Dirda on Books

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

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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, Oct. 10, at 2 p.m.

A transcript follows.

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Dayton, Ohio: Michael -

I read the first two Aubrey-Maturin stories and quickly got bored/disinterested. Would I enjoy Forester's Horatio Hornblower books at all? Looking for pure entertainment here; I like Dickens, Verne, Twain, and other 19th century lit.

Michael Dirda: Welcome to Dirda on Books! It's a bright sunny day here in D.C., though the temperature is -- thankfully -- less torrid than it has been. Those who doubt the reality of Global Warming need only to have gone outside this fall to know the truth.

But let's save my usual chit-chat for later in today's program, and turn now to the first question.

Many people find the Aubrey-Maturin books too literary, too full of nautical lore, too slow-moving. Certainly the Hornblower books move more quickly and offer more obvious entertainment. The same can be said of the Sharpe novels by Bernard Cornwell. But for those who give O'Brian's books a chance, they are rare and wonderful.

As you like Verne, you should certainly look out for all the new Verne titles that have been newly translated in recent years: "The Kip Brothers," or his reworking of Dumas's "Count of Monte Cristo," "Mathias Sandorf." There's also a wonderful swashbuckling Dumas available this year for the first time: "The Last Cavalier." Enjoy.

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New Lenox, Ill.: Re: Books about dogs -- "Flush" by Virginia Woolf.

You have a first of "Indian Summer" and a near first of "The Country of Pointed Firs." Smile. I would have liked that.

Perchance to dream of living in Paris: Oui, Monsieur Dirda. Certainement!

On to small print: This is something I vehemently oppose. I will go out of my way to find, and purchase, if possible, an edition of a book I want to read in an aesthetically pleasing format. Frequently, this takes me into the realm of used-book stores, where oftentimes they have private press editions. I'm myopic and donned my first pair of eyeglasses in the third grade, and I think that small print makes the physical act of reading an unnecessary struggle, no matter what your age happens to be. Too, it seems as though the margins of books keep getting smaller and smaller, which only exacerbates the problem. I am gleeful when I discover a book with none of these defects. You said that you asked your publishers to "make sure that the type in your books is as big as possible, with lots of white space and margins." I must say, I'm impressed, and deeply grateful for your thoughtfulness. It was a commendable thing to do. How I wish that more authors would take that action. It displays a generosity of spirit towards the reader.

As to the Aickman and Hazlitt editions you so desired, until you saw the miniscule type, I commiserate. I know exactly what you mean about some of those standard editions of the late 19th century, and early 20th century, with the huge margins, and the "Lilliputian" (good choice of words) type in the midst of the page. I recently came across just such an example. I'm not certain of my recall as to the author, but I believe it was an American first of Henry James that I was looking at. I was both surprised, and disappointed; as I hadn't expected the type to be quite that small.

You and your sisters woke up and found your dog dead one Christmas morning! Mon Dieu! That's even worse than my Samoyed dying in her youth on Thanksgiving Eve.

With record-breaking searing temperatures this past long holiday (Columbus Day) weekend, I took your advice to one of last week's posters and read Lampedusa's "The Leopard." The copy I own is one of those cloth Everyman's Library editions; unfortunately, this one has tiny print, which I found irksome. When I concluded perusing the book, I took Dirda's "Bound to Please" down off one of the bookcase shelves in my library, and reread your essay regarding "The Leopard," which begins on page 399. I was appreciative to have a hardcover copy (a first) of your book to refer back to. Your observations are astute (as always): where you mention the death scene (which I found so moving), and the quotes about the waltzing couple (which I thought showed discernment). From the Everyman edition: Lampedusa was "prevented by an unsympathetic father from reading literature at university, he continued his studies informally at home. His interest in literature was so consuming that he devoured minor writers as comprehensively as their superiors. Literature was like a forest, he once said, in which it was important to investigate not just the large trees but the undergrowth and wild flowers as well. They were all part of the great body of literature and contributed to each other's growth."

In "The Leopard," it talks about there existing a deity who is protector of princes, he is called Courtesy, which has something in common with the other book I finished perusing this past weekend, "The Uncommon Reader" by Alan Bennett, wherein the Queen makes polite gestures out of courtesy in order to put people at their ease. I was taken unawares when I then came across your review of it. When Her Majesty asks Sir Kevin what ethnic classics he had in mind, "The Kama Sutra?" - I smiled, and then looked up to see my hardbound copy of it on a nearby bookcase shelf adjacent to the piano in the family room. When I got to the part where she starts to make notes, and always reads with a pencil in hand, I thought of how it is my wont to read with a fountain pen and paper by my side.

