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Bookends: Collected Intros and Outros
A brilliant, idiosyncratic collection of introductions and afterwords (plus some liner notes) by New York Times bestselling and Pulitzer Prize winning author Michael Chabon—“one of contemporary literature’s most gifted prose stylists” (Michiko Kakutani, New York Times).
In Bookends, Pulitzer Prize winning author Michael Chabon offers a compilation of pieces about literature—age-old classics as well as his own—that presents a unique look into his literary origins and influences, the books that shaped his taste and formed his ideas about writing and reading.
Chabon asks why anyone would write an introduction, or for that matter, read one. His own daughter Rose prefers to skip them. Chabon's answer is simple and simultaneously "a hope of bringing pleasure for the reader." Likewise, afterwords—they are all about shared pleasure, about the "pure love" of a work of art that has inspired, awakened, transformed the reader. Ultimately, this thought-provoking compendium is a series of love letters and thank-you notes, unified by the simple theme of the shared pleasure of discovery, whether it's the boyhood revelation of the most important story in Chabon's life (Ray Bradbury's "The Rocket Man"); a celebration of "the greatest literary cartographer of the planet Mars" (Edgar Rice Burroughs, with his character John Carter); a reintroduction to a forgotten master of ghost stories (M. R. James, ironically "the happiest of men"); the recognition that the worlds of Wes Anderson's films are reassembled scale models of our own broken reality (as is all art); Chabon's own rude awakening from the muse as he writes his debut novel, The Mysteries of Pittsburgh; or a playful parody of lyrical interpretation in the liner notes for Mark Ronson's Uptown Special, the true purpose of which, Chabon insists, is to "spread the gospel of sensible automotive safety and maintenance practices."
Galaxies away from academic or didactic, Bookends celebrates wonder—and like the copy of The Phantom Tollbooth handed to young Michael by a friend of his father he never saw again—it is a treasured gift.
In Bookends, Pulitzer Prize winning author Michael Chabon offers a compilation of pieces about literature—age-old classics as well as his own—that presents a unique look into his literary origins and influences, the books that shaped his taste and formed his ideas about writing and reading.
Chabon asks why anyone would write an introduction, or for that matter, read one. His own daughter Rose prefers to skip them. Chabon's answer is simple and simultaneously "a hope of bringing pleasure for the reader." Likewise, afterwords—they are all about shared pleasure, about the "pure love" of a work of art that has inspired, awakened, transformed the reader. Ultimately, this thought-provoking compendium is a series of love letters and thank-you notes, unified by the simple theme of the shared pleasure of discovery, whether it's the boyhood revelation of the most important story in Chabon's life (Ray Bradbury's "The Rocket Man"); a celebration of "the greatest literary cartographer of the planet Mars" (Edgar Rice Burroughs, with his character John Carter); a reintroduction to a forgotten master of ghost stories (M. R. James, ironically "the happiest of men"); the recognition that the worlds of Wes Anderson's films are reassembled scale models of our own broken reality (as is all art); Chabon's own rude awakening from the muse as he writes his debut novel, The Mysteries of Pittsburgh; or a playful parody of lyrical interpretation in the liner notes for Mark Ronson's Uptown Special, the true purpose of which, Chabon insists, is to "spread the gospel of sensible automotive safety and maintenance practices."
Galaxies away from academic or didactic, Bookends celebrates wonder—and like the copy of The Phantom Tollbooth handed to young Michael by a friend of his father he never saw again—it is a treasured gift.
175 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 22, 2019
46 people are currently reading
338 people want to read
About the author
Michael Chabon
144 books8,890 followersMichael Chabon is an American novelist, screenwriter, columnist, and short story writer. Born in Washington, D.C., he spent a year studying at Carnegie Mellon University before transferring to the University of Pittsburgh, graduating in 1984. He subsequently received a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing from the University of California, Irvine.
Chabon's first novel, The Mysteries of Pittsburgh (1988), was published when he was 24. He followed it with Wonder Boys (1995) and two short-story collections. In 2000, he published The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, a novel that John Leonard would later call Chabon's magnum opus. It received the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2001.
His novel The Yiddish Policemen's Union, an alternate history mystery novel, was published in 2007 and won the Hugo, Sidewise, Nebula and Ignotus awards; his serialized novel Gentlemen of the Road appeared in book form in the fall of the same year. In 2012, Chabon published Telegraph Avenue, billed as "a twenty-first century Middlemarch", concerning the tangled lives of two families in the San Francisco Bay Area in 2004. He followed Telegraph Avenue in November 2016 with his latest novel, Moonglow, a fictionalized memoir of his maternal grandfather, based on his deathbed confessions under the influence of powerful painkillers in Chabon's mother's California home in 1989.
Chabon's work is characterized by complex language, and the frequent use of metaphor along with recurring themes such as nostalgia, divorce, abandonment, fatherhood, and most notably issues of Jewish identity. He often includes gay, bisexual, and Jewish characters in his work. Since the late 1990s, he has written in increasingly diverse styles for varied outlets; he is a notable defender of the merits of genre fiction and plot-driven fiction, and, along with novels, has published screenplays, children's books, comics, and newspaper serials.
