية، يضم هذا الكتاب بعض هذه المقالات القصيرة – خمس صفحات – والتي يتناول فيها القراءة والكتب والمكتبات بطريقة ممتعة وجميلة.

[Bill FromPA · Rating 4 out of 5]

100 Comic Novels
1. Leave It to Psmith, by P. G. Wodehouse (shenanigans at Blandings Castle)

2. Chrome Yellow, by Aldous Huxley (country house intellectuals trade repartee)

3. The Pyrates, by George Macdonald Fraser (dazzling send up of high-seas swashbucklers)

4. Augustus Carp, by Himself (Henry Howarth Bashford) (unconscious moral hypocrite; brilliant control of tone)

5. The Trials of Topsy, by A. P. Herbert (bouncy valley Girl talk, 1920s London style; irresistible)

6. The Unfortunate Fursey, by Mervyn Wall (medieval monk tempted by debonair Satan)

7. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, by Anita Loos (Lorelei Lee – gold-digger of 1925)

8. Mapp and Lucia, by E. F., Benson (clash of social titans in Tilling)

9. What a Life!, by E. V. Lucas and George Morrow (masterpieces of dadaist collage)

10. The Young Visiters, by Daisy Ashford (a 9-year-old looks at love)

11. Appleby’s End, by Michael Innes (a wry detective among rural English eccentrics)

12. Tik-Tok, by John Sladek (a courteous robot kills his way to the top)

13. The Crock of Gold, by James Stephens (blarney and fairies)

14. The Travel Tales of Joseph Jorkens, by Lord Dunsany (tall tales told over whisky)

15. His Monkey Wife, by John Collier (callow Brit marries sensitive chimp)

16. Lucky Jim, by Kingsley Amis (red-brick university phonies)

17. Decline and Fall, by Evelyn Waugh (a twentieth century Candide)

18. Cold Comfort Farm, by Stella Gibbons (sophisticate among British hillbillies)

19. Party Going, by Henry Green (Bright Young Things flirt and carry on)

20. An Armful of Warm Girl, by W. M. Spackman (December – May romance)

21. Imaginative Qualities of Actual Things, by Gilbert Sorrentino (savage satire of ‘60s art/literature scene)

22. Catch-22, by Joseph Heller (war is hell – and hilarious, sort of)

23. Amphigorey, by Edward Gorey (Gothic sensationalism / Edwardian backdrops)

24. Pictures from an Institution, by Randall Jarrell (captious urban intellectual at small Southern women’s college)

25. Bullivant and the Lambs, by Ivy Compton-Burnett (brittle drawing-room black humor)

26. A Severed Head, by Iris Murdoch (incest and samurai swords: her tightest, most outrageous novel)

27. Lolita, by Vladimir Nabokov (European suavity confronts American vulgarity)

28. Alan Mendelsohn, the Boy from Mars, by Daniel Pinkwater (misfits discover their supernatural powers)

29. The Catcher in the Rye, by J. D. Salinger (the voice of a generation)

30. The Night Life of the Gods, by Thorne Smith (Roman statues come alive, ribaldry ensues)

31. The Sword in the Stone, by T. H. White (Wart among the Arthurian anachronisms)

32. God Save the Mark, by Donald E. Westlake (scams, quips, and capers)

33. Murphy, by Samuel Beckett (deadpan philosophical humor)

34. The Eyes of the Overworld, by Jack Vance (misadventures of a thief / con man in the far future)

35. Cakes and Ale, by Somerset Maugham (secret life of Edwardian men of letters)

36. Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, by Jeanette Winterson (growing up lesbian and evangelical)

