Dirda on Books

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

Each week Michael Dirda's name appears -- in attractively large type -- in The Post's Book World section, where he writes about new novels, neglected classics, fat biographies, European literature, fantasy, science fiction, thrillers, poetry, works of scholarship, the occasional children's book, almost anything under the rubric of "arts and letters." Although he earned a Ph.D. in comparative literature from Cornell, Dirda has somehow managed to retain, well into middle age, a myopic 12-year-old's exuberant passion for reading.

As he has for the past 40 years, Dirda says he still spends inordinate amounts of time mourning his lost youth, listening to music (classical, jazz, oldies, country and western), and daydreaming ("my only real hobby"). He claims that the happiest hours of his week are spent sitting in front of a computer, writing. His most recent books include "Readings: Essays and Literary Entertainments" (Indiana hardcover, 2000; Norton paperback, 2003), his self-portrait of the reader as a young man, "An Open Book" (Norton, 2003) and a collection of his essays and reviews titled "Bound to Please" (Norton, 2005) Last year he brought out "Book by Book: Notes on Reading and Life" (Henry Holt, 2006) and this fall Harcourt will publish "Classics for Pleasure."

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." Dirda is a member of several literary associations, including the Baker Street Irregulars and The Ghost Story Society. Despite a penchant for quiet and solitude, he enjoys giving talks, teaching, and traveling. People tell him that he can be pretty funny for a guy who usually has his nose in a book.

(He also thinks he can be pretty funny at times...)

An archive of his reviews is available here.

An archive of his discussions is available here.

Dirda was online Wednesday, July 11, at 2 p.m.

A transcript follows.

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Michael Dirda: Welcome to Dirda on Books! I'm just back from Minneapolis, where I spoke at the wonderful new public library there (about books and reviewing) on one evening, and at the University of Minnesota's conference on Victorian Secrets and Edwardian Enigmas on the following day. The latter was sponsored by the library's nonpareil Sherlock Holmes collection. My talk -- "A Case for Langdale Pike" -- seems to have inadvertently established a major theme for the whole conference. In it I constructed the imagined biography of Langdale Pike, who is a journalist who gathers all the gossip of London. He appears in the worst of the Holmes stories, "The Three Gables," but in it the great detective says, at one point, "This is a case for Langdale Pike, and I am going to see him now." What I did was to construct a Max Beerbohm like story about my discovery of the rare volume of LP's stories (or reminiscences?) titled "A Case for Langdale Pike." It was a lot of fun to write, and subsequent speakers took up the game and inserted references to Pike in their talks.

It's hot here in D.C., though cooler than it has been because of a sprinkling of rain this afternoon. But we still await a good thunderstorm. To quote Gerard Manly Hopkins: "Send my roots rain." The garden could use it.

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Belcamp, Md.: Hello Mr. Dirda,

Given that I have a limited amount of time for recreational reading, would still like to read both current works and classics that I missed earlier, but would still like to keep up with literary journalism of the day, I need your advice. If you only had time to read one on a continuing basis, would you subscribe to the New York Review of Books or the Times Literary Supplement? I know the scope is different, but where would The New Yorker stand in this mix?

By the way, I am ashamed to admit at my age (somewhere around your's) that I have just read my first Anthony Trollope novel, "The Warden," and found it completely enjoyable. One of my aims for the remainder of the year is to read the rest of the Barsetshire novels. What is your opinion of them and Trollope? How does he compare to Dickens and the other Victorians? Thank you for this chat.

Michael Dirda: To keep up with books, you'd do best to read The Washington Post Book World and the New York Times Book Review. The New Yorker is topnotch, but only reviews a single book a week, with a few brief notices; the New York Review of Books offers very long essays about books and authors, and may give you more than you need; the TLS reviews so many scholarly books that you might well feel overwhelmed with the coverage of Ancient Carthaginian pottery and such. Still, it wouldn't hurt to look at them all, or even to subscribe -- I do look at them all. The TLS is also geared to British books, which may be an issue.