Chabon's first novel, The Mysteries of Pittsburgh (1988), was published when he was 24. He followed it with Wonder Boys (1995) and two short-story collections. In 2000, he published The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, a novel that John Leonard would later call Chabon's magnum opus. It received the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2001.
His novel The Yiddish Policemen's Union, an alternate history mystery novel, was published in 2007 and won the Hugo, Sidewise, Nebula and Ignotus awards; his serialized novel Gentlemen of the Road appeared in book form in the fall of the same year. In 2012, Chabon published Telegraph Avenue, billed as "a twenty-first century Middlemarch", concerning the tangled lives of two families in the San Francisco Bay Area in 2004. He followed Telegraph Avenue in November 2016 with his latest novel, Moonglow, a fictionalized memoir of his maternal grandfather, based on his deathbed confessions under the influence of powerful painkillers in Chabon's mother's California home in 1989.
Chabon's work is characterized by complex language, and the frequent use of metaphor along with recurring themes such as nostalgia, divorce, abandonment, fatherhood, and most notably issues of Jewish identity. He often includes gay, bisexual, and Jewish characters in his work. Since the late 1990s, he has written in increasingly diverse styles for varied outlets; he is a notable defender of the merits of genre fiction and plot-driven fiction, and, along with novels, has published screenplays, children's books, comics, and newspaper serials.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 58 reviews
December 10, 2018
Years ago I was introduced to Michael Chabon through Mysteries of Pittsburgh which I liked enough to read his next novel that failed miserably for me. I have witnessed his success through the years with wonder. There was enough interest in him for me to take another look and perhaps understand what makes him tick. This book helped but did nothing to further my enjoyment of him or his writing. What it made me realize is we have little in common, and our relationship must end on what for me is one sad note.
January 25, 2019
Before reviewing Bookends, I should point out two things about myself:
1. I’m an unabashed fan of Michael Chabon’s essays and nonfiction writing. As much as I loved Kavalier & Clay and Wonderboys, I have to admit that I might have enjoyed Manhood for Amateurs and Pops even more. I enjoy his observations about the world and his skillful writing lets him express those observations in a way that sucks me in.
2. If there’s one thing I like more than reading my favorite authors, it’s reading my favorite authors write about their favorite authors.
Bookends might as well be tailor made for me. It collects a number of forewords and afterwords that Chabon has written for any number of books, comic books, and anthologies throughout his career.
To the surprise of no one, I thoroughly enjoyed this. Most of the entries are short, but Chabon’s passion for the subject he’s writing about never fails to come through. It helps that a lot of my reading interests line up with the author’s, so reading his musings on superhero fashion, Norse mythology, Ray Bradbury, or Howard Chaykin’s American Flagg were amusing and, at times, touching.
I’m giving this 4 stars because it suffers from the same ailment that plagues any collection or anthology, especially one that collects works from different stages of a writer’s career. It’s hard to have a consistent through line when the topics of each piece can vary from 19th century English horror to an Oakland restaurant across the span of a few pages. You get a sense of Chabon from what he chooses to write about and how he writes about those things, but your enjoyment of any given piece is bound to be up and down depending on your own relationship (or lack thereof) with what’s being introduced.
I’d recommend any fan of Chabon to check out this collection. It’s short and the topics are varied. If nothing else, I came out with a lot of new things to add to my TBR list. This one probably isn’t a good place to start for those who don’t have prior experience with Chabon, so I’d check out some of his best fiction before reading this one.
1. I’m an unabashed fan of Michael Chabon’s essays and nonfiction writing. As much as I loved Kavalier & Clay and Wonderboys, I have to admit that I might have enjoyed Manhood for Amateurs and Pops even more. I enjoy his observations about the world and his skillful writing lets him express those observations in a way that sucks me in.
2. If there’s one thing I like more than reading my favorite authors, it’s reading my favorite authors write about their favorite authors.
Bookends might as well be tailor made for me. It collects a number of forewords and afterwords that Chabon has written for any number of books, comic books, and anthologies throughout his career.
To the surprise of no one, I thoroughly enjoyed this. Most of the entries are short, but Chabon’s passion for the subject he’s writing about never fails to come through. It helps that a lot of my reading interests line up with the author’s, so reading his musings on superhero fashion, Norse mythology, Ray Bradbury, or Howard Chaykin’s American Flagg were amusing and, at times, touching.
I’m giving this 4 stars because it suffers from the same ailment that plagues any collection or anthology, especially one that collects works from different stages of a writer’s career. It’s hard to have a consistent through line when the topics of each piece can vary from 19th century English horror to an Oakland restaurant across the span of a few pages. You get a sense of Chabon from what he chooses to write about and how he writes about those things, but your enjoyment of any given piece is bound to be up and down depending on your own relationship (or lack thereof) with what’s being introduced.