37. The Silver Stallion, by James Branch Cabell (tongue-in-cheek adventures in medieval Poictesme)

38. The Napoleon of Notting Hill, by G. K. Chesterton (London neighborhoods at war)

39. All About H. Hatterr, by G. V. Desani (Indian English in excelsis)

40. Seven Men, by Max Beerbohm (includes “Enoch Soames” and “Savonarola Brown”)

41. The Sirens of Titan, by Kurt Vonnegut (gallows humor / galactic farces)

42. The Chronicles of Clovis, by Saki (the master of the sardonic tale)

43. South Wind, by Norman Douglas (decadent expatriates in fictional Capri)

44. The Flower beneath the Foot, by Ronald Firbank (camping it up)

45. The Gate of Angels, by Penelope Fitzgerald (smiles of a summer night)

46. You Know Me, Al, by Ring Lardner (tales of the vernacular)

47. The Locusts Have No King, by Dawn Powell (love and power plays among 1940s literati)

48. A Fan’s Notes, by Frederick Exley (his tawdry career)

49. The Phantom Tollbooth, by Norton Juster (words and numbers frolic and quarrel)

50. Lady into Fox, by David Garnett (wife metamorphosizes)

51. Letter to Lord Byron, by W. H. Auden (wisecracking verse epistle – from Iceland)

52. Too Many Cooks, by Rex Stout (gourmets, guffaws, and Archie Goodwin at his fizziest)

53. Portnoy’s Complaint, by Philip Roth (angst, Momma, and shiksas)

54. The Thurber Carnival, by James Thurber (drawings, stories, “My Life and Hard Times”)
55. Guys and Dolls, by Damon Runyon (raffish present-tense escapades of ‘30s crooks)
56. The Thin Man, by Dashiell Hammett (witty where-is-he)
57. Or All the Seas with Oysters, by Avram Davidson (tales of the curious and curiouser)
58. Two Serious Ladies, by Jane Bowles (hothouse humor and languorous eroticism)
59. At Swim-Two-Birds, by Flann O’Brien (characters turn on author)
60. Flaubert’s Parrot, by Julian Barnes (cracking up the critics)
61. The Road to Oxiana, by Robert Byron (waggish spirits in the Middle East)
62. On the Shoulders of Giants, by Robert K. Merton (scholarship for the fun of it)
63. Little Big Man, by Thomas Berger (the decline of theWest: a masterpiece)
64. Candy, by Terry Southern and Mason Hoffenberg (Good grief!)
65. Federigo, by Howard Nemerov (delicious farce of marriage and adultery)
66. Thus Was Adonis Murdered, by Sarah Caudwell (erudition, eccentric barristers, elegantly witty mystery)
67. Wise Children, by Angela Carter (Carter’s Midsummer Night’s Dream)
68. Tropic of Cancer, by Henry Miller (obscenely hilarious: expat in Paris)
69. The Pursuit of Love, by Nancy Mitford (outrageous English clan)
70. Animal Farm, by George Orwell (all animals are equal, but …)
71. The Tin Men, by Michael Frayn (computers, corporations, uproarious chaos)
72. Christy Malry’s Own Double Entry, by B. S. Johnson (quiet clerk seeks revenge)
73. Up in the Old Hotel, by Joseph Mitchell (wistful and humorous profiles: New York bohemians)
74. A Frolic of His Own, by William Gaddis (litigiousness and slapstick)
75. The Most of S. J. Perelman (language runs amuck)
76. The Moving Toyshop, by Edmund Crispin (madcap mystery set in Oxford)
77. A Confederacy of Dunces, by John Kennedy Toole (ranting against the world)
78. Enderby, by Anthony Burgess (misfortunes of a poet)
79. Sixty Stories, by Donald Barthelme (the comedy of clichés)
80. Life Among the Savages, by Shirley Jackson (family zaniness)
81. The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, by Max Shulman (love goes wrong repeatedly)
82. Lake Woebegon Days, by Garrison Keillor (Our Town, Minnesota)
83. Will This Do?, by Auberon Waugh (waspish and wicked autobiography)
84. Man and Superman, by George Bernard Shaw (rapier wit and diabolical philosophy)
85. Riotous Assembly, by Tom Sharpe (savage, vulgar farce about South Africa)
86. Mort, by Terry Pratchett (Death takes an apprentice)
87. Is That What People Do?, by Robert Sheckley (science fiction’s great satirist of the ‘50s)
88. Five Children and It, by E. Nesbit (misadventures and wishful thinking)
89. The Rebel Angels, by Robertson Davies (scholars, pedants, and gypsies in love)
90. A Glass of Blessings, by Barbara Pym (domestic and ecclesiastical intrigue)
91. Hindoo Holiday, by J. R. Ackerley (Indian love song, but very funny)
92. Small World, by David Lodge (hip literary theorists at play)
93. The Dick Gibson Show, by Stanley Elkin (behind the mike on talk radio)
94. The Mezzanine, by Nicholson Baker (humor is in the details)
95. Expecting Someone Taller, by Tom Holt (nice guy acquires Ring of the Nibelungs)
96. The History Man, by Malcolm Bradbury (serio-comedy about ‘60s academic life)
97. A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush, by Eric Newby (fools rush in)
98. Rumpole of the Bailey, by John Mortimer (the law is an ass, but not Horace R.)
99. United States: Collected Essays, by Gore Vidal (the pleasure of his company)
100. Ulysses, by James Joyce (a comic masterpiece, among other things)

