BUT ENOUGH ABOUT ME: Why We Read About Other People's Lives

One of the founders of the "personal criticism" movement whereby a critic finds, Montaigne-style, larger truths in meditating on one's experiences, Miller here offers a witty defense of the genre. Lingering over her development as WWII-era New York child, early '60s grad student in a largely male academy, '70s and '80s feminist-critic-in-the-trenches, and '90s author of such books as Getting Personal and Subject to Change, Miller offers reflections on aging (in and out of the academy), friendship and family—and how reading about them allows us to better construct our own life stories. (Sept.)