I’d recommend any fan of Chabon to check out this collection. It’s short and the topics are varied. If nothing else, I came out with a lot of new things to add to my TBR list. This one probably isn’t a good place to start for those who don’t have prior experience with Chabon, so I’d check out some of his best fiction before reading this one.
January 9, 2023
His love for the English language is contagious.
June 22, 2019
RATING: 3 STARS
2019; Harper Perennial/HarperCollins Canada
(Review Not on Blog)
Chabon writes really well, but I just didn't know too much about the books discussed in this book to really enjoy this slim collection.
***I received an eARC from EDELWEISS***
2019; Harper Perennial/HarperCollins Canada
(Review Not on Blog)
Chabon writes really well, but I just didn't know too much about the books discussed in this book to really enjoy this slim collection.
***I received an eARC from EDELWEISS***
March 31, 2019
If I knew, I had forgotten, that Kavalier and Clay were real people. More importantly, one of them drank Dr pepper and o.j. So close... so close.
February 23, 2020
What an odd little book.
It is, as the cover will inform you, simply a collection of forewords, introductions, and afterwords written by the author. There's no theme, no overarching narrative or cohesion, other than this:
Here are books that Michael Chabon likes, and he's going to tell you precisely why.
Forearmed is forewarned, and so I ventured in expecting it to be what it was. Which is, honestly, both irredeemably choppy and also rather lovely. It's time with a charming, garrulous, literary acquaintance, halfway through his third scotch at the height of a party, and he's discovered this book he simply LOVES, and there is not a force in this universe that's going to prevent him from telling you about it. Then do that a dozen times in a row. That's the book.
What it ultimately does is give a sense of Chabon himself, which...particularly when he waxed eloquent about his childhood discovery of Ray Bradbury's R is for Rocket...struck a deep harmony in my own bookish evolution.
It's a series of introductions, in every sense of the word. So take that as you will.
It is, as the cover will inform you, simply a collection of forewords, introductions, and afterwords written by the author. There's no theme, no overarching narrative or cohesion, other than this:
Here are books that Michael Chabon likes, and he's going to tell you precisely why.
Forearmed is forewarned, and so I ventured in expecting it to be what it was. Which is, honestly, both irredeemably choppy and also rather lovely. It's time with a charming, garrulous, literary acquaintance, halfway through his third scotch at the height of a party, and he's discovered this book he simply LOVES, and there is not a force in this universe that's going to prevent him from telling you about it. Then do that a dozen times in a row. That's the book.
What it ultimately does is give a sense of Chabon himself, which...particularly when he waxed eloquent about his childhood discovery of Ray Bradbury's R is for Rocket...struck a deep harmony in my own bookish evolution.
It's a series of introductions, in every sense of the word. So take that as you will.
February 4, 2020
Strange little book; it primarily made me want to read all the other books it discussed.
February 8, 2022
He's got a lovely turn of phrase, and I got some useful book recommendations from it, but I prefer his fiction.
August 24, 2022
This was better than expected-
It was interesting to read all the intros to these books without the context of the book itself. However I quite liked it. It was cool to read about loads of different topics in one short book.
It was interesting to read all the intros to these books without the context of the book itself. However I quite liked it. It was cool to read about loads of different topics in one short book.
July 31, 2022
A book full of my least favorite parts of books
December 23, 2018
Michael Chabon's prose leaves me breathless. Whether he's writing fiction or nonfiction, all of his language makes me weak at the knees. I would read a beautiful passage, shake my head and be compelled to stop, pace a bit while I savor the words before resuming.
BOOKENDS of course is no different except on completion my reading list exploded.
At an interview here in Seattle, Michael Chabon talked about one of his favorite books, W. G. Sebald's RINGS OF SATURN. which I promptly read and was blown away. What a dreamy, fascinating story!
Then when he was on tour in support of POPS he mentioned that he repeatedly returned to THE QUEEN'S GAMBIT by Walter Tevis for the sheer brilliance of that author's prose, narrative and character development. I immediately read that as well with the same result. Both are extraordinary books and consequently, I will read anything Chabon suggests!
Each essay in BOOKENDS is wonderful in it's own way and all of them delight.
In the 'Outros' section, MYSTERIES OF PITTSBURGH is a more personal story where he explores his evolution of becoming a writer, his influences and the novels that inspired him to write (more TBR's!). It is delicious!
In 'Intros' Superheros you learn about their evolution and how impossible it is to replicate the costumes of superheros no matter how many comicons you attend. In another essay he explores the films of Wes Anderson and how they just might be a reflection of our own broken society.
These brilliant and erudite essays will make you hunger for the books he mentions. You'll find yourself wanting to read them.
Do.
But read Chabon most of all.
Thank you HarperCollins for the ARE.
BOOKENDS of course is no different except on completion my reading list exploded.
At an interview here in Seattle, Michael Chabon talked about one of his favorite books, W. G. Sebald's RINGS OF SATURN. which I promptly read and was blown away. What a dreamy, fascinating story!
