Dirda on Books

Michael Dirda (The Washington Post)

Prize-winning critic Michael Dirda took your questions and comments concerning literature, books and the joys of reading.

Each week Dirda's name appears -- in unmistakably big letters -- on page 15 of The Post's Book World section. If he's not reviewing a hefty literary biography or an ambitious new novel, he's likely to be turning out one of his idiosyncratic essays or rediscovering some minor Victorian classic. Although he earned a Ph.D. in comparative literature from Cornell, Dirda has somehow managed to retain a myopic 12-year-old's passion for reading. He particularly enjoys comic novels, intellectual history, locked-room mysteries, innovative fiction of all sorts.

These days, Dirda says he still spends inordinate amounts of time mourning his lost youth, listening to music (Glenn Gould, Ella Fitzgerald, Diana Krall, The Tallis Scholars), and daydreaming ("my only real hobby"). He claims that the happiest hours of his week are spent sitting in front of a computer, working. His most recent books include "Readings: Essays and Literary Entertainments" (Indiana hardcover, 2000; Norton paperback, 2003) and his self-portrait of the reader as a young man, "An Open Book: Coming of Age in the Heartland" (Norton, 2003). In the fall of 2004 Norton will bring out a new collection of his essays and reviews. He is currently working on several other book projects, all shrouded in the most complete secrecy.

Dirda joined The Post in 1978, having grown up in the working-class steel town of Lorain, Ohio, and graduated with highest honors in English from Oberlin College. His favorite writers are Stendhal, Chekhov, Jane Austen, Montaigne, Evelyn Waugh, T.S. Eliot, Nabokov, John Dickson Carr, Joseph Mitchell, P.G. Wodehouse and Jack Vance. He thinks the greatest novel of all time is either Murasaki Shikubu's "The Tale of Genji" or Proust's "A la recherche du temps perdu." In a just world he would own Watteau's painting "The Embarkation for Cythera." He is a member of the Baker Street Irregulars, The Ghost Story Society and The Wodehouse Society. He enjoys teaching and was once a visiting professor in the Honors College at the University of Central Florida, which he misses to this day.

Editor's Note: Washingtonpost.com moderators retain editorial control over Live Online discussions and choose the most relevant questions for guests and hosts; guests and hosts can decline to answer questions.

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Michael Dirda: Welcome to Dirda on Books! It's a rainy, dreary day here in Westminster, Maryland, and I see I'm five minutes late getting started. So without further ado, let's launch into our weekly discussion of books and whatever else of a biblio nature that interests you.

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Los Angeles, Calif.: A few weeks ago the The Observer asked a number of famous authors to name their favorite literary character (Prachett went for Flashman, for example). What a great subject for a chat! To my surprise no one mentioned my choice, Isabel Archer, James very ‘Portrait oif a Lady' the most winning, captivating (if ultimately tragic) woman in literature. With apologies to Holmes and Irene Adler, Isabel is ‘the Lady.'

Michael Dirda: A very nice choice. Interestingly, just a week or so ago I was at Stone Ridge, a Catholic girl's school--not prowling around, I hasten to add, but to give a talk to graduating seniors and their parents. Anyway, at one point in the evening's presentation, I was asked this very question: Which literary character I'd like to be? I paused for a moment, and thought through all the "right" answers and then leaned into the microphone and said: "Bond, James Bond." Everyone erupted in laughter. I did add that I wasn't kidding.

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Minnetonka, Minn.: Michael,
I just finished Milorad Pavic's Dictionary of the Khazars. It is a lexicon novel with the hypertext format that can be read in any order with a male and female version. I want to know if you have read it and what you think? I'm looking for bibliomysteries and this had elements of Shadow of the Wind with three stories with three versions over three timeframes.