Trollope is quite wonderful and you have a treat ahead of you. I daresay that he is probably the most popular Victorian novelist now going -- Thackeray, Dickens, Eliot all seem so monumental that readers find them a bit daunting. I think the writer that Trollope most resembles may well be Jane Austen.

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Wonder, IN: From Neil Gaiman's journal:

--

Michael "Langdale Pike" Dirda, the best-read man in America.

--

I think we can all agree that you are indeed the "best-read man in America", but what the devil is the "'Langdale Pike'" thing about?

Michael Dirda:

If you read the lead-in, you know about Langdale Pike. I can add that my investiture name in the Baker Street Irregulars is also Langdale Pike. I ran into Neil on Saturday afternoon -- he's in the BSI himself and has many friends among its members -- and so we chatted about this and that. He'd heard about the LP jeu d'esprit.

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Galveston, Tex.: Mike, I'm curious about your opinion of the novel "Sister Carrie." I tried reading this book recently and after a hundred pages all I knew about the main character is that she liked pretty clothes (the male characters were much more interesting). I hit a sentence that started with the word "Behold" and ended with an exclamation point and promptly put the book back on the shelf.

Also wondering how you decide when to give up on reading something. How long do you give a book the benefit of the doubt before shelving it?

Michael Dirda: Well, you do have to remember that "Sister Carrie" came out early in the previous century, when the fustian style of the eminent Victorians was still alive and flourishing. What makes "Carrie" so good is its inversion of the expected trope -- nice girl corrupted by city. Here the nice girl is quite able to handle the city and indeed ends up ruining her major protector.

But if you read a hundred pages and the book didn't catch fire, you are probably write to lay it aside. Once outside of school, one should read for pleasure -- though constantly challenging oneself with the best one can find. Sorry if that sounds moralistic. One of the problems, or glories, of this chat is that I just write straight out and don't revise anything.

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Thunderstorm books: So what's a good book for a rainy summer day? Mysteries need a fire and some snow on the ground, poetry gets too depressing in the rain, and I want something I can put down easily enough when the sun comes back.

Michael Dirda: Hmmm. Summer rains don't last long. Why not try my old favorite Cyril Connolly's journal of a dark night of the soul, "The Unquiet Grave"? It's full of reminiscence of sun-dappled days in Southern France. "Streets of Paris, pray for me."

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Germantown, Md.: Michael, thanks for taking time for this chat. I'm currently reading Crowley's "AEgypt" and Pynchon's "Against the Day" and I find that sometimes I can't remember which author wrote which book. The subject matter is quite different of course, but is it just me, or are their styles so very similar?

Michael Dirda: It's just you. But both authors are ambitious in their visions, and both can do just about anything they want with prose.

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Lenexa, Kan.: Hope you had a safe 4th. Some 55 years ago, my youngest brother lighting a firecracker off my inebriated father's cigarette, had it go off in my dad's eye. No permanent damage, but I remember him cutting wheat the next 3 days with a patch over one eye--tough to gauge the combine platform with no depth perception.

My wife and I so enjoyed the Susan Minot-Michael Cunningham movie of Minot's 1998 novel "Evening." I'm now reading it. The novel involves a woman on her deathbed recalling her life--mostly the ecstasies and tortures of romance. Her last name (married several times) serves as a time marker throughout. Do you have an opinion on Susan Minot? Read or interacted with her? Thanks as always.

Michael Dirda: I've never read Minot, though I remember her first book, "Monkeys," was very well received, and then her siblings started writing their own accounts of their upbringing.

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Fair Oaks, Va.: A few weeks ago, someone bound for Arizona asked for pertinent book recommendations. I am just re-reading "Over the Edge: Death in Grand Canyon," by Thomas Myers and Michael Ghiglieri. Oh, my gosh. That'll knock any hiking notions out of your head. Well, maybe not, but it is compelling and scary. Believe it or not, it is also funny.

