Browsings: A Year of Reading, Collecting and Living with Books

The columns collected in this volume—all originally posted to the American Scholar’s home page in 2012 and 2013—make up a valentine to people who love reading and books. Washington Post book critic Dirda, a self-described “bookish literary journalist,” channels his passion for reading and collecting books into “essays, meditations, and rants” touching on a wide variety of literary topics: famous pets in fiction, Shelley’s poetry, Poe and Baudelaire, and the legacy of Dover Books, among others. Several pieces describe his excursions to used bookstores and library book sales, where acquisitions serve as madeleines, prompting reminiscences about fellow book collectors, forgotten classics, and underappreciated writers. Some of the essays stray far from the world of books—for example, a nightmarish vacation trip to a Colorado state park and a weeklong power blackout at the height of summer—but their literary allusions show how reading invariably seeps into all aspects of a book-lover’s life. Dirda is gently self-deprecating about his writing and enthusiasms, but his humility is contradicted by his huge roster of literary acquaintances, vast knowledge of both popular and literary fiction, and omnivorous tastes as a reader. [em]Agent: Lynn Chu, Writers’ Representatives. (Aug.) [/em]