Enthusiasms

A charming hodgepodge for lay readers from distinguished scholar and architectural historian Girouard (Elizabethan Architecture), this collection of essays on sundry subjects (literary, social, and familial) flits from topic to topic with brio%E2%80%94from the economic fortunes of the Tennysons, to the works of P.G. Wodehouse, the dusty scandals of the Sackville-Wests, and corrections to the biographical errata of figures like Charlotte Mew and Oscar Wilde, Girouard delights in dwelling on details. Even his own history is grounds for study; the collection concludes with Girouard%E2%80%99s tracing of his colorful and transnational ancestry. While readers looking for sweeping historical insights might be disappointed, those who can appreciate the exuberant flourish and the finely drawn anecdote will find much to admire here; Girouard plays the part of the witty raconteur to the hilt. Designed "for pleasure, not instruction," the collection lends itself to dipping in more than to reading straight through. Girouard often finds poignancy or humor in the seemingly trivial, and at his best, he finds both. (Aug.)