[John David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Michael Dirda started writing and editing for the Washington Post in 1978, and soon thereafter started reviewing books for them on a weekly basis. Nearly 45 years later, he is still at it. In his down time, he has pulled some of his book reviews and essays into the occasional collection, including “Book by Book: Notes on Reading and Life,” “An Open Book: Chapters in a Reader’s Life,” and this one, “Readings: Essays and Literary Entertainments.” An avid devotee of all things Holmesiana, he also wrote “On Conan Doyle: or, The Whole Art of Storytelling.” The selected essays in “Readings” span from the year he won the 1993 Pulitzer Prize for criticism to 1999.

In an omnibus of his own fiction, P.G. Wodehouse (a name that pops up repeatedly in any collection of Dirda’s essays, including this one) once advised for his readers to ration the stories, lest their impact wane if gobbled up too edaciously. Dirda shyly asks his readers for the same favor, but I admit that I was unable to control myself. I read most of it over the span of a weekend. Thankfully, he had little to worry about. If you’ve ever read one of his pieces, you know what I mean.

“Readings” has few formal, long-form book reviews, as those tend to age into oblivion rather quickly. It is nevertheless full of literary general interest offerings, like “Weekend with Wodehouse” in which he details his attendance at a biannual conference of the P.G. Wodehouse Society, “Comedy Tonight” where he jauntily checks off his 100 favorite comic novels, and a charming retrospective on the work of essayist and all-around polymath Guy Davenport. While my love of literature came some time later, Dirda has been an inveterate reader since childhood, so he sometimes waxes on about stuff that could be called “literature for boys” – adventure, mystery, and anything and everything related to Sherlock Holmes. I’ll own up to an interest in some historical horror – Arthur Machen, Algernon Blackwood, Lord Dunsany and the like. But even when he goes on about something I find uninteresting, he always does so with the companionable passion of a bookworm.

Nearly every Dirda collection works in some wisdom pulled from his own everyday life. His Long-Suffering Spouse and his children make appearances throughout the pieces beseeching him to give away some of his books and irritating him by loving television and video games more than books, respectively. The best slice-of-life essay in this collection is “Listening to My Father” in which he remembers his gruff and thoroughly unbookish but witty father.

Read slowly piece by piece or gulped down in one fell swoop, I think any book lover is going to cherish Dirda’s company. He’s the best of company any bookish person could want. Be warned: reading this book with pen and paper in hand will result in a list of new names you want to discover. Topping the list of authors I need to make time to re-discover are Guy Davenport and poet Randall Jarrell.

[Tim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dirda's book begins with a short essay on a childhood encounter with Clifton Fadiman's Lifetime Reading Plan, a guide to 100 great books, where Fadiman "inspired, exhorted, enticed..." the reader to attend to serious books. Dirda's book does some of the same, but not for long. Yes, there is a chapter on Romantic scholarship and memoirs, talk of Nabokov and Flaubert, but there are also chapters on science fiction, crime novels, chidren books, a Wodehouse convention, and his list of 100 great comedic novels (Wodehouse at the top). He also ventures away from books, to give insight into his life as a reader and book acquirer. I relate, though not on the first edition, pricier end of things. Still I understand the sense of the hunt that comes upon entering a used bookstore or a book sale, as well as the need to sneak books into the house past a spouse. Overall, this book of short chapters taken from Dirda's newspaper writing is perfect for reading before bed. It gives you glimpses of Dirda's character and good humor, insights into entire genre's you might never have ventured into, as well as lists of more books to read. One can never have enough of those.