It also makes you wonder about human nature. So many people don't seem to understand the obvious and many dangers of the place. I guess most of us don't face risks anymore and can't recognize the real thing, or suppose the Park Rangers will swoop in to save us.

Well, "Death Comes for the Archbishop" is probably a better choice, but "Over the Edge" is a hoot.

Michael Dirda: Many thanks. I'll be dropping by, and I hope not into, the Grand Canyon next week.

Which reminds me: I'll need to change this show to Thursday, if possible, because I'll be flying back from the West on Wednesday. It's a family vacation to visit my son Chris in San Diego. So double check your Post listings for next week.

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Freising, Germany: Okay, full disclosure: Do you feel the urge to hide or obscure books by female authors, and protect your manly image, when reading in public places?

Also, have you heard anything about "Girls of Riyadh" by Saudi Arabian author, Rajaa Alsanea? I've read that it's been a bit scandalous in Saudi Arabian for its depictions of romance (or sex?), but I'm wondering if it'll actually describe modern life in Saudi Arabia.

Michael Dirda: No, I can't say that I've ever obscured the book I was reading. In fact, I took great glee in opening my Harlequin romances on the subway, back when I was writing a story about the genre.

Don't know "Girls of Riyadhi" but I'll keep an eye out.

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Akron, Ohio: this is a test. I tried to make a submission and was blocked. I'd like to see if this gets through.

washingtonpost.com: yes, it did.

Michael Dirda: See, the system works. How is Akron these days? Your local boy, Dan E. Moldea, is back in the news, for having exposed another Senator for hypocritically espousing family values while frequenting prostitutes. Nothing ever changes.

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Washington, D.C.: I'm curious. Do you have an "emergency" book handy wherever you go or do you know anyone who does, or do I just really have as big an addiction/problem as certain people in my life claim? I always have at least one "old favorite" stashed away at my office, in my car, etc. in case I finish what I'm "actively" reading (i.e., a new book) or get stuck waiting somewhere I wasn't expecting to kinds of situations. I occasionally rotate them to something different, but I always have my emergency book. Thanks.

Michael Dirda: When I travel I always take at least two books, in case I finish one or if one should turn out to be less than compelling. But I don't generally carry favorites. In my brief case I do carry a rather scraggly list of the greatest classical recordings of all time -- torn from Gramophone or somewhere -- which does afford me something to look at and think about if I'm desperate. For several years I did carry a small selection of English and American poetry.

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New Orleans, La.: Mr Dirda,

Last week I finished reading Jane Smiley's "Ten Days in the Hills" which I really enjoyed. The characters in the novel were quite well developed, though not necessarily likable. Some of the male-female pairings were not too credible, but the situations in which they found themselves were often humorous. The novel included much commentaty on the war in Iraq, during the early stages of which it took place.

Michael Dirda: Many thanks. Jane and I spoke a few weeks back in New York, on behalf of Recorded Books. She read a passage from the novel -- based on Boccaccio -- which was perhaps a little daring in its language and situation for the librarians there. Or perhaps not. They were all drinking Bacardi that night.

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Vienna, Va.: Someone may have asked you this already, but I wanted to know.....are you going to be reading Book 7 in the Harry Potter series?

Michael Dirda: No. But then I haven't read books three through six either. I reviewed the first two, but didn't feel any need to go on with the series. My kids will doubtless be reading it, though. Does that count?

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Akron, Ohio: Front page of today's (7/11) Times -- "Potter Magic Has Limited Effect on Youngsters' Reading Habits." What are your thoughts on the HP craze with young people and the insistence of much of the intelligentsia that this is a good thing? It's as I thought -- no lasting effect.

Letter to the Editor from Wyatt Mason in August edition of Harper's in response to Cynthia Ozick's pessimism on literary criticism. "Reading a book is 'a special way of being alive,' " "reading resonates...with a minority...to hear a story requires only ears, to read a book demands work." Mr. Mason states 3 or 4 little gems here -- I wonder if you'd care to comment.