Then when he was on tour in support of POPS he mentioned that he repeatedly returned to THE QUEEN'S GAMBIT by Walter Tevis for the sheer brilliance of that author's prose, narrative and character development. I immediately read that as well with the same result. Both are extraordinary books and consequently, I will read anything Chabon suggests!
Each essay in BOOKENDS is wonderful in it's own way and all of them delight.
In the 'Outros' section, MYSTERIES OF PITTSBURGH is a more personal story where he explores his evolution of becoming a writer, his influences and the novels that inspired him to write (more TBR's!). It is delicious!
In 'Intros' Superheros you learn about their evolution and how impossible it is to replicate the costumes of superheros no matter how many comicons you attend. In another essay he explores the films of Wes Anderson and how they just might be a reflection of our own broken society.
These brilliant and erudite essays will make you hunger for the books he mentions. You'll find yourself wanting to read them.
Do.
But read Chabon most of all.
Thank you HarperCollins for the ARE.
March 21, 2020
Are Chabon completionists even a thing? I thought it was just me. Is this another one of those moments where I discover the things I thought made me special are absolutely quotidian? That it's not just me who likes Gentlemen Take Polaroids?
February 19, 2022
Eclectic, but took a shot having liked Clay and Cavalier -
"That is the great advantage, of course, that reading holds over what we call "real life." Adventure is a dish that is best eaten takeout, in the comfort of one's own home. As you begin your meal, as you set off with Frans Bengtsson and Red Orm and the restless spirit of my aunt, I salute you, and bid you farewell, and even though I have just finished reading the book for the fourth time, I envy you the pleasure you are about to find in the pages of The Long Ships. When you arrive at its bittersweet, but mostly sweet, conclusion, I trust that you will turn to your shipmate, your companion in adventure, and swear by ancient oaths, as I hereby swear to you: It is really good."
"All nine-year-olds are sophists and hypocrites; I found it no more difficult than any other kid to withhold my own conduct from consideration in passing measured judgement on the human race."
"Every day, Oakland makes and breaks the American promise, a promise so central to the idea of America that we carry it around everywhere we go, in our wallets, jingling in our pockets. I mean, of course, e pluribus unum: out of all the scattered sparks, one shining light. It's a utopian promise, and like all utopian promises, liable to breakage. But even if that promise can never truly be redeemed, it can be - it must be - endlessly renewed. And it's the work that we put in, day after day, toward renewing the promise, and not the promise's fulfillment, that really matters."
"The point of the journey, to the everyday wanderer, is the feeling one gets on crossing a threshold of one of those magical places along the way, built on the borderline between here and there, where the stories and the homelands and the crooked routes of history come together in a slice of sweet potato pie."
"To come into consciousness of the world as a site of perpetually vanishing glory - of promise squandered, paradise spoiled, utopia unachieved - is and has always been the inheritance of every American, as the famous closing paragraphs of The Great Gatsby make clear."
"I had an editor and an agent, and they generously gave me their notes and support and intelligent suggestions, but I didn't have anyone leaning on me, the way a good workshop leans on you, steadily, consistently, even daily, so that ultimately leaning becomes indistinguishable from holding you upright."
"That is the great advantage, of course, that reading holds over what we call "real life." Adventure is a dish that is best eaten takeout, in the comfort of one's own home. As you begin your meal, as you set off with Frans Bengtsson and Red Orm and the restless spirit of my aunt, I salute you, and bid you farewell, and even though I have just finished reading the book for the fourth time, I envy you the pleasure you are about to find in the pages of The Long Ships. When you arrive at its bittersweet, but mostly sweet, conclusion, I trust that you will turn to your shipmate, your companion in adventure, and swear by ancient oaths, as I hereby swear to you: It is really good."
"All nine-year-olds are sophists and hypocrites; I found it no more difficult than any other kid to withhold my own conduct from consideration in passing measured judgement on the human race."
"Every day, Oakland makes and breaks the American promise, a promise so central to the idea of America that we carry it around everywhere we go, in our wallets, jingling in our pockets. I mean, of course, e pluribus unum: out of all the scattered sparks, one shining light. It's a utopian promise, and like all utopian promises, liable to breakage. But even if that promise can never truly be redeemed, it can be - it must be - endlessly renewed. And it's the work that we put in, day after day, toward renewing the promise, and not the promise's fulfillment, that really matters."
"The point of the journey, to the everyday wanderer, is the feeling one gets on crossing a threshold of one of those magical places along the way, built on the borderline between here and there, where the stories and the homelands and the crooked routes of history come together in a slice of sweet potato pie."
"To come into consciousness of the world as a site of perpetually vanishing glory - of promise squandered, paradise spoiled, utopia unachieved - is and has always been the inheritance of every American, as the famous closing paragraphs of The Great Gatsby make clear."
"I had an editor and an agent, and they generously gave me their notes and support and intelligent suggestions, but I didn't have anyone leaning on me, the way a good workshop leans on you, steadily, consistently, even daily, so that ultimately leaning becomes indistinguishable from holding you upright."