Last night I finished reading Gabriel Garcia Marquez's "Love in the Time of Cholera," which I own in a first American edition in dust jacket (f/f).

Michael Dirda: Well, now that's what I call a posting. A few more readers like you New Lenox, and I could just take it easy for the next hour. Many thanks for sharing your observations about reading, books and much else.

By the way, the margins in "Bound to Please" are too small, but it was either that or have a shorter book. But I wanted to do a really hefty volume, with lots of essays, figuring I might not get another chance.

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Ashcroft, BC (BR): Last week someone was asking about good true-life adventure/survival stories for her husband. Here are a few:

"The Strange Last Voyage of Donald Crowhurst" by Nicholas Tomalin and Ron Hall. Brilliant, harrowing, and unforgettable. The recent documentary about Crowhurst, "Deep Water," is well worth searching out and viewing.

"Death on the Ice" by Cassie Brown, about the "Newfoundland" sealing disaster of 1914; a classic of Canadian literature

"Weird and Tragic Shores" by Chauncey Loomis, a superb account of the doomed Arctic voyage of Charles Francis Hall and the "Polaris."

"The Ice Master" by Jennifer Niven, about Canadian whaling/Arctic legend Robert Bartlett and his voyage on the doomed ship "Karluk."

"In the Wake of Madness" by Joan Druett, an account of a whaling expedition gone wrong which was an influence (along with the "Essex" whaleship disaster) on "Moby-Dick."

"The Custom of the Sea" by Neil Hanson is a look at a famous (or infamous) case of cannibalism on the high seas in the late nineteenth century.

"Mawson's Will" by Lennard Bickel is a harrowing look at the fate of Scott's Antarctic ice party in 1911.

Two recommended fictional accounts of famous expeditions and explorers are Wayne Johnston's "The Navigator of New York" (Cook and Peary) and Dan Simmons's "The Terror" (the Franklin expedition). And for a change of pace, try David Roberts's "Great Exploration Hoaxes."

Michael Dirda: Another terrifically useful posting. If I didn't have to keep answering questions, I'd be copying all these suggestions into my notebook.

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

No questions for you today (sorry) but I do have a few

items to share:

For Pittsburgh, who wanted cat books: "The Cats' House" and "Cats into Everything," by Bob Walker; "Castle Cats of Britain & Ireland" by Richard Surman; two Paul Gallico favorites: "The Silent Miaow and Honorable Cat"; "The Literary Cat"; "My Cat Spit McGee," by Willie Morris; "Elehpi The Cat with the High IQ," by Jean Stafford; all the Jenny Linsky books by Esther Averill.

For Capitol Hill's hub-man who is looking for adventure: "Desperate Voyage," by John Caldwell; "Gypsy Moth Circles the World," by Francis Chichester; "The Brendan Voyage," by Tim Severin; "Tinkerbelle," by Robert Manry; the great "Yankees Under Sail"...

On an audio note: Never having read Stephen King, I checked out "The Shawshank Redemption" from the library.

It's read by Frank Muller, who is marvelous, as usual. (An aside: I lost count of the number of references to the Red Sox!)

Another book recently finished: "A Girl With a Monkey" by Leonard Michaels. A great line from the story "Tell Me Everything": "Talking to you is like cracking nuts with my teeth." Ah, yes...

Michael Dirda: Well, clearly if these rich and plummy postings continue I can just sit back and nibble bon bons for the next 50 minutes.

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Lenexa, Kan.: I just finished an unabridged audio of "Catch-22" (had read parts before and seen the failed film version). It is, of course, a masterful comedy combined with human angst. Perhaps that's what elevates such works over just pure genius renditions of comedy. Thomas Mallon put it nicely in his recent NYTBR review of Garrison Keillor's "Pontoon": "On the American continuum, this town (Lake Wobegon)...has always sat a little closer to Winesburg than Mayberry." QUESTION: Heller, even in his last years when I saw on TV, came across as shrewd and charming. How much Heller have you read? Did you have professional dealings with him? Thanks much.

Michael Dirda: I read "Catch-22" as a teenager, and virtually nothing else. My friend Steve Moore -- who has read more fiction than almost anyone I know -- thinks that "Something Happened" is much underrated. I should check that out sometime, though I'm not sure I ever will.

Once, though, I got to edit Heller -- and Mel Brooks. Many, many years ago Book World arranged for Joseph Heller and Mel Brooks to talk about the books they'd read as Jewish boys growing up in New York. I edited the piece, but without being able to talk to either, alas. I remember that at one point they talked about pornographic comic books and Book World had to be judicious in what it used in the paper.

