 |
|
Title: Classics for Pleasure
ISBN: 0151012512
Author:
Michael Dirda
Publicate Date: 2007-11-05
Publish: 2007-11-05
List Price: $25.00
Average Customer Rating: 4.5
Format: Hardcover
 |
|
|
|
|
Amazon Lowest New Price: $5.55
Amazon Lowest Used Price: $4.77
Amazon Merchant Price: $15.23
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Customer Review: |
|
1: This had me plowing into obscure classics!
When a writer is so convincing that he is able to persuade a reader [me] to look up obscure and daunting classics like the Icelandic Sagas, I think he deserves praise indeed. Michael Dirda has written a wonderful book 'Classics for Pleasure", which encourages readers to check out diverse works of literature which he has grouped under eleven broad themes.
The themes are "Playful Imaginations", "Heroes of their Time", "Love's Mysteries", "Words from the Wise", "Everyday Magic", "Lives of Consequence", "The Dark Side", "Traveler's Tales", "The Way We Live Now", " Realms of Adventure", and "Encyclopedic Visions". Every chapter begins with an explanation of what it is about followed by reviews of works Dirda recommends we read.
Unlike some of Dirda's other works which seemed quite inaccessible for the average reader, this work makes for a pleasurable read. The style in which it is written makes the classics reviewed seem very appealing, and I eagerly made lists of works I plan on reading, including the formidable Icelandic Sagas [which I am currently plowing through]. What I also liked about Dirda's style is that he never assumes the reader knows even the most basic information about a particular work, and provides summaries for each work reviewed.
It was interesting to note that although some familiar classics are given coverage here [Dracula, Frankenstein, Rebecca, Agatha Christie's works], he also mentions Georgette Heyer's works which I had always considered to be in the category of frothy romance novels! There is always an element of surprise in reading some of his more eccentric recommendations and I found that very refreshing.Some of the works I was unfamiliar with and put on my reading list based on Dirda's recoomendations are Shahnameh: The Persian Book of Kings [Abolqasem Ferdowsi], The Box of Delights [John Masefield], "The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner" [James Hogg], The Road to Oxyiana [Robert Byron], and many others.
All in all, "Classics for Pleasure" makes a delightful read for those who love books, readers aiming to broaden their reading horizons, and ambitious readers who wish to cover more obscure/lesser-known/formidable classics. Highly recommended!
|
2: An exuberant exploration of neglected classics
So infectious is Dirda's delight in the passion for living that goes into a good book that I found myself eager to read all his recommendations - including those authors I have already read and disliked for one (obviously inadequate) reason or another.
Stunningly well read, Dirda appreciates a well-turned phrase, an individual style, a keen wit, or a powerful intellect. He illuminates his choices with quotes, artfully tantalizing plot summaries and biographical snippets. Story is key. "Nearly all the works covered tell great stories, whether these are fictional, historical or biographical."
What isn't here is The Canon. No Shakespeare, Homer, Dickens or Jane Austen. They can be found elsewhere, particularly in John S. Major's revised edition of Dirda's childhood inspiration, Clifton Fadiman's "The Lifetime Reading Plan." Dirda avoids the obvious masters to focus on "several key authors passed over by Fadiman and Major, many important writers of what one might call the popular imagination, and a few seemingly minor figures who deserve to be better known."
So, from Sappho to Agatha Christie, Thomas More to Jules Verne, "Beowulf" to "The Maltese Falcon," Dirda extols the insights and idiosyncrasies of a broad range of talents and niches. His essays are personal, witty and brief - he covers almost 90 books in little more than 300 pages and readers will almost always long for more.
He divides his book into 11 thematic sections, i.e., Words from the Wise; Traveler's Tales; Realms of Adventure, and chooses seven to 10 authors for each. Most are at least familiar, but a few are obscure (at least to me). The 16th century astrologer and thorough autobiographer, for instance, Girolamo Cardano, appears wildly entertaining and the Scotsman William Roughead spent much of his life attending murder trials and writing about the "bold artists" whose common characteristic was self-conceit.