July 29, 2023
Reason Read: Michael Chabon, nonfiction work
This is about introductions and afterwords that we find in books. Do we read them? Why are they there. They are about "a hope of bringing pleasure to the reader" and "shared pleasure about the pure love of a work of art that has inspired, awakened, and transformed the reader." It's also a book about books.
Found in the book
Intros
The Wes Anderson Collection - Matt Zoller Seitz "cinema"
Trickster Makes This World - Lewis Hyde "Trickster" nonfiction examination
The Long Ships - Frans G. Bengtsson fiction
Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy - Andrew Bolton (Secret Skin; an essay in Unitard Theory) about what a superhero does for us the reader
Julius Knipl, Real Estate Photographer - Ben Katchor, graphic novel
Herma - MacDonald Harris Fiction, Paris,
Casting the Runes and other Ghost Stories - M R James ghost stories, a model of the short story.
Brown Sugar Kitchen (a cookbook) Oakland Soul food for the wanderer
Monster Man, Gary Gianni, graphic novel illustrator
The Sailor on the Seas of Fate - Michael Moorcock heroic fantasy
American Flagg - Howard Chaykin comic dystopian earth
D'Aulaires' Book of Norse Myths, illustrators winner of Caldecott
The Rocket Man - Ray Bradbury (short story) OWN
John Carter of Mars; comics Marv Wolfman
The Escapists - Brian K Vaughan - graphic novel
Summerland - Chabon (OWN) faeries and baseball
Fountain City (excerpt) this was a lost book, only 4 chapters have been recovered
OUTROS
Mysteries of Pittsburgh - Chabon
Gentlemen of the Road - Chabon (Jews with Swords) read
The Phantom Tollbooth - Norton Juster
Wonder When You'll Miss Me - Amanda Davis realistic fiction, YA (a tribute to a beloved friend who died)
Appendix: Liner notes
Carsickness (a band)
Uptown Special Vinyl Edition Mark Roson (music about car care?)
Yes it was interesting but it was more a way of finding more to read. I listened to the music and I would say Carsickness is not me, some of the Uptown Special was okay especially the ones that I was familiar.
This is about introductions and afterwords that we find in books. Do we read them? Why are they there. They are about "a hope of bringing pleasure to the reader" and "shared pleasure about the pure love of a work of art that has inspired, awakened, and transformed the reader." It's also a book about books.
Found in the book
Intros
The Wes Anderson Collection - Matt Zoller Seitz "cinema"
Trickster Makes This World - Lewis Hyde "Trickster" nonfiction examination
The Long Ships - Frans G. Bengtsson fiction
Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy - Andrew Bolton (Secret Skin; an essay in Unitard Theory) about what a superhero does for us the reader
Julius Knipl, Real Estate Photographer - Ben Katchor, graphic novel
Herma - MacDonald Harris Fiction, Paris,
Casting the Runes and other Ghost Stories - M R James ghost stories, a model of the short story.
Brown Sugar Kitchen (a cookbook) Oakland Soul food for the wanderer
Monster Man, Gary Gianni, graphic novel illustrator
The Sailor on the Seas of Fate - Michael Moorcock heroic fantasy
American Flagg - Howard Chaykin comic dystopian earth
D'Aulaires' Book of Norse Myths, illustrators winner of Caldecott
The Rocket Man - Ray Bradbury (short story) OWN
John Carter of Mars; comics Marv Wolfman
The Escapists - Brian K Vaughan - graphic novel
Summerland - Chabon (OWN) faeries and baseball
Fountain City (excerpt) this was a lost book, only 4 chapters have been recovered
OUTROS
Mysteries of Pittsburgh - Chabon
Gentlemen of the Road - Chabon (Jews with Swords) read
The Phantom Tollbooth - Norton Juster
Wonder When You'll Miss Me - Amanda Davis realistic fiction, YA (a tribute to a beloved friend who died)
Appendix: Liner notes
Carsickness (a band)
Uptown Special Vinyl Edition Mark Roson (music about car care?)
Yes it was interesting but it was more a way of finding more to read. I listened to the music and I would say Carsickness is not me, some of the Uptown Special was okay especially the ones that I was familiar.
February 22, 2019
Collecting previously published essays requires more work than you’d think. It’s especially difficult if the essays are introductions to other books, meaning they rely heavily on the reader’s understanding of other material not present in the book before them. Some of the essays in Bookends were good enough to stand on their own, some were exceptional pieces of writing that clearly shined as introductions and essays, and some were so offensive it just pissed me off (the Oakland essay before Brown Sugar Kitchen; it wafted of Berkeley arrogance). The best essays came in the outro section at the end of the book, because they were long and they allowed Chabon to write about his own writing. He got self reflective and described his own creative process, which I always love hearing about from authors I think are brilliant.