Michael Dirda: I reviewed it when it appeared--gave it a very good (as well as positive) review as I recall. There was a period in my life when I loved every sort of literary experiment--the Oulipo was my church, and I worshipped Perec and Julian Rios and Calvino, and An Anecdoted Topography of Chance and books like Pavics.
Bibliomysteries must have a checklist or bibliography floating around somewhere-- a lot of readers seem to collect these. I suppose the John Dunning books gave the subgenre a real lift.
Do you know Lawrence Norfolk's Lempriere's Dictionary? Especially in its fuller English version? A mystery cum conpsiracy novel, based on the famous dictionary of classical mythology. I reviewed it too, he said, with a sigh (So many books, so many read. . . )

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Takoma Park, Md.: Depending on mood, I'd want either to be Atticus Finch or Elizabeth Bennett.

Michael Dirda: Hmmm. Bisexual, are you? (Just teasing.)

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Washington, DC: I've seen soo many people reading the Da Vinci code in the last few months. Is the book overrated? I'm curious about the book, but hesitant because I don't know if it will measure up to the hype.

Michael Dirda: This is a forbidden topic on this chat. I read chapter one of the DaVinci Code, thought it trite and badly written. So in my limited view, yes, it is wildly overrated. But bad or simplistic books are always catching people's imaginations--think Love Story, The Bridges of Madison County, etc etc.

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Lenexa, Kan.: Mr. Dirda: I picked up Ian McEwan's "Saturday" at lunchtime today. Probably like many, I keep reviews but don't read them until after I've read the novel or seen the film. I've enjoyed "Enduring Love," "Amsterdam," and "Atonement" so much my hands are almost shaking to start.

I remember once as a young man in the '60s, we had a power failure in the office and were sent home. I still remember the excitement of buying Purdy's "Cabot Wright Begins" on the way back from the office and rushing home to begin. You must have many similar memories. What are some of the new books from favorite authors that you especially anticipated/relished? Thanks much.

Michael Dirda: Hmmm. This is a big question, but when I think back over my not yet finished career in reviewing, I know that I've written about certain authors four or five times, largely because I couldn't resist anything by or about them: Evelyn Waugh (three biographies, a collection of essays, a selection of letters), Vladimir Nabokov (two volumes of biography, Selected Letters, Lectures on Literature, Lectures on Russian Literature, Lectures on Don Quixote), Ruseell Hoban (Riddley Walker, The Medusa Frequency, The Marzipan Pig and other children's books, Her Name was Lola--I love Hoban's voice), Jack Vance (my favorite living science fiction writer), anything from Guy Davenport (favorite essayist--alas, now no longer with us), Angela Carter, and a good many others.

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Boston, Mass.: Without a doubt, I would want to be Pippi Longstocking.
Not even Bond could best her.

Michael Dirda: True enough. She's pretty invincible. Sometimes I'd like to be the boy hero of one of those old books I'd read as kid--Henry Huggins, say, or Ken Brant, or that kid in Centerburg Tales, what was his name? .

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Washington, DC: Mr. Dirda,

You may have heard the (apocryphal?) tale about groups of professors who engage in contests of oneupmanship by declaring what prominent works they have not read in their area--with the winner usually mentioning "Hamlet." What would you consider the greatest hole in your reading or, to put it in a slightly more positive way, what book to do you most want to read that you haven't?

Michael Dirda: STill haven't got round to Clarissa. I"d also like to read Pope's translation of the Iliad. But there are lots of books I've "saved"--for instance, I've read a whole lot of Evelyn Waugh--but never Scoop. I've been waiting for the right moment. My tendency is to accumulate all the books of favorite authors, read about half of them, and then dole out the others over time.

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Winston-Salem, NC: For the biblio mystery seeker, Bland Beginning by Julian Symons would be fun, a fictional take on the Thomas Wise shenanigans. I think there's a summary of them in one of those short bibliographies you find at antiquarian shops called, Booked to Kill, I think.

Archie Goodwin wouldn't be a bad choice as a character to be. All the swashbuckling of a knight errant without the angst of the moderns like Spenser, and then there are Fritz's dinners and the one's out at Rustermans plus the 21 Club with Lily Rowan.

Michael Dirda: Yes, Archie would be a good choice too. Or how about Darcy? Wealth, looks and the company, by day and night, of Elizabeth Bennet.