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Montreal: Mr. Dirda - just got back from a week-end trip to NYC. Visited The Strand, and thoroughly enjoyed it. Thanks to you and everyone who recommended it.

One remark - they have a huge section of review books, hardcovers priced at 50 percent of cover price. Most in very good condition. It appears book reviewers come in to sell off their gifted copies when done. Surely the great Dirda's ethics code is stronger than that...

Michael Dirda: Surely.

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Colorado: In a bookstore the other day, my 13-year-old nephew was looking for a copy of Plato's "Republic." They didn't have it (it's a small town, and the Classics section of our only bookstore features titles by Robert Ludlum and Danielle Steele -- I exaggerate only slightly). He's a very bright, curious kid. I was wondering if you know of any edition, or better yet, collection aimed at introducing younger readers to philosophy?

Michael Dirda: Well, I really think that the book you want for your 13 year old nephew is Will Durant's "The Story of Philosophy." It was written in, I think, the 1920s, but it is sharp, clear and reliable. Durant emphasizes biography as much as possible, which keeps the book moving right along. He also covers most of the major philosophers, and makes even Spinoza sound interesting (as I hope I do in "Classics for Pleasure"). There are plenty of old paperbacks and used copies of "Story" floating around.

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Baltimore: Another great adventure book is "River of Doubt" tracking Teddy Roosevelt's expedition of an uncharted leg of the Amazon.

I also enjoyed "A Sense of the World" about a blind man in the early 1800s who travels the world and experiences as much, if not more than, his sighted counterparts.

Michael Dirda: Many thanks.

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Arlington, Va.: One book to add to your two recommendations last week for non-fiction works about the Mississippi River: John M. Barry's "Rising Tide," about the flood of 1927, which was the backdrop of Faulkner's story, "Old Man." Jon Yardley gave it (the Barry book) a rave a few years ago. The poster might also be interested in William Alexander Percy's memoir, "Lanterns on the Levee," about life in the Mississippi Delta before, during, and shortly after the flood. Though I have yet to read it myself, I understand it's elegantly written (Percy was an older cousin of Walker Percy) if racially less-than-enlightened.

Also, just a few quotable nuggets for fellow bibliophiles:

"While the tale of how we suffer, and how we are delighted, and how we may triumph is never new, it always must be heard. There isn't any other tale to tell; it's the only light we've got in all this darkness." James Baldwin in "Sonny's Blues."

"It is not a very fragrant world, but it is the world you live in, and certain writers with tough minds and a cool spirit of detachment can make very interesting and even amusing patterns out of it." Raymond Chandler in his famous essay, "The Simple Art of Murder."

"Reading is not just a device by which we are reached and reach others for practical ends. It is also and far more importantly a mode of incarnating and shaping thought." Jacques Barzun in his essay, "The Centrality of Reading."

Thanks!

Michael Dirda: Many thanks. Yes, John Barry was kind enough to compliment me on an essay I wrote about my first visit to New Orleans -- "Excursion" in "Readings" -- but to suggest that my fondness for the po'boys at one Quarter restaurant was misplaced and that X was really the place to go.

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Boston: Did you catch yesterday's chat with the authors of the book about the Israeli lobby in Washington? Broader question: are there any topics or perspectives that are completely taboo? What right or responsibility do authors have to explore those limits in their particular society? What are the consequences to a society which limits the expression of thought that might be very distasteful or even blasphemy to some? How do you weigh the "harm" to those offended?

Michael Dirda: No, I was driving back from my mother-in-law's funeral yesterday. The past week or 10 days hasn't been the easiest in the world around here.

That said: I don't think any topics should be off limits or taboo. But authors should be aware that some areas are distasteful or blasphemous to certain groups, and approach those areas with sensitivity to the feelings of those others. This whole business of censorship -- which is what we're talking about -- only becomes really tricky when we're dealing with schools. Here, I think, that the prejudices of the past should be discussed and understood (if not forgiven), but the books should then be read. This liberal viewpoint is harder the closer home it comes: An African-American will have issues with books that use the N word; Jews have to contend with stereotyping throughout much of European literature; Catholics, homosexuals, and women have suffered as well.

That said, the people of the future will doubtless be appalled at prejudices we're scarcely aware of. As Spinoza said, one should not so much judge or condemn as try to understand.

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Boston: Dr. Dirda,

Will you have a book signing in Boston (or anywhere in New England)? I look forward to the publication of "Classics for Pleasure" and would be happy to hear you speak about it. Thank you for your weekly discussions; I am in your fan club!

Michael Dirda: Just so long as you're not my biggest fan -- or is it Number One Fan?

