A Common Reader . . .

Review: Outside of a Dog: A Bibliomemoire - Rick Gekoski

I suppose one of the quickest way to get an idea about someone is to look at their bookcase, or even better, to talk to them about books which have inspired them and guided them through life. Quite a few writers have been tempted to write about their life in books - I'm thinking about Francis Spufford (The Child that Books Built), John Sutherland (The Boy Who Loved Books) and Alberto Manguel (A Reading Diary) to name a few among many.  I greatly enjoyed reading these and in any case, I collect "books about books", and when I saw Rick Gekoski's new books, Outside of a Dog, it had to be mine.  

Rick is not the first person to write his life story in the context of the books he's read, but this one is as good as any and was a read both amusing and informative.  I'll quote from the publisher's website to list some of the books covered: 

 Dr. Seuss, Horton Hatches the Egg;
 Magnus Hirschfeld Sexual Anomalies and Perversions;
 Allen Ginsberg, Howl;
 J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye;
 T.S. Eliot, The Waste Land;
 Descartes, Meditations;
 David Hume, An Inquiry Concerning Human Understanding;
 W.B. Yeats, The Collected Poems;
 F.R. Leavis, The Common Pursuit;
 Matthew Arnold, Culture and Anarchy;
 Tom Wolfe,The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test;
 Ludwig Wittgenstein,Philosophical Investigations;
 R.D. Laing, The Divided Self;
 Germaine Greer, The Female Eunuch;
 D.H. Lawrence,Women in Love;
 A.S. Neill, Summerhill;
 Roald Dahl, Matilda;
 Alice Miller, Pictures of a Childhood;
 A.J. Ayer, Language, Truth, and Logic;
 Sigmund Freud, The Interpretation of Dreams;
 Carl Hiaasen, Double Whammy;
 Peter Wright,Spycatcher; and
 Rick Gekoski, Staying Up.

And there was a good enough mix of the familiar and the new to keep my interest throughout.  Rick is basically an academic (ex-lecturer in English at Warwick University) turned rare book dealer, and has many contacts in the world of literature.  And oh yes, he's been a judge on the Man Booker Prize.  So, as far as literature is concerned I guess he's qualified to write about books, which he does eruditely, knowledgeably and perhaps above all, humorously. 

Review: Curiosities of Literature - John Sutherland

I always enjoy John Sutherland's writings having first come across his literary columns in The Guardian.  I've already read this year How to Read a Novel and The Boy Who Loved Books, so when Curiosities of Literature came out a month or two ago it was a bit of a "must have". In fact it turned out to be the perfect book to take on holiday, being very easy to dip into and always providing entertainment in odd moments reclaimed from the swimming pool or excursions.  

At first glance it appears to be yet another of those attractively-produced little books aimed at the Christmas market - the sort of thing which is opened with a laugh but soon bores.  However, anyone who loves books will find plenty to interest here, some light and inconsequential facts (the first spliff in literature, the shortest poem, the longest book etc), but even these, with Sutherland's immense store of knowledge, are set in a context which illuminate rather merely amuse.  (and incidentally, the first spliff appears in Rider Haggard's King Solomon's Mines and the longest book is Clarissa by Samuel Richardson and is about a million words long).

Review: The Library At Night - Alberto Manguel

I always enjoy "books about books", or books about the pleasure of reading, and remember Manguel's A History of Reading as one of the greatest literary pleasure. Now he had presented us with what is effectively a history of libraries in The Library At Night and the effect is equally as satisfying.

Perhaps "history" is not quite the right word, for in his 15 chapters, Manguel writes of not only the history of libraries, but also the impact and meaning of libraries through the centuries.

Everything is covered here, from the history of the great library of Alexandria to the development of the most modern libraries such as the British Library or the library of the Freie Universität Berlin. The book considers location, cataloguing systems, themes, and great librarians  (Gottfreid Leibnitz of Hanover, Andrew Carnegie who created over 2500 libraries, Aby Warburg of Hamburg and many others).  But the book is far more than history, containing many digressions on the nature of literature itself, and the process of reading.  

Review: How to Read a Novel - John Sutherland

I’ve always enjoyed reading books about reading and have a few on my shelves (not least the excellent, “A History of Reading” by Alberton Manguel). Margaret heard John Sutherland talking about this book on the radio, and when she told me about it, I decided to see what it was like, and was pleasantly surprised how good it is. While feeling I already know “how to read a novel”, when I read about John Sutherland (Booker Prize judge, Guardian columnist, academic etc), I guessed he would something to say to a compulsive reader like myself.

In How to Read a Novel, John Sutherland certainly tells his readers how to read a novel, but also covers many other topics about publishing and the book trade.