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Miskatonic U.: Well, since The Book Which Must Not Be Named has been mentioned in this chat, which would be the greater sin: owning the Necronomicon or The DaVinci Code?

Miskatonic U., home of the Fighting Mi-Go

Michael Dirda: Owning the Necronomicon wouldn't be a sin at all--unless, of course, you decided to use it. Wait. Is there something outside that door? MMgh. Nglr Nyalohotep, Yog-Sothoth, aaaaay!

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Fair Oaks, Va.: I would want to be the Duke of Omnium, from Trollope's Palliser novels. I would want that title. Plus all the estates.

Michael Dirda: Yes, excellent choice, your . . not majesty? How does one address a duke?

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Takoma Park, Md.: If we're going kidlit, I'd be all the children in Elizabeth Enright's The Saturdays, or maybe just Rush and Randy in alternate weeks.

Or maybe the mother in Family Sabbatical and Family Grandstand (same author).

It might be fun to take on a series of New York children from kidlit, one for each decade or so. Including Eloise.

Michael Dirda: Yes.

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favorite character: Myfavorite...Muriel, the dog walker, from Anne Tyler's The Accidental Tourist

Michael Dirda: I haven't read Tourist, so I don't know how cool or bizarre your choice is.

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Washington, D.C.: Mr. Dirda - I realize this is something of a fringe topic, but you seem well-versed in science fiction, so I thought I would give it a shot: have you read Harlan Ellison, and if so, what is your opinion of his work? I haven't read him, but I understand he's produced a frighteningly large output, and that it's something of a mixed bag. I'm looking for a place to start, and thought you might be able to help. Thanks in advance.

Michael Dirda: Harlan has written a lot--but not much in the past 20 or 30 years. He's suffered from some sort of writer's block, and is now famous for it. (See the never completed Dangerous Visions III).
Harlan--always known as such among sf fans--possesses a razzle dazzle prose style--think Hunter Thompson doing sf. His most famous stories are "Repent Harlequin, Said the Tick-Tock Man," "The Whimper of Whipped Dogs," "Pretty Maggie Moneyeyes," and "A Boy and His Dog." There are paperbacks floating around that should contain one or more of these. If you like the style, there's a good chance you'll want to read a whole lot of Harlan.
Oh yes: There is now an ongoing multivolume project devoted to his complete works--I think they're up to volume 4 or 5. Can't remember the publisher.

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Your Grace: A Duke is 'Your Grace' - she says gracelessly.

Michael Dirda: Of course. My churlish American roots have betrayed me once more, and I expect never to be invited back to White's.

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Shady Grove, Md.: oooo...characters to be: Jo March (Little Women) although I'd love to be as all-knowing as Marmee, Princess Eilowny (Lloyd Alexander's Prydain series), Sam Gamgee (LOTR)...

Michael Dirda: Yes.

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Munich, Germany: I've read recently that bookcrossing, the practice of leaving a book in a public place to be picked up and read by others, who then do likewise (added to the Concise Oxford English Dictionary in August 2004), are starting to catch on in the UK, but I've not seen or heard anything about it in Germany.

Are bookcrossings alive and well in the States, or do you think that it's only a temporary fad? (www.bookcrossing.com)

Michael Dirda: I don't think this is widespread here. We do have a place in Baltimore that is essentially a used bookstore, in which all the books are free. You just take what you want. The books are stamped with an egregious logo so that book dealers won't scarf up all the treasures for resale.

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Silver Spring, Md.: Death, from Discworld, or just maybe the Librarian. Ook!

Or Granny Weatherwax. I atn't dead, as she says.

Michael Dirda: You mean DEATH, of course. But this reminds me of another death--Peter D'Eath Wimsey. Not a bad choice either. He uses the D'Eath name in Murder Must Advertise.

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Fair Oaks, Va.: Truth be told, I'd really like to be the Duchess of Devonshire, because then I would have Chatsworth and Lismore Castle, among other places. Unfortunately, the duchess is not a fictional character. Also unfortunately, the position is filled.