Michael Dirda: Well, reading Potter is a kind of badge for young people, membership in a special club. But it doesn't necessarily translate into a passion for reading in general. Still, I can't believe that HP hasn't led some readers to Diana Wynne Jones, Susan Cooper, Jane Aiken, and Tolkien.

Mason makes some good points. But having written a good deal myself about reading -- see the essay on the NEA report that is a kind of preface to "Bound to Please" -- and lectured on the subject too, I find it rather old hat now. People read or they don't read -- by the time they're adults, it's usually too late to change that. As for kids, well, there does seem to be some odd virus that affects some and not others, no matter what their intelligence. My guess is that kids who read yearn for something they don't have in their own lives. I myself read because it afforded me a glimpse of a world that I wanted to see for myself eventually. But I also liked the music of the sentences, the sound as well as the sense.

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Alexandria, Va.: I'm reading "The Man with the Golden Arm" and am liking it so far. Can you recommend any of Algren's other books or anything similar?

Have you read Charles Jackson's "Lost Weekend" or de Quincey's "Confession's of an English Opium Eater"?

Michael Dirda: I've read De Quincey -- and he's good, though he writes in a very thick, decorated style that isn't to everyone's taste. I gather you're into addiction?

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Oak Park, Ill.: I just read the following quote from D. H. Lawrence, "Art-speach is the only truth. An artist is usually a damned liar, but his art, if it be art, will tell you the truth of his day. And that is all that matters."

Given that definition of "art" who do you think are our most "artistic" contemporary writers?

Michael Dirda: Don DeLillo, Philip Roth, Ann Beattie, Richard Price.

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Colorado: I just finished "Stoner" by Williams, after reading a review. I was absolutely heartbroken for him throughout the book and most furious that Lomax intruded upon his affair. So happy that NYRB republished the novel because otherwise I don't think I would have discovered it. Have you read "Stoner" and are his other novels as touching?

Michael Dirda: He has a good one called "Augustus," about the emperor, which I've never read. I think this is right -- there are a couple of John Williamses out there.

I own two copies of "Stoner."

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Alexandria, Va.: I have collected two quotes for you, which may prove useful in the future. The first is a line by Robert Walser to be trotted out the next time your better half asks for a hand with the housecleaning:

"Every true poet likes dust, for it is in the dust, and in the most enchanting oblivion, that, as we all know, precisely the greatest poets like to lie, the classics, that is, whose fate is like that of old bottles of wine, which, to be sure, are drawn, only on particularly suitable occasions, out from under the dust and so exalted to a place of honor."

The second is some doggerel by Horace:

"Since Bacchus enlisted frenzied

poets among his Satyrs and Fauns,

the dulcet Muses

have smelt of drink first thing in the morn."

Hope they work!

Michael Dirda: Many thanks. Personally, I've always thought I was the better half. Just kidding.

When I worked at Book World and my desk grew piled high with books and papers and the detritus of office life, I would often murmur the line from Wallace Stevens: "A great disorder is an order."

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Fairfax, Va.: What is your professional opinion of the Harry Potter series? I know only the most general of facts regarding the story and characters (who can avoid knowing at least that much given the hype) as I have never read any of the books or seen any of the movies. Perhaps I have avoided them out of a perverseness due to their sheer popularity. While I enjoy a good story as much as the next person, are these books really worth my descending from my high horse?

Michael Dirda: Probably, yes. I thought the first a very fine novel, the second a let down. My kids tell me that the third or fourth is the best of the series. Since people do await them with eagerness, they are bound to be, at the very least, rattling good reads.

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Greensboro, N.C.: Just finished two volumes of Flannery O'Connor short stories -- quite a body count! Head bashings, drownings, bull-gorings, strokes, heart attacks!

Michael Dirda: Just daily life around Milledgeville, Georgia.

