I’m a sucker for a book like Michael Dirda’s BROWSINGS: A YEAR OF READING, COLLECTING, AND LIVING WITH BOOKS . The America Scholar invited Dirda to submit a short post on books to their website on a weekly basis. So Browsings collects all those posts, 600 to 1800 words, in a compact volume. Dirda writes about his favorite books, his success at finding books at Library Sales, the changes in modern publishing, and praises small presses. This is a perfect book to dip into for wonderful writing and suggestions on what to read next. Highly recommended! GRADE: A
Table of Contents
1. Mr. Zinsser, I presume
2. Style is the man
3. Armchair adventures
4. Bookish pets
5. Paper
6. This is a column
7. Scribble, scribble
8. Books on books
9. Text mess
10. Twilight of an author
11. Spring book sales
12. Memories of Marseille
13. Hail to thee, blithe spirit!
14. Synonym toast
15. Cowboys and clubmen
16. Grades
17. Anglophilia
18. After the golden age
19. Anthologies and collections
20. Rocky Mountain low
21. The fugitive
22. Hot enough for you?
23. Wonder books
24. Readercon
25. Aurora
26. Out of print
27. Thrift stories
28. Musical chairs
29. The evidence in the (book) case
30. Charlottesville
31. Then and now
32. Mencken day
33. New and old
34. Dirty pictures
35. Going, going, gone
36. Castles in space
37. Waving, not drowning
38. Oberlin
39. Jacques Barzun, and others
40. What’s in a name?
41. Language matters
42. “I’m done”
43. Poe and Baudelaire
44. In praise of small presses
45. Christmas reading
46. Books for the holidays
47. Let us now praise Dover Books
48. A dreamer’s tale
49. Money
50. Book projects
51. Ending up
52. A positively, final appearance
53. Afterword.
Count me as one too, George. I enjoy reading such essays that mostly resonate with me.
Prashant, I’ve read all of Michael Dirda’s books and BROWSINGS is one of his best! You’ll really enjoy Dirda’s essays about books.
Count me in–I’m adding it to my tbr list right now. Reminds me somewhat of Nick Hornby’s THE POLYSYLLABIC SPREE, where he also collected the essays he’d written about his weekly reading and book purchases.
Deb, you’re so right about the similarities between Nick Hornby’s books about his buying habits and Dirda’s essays in BROWSINGS. Hornby is funnier, but Dirda has some witting things to say about books, too.
Love this sort of book too. I will look for it at the library.
Patti, the NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW had a short review of BROWSINGS yesterday. I’m sure your library will have it.
And thanks for Deb for mentioning the Hornsby one. I have liked his columns in BELIEVER when I’ve read them.
Patti, all those Hornby book writings have been collected in Ten Years in the Tub.
I just wrote about this on Rick Robinson’s blog! As I was reading this I kept saying to myself (and Jackie), “I bet George is reading this too.”
Even though Dirda recommends reading a few at a time I’ve been racing through it. Great stuff. I’m going back to read his earlier books that I’d missed. I read his ON CONAN DOYLE four years ago, which was excellent too.
Jeff, Great Minds Think Alike. Michael Dirda’s knowledge of books is impressive. He has a lot to say. I have lists of books I need to track down after reading BROWSINGS.
Well, that was annoying. I messed up my second comment. I was saying that, like Deb, this made me think of the Nick Hornby collections of columns: THE POLYSYLLABIC SPREE, HOUSEKEEPING VS THE DIRT, SHAKESPEARE WROTE FOR MONEY, MORE BATHS LESS TALK, and the collection TEN YEARS IN THE TUB.
Lesa’s Book Critiques is the blog where I discovered this.
Jeff, you won’t be surprised to learn I have all the individual volumes of Hornby’s columns as well as the handy omnibus volume TEN YEARS IN THE TUB.
Not for me. I read a book like this and soon my want list and TBR shelf become grossly inflated. And we all know how much compulsive readers hate that!
Dan, you’re right about books like BROWSINGS creating new Want Lists. I came away with at least a dozen titles Dirda’s essays made irresistible!
I’m on a discussion list that Dirda chimes in on now and then. He’s a very interesting guy and he definitely loves books and reading.
Bill, I used to follow Dirda’s online chat sessions when he was with the WASHINGTON POST. Dirda’s very savvy about books.
Bill, you’d love his stories about trips to bookstores and thrift shops searching for books. He definitely has the collector mentality. He even started buying fancy shirts and other clothes at thrift shops and (like someone I could mention) has a lot of his books in a storage unit.
Jeff, I really liked Dirda’s write-ups of the books he bought at the used bookstore where he gets a “discount.” Very amusing and so so true!
After Jeff mentioned it on my blog, I put two of his books on hold at the library, this and the Conan Doyle one. There’s a longish waiting list for this one. Meanwhile, I have plenty to read and usually don’t need help deciding what to read next. It sounds like he does what I sort of try to do with my weekly Current Reading posts.
Rick, you’re right. Your CURRENT READING posts parallel Dirda’s descriptions of his book finds. I enjoy your posts and Dirda’s!
I’ve added Dirda to my reading list. Thanks!
I have enjoyed visiting and browsing through your fine blog. Now, though, may I be bold enough to change the subject and invite you to visit my blog? I am a retired federal government court reporter and paralegal, and I am an avid reader and reviewer of crime, detective, mystery, espionage, and historical fiction; the new edition of my blog, “Crimes in the Library,” is where you will able to find regularly posted book reviews and commentary. Here is the address: http://crimesinthelibrary.blogspot.com/ I hope you will stop by and comment often. Thanks, Harper
Harper, glad to have you join us! I will definitely check out your blog.