Michael Dirda: Yes, but Deborah, last of the Mitfords, isn't a spring chicken any more. Perhaps your chance may yet come.

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Re: Who I'd like to be: Dr. Stephen Maturin, of Pat O'Brien's British Navy novels. Imagine having that inquisitive mind, with the whole world to explore, topped off with dark good looks and a brooding disposition that intelligent women find irresistible. My only hang-up would be that I wouldn't really know how to pronounce my own last name.

Michael Dirda: Just as it sounds.

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Respectful Dissent: If you were Jo March, you'd have to spend your life
married (last moment) to a German man twice your age in
a house filled with 10-year old boys. Surely there are
more fun ways to spend a literary life?

Michael Dirda: Depends on how you feel about elderly Germans and 10 year old boys.

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Shady Grove, Md.: Wait--can I change my mind? D'Artagnan

Michael Dirda: All for one and one for all!

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Ashcroft, BC: The problem with owning a copy of THE NECRONOMICON wouldn't be in actually having the book; it would be all the assorted people (using the term loosely) who showed up at your door wanting to get hold of it ('Honey, that Mr Whateley came by again while oyu were out; could you just let him see that old book he keeps going on about? He gives me the creeps.').

A character in fiction I'd like to be (always assuming we can switch genders) would be Dr Watson: all the fun of the cases without the burden of being the great Sherlock Holmes.

Finally: hindsight being what it is, is there a particular book which you reviewed upon release that you'd like to go back and revise your opinion of, for better or worse? I know that reviews have to be more or less contemporaneous with whatever's being reviewed; but have you ever gone back and thought 'Now that I've had time to think about it, and perhaps re-read the book, I wish I'd said this instead.'

Michael Dirda: I've always thought I was too harsh on William Pritchard for his rather light-weight life of Randall Jarrell. I was really mean--but largely because I wanted to see a really big book about Jarrell, like Ian Hamilton's on his friend Robert Lowell.
The besetting sin of reviewing is, of course, over praise. But for the most part I haven't had much in the way of second thoughts-- no doubt yet one further sign of my deeply shallow nature.

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Bond?: Being a Florida boy, I'd choose to be Travis McGee over James Bond... The retirement on the installment plan always appealed to me.

Michael Dirda: Yes. Good choice too. I note that a life of adventure and pretty women seems to be a recurrent male fantasy, even among the bookish types who frequent this program.

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Takoma Park, Md.: Bookcrossing is actually quite popular, and has been going for several years.

It's more popular among genre book readers than otherwise.

I've both released and found books under the system.

Michael Dirda: SF fans I know do exchanges and trades at their regular meetings.

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Washington, DC: Re: Literary character to be.

Flat Stanley. I could travel everywhere very cheaply.

Michael Dirda: Thanks.

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McLean, Va.: Mmm. I may get jumped on for this, but I think women's choices are a little more limited. I agree w/ the chatter's selection of Elizabeth Bennett to some extent, but would you really want to be any woman in Regency England (even if you were a member of the privileged class and Mr. Darcy were as dishy as Colin Firth)? I'd have to opt for a character who inhabited a more fantastical setting. That's why I agree w/ the other chatter--Pippi Longstocking was also the first character to spring to my mind. Unlimited possibilities.

Michael Dirda: Good points. I don't suppose that many women want to be Odette de Crecy, though there are any number of guys who'd like to spend an evening with her.

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Munich, Germany: I'd choose to be Cedric Charlton, or Charley boy, as Sidney Larkin calls him, in H.E. Bates', "The Darling Buds of May". Charley boy is persuaded to quit his job as a tax inspector and to marry the scintillatingly gorgeous Mariette.

Michael Dirda: I really must read this book. I even have a paperback of it. It does sound delicious.

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I'd want to be...: I can remember as a child lying in bed before falling
asleep. I thought that if I died I'd want to wake up and be
Nan Bobbsey, and then the next life I'd be Nancy Drew.
Now I'd probably pick someone with a little more depth!;

Michael Dirda: Why?

