How to Talk about Books You Haven't Read
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How to Talk about Books You Haven't Read
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Narrated by:
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Grover Gardner
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By:
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Pierre Bayard
About this listen
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1 out of 5 stars
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Misleading
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 141
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You may be aware that G. K. Chesterton authored influential Christian biographies and apologetics. But you may not know the larger-than-life Gilbert Keith Chesterton himself - not yet. Equally versed in poetry, novels, literary criticism, and journalism, he addressed politics, culture, and religion with a towering intellect and a soaring wit. Chesterton carried on lively, public discussions with the social commentators of his day, continually challenging them with civility, humility, erudition, and his ever-sharp sense of humor.
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4 out of 5 stars
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I Liked It
- By Gene Hamill on 11-20-20
By: Kevin Belmonte
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Illuminations
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- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 36
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 30
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Walter Benjamin was an icon of criticism, renowned for his insight on art, literature, and philosophy. This volume includes his views on Kafka, with whom he felt a close personal affinity; his studies on Baudelaire and Proust; and his essays on Leskov and Brecht’s epic theater. Illuminations also includes his penetrating study “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction”, an enlightening discussion of translation as a literary mode, and his theses on the philosophy of history.
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5 out of 5 stars
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finally
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By: Walter Benjamin, and others
What listeners say about How to Talk about Books You Haven't Read
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Judith
- 11-15-16
Witty.
Very witty, but not essential to those who like reading. The narrator was very good.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 04-27-08
At least it's short
I'm not sure what I was expecting from this book. Looking back at the publisher's summary, it's pretty dead on. I have three complaints about the book:
1) The author appears to believe that the only reason to read a book is to be able to say that you've read it. He goes on to explain that not only is it not necessary to actually read the book in order to make that claim, actually reading it before making that claim is a waste of time.
2) The writing is extremely academic; lots of "one can see" and "ibid" and "op cit". I suspect that part of this is due to the translation process from French to English. Perhaps another translator would have come up with a more listen-able book.
3) As described in the publisher's summary, he uses examples from film and literature to make his points. What the summary leaves off is: he EXCLUSIVELY uses these types of sources to support his point. He seems to have forgotten that these are all fictional, and so they don't really represent actual people discussing books they've never read. Someone else made up all their interactions; they're not real. They don't prove any points, they prove that in a fictional universe, where everything is created at the author's whim, these points have validity.
If it weren't for some interesting discussion about what it means to have read a book, it'd be zero stars. Also, since it's only about 4.5 hrs, it's over quickly.
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13 people found this helpful
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- Ivy McCarley
- 12-11-18
Cannot finish this book.
The reader made me sleepy. Such a poor recording. I wish I can return this.
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- Steph
- 02-06-22
Peak Irony
A book that tries to discourage you from reading. Ironic.
I'm not sure what I expected given the title, but certainly not that. an easy skip, you're not missing anything.
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