Browsings

A Year of Reading, Collecting, and Living with Books

De: Michael Dirda

Narrado por: John Lescault

From Pulitzer Prize - winning book critic Michael Dirda comes a collection of his most personal and engaging essays on the literary life - the perfect companion for any lover of books.

Michael Dirda has been hailed as "the best-read person in America" by the Paris Review and "the best book critic in America" by the New York Observer. In addition to the Pulitzer Prize, he was awarded for his reviews in the Washington Post, and he picked up an Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for his book On Conan Doyle.

Dirda's latest volume collects fifty of his witty and wide-ranging reflections on literary journalism, book collecting, and the writers he loves. Reaching from the classics to the postmoderns, his allusions dance from Samuel Johnson, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and M. F. K. Fisher to Marilynne Robinson, Hunter S. Thompson, and David Foster Wallace. Dirda's topics are equally diverse: literary pets, the lost art of cursive writing, book inscriptions, the pleasures of science fiction conventions, author photographs, novelists in old age, Oberlin College, a year in Marseille, writer's block, and much more, not to overlook a few rants about Washington life and American culture. As admirers of his earlier books will expect, there are annotated lists galore - of perfect book titles, great adventure novels, favorite words, essential books about books, and beloved children's classics, as well as a revealing peek at the titles Michael keeps on his own nightstand.

Funny and erudite, occasionally poignant or angry, Browsings is a celebration of the reading life, a fan's notes, and the perfect gift for any book lover.

©2015 Michael Dirda (P)2015 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Esoteric

It is a collection of the author's essays related to books, some more on topic than others (like calligraphy and writing instruments). The author refers to an esoteric range of books... probably only a book collector can appreciate.

Read this book

Absolutely loved it. Dirda's life experiences resonated with mine. Where are the book stores?

Strangely captivating and engaging

I enjoyed entering this author’s world of books, his collecting and reading, quite different from my own but worth visiting. I liked the mellow quality of the narrator’s voice and found it soothing in the evening as I listened before falling asleep, which was what I hoped I would do. The author’s occasional political references and rants were a bit unnerving, and made him appear somewhat narrow-minded and even a little shallow, in spite of his being so well-read overall. But in general, book was was interesting in a pleasant, relaxing way.

A Bag of Csshews

Overdosed a littlle by reading these short pieces too many at a time. I love Dirda's style and his enthusiasm for used bookstores, but I should have sampled a few at a time.