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Houghton, Mich.: Good Afternoon Michael,
Is Fiction dead? I don't mean from a writer's or reader's perspective -- but from the pov of publishing and bookselling, it sure seems that a lot of time, money, space, and ink are awarded to non-fiction titles these days.

Now, can you recommend a couple of new fiction titles to carry me through 'til summer?

Michael Dirda: Fiction is having a harder time of it these days. As for recommendations--depends what you like. Have you read Gilead, by Marilynne Robinson? There are lots of classics out there too.

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Washington, D.C.: Hello Michael -- The boy in "The "Centerburg Tales" is Homer Price. "The Centerburg Tales" is the second book about Homer, the first being, of course, "Homer Price." Love that story about the machine that wouldn't quit making donuts.

As for what literary character I'd like to be, I'd go for Harriet Vane, who eventually ends up married to Lord Pter Wimsey. Or maybe Elizabeth Bennett. Can't go wrong with either choice!;

Michael Dirda: Ah yes: Homer Price. I'd be him.
Harriet is a good choice too.

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Lenexa, Kan.: Portnoy, Jay Gatsby until "the party was over," any of the boys in the town who got to know the fabulous Luxie Lisbon before the suicides....

Michael Dirda: Thanks.

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Olympia, Wash.: Hi Michael,

I just finished Ann Patchett's newest book, "Truth and Beauty," about her friendship with writer Lucy Grealy. It was wonderful, very melancholic and painfully honest. I know next to nothing about Grealy's work. What can you tell me?

Michael Dirda: Not a thing, except that Patchett is one of the other books shortlisted, along with Bound to Please, for a Los Angeles Times Book award in the category "Current Affairs." Odd category.

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both fictional AND historical: This would be another category. For example, Henry Adams has featured in recent fictional tales (Eric Zencey's novel) and yet was a real life character. For me, it would be Clarence King, the founder of the US Geological Survey, adventurer, friend of Presidents, raconteur and he makes a fictional appearance in Wallace Stegner's (now there's a writer!;) Angle of Repose, just to name one.

Michael Dirda: I think my friend Bob Wilson, new editor of The American Scholar (which looks very good), was researching a biography of King.

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I've always wanted to be...: Case from Neuromancer by William Gibson. (I sort of have a crush on Molly Millions.)

Michael Dirda: Who doesn't? Just watch out for those fingernails.

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Sterling, Va.: Literary characters I'd like to be:
Harriet the Spy
Merlin
Scout
any Dickens good guy at the end of a novel: Nick Nickleby, Oliver, etc.

Michael Dirda: Good choices. I presume yhou mean T.H. White's Merlin?

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Minnetonka, Minn.: I'd rather be Nero Wolfe than Archie. Think of the routine: breakfast, read, orchids, lunch, read, orchids, read, dinner, sleep.

Michael Dirda: A good life too--plus you do get those occasional trips out west or back to Montenegro.

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Oberlin, Ohio: Hi Michael,
I'm a history & fiction girl, and I'm fascinated with the idea
of reading books on sciences and math, particularly their
history. Could you recommend any literary, fun-to-read
books in these areas? I know it's a broad question, but my
ignorance and curiosity are fairly broad, as well.

Michael Dirda: Look for James Newman's old, now classic, The World of Mathematics (in four volumes, easily found used, or in paperback). Serious math with a popular touch.
As for science: You could do worse than look for all those introductory works to various aspects of science by the prolific Isaac Asimov. They're geared to adolescence, but are reliable starting places.

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Book tourism: a book is out on this subject. Maybe the readers would share where great bookshops are?

Michael Dirda: Sure: Let's talk about favorite, or great bookshops next week.

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Literary character: Hmm, when I'm feeling highbrow I want to be Lord Peter Whimsey. When I'm feeling earthy, I want to be Sam Vimes. But then often I'd like to be R. Daneel Olivaw.

Michael Dirda: No robots for me.