Ultimately, this was the first nonfiction I’ve read from Chabon. I think it’s not as good as his fiction, because he seems more concerned with the beauty of his language and his ideas and his rhythm than with the truth. He also is a brilliant world-builder, and so his long epic novels absolutely pulsate with life, but nonfiction requires not a world-builder but a world-perceiver. (This is also why the essays about himself were best, because he can craft his own narrative.) He’s definitely better at essay writing than most, but he is the best at novels.
Anyway, I would have liked this book more if Chabon had done more work to smooth the transitions between essays or more work to preface each introduction or group of introductions. I am thinking of Ta-Nehisi Coates’ We Were Eight Years in Power, where each previously published essay was precluded by a new essay that explained the piece and the author at that point.
Ultimately, I’d only recommend this book to people who are assigned to write an introduction to another person’s book.
Ultimately, this was the first nonfiction I’ve read from Chabon. I think it’s not as good as his fiction, because he seems more concerned with the beauty of his language and his ideas and his rhythm than with the truth. He also is a brilliant world-builder, and so his long epic novels absolutely pulsate with life, but nonfiction requires not a world-builder but a world-perceiver. (This is also why the essays about himself were best, because he can craft his own narrative.) He’s definitely better at essay writing than most, but he is the best at novels.
Anyway, I would have liked this book more if Chabon had done more work to smooth the transitions between essays or more work to preface each introduction or group of introductions. I am thinking of Ta-Nehisi Coates’ We Were Eight Years in Power, where each previously published essay was precluded by a new essay that explained the piece and the author at that point.
Ultimately, I’d only recommend this book to people who are assigned to write an introduction to another person’s book.
June 11, 2019
Fair warning number 1: I have only read Chabon's autobiography Manhood for Amateurs.
Fair Warning Number 2: I assumed Chabon had merely collected the intros/outros and liners for this collection rather than composing a collection of the ones he'd written.
Fair Warning Number 3: I had also assumed the book would be gimmicky. Spoiler alert: It isn't.
The slight, easily consumed collection reads more like an autobiography than a disconnected set of introductions, afterwords, and liners. Though the compendium includes quite a bit of fanboying (i.e. the letters written to Ray Bradbury and Brian K. Vaughn), Chabon's hopelessly romantic, idealistic view of the English language pose as genuine. His own dedication to the craft is evident in beautiful turns of phrase and terribly clever puns.
He's also quite good at dropping one-liners. Some of my favorite gems include the following: "I am a sucker myself, for chance survivals, because as I've confessed elsewhere I suffer intensely from bouts, at times almost disabling, of a limitless, all-encompassing nostalgia, extending well back into the years I was born," and "Our greatest duty as artists and as humans is to pay attention to our failures, to break them down, study the tapes, conduct the post-mortem, pore over the findings, to learn from our mistakes."
After reading this love letter to some of the paragons of modern writing, I found myself adding numerous other works to my "to be read" list. I wish that I'd read some of Chabon's fiction so as to appreciate this collection, but he's found himself on my list as well.
Fair Warning Number 2: I assumed Chabon had merely collected the intros/outros and liners for this collection rather than composing a collection of the ones he'd written.
Fair Warning Number 3: I had also assumed the book would be gimmicky. Spoiler alert: It isn't.
The slight, easily consumed collection reads more like an autobiography than a disconnected set of introductions, afterwords, and liners. Though the compendium includes quite a bit of fanboying (i.e. the letters written to Ray Bradbury and Brian K. Vaughn), Chabon's hopelessly romantic, idealistic view of the English language pose as genuine. His own dedication to the craft is evident in beautiful turns of phrase and terribly clever puns.
He's also quite good at dropping one-liners. Some of my favorite gems include the following: "I am a sucker myself, for chance survivals, because as I've confessed elsewhere I suffer intensely from bouts, at times almost disabling, of a limitless, all-encompassing nostalgia, extending well back into the years I was born," and "Our greatest duty as artists and as humans is to pay attention to our failures, to break them down, study the tapes, conduct the post-mortem, pore over the findings, to learn from our mistakes."
After reading this love letter to some of the paragons of modern writing, I found myself adding numerous other works to my "to be read" list. I wish that I'd read some of Chabon's fiction so as to appreciate this collection, but he's found himself on my list as well.
January 21, 2019
Clearly I am not the target audience for this book. I never read forwards or afterwards, and if it was required reading in high school or college, I would mostly skim through them. I struggle to maintain the acute focus to move through such detailed and often flowery writing. Writers of these intros and outros often have to pack a lot of information into a very small amount of writing space, as their work is not the focal point of the book, but rather some icing on the cake.
However, through reading Chabon's collection of essay, forwards, afterwards, I find a new appreciation for the mindfulness practice that is reading these short essays. They require your full attention, but when full attention is given, these are beautiful love notes for the books and stories they are written for. But not only are these essays about books, they are also about movies, albums, and more.