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Lexington: Michael, for those George Macdonald Fraser fans out there, yes he's still writing and has a new book out this fall in the U.K., "The Reavers", described as a saucy, swashbuckling Elizabethan adventure novel. Sounds a bit like "The Pyrates" doesn't it? Probably a spring U.S. release. Meanwhile, ghost stories seem like they're best read in the cold, dark bleak winters, but are there some that are best read in the summer? We could certainly use the "chills!"

Michael Dirda: Vernon Lee's "Amour Dure" is one of the greatest such stories, and demands hot weather, I think. Of course, there's always W.F. Harvey's little classic, "August Heat." Robert Aickman's enigmatic stories often have a summer or warm background.

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Tysons, Va.: Hi Michael,

One of my favorite books is "Rebecca" by Daphne Du Maurier. I am trying to read more from the early-mid 20th century and was wondering what books or authors you would recommend that are similar in style, not subject matter? Thanks!

Michael Dirda: I write about "Rebecca" in Classics for Pleasure.

You could certainly read other Du Maurier novels and stories, for she wrote a good many and at a relatively high and even level of accomplishment. Her eerie tales, "Don't Look Now" and "The Birds" are classics.

That slightly formal style in Du Maurier can be found in many of the Edwardian authors she would have grown up on -- E.F. Benson's comic novels about Lucia, perhaps Angela Thirkell's Barsetshire novels too. But I'm not entirely sure what you like about the style.

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Washington, D.C.: Just finishing up "The Road," and I'd like to read another McCarthy.... Do you suggest "Blood Meridian" or "All the Pretty Horses"?

Michael Dirda:"All the Pretty Horses" is easier to read; "BM" is the greater book, but violent and gruesome.

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Chapel Hill, N.C. (Audio Book Girl): Hi, Michael.

I hope you're staying cool.

For Edmonton, Canada, who wanted NC book ideas last week: I suggest sending you son to the Bull's Head Bookstore(on campus). They have a fine NC section, with anything you could want -- just give him a few ideas (history? etc.) and let him surprise you.

To Germantown, MD: The NC writer you meant was Clyde Edgerton, not "Edgertown", which you'll find not here, but on Martha's Vineyard!

To the "Looming Tower" poster: Thank you -- it's everything you say -- and more.

Michael Dirda: Many thanks.

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Oak Park, Ill.: RE: Wallace Stevens: "A great disorder is an order."

I like the quote I heard attributed to Einstein, "If a cluttered desk is the sign of a cluttered mind, what is an empty desk?"

Michael Dirda: Nice.

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D.C.: I'm curious how many readers out there, like me, are simply incapable of enjoying books with a female protagonist (or for the ladies a male). I don't know what it is, but I just can't get into a book written from the perspective of the opposite sex. Anyone else?

Michael Dirda: Well, we'll see if we get some responses here. I used to feel this way as a boy -- why would anyone want to read about Cherry Ames, Student Nurse when he could read about the Hardy Boys?

But in general, I think most readers are less rigid in these demarcations. Perhaps, though, it's more a question of the subject matter: A good many popular novels by women about women are likely to be more domestic or love-focused than you care for. Let me hasten to add, this is a sweeping generalization -- only an attempt to understand this male reader's lack of interest. Similarly, many women might turn away from all those techno-thrillers as mere boys' adventure novels. They would, of course, be absolutely right.

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Pittsburgh: Have you ever visited Zelda and Scott Fitzgerald's graves out in Rockville? Are they major tourist attractions like, say, Poe's in Baltimore?

Michael Dirda: Yes, and somewhat yes. In fact, the first place I went to see when I moved to Washington was FSF's grave, and I have a photograph of me standing above it, wearing a rain poncho on a gloomy day. You can just make out the beginning of the inscription: "Like boats against the current. . . "

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Pope's Creek: Mr. Dirda:

Turn of the century (1900) popular American writer Winston Churchill wrote several historical romances including the swashbuckling tale, "Richard Carvel," which took place in St. Mary's county, Maryland. Several of his books was passed down to me, but I only remember reading Carvel. Have you read any of his works? Apparently, Winston Churchill of the U.K., changed his public name to Winston S. Churchill to distinguish himself from the American Churchill.