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Columbia, Md. : Hi, Michael! Enjoy the chats & am hoping you can recommend some reading to prepare for an upcoming trip to Oxford. To begin wtih, I just finished Gaudy Night by Dorothy L. Sayers, which conveys a real sense of place (from the 30's, I guess) ....do you have any other fictional or non-fiction recommendations? Thanks

Michael Dirda: Yes: James Morris's history of Oxford and his Oxford Book of Oxford, which is a compilation of extracts about the city of dreaming spires.
A really fun mystery set there in the 1940s is Edmund Crispin's The Moving Toyshop.
You might also try Beerbohm's Zuleika Dobson.
But there are lots of books about Oxford. Start with the Morris volumes.

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Richmond, Va.: Have you ever come across the travel writing of HV Morton -- I ran across his "A Traveler in Rome" while looking for an updated guide to Italy and it was wonderful -- erudite, but conversational in tone. I took it with me to Rome last month and I felt as if I were seeing the city for the first time. Wonderful stories (comic and tragic) about Roman emperors, Catholic popes, Renaissance and Baroque artists, European kings and the Bonapartes. Includes a lovely story about Napoleon's mother in a Roman cemetery sometime after Waterloo. And all the scoop on Pauline Bonaparte, the model for Canova's Venus.

Michael Dirda: You see Morton's books in used bookshops quite regularly, and I do know he is admired for just the qualities you cite. But I've never read any of his guides. I will try one the next time I'm heading somewhere he covers. They are, of course, sixty or more years out of date.

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Ashcroft, BC: Nancy Drew seems a good choice: all those adventures, all that travelling, your own roadster, a boyfriend who's there when you want him and not there when you don't and who doesn't take over and insist on solving all the cases for you . . . sounds good to me.

If I had to stick with my own sex for a fictional character to be, then it would be Bathsheba Everdene from FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD. She doesn't always make the right choices, but she's an intelligent and interesting and vibrant character, and life wouldn't be dull.

Michael Dirda: Many thanks.

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Providencia, Chile:
Greetings from Chile . Mr. Dirda : ¿ what about
latin american literature today ?

regards,

Marcos Solís
Director Ediciones Lagar

Michael Dirda: What about it? So far as I can tell: It flourishes. Sorry to be flippant--but it's incredibly hot in this room here at McDAniel--the heating must be on the fritz.
In truth, Latin American authors continue to be translated and admired in America, but perhaps without quite the avidity of 25 years or so ago when the Boom was at its boomiest.

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Little Rock, Ark.: Mr. Dirda: Thanks for your wonderful on-line column. I was a bit surprised, a couple of weeks ago, when you seemed at a loss for advice to the student who wasn't sure how he/she could meld his/her love of literature with his/her law studies, and who wondered if the law was for him/her? I would suggest the law student aim for a career in intellectual property? It is of keen interest to both authors and publishers, what with copyright law one of the "hottest" fields in an era of expanding global commerce.

Michael Dirda: Many thanks. But surely I couldn't have actually been at a loss? Heaven forfend! (Whatever that means--I've always meant to look up forfend.)

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Mt. Desert Island, Maine: Dear Michael,

Someone wrote in last week looking for a well-written wine book. You mentioned the names of a few good wine writers.

For a general survey of wine I would recommend Karen MacNeil's Wine Bible and Matt Kramer's Making Sense of Wine. For wine history, try Hugh Johnson's Vintage: The Story of Wine, now out in a new edition with more pictures.

Top reference books are The Oxford Companion to Wine, edited by Jancis Robinson, and The World Atlas of Wine, 5th edition, written by Hugh Johnson and Jancis Robinson.

Cyril Ray edited for years a series of wine anthologies, similar to Fadiman's Dionysus, called The Compleat Imbiber. Very entertaining and well worth a look.

Michael Dirda: Many thanks. I have a volume of The Compleat Imbiber and it is a fun compendium of stories and articles.