A Pulitzer Prize-winning book critic for "The Washington Post," Dirda clearly had a lot of fun writing this concise, exuberant, and exquisitely organized book. Readers will be tempted to read, or re-read, every one of his selections.
|
3: Can't read everything? Be wise!
This book offers an organized method to select the best of what you hope to read someday.
|
4: A Classical Picaresque
Meandering (at a delicious, leisurely pace) through Michael Dirda's CLASSICS FOR PLEASURE, one feels as though he is riding shotgun through a world of both well-known and unknown wonders with an expert guide. And though Michael Kinsley, in his blurb, writes, "Michael Dirda is the best-read person in America. But he doesn't rub it in," he forgets to add this: Dirda seems to fervently hope you will not only appreciate his literary expertise, but will also rise to meet it. His voice is that generous and unpretentious.
Dirda divides his mostly 2-4 page descriptions of classics you should read into these novel categories: Playful Imaginations, Heroes of Their Time, Love's Mysteries, Words from the Wise, Everyday Magic, Lives of Consequence, The Dark Side, Traveler's Tales, The Way We Live Now, Realms of Adventure, and Encyclopedic Visions. Those titles alone are like browsing colorful glossies at the travel agency. You can't wait to jump in.
In Realms of Adventure, Dirda shows his range of tastes, including writers as varied as Rudyard Kipling and Dashiell Hammett. In reviewing H. Rider Haggard's KING SOLOMON'S MINES, Dirda shares a typically fascinating piece of trivia: "He [Haggard] had reportedly boasted that he could write a better novel than Robert Louis Stevenson's TREASURE ISLAND. His brother challenged him to prove it, and KING SOLOMON'S MINES was the result." At the end of the essay on Haggard, Dirda plays coy: "Is it better than TREASURE ISLAND? As a boy I thought so, but happily there's no need to choose between them." Nevertheless, Dirda's job is done. The less well-known H. Rider Haggard's two books, KING SOLOMON'S MINES and SHE are added to the reader's (THIS reader's, anyway) already listing "To-Be-Read" pile.
Which brings me to this: Bibliophile's beware. Dirda's beguilingly delightful insights into the works of some 88 authors will literally charm you onto turf where angels formerly feared to tread ("angels" being your former reading self). In the section Encyclopedic Visions, he even makes Edward Gibbon's HISTORY OF THE DECLINE AND FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE sound tempting. Not that I'm going to go there anytime soon. First there are too many formerly unknown or forgotten shorter classics I want to visit: Jean Toomer's CANE, Edward Gorey's AMPHIGOREY, Lucian's THE TRUE HISTORY, and E.T.A. Hoffman's short stories, for starters.
Bottom line? This is a great resource to own for those of us who love to live by the oft-repeated words, "So many books, so little time." It's a problem we not only can, but love to, live with...
|
5: A wonderful book of recommendations
Pulitzer Prize winner Michael Dirda (Washington Post Book World) introduces readers to almost ninety of the world's books in Classics for Pleasure. And he does the introductions in a delightful manner. The book includes his favorites, in many of the genres we all read today. The book is broken up into eleven sections that cover a particular theme.
Dirda's aim is to encourage readers to delve into some of the wonderful, but lesser known books of the recent past and from what we might term, `the olden days.' And don't think that this book is a tired and worn volume of books that don't matter. There are marvelous works; some with which you may be familiar and others that will be new to you. I guarantee that you will find titles you wish to reread and new to you that you'll want to check out. Dirda's summaries and bits of biographical data add to the enjoyment of the book and may even be the encouragement needed to pick up a title.
Some of the offerings come from Jules Verne, Agatha Christie (a personal favorite), Louis-Ferdinand Celine, Lao-Tzu, Soren Kierkegaard, Frances Hodgson Burnett (oh, the Secret Garden!), M.R. James, C.P. Cavafy and more.
It's a reference book to keep on your shelf. Warning: If you loan it out, it will not be returned.
Armchair Interviews says: Classics for Pleasure is more than book or short story recommendations.
|
|
|
|
|