Michael Dirda: One sees the American Churchill's books all the time, but I've never read any.

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Re Trollope: Which are the Barsetshire novels? I've been interested in reading Trollope too, but haven't been sure where to start. Do you have a recommendation? Does it matter?

Michael Dirda: Trollope has two series -- the Barsetshire novels, starting with "The Warden" and the Palliser series, which has a political focus on Plantaganet Palliser and his wife and career. There are plenty of fine standalone Trollope novels, including my favorite, which is uncharacteristic in many ways, "The Way We Live Now." Most people feel "The Last Chronicle of Barsetshire" to be his best all-round novel.

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Houston: A natural next step for kids who have been reading HP would seem to be Phil Pullman....and (maybe not coincidentally) many screenings of HP 5 have a trailer for the "Golden Compass" movie.

Michael Dirda: There you go. I reviewed all three Pullman books -- they are quite fine, but the first is to my mind by far the best.

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Emergency Book: I love that term and will use it from now on. One of the best (of many) things I learned from my husband is to always take a book everywhere one goes.

As a child, I had multiple copies of Walter Lord's "A Night to Remember" squirreled away in case of emergency. Now, I usually have several books going and grab one of them. One that fits in my purse is preferable, but if I could get hold of Vincent Bugliosi's 1,600-page book on the Kennedy assassination I would probably take it along on errands.

Okay. Grab your emergency book; we are off to Safeway!

Michael Dirda: I remember liking "A Night to Remember" but was never that interested in sinking ships.

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Pittsburgh: I'm a rather squeamish person, so realize this is perhaps this is an ignorant question -- but why would anyone want to read a book like "Blood Meridian" which you characterize as "violent and gruesome"? Is there a point beyond which redeeming social value overtakes subject matter? Can writing quality really trump one's revulsion?

Michael Dirda: The prose is quite beautiful, and the vision of America is true to our darker side. I will add that the violence is to my mind stylized in a way reminiscent of "The Wild Bunch." I myself was never repulsed by anything in the novel, though sometimes shocked or surprised. In truth, I count myself as rather squeamish too, and would never watch a hospital or modern cop TV show. I was never drawn to the splatterpunk movement in horror, which flourished 20 years ago, but always liked my chills to be more subtle. What story is more haunting and disturbing than Gilman's "The Yellow Wall Paper"?

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I don't know what it is, but I just can't get into a book written from the perspective of the opposite sex. : I dare say more men feel this than women, which is a shame.

I'm a woman and can enjoy books with or women as protagonists.

I've read it's a real problem with kids' books, cartoons, movies: girls can get into "boy" movies, but boys WILL NOT watch a movie with a girl protagonist. What are we teaching our children (I give up on the grownups)?

Michael Dirda: Having sons, I frequently heard that their teachers (female) were making the class read dopey girl's books. Without naming names, I tended to agree with their judgment. I do wish that school systems were more daring, and didn't always pick the same old titles, with the same political correctness to them. But doubtless the more exciting books would provoke some parents.

On the other hand, "A Catcher in the Rye" -- an underground classic in my day -- is now taught in high school.

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opposite sex protagonists: Reminds me how astonished I was that "Memoirs of a Geisha" was written by a man. I just couldn't see how a man could write AS a woman (not just about a woman) so deeply. To me, that is more interesting: the conflict between writer and protagonist, not reader and protagonist.

Michael Dirda: But a good writer should be able to do this. Great writers do it all the time -- look at Shakespeare's heroines.

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re: female protag: Well, I liked Nicky Hornby for the most part until he wrote "How to Be Good" which was just the worst novel ever written.