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Annapolis, Md.: My Esteemed Mr. Dirda,

Perhaps you or some of the other bookwyrms can recommend something to soothe a broken heart. I've finally asked my beast of a soon-to-be-ex-husband for a divorce, and even though I know I'm doing the right thing and am looking forward to a new life, there is still some sadness. There was love once, really. Any thoughts? In the past when I needed cheering up I went for light and fluffy comic romance, but that just doesn't seem to fit the bill here, does it?

Michael Dirda: Here I do find myself at a loss. No doubt there are "chicklit" novels about life after divorce, just as there are guides to having a "happy" divorce, but I can't think of a good book to help you through this time.
Except perhaps to read the Stoics, or Montaigne or one of those worldly wise moral essayists who make life seem something to endure as much as to enjoy. Any help?

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Washington, DC: Mr. Dirda, I've been reading the recent alarming essays about boys not reading books and how their brains function differently than girls, etc. As a children's writer of picture books I write about both girl and boy characters. Do you think that books about girls make them 'girl books'? And vice versa? I hope not and then, how do you solve that one?

Michael Dirda: Boys like certain girl heroines just fine. My youngest son's favorite books, when he was 10 or so, were Joan Aiken's Dido Twite novels. The Pullman novels feature a wonderful girl heroine and boys love them.
It's hard for teenaged boys, though, to see much point in "girl" books.

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Braddock Road: For the soon to be divorced:

Exley's a Fan's Notes. Almost all of Updike esp the Maple stories, which would make anybody glad of divorce.

Michael Dirda: Oh, yes The Maples Stories.
I don't think of A FAn's NOtes as a divorce book--but it is a wonderful read.
The saddest, most beautufil modern book about divorce is James Salter's Light Years, just as the classic older one is Fitzgerald's Tender is the Night.

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Lucy Grealy: Lucy Grealy was a poet and memoirist. I read her memoir, Autobiography of a Face, several years ago, and it is fantastic. It tells of how she contracted cancer in her jaw, had much of her jaw removed as a consequence, and how she dealt with being a teenager with that kind of ... well, face. At one point, Lucy describes her parents when she was growing up, and it was the closest I've ever read to a description of my own family. It was so meaningful to me that I thought my best-ever thought about art: It doesn't put food on your table or a roof over your head. Like love, it simply makes life worth living.

Michael Dirda: Oh, yes, I remember that book. Many thanks.

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Forfend definition: Function: transitive verb
1 a archaic : FORBID b : to ward off : PREVENT
2 : PROTECT, PRESERVE

Michael Dirda: Hmmm Heaven forbid, or heaven protect us?

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Boston, Mass.: Hi Michael,
I'm a recent college graduate who has received almost no
poetry education. I've stumbled across a few poems that I
love (some Edna St. Vincent Millay sonnets, "Dover Beach,"
e.e. cummings' work), but I am overwhelmed by the sheer
amount of poetry and the depths of my ignorance. Is there
an anthology or book that could help to introduce me to
good poetry?

Michael Dirda: Yes, any number of them, but you might try William Harmon's The Top 100 poems. No. 1, I believe, is Blake's "Tyger, Tyger."

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Washington, DC: Hi Michael,

I look forward to your weekly reviews and enjoy reading them as much as I enjoy reading the books you recommend.
There are many books on Napoleon and I would appreciate anything concerning his life and time that you think is a good informative read.

Thanks
George

Michael Dirda: Hmmmm. The classic about Napoleon the soldier is David Chandler's The CAmpaigns of Napoleon. Beyond that, there are dozens of popular biographies, none of which I've read. My favorite "life" of Napoloen Bonaparte is Stephen Vincent Benet's "The Curfew Tolls."

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Chicago, Ill.: Michael,
Would you recommend a book on British history that is well written?
Thank you

Michael Dirda: Macaulay's History of England. Anything by such 20th century historians as Roy Porter, David Cannadine, G. M. Trevelyan, A.N. Wilson and Peter Ackroyd.

And that, my friends, is it for today--I can't bear the heat in my office (literally). So till next week, when our thread will be favorite bookstores, keep reading!

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