Contrary to my past experience with forewards and afterwards, I put in my best effort to read as many of these as possible. I found my favorites had fewer references to classical or obscure titles, and more to do with why Chabon found these works meaningful growing up. I like people more than I do analyzing influences. Some of them I still struggled with, but I found it easy to skip over those and move on to something I found more interesting. If you like essays, particularly essays about literature, this collection may be right up your alley.
I received this book via the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
However, through reading Chabon's collection of essay, forwards, afterwards, I find a new appreciation for the mindfulness practice that is reading these short essays. They require your full attention, but when full attention is given, these are beautiful love notes for the books and stories they are written for. But not only are these essays about books, they are also about movies, albums, and more.
Contrary to my past experience with forewards and afterwards, I put in my best effort to read as many of these as possible. I found my favorites had fewer references to classical or obscure titles, and more to do with why Chabon found these works meaningful growing up. I like people more than I do analyzing influences. Some of them I still struggled with, but I found it easy to skip over those and move on to something I found more interesting. If you like essays, particularly essays about literature, this collection may be right up your alley.
I received this book via the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
July 4, 2020
It’s hard to recommend Chabon’s Bookends to anyone who isn’t a diehard Chabon fan (like myself). This is a collection of the author’s forewards and end notes for a smattering of other author’s novels, some obscure, others not as much. These are books (and graphic novels and even a few albums) Chabon, a self-identified ‘know it all’, has been asked, because of his status and his expansive knowledge and love for the text, to introduce or to explore in greater detail. Small essays where one of the great living literary stylists can wax on theme and author and his own, often very personal, connections. It is the equivalent of having a very learned, very skilled writer recommend some of his favorite things and then expound on why. It is, for those who like (or in my case love to obsession) Chabon and his writing, a somewhat intimate interaction with the author on his favorite subject(s): books. Each essay, some more than others, finds Chabon discussing the texts (in my favorite chapters, his own), their themes, their context, their affect on his own work, his own life. No word is wasted, no sentence lacking in wit and beauty in a Chabon novel, and Bookends is no different, every piece both artfully composed and poignant in their delivery and their ideation. For those who love Chabon or even just love a recommendation from a trusted source, this is a book to devour on a lazy afternoon, the words and the thinking behind them enjoyable from start to finish. As for the rest of you, this slim collection may not be your speed.
February 22, 2019
I now feel I get why Michael Chabon chooses to write genre fiction. It is a way to contain his voracious intellect. When he gets analytical, as he does in many of the pieces in this collection, it is all I can do to race along behind. And often I lose sight of him in the distance. I love this writer (I am such a completist that I am seriously considering shelling out a substantial amount to buy McSweeneys Issue 36 just to own a couple of chapters of the book even he says is a shambles), but this felt a little like a means of staying in the readers' eye while he and his wife work on the TV version of The Yiddish Policemen's Union.
Still, he is always a joy to read and I relish the bits of vague overlap we nearly share. I was at Carnegie Mellon just before him, saw more than once, Carsickness, a band he wrote liner notes for and even think I remember the Hawkwind-loving manager of the Record Graveyard in Oakwood.
I'm now going to reread Kavalier and Clay.
Still, he is always a joy to read and I relish the bits of vague overlap we nearly share. I was at Carnegie Mellon just before him, saw more than once, Carsickness, a band he wrote liner notes for and even think I remember the Hawkwind-loving manager of the Record Graveyard in Oakwood.
I'm now going to reread Kavalier and Clay.
March 4, 2019
A collection of the author’s introductions, afterwords, and other miscellaneous pieces that have been associated with his own or the works of others. It’s more of a feuilleton (see below) than a collection of essays.
Some of Chabon’s pieces are engaging and mildly entertaining. His prose is crafted to fill out his sentences with the illusion of lyrical vibrancy, but in the end, the effort seems superfluous to the story when there is not much story to begin with. His frequent use of clauses catches the reader’s eye to the extent that he will find himself mentally diagraming the sentence just to make sure at what point the subject connects with the verb.
Nonetheless, the collection provides a quick but entertaining pause from more serious reading as Chabon conducts short bursts of syntactical virtuosos.
feuil·le·ton (fœ′yə-tôN′) n. - The part of a European newspaper devoted to light fiction, reviews, and articles of general entertainment.
Some of Chabon’s pieces are engaging and mildly entertaining. His prose is crafted to fill out his sentences with the illusion of lyrical vibrancy, but in the end, the effort seems superfluous to the story when there is not much story to begin with. His frequent use of clauses catches the reader’s eye to the extent that he will find himself mentally diagraming the sentence just to make sure at what point the subject connects with the verb.
Nonetheless, the collection provides a quick but entertaining pause from more serious reading as Chabon conducts short bursts of syntactical virtuosos.
feuil·le·ton (fœ′yə-tôN′) n. - The part of a European newspaper devoted to light fiction, reviews, and articles of general entertainment.
May 9, 2019
As always I enjoy Chabon's writing (as I've mentioned before, although I've never met him, he and I share some biographical similarities, including a trip through the English Writing program at Pitt in the early 80s), but I can't say I was all that stoked about this as a coherent work, especially the Intros. These serve as appreciations of the artists involved, but if you're unfamiliar with the works involved or (worse) not that interested in the specific genre that the work in question is in, these appreciative essays tend to be...not that interesting.