[Deb Montague · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's easy to see why Dirda won the Pulitzer Prize for commentary. His essays are relatable with an easy-going style. I am amazed at the amount of reading he has done in his lifetime. I've done, maybe, a generous quarter of what he referenced in this book. Be prepared to add to your "To Be Read" list. Also be prepared to find many of the books he references to be out of print.
My biggest criticism is the lack of worldliness in his reading. We are long past the time where white male English-speaking authors must be held up as gods. Dirda could see, at the time this book was published, the writing on the wall; so to speak; of the canon being taught in schools changing to include women and BIPOC. As astute as he was with his essays, that he didn't choose to laud many of them is sad. Literature is full of works which don't see much reading. Not everything is 19th and 20th century male authors from England. /sigh If you read those essays fast, you won't miss much.
The essays are short so this is a great book to take when you have to sit at the doctor's office. You can finish an essay in a few minutes and not feel you've lost your place in the story.

[George Siehl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Most who truly enjoy books and reading will find items in this collection that resonate. Author Michael Dirda was a senior editor for Book World, the weekly book review section of the Washington Post. Included here are reprints of the literary essays he wrote monthly under the heading "Readings." The columns embrace humor, serious literary commentary, interactions with other producers or lovers of literature, and bits of autobiography.

Dirda is an articulate, and literate, commentator on books and the people to whom they matter. This book, or any of his others, makes not only great reading, but a fine gift to reading friends and family. Dirda suggests reading the book one column or so at a time. The advice is sound, as it makes the pleasure last longer.

This book is highly recommended, but with a warning: almost any book he writes about seems to cry out to be added to your list of must-reads. I have seldom been disappointed with his recommendations; Wodehouse I found to be a taste I had not acquired, and Terry Pratchett's first Discworld novel, The Color of Magic, I was too obtuse to savor. Fortunately, reading another in the series convinced me Dirda was right on this author. I have cherished Discworld, and Pratchett, ever since; Dirda even longer.

[Glen Engel-Cox · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another collection of essays by Dirda, that most well-read of book commentators. By now, I’m quite familiar with Dirda’s peccadillos, more than just what books he likes, but his overall interests, his family situation, and other sundry aspects of a life in reading. I share quite a bit of Dirda’s passion for forgotten writers of the early 19th century, written comedy, and books about books. And like other books by Dirda, the danger here is how many volumes you’ll add to your to-be-read pile.

There’s not really much else to say about this. It’s the kind of thing you like if you like this kind of thing. And the fact that you’re reading this means you’re the target audience. Give it a try.

[David Allen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dirda is better read than you are, but he's so matter-of-fact about his reading that I found myself jotting down titles rather than cursing him -- although now and then I did roll my eyes. While occasionally precious, he's funny too, such as his essay about how little he can remember about books he loves, and his vision of good reading embraces Hound of the Baskervilles as much as Hamlet.

[Sevelyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just added two dozen books to my “Want to Read” lists on various portals. Nice of him to share. Some works I had never heard of despite familiarity w their authors. Others were altogether new, like “Jorkens.” He offers a vacation reading list and books for kids and mysteries and other lists. Best for all, he’s no reading snob. You will find Cyril Connelly next to … the all-important “Candy.”

[Sandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

After a lifetime of reading (and I am quite old) I pick up Michael Dirda's Readings and feel that I have never read anything at all. What a great gift he is to one who wants to know what to read next, but what an even greater gift to someone who wants to know why to read at all.

[Jeff Zell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dirda has a gift for introducing the reader of these essays to the pleasures of finding and reading books. His essays are personal. And, he introduces us to authors who are not on the best seller lists.

[Lynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very enjoyable reading. Michael Dirda took me into his world, confirmed my own obsession with reading, and stimulated my own appetite for unknown authors.

[Geoffrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fantastic collection of essays on books, book collecting, reading, etc.