Michael Dirda: Well, authors do make mistakes. If you're a writer, you need to keep pushing yourself against your limits, and sometimes you're bound to fail. As Cardinal Newman said: "It is a rule of God's providence that we succeed by failure."

This can be a very comforting thought, as I can testify.

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To D.C.: Regarding your question concerning the opposite sex perspective, I am in a slightly different position. I am female and very much prefer a male protagonist over a female. When a women is the main character, I find myself paying more attention to a male character in a supporting role.

Michael Dirda: Why is that, you think?

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Brain Freeze, Va.: Michael, did you know that today, on 7/11, you can get a free Slurpee? It's true! Summer delight.

Too bad I'm having my second cup of afternoon coffee. Caffeine, not sugar, is my constant downfall.

Michael Dirda: Wow! Let me alert the kids!

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Cleveland: How important is it for a novelist to have studied writing formally? Do most writers just use their intuition about plot, structure, etc., or is it the case that most truly successful novelists receive academic training? And if so, is the prescribed course of study similar to your own background (i.e. comparative lit or literary theory)?

Michael Dirda: Before the 1950s, most writers never had a lick of formal training in writing, aside from whatever they learned in school or from older writers. So creative writing classes are hardly essential to the writer's life. But they will teach you some useful mechanics, give you a chance to write a lot, and allow you access to a teacher who knows more than you do. Students in writing classes generally critique each other's work, and sometimes go on to develop ongoing writing circles, in which they exchange their various works in progress. Last, a writing program may gain you access to editors and agents.

That said, they do have drawbacks. Many kids who graduate from writing programs have nothing to write about -- they've simply gone to school all their lives. So their early fiction tends to be autobiographical angst or accounts of their parents' divorce. But then what? Also, some writing programs may willy nilly impose a certain kind of style on its graduates, which can be stultifying to original talents.

I was going to be a college teacher, and I never thought of what I was doing as prep work for literary journalism. In truth, it wasn't, except as providing a foundation. I've never taken courses in 20th century fiction, indeed with only a few exceptions, all my work was on early literature, mostly medieval and Romantic.

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Dayton, Ohio: If I have finished reading everything written by Neil Gaiman and Terry Prattchet (almost); who else would you recommend on a similar vein? I haven't had much luck -- thank you!

Michael Dirda: Tom Holt.

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Deerfield, Ohio: Dear Mr. Dirda,

This past weekend I caught up with your Afterwords interview with Seth Lerer about his recent book, "Inventing English." For me, it was an interesting, exciting discussion on a fascinating topic. I've already ordered the book, but am wondering if you might recommend two or three others on the same subject that could appeal to lay(wo)man readers, as I am. In addition, I've just rambled through your "Readings" and was delighted at how many times you cited the Mapp and Lucia series as entertaining reading. I'm presently rereading the series, as it's perfect for hot summer afternoons on a shady porch. Thank you so much; I enjoy your weekly chats and often find usable suggestions for further reading.

Michael Dirda: There are lots of books about English -- you might look for those by Robert Claiborne and David Crystal, to start. Or the old ones by Eric Partridge.

Glad you enjoy the Lucia books.

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Rockville, Md.: Michael:

Really like your work, but I thought your comment on Harry Potter to be the most effective I can remember in criticism. It took a while for me to give it full appreciation. So two books were enough?

Michael Dirda: Thanks for the compliment, I guess. Two were enough for me, but this doesn't mean the other books aren't worth reading. It's just that I would rather spend my time on other authors. Last week I read William Dean Howell's "Indian Summer" and Barbara Pym's "A Glass of Blessings." Yesterday I began Sarah Orne Jewett's "Country of the Pointed Firs." These are all things I felt that I should have read long ago. But our lives, alas, are sequential.

And that's enough chatting for today. I've got to run out for my free Slurpee!

So, folks, REMEMBER: Next week's chat will be on THURSDAY, not Wednesday at 2. Till then, keep reading!

OH, sorry I didn't get to all the questions.

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