The Pleasure of Reading

September 1, 2015

The only way to approach this volume edited by Fraser (Marie Antoinette: The Journey) is with respect, but readers will also truly enjoy it. Insights into someone's reading development are rare, and here, 43 writers provide that behind-the-scenes perspective. The instructions given to contributors, who include Margaret Atwood, J.G. Ballard, and Doris Lessing, were simple: explain how you discovered reading and what books inspired you, and provide a list of your ten favorite books. A number of the (mostly British) authors put their own spin on these directions. Some ignored the list part. Many decided that the Bible and collected works of Shakespeare didn't count toward their ten. As for list content, it's very Western canon-oriented yet offers up a few surprises. Royalties from this latest edition (the first was published in 1992--this volume includes five new entries) are going to the UK charity Give a Book. VERDICT Reading habit voyeurs should check this out, particularly Anglophiles. They might even find new fodder, such as Richmal Crompton.--Audrey Snowden, Orrington P.L., ME

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 1, 2015
Writers reveal the books that shaped them. The mission of the British Give a Book charity is to share books with those most in need, including children in poor primary schools, mothers in shelters, and prisoners. This collection, whose royalties will aid the charity, is a slight expansion of a previous volume edited by Fraser (Perilous Question: Reform or Revolution? Britain on the Brink, 1832, 2013, etc.) in 1992 to celebrate the bicentenary of the British book chain WHSmith. The new collection includes 43 writers who were asked to reflect on their early reading and to list 10 favorite books. American readers will find many familiar notables among the original contributors, including Stephen Spender, Doris Lessing, John Fowles, Margaret Atwood, and A.S. Byatt. Younger writers are likely to be less familiar: the Indian-born novelist Kamila Shamsie; biographer Katie Waldegrave; poet Emily Berry; and playwright Tom Wells. On the whole, the essays make for pleasant reading. "My first sense of books," writes Edna O'Brien, "is the feel and the smell of them...old books growing musty in a trunk." The late playwright and novelist Simon Gray learned to read from "the captions and balloon-dialogue of Captain Marvel comics." Germaine Greer calls reading her "first solitary vice...I read while I ate, I read in the loo, I read in the bath. When I was supposed to be sleeping, I was reading." Lists of favorite books tend toward the canonical, with Jane Austen a popular entry, whether Mansfield Park (the favorite of mystery writer Ruth Rendell: "the fun-less one, the profoundest, the most didactic, but nevertheless the greatest") or Pride and Prejudice. Dickens, Dostoevsky, Shakespeare, and Joyce reappear, as well. Tom Wells cites David Sedaris' The Santaland Diaries and describes Joan Littlewood's autobiography Joan's Book "like a radiator, a suit of armour, and a proper adventure, all at once." Warm, often charming essays that celebrate the treasure of books.

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September 1, 2015
Readers love to read about what other readers are reading, and when those readers are also the authors of many of their favorite books, then reading about their reading habits becomes, in and of itself, a good read. In this updated edition of esteemed British biographer Fraser's 1992 anthology, an international cast of revered novelists, poets, playwrights, and essayists reveal why they became reading fanatics, what books prompted their love for the written word, and how they were professionally and personally influenced by what they read. Doris Lessing extols a love for libraries, while Jane Gardam revels in the landscapes of Beatrix Potter. Tom Stoppard read everything including food packaging labels, as did Margaret Atwood and Germaine Greer. Voracious or eclectic, these reading experiences shaped the way the authors pursued their craft. Each essay concludes with a Booklist-esque Top Ten accounting of the author's favorite books, and an informal poll finds common ground (Tolstoy, Twain) as well as standout surprises (the Los Angeles Yellow Pages, according to J. G. Ballard.)(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)