It is, however, really the kind of book that is crying out for an index.

[Austin Moore · Rating 5 out of 5]

96/100

5 stars - 90/100
4 stars - 80/100
3 stars - 70/100
2 stars - 60/100
1 star - 50/100

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed many of these bookish essays. However, there were several that went over my head. A more erudite reader may get the references that I couldn't. That being said, I will seek out more of Dirda's writing.

[James Henderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

How many book recommendations can one fit into a slim book of only 216 pages? I don't know for sure, but while I did not count them I believe that Michael Dirda may have the record with this book. It is a collection of his essays for the Washington Post from 1993 through 1999 that he delightfully calls "literary entertainments". I say delightfully because that is the emotion I experienced reading the essays. I would catalog the literary references but that is beyond the limits of my own reviewing skills. You can obtain an idea of the breadth of the essays when the first two essays include references to Clifton Fadiman's Lifetime Reading Plan and one of my favorite fantasy novels, The Man Who Was Thursday by G. K. Chesterton. All this and more is blended into two very personal essays about the author's reading life and habits with comparisons of reading Paul Auster, Evelyn Waugh, Charles Williams, and Felix Salten -- all of which are in an essay purportedly about an obscure work of supernatural fiction called I Am Jonathan Scrivener by Claude Houghton. The result of the forty-six essays, which may be read in any order and at any speed, is a great introduction to a wonderful essayist and a reference compendium that is guaranteed to expand your reading horizon.

[Annabelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Avid readers should beware of books about books, especially when written by the likes of Joseph Epstein and Michael Dirda. Dirda, especially, who cheerily bandies title after recommended title, adding just enough snippets to whet your already eager appetite. Ultimately, it makes for expensive reading, as you hastily buy the books online. But who's complaining? It has all been worth it. And happily, Amazon now offers free shipping to the Philippines.

But I digress. This has only been my second book by Dirda, the first being the pleasurable Classics for Pleasure. Compared to the discerning (think Casaubon, but charming) Epstein, whose captivating books on books I've all savored and enjoyed, Dirda's tastes run to the eclectic. He may be multi-lingual, relishes the hardcore classics as much as the next Oxford don, and a Pulitzer awardee for criticism, but he also unabashedly delights in retro science fiction, Wodehouse, and the gothic stories of M.R. James and Lafcadio Hearn. Best of all, he is a self-deprecating, kiss-and-tell book whore. I could relate to his (no cheap) thrills of meandering through used bookstalls, the soul-searching dilemma prior to each extravagant purchase, and the exponential problem of housing more books. Dirda is a fellow booksnake. Truly, a man after my own literary heart.

[jen8998 · Rating 5 out of 5]

I blame Michael Dirda for my latest flurry of book purchasing. He writes so enthusiastically about books he's enjoyed that my list of books to read becomes longer and longer with each page.

I also enjoyed his take on common dilemmas plaguing the bibliophile. For instance, he answers the essential question of how many books to take on vacation. The answer: a minimum of six chosen from varying categories in order to match your every mood or intellectual fancy.

[Stacey · Rating 2 out of 5]

He is a lovely writer, but he is so old-school and canonical in his literary tastes that I found myself wishing that he were a less Euro-centric and more adventurous reader. Reading this book did make me want to read some PG Wodehouse, but other than that, few of his book recommendations were compelling to me (he does not seem to read many women, many non-British or American writers, or many people of color).

[Josh Boggs · Rating 4 out of 5]

Readers should keep a notepad at hand, lest Dirda's many diverse, strange, and enticing recommendations be forgotten. The travails and pleasures of a "bookman" will be familiar to some and inspiring to many, but certainly amusing to most. Take the author's advice and don't read this collection in order. Instead, treat it as a port of embarkation for various literary adventures.

[Brian · Rating 3 out of 5]

"The most effective weapon of any man is to have reduced his share of histrionics to a minimum."
pg 75

This will be a read for the bibliophile who would be desirous of getting inside scoop on one of many reading lists of an addicted reader, a Pulitzer prize writing author, book reviewer for Washington Post and NY Times and all around compulsive lover of all things to be read.