The best pieces for me were the intros and afterwards for his own works, since I was familiar with them.
The book is a benefit for the MacDowell community, so I'm happy he published it. But it feels like something for Chabon completists only, if you've already read all his novels, hunted down his short story collections, etc.
The best pieces for me were the intros and afterwards for his own works, since I was familiar with them.
The book is a benefit for the MacDowell community, so I'm happy he published it. But it feels like something for Chabon completists only, if you've already read all his novels, hunted down his short story collections, etc.
February 15, 2019
There is something enveloping about Michael Chabon's writing. His essays on parenting and fatherhood (Manhood for Amateurs and Pops) have had a clear line to my parenting and ability to see the beauty in the work. His essays on writing (Maps and Legends) illustrate how I feel about writing and reading so perfectly. Bookends is no exception, a collection of intros and outros to books by others and himself had me laughing and crying over the beauty of the written word. He writes eloquently about topics I'm not entirely interested in (Norse mythology, comics, baseball) in such compelling ways I begin to care and appreciate his perspective and insight. The insight that expands beyond the topic and casts it shadow on my life and perspectives.
March 6, 2019
I admit that I often skip the introduction on books I am not reading for a class or review, so I was happy to see a volume which highlighted them thinking it would pique my interest in reading them from now on.
For some reason I purchased this book of forwards and introductions thinking it would include the works of Mr. Chabon and others. I was surprised to find it was all his work. While I found many of the intros to be interesting, I found the ones for works which were not his own to be a bit ostentatious. The introductions to his own work were very interesting and illustrated his Pulitzer Prize winning talent.
I still don’t know if reading this slim volume will make me read every introduction or forward, but it will make me take a second glance.
For some reason I purchased this book of forwards and introductions thinking it would include the works of Mr. Chabon and others. I was surprised to find it was all his work. While I found many of the intros to be interesting, I found the ones for works which were not his own to be a bit ostentatious. The introductions to his own work were very interesting and illustrated his Pulitzer Prize winning talent.
I still don’t know if reading this slim volume will make me read every introduction or forward, but it will make me take a second glance.
September 15, 2020
Purchase Bookends here for just $10!
What a joy Bookends was to read. This is a collection of thoughtful forwards and afterwords Chabon has written for other books, including a couple of his own books. And I’m sure just like me that after reading about them here, you will be persuaded to read several of these books for yourself.
Alicia - The Book Grocer
What a joy Bookends was to read. This is a collection of thoughtful forwards and afterwords Chabon has written for other books, including a couple of his own books. And I’m sure just like me that after reading about them here, you will be persuaded to read several of these books for yourself.
Alicia - The Book Grocer
February 1, 2019
At first blush, reading the first couple of dozen pages of this book, I was disappointed. It seemed to be rambling musings. But as I went along, I realized it has one big possibility. It was Chabon's rambling musings about books (and later music) he loved. Like most bibliophiles, I take serious readers' opinions of great books as a notice. If they say something that resonates, that book goes into my "to be read" list. Such was the case here, where it yielded 4 books from the first reading. I read it only for that purpose and that made it a better read for me.
January 15, 2019
Sweet musings and divergent thoughts organized into one book; these are various essays written for books as introductions or commentary. Readers learn wonderful bits and pieces about author Michael Chabon that may or may not be true, much like his work. Regardless, this is an author that can spin words and concepts like fine filigree on a metal chain. Everything leaves the reader just a tad breathless wishing for more. I received y copy from the publisher through edelweiss.
June 11, 2019
"Prose stylist". Okay, that works. I just like everything Chabon writes, even if I don't get all the references. Maybe when I do some more reading, I'll come back and add the 5th star. The familiar stuff and all of the reflections on his own work and process were spot on; his passion for the language is infectious. A lot of authors make you want to read more of their work. I also want to read more of what he's reading.
July 19, 2019
This started out as a five star read, a slim collection with a stellar premise: collect intros & outros that sandwich longer works most people have never set eyes on, purely for their own merit. And there were glints of genius; several passages sent me scrambling for my notebook so I could take note. But as with other types of edited collections (short stories, poetry), it was a very hit-or-miss experience. Plus, I am nearly 100% sure these are almost all white-men. Ooh but such a good idea!
April 25, 2019
Anything by Chabon is going to be worth reading. Since this was a collection of introductions for other books, mostly by other authors, it was a little hit and miss since I am probably not going to read most of the books introduced here. This did make me add several to my "to read list", and even in the case of some I won't read I gained a lot of insight from the essays offered here.
August 23, 2019
I think this is more of a read for Chabon fans. Peeking into the introductions, forwards and after thoughts of books and albums for which Chabon has provided his thoughts, offers biographical and personal insight into Cahbon himself. Also a good source for book recommendations from the author himself.
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