In this excellent collection of essays, Argentinean novelist and critic Manguel (The Library at Night
) examines the act of reading and the enduring power of words. Beginning each essay with epigraphs from either Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
or Through the Looking-Glass
, Manguel is equally at ease with scholarly matters, such as the (im)possibility of defining gay literature, as with the personal, particularly his account of traveling between Paris and London as a young man. Manguel returns often to texts and authors who've most inspired him, particularly Don Quixote
and fellow Argentinean Jorge Luis Borges, whom he knew personally. It is not only words that interest Manguel: he is also fascinated by punctuation and the physicality of the page itself. Though reading is often a solitary activity, Manguel reminds us of the community we join every time we open a book, be it something new or a treasured volume from our youth. (Mar.)