At the moment, my signings and readings are mostly around Washington and Baltimore, aside from one in North Carolina and another at the World Fantasy Convention. But I do travel and give talks and will doubtless get to Boston sooner or later. And I usually do a signing of some sort afterwards.

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Re:True-Life Adventures: Which of course reminds me of the Disney series of nature films that my dad always took me see. But never mind that, Joshua Slocum's book, "Sailing Alone Around the World," is a classic. I read this a year or two ago, having heard about it long before. It tells the story of his circumnavigation of the world in a boat he rebuilt himself, Spray. The prose is very much of its time (late 1800s) and is entertaining as both a travelogue and character study. One of my favorite scenes involves him becoming deathly ill in the middle of the Atlantic and waking to find one of Columbus's captain's steering Spray safely on her course. Captain Josh never suggests that this didn't really happen.

Michael Dirda: Many thanks.

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Ashbury Park, N.J.: Michael,

In honor of Bruce Springsteen's new album, are there any good novels about rock 'n' roll you can recommend?

Michael Dirda: George R.R. Martin's "Armageddon Rag."

Hmmm. Rock and roll novels? Francine Prose has one I haven't read. But I can't think of many. Any help?

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Richmond, Va.: Books about dogs: "Timbukto," by Paul Auster; the only "animal story" I ever liked.

Michael Dirda: Many thanks.

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Columbia, S.C.: Following "War and Peace," I wanted to read another enormously long novel, so I started "Clarissa" by Samuel Richardson.

I'm only 200 pages in, but it's really rather blissful, I find. It's an impossibly epistolary novel about a young woman whose parents are trying to force her into an arranged marriage with a dried-up old stick name Solmes, when Clarissa actually prefers a local bad boy named Lovelace.

With 1,300 pages to go, I have no idea whether it will continue to be as entertaining as it already is, but I will say this: I think it's a great novel about the love and liberation of writing. With family, society and a sense of obligation pressing in upon her from every side, Clarissa finds her only freedom in writing letters, whether that means staving off the demands of family members or pouring her heart out at rapturous and exhilarating length to her friend Miss Howe. Clarissa is the best, wittiest, most clever letter-writer in her family; it's her shield and her defense and her own tool of personal revelation. There's something almost I daresay Hamlet-like about her, in that she seems to understand herself and her motives and her world only by talking about them, writing about them at length. So it has that going for it too: self-discovery.

Michael Dirda: What a lovely posting! You're going to have us all out there digging up our multi-volume editions of "Clarissa" -- mine is in eight volumes!

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Philosophy book for a 13 year old: Bertrand Russell's "History of Western Philosophy."

Michael Dirda: Yes, that's another excellent choice. It's a little more demanding than the Durant, but an ideal follow-up, if only because Russell writes so well.

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25th and M St, D.C.: Michael,

I just picked up my first volume of Raymond Carver short stories after a visit to Port Angeles, Wash. Wow. He really captured what real people think and feel. I know Carver's well-respected but I would love to hear your opinion on his work.

Michael Dirda: I'm in agreement with you. He's also one of the last major writers to model his prose after Hemingway's.

But I wonder if he's read quite as much as he once was. Twenty years ago he was a god; now he seems a bit forgotten.

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oh and for (not so) true life adventures: If the reader would like to stay in the nautical fiction line there are a number of books that might do the trick including works by Richard Woodman, Alexander Kent and Dudley Pope all of whom cover the same timeframe and subject as Forester and O'Brien. None of these three comes close to Forester, who in my opinion isn't as good as O'Brien. Nevertheless, if you're looking for the Napoleonic Era Naval Bodice ripper, they'll do. Kent does become formulaic very quickly and so melodramatic that I've found myself rolling my eyes at some of his writing. Still, it doesn't stop me from reading them. On the other hand, I would much more likely suggest for pure entertainment, the works of Rafael Sabatini, like "The Sea Hawk" or "Captain Blood" which are now back in print. These come closer to Stevenson (RLS), than any of the first three I suggested and although he doesn't write about the Napoleonic Era, these are first rate (IMHO) swashbucklers.

Michael Dirda: No argument about Sabatini. Some of those editions come with fine prefaces by George Macdonald Fraser, creator of the swashbuckling and loveably caddish adventurer Flashman.

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Pianosa: If you haven't read "Catch-22" since you were a kid, it's been too long. And I agree with your colleague -- "Something Happened" ranks right up alongside "Catch-22" for me. I know it was fashionable around that time to write novels about angst-y suburban businessmen, but "Something Happened" gets so far into the consciousness of its main character that it puts other, similar books to shame.

Michael Dirda: Oh, I agree it's been way too long. In another decade or so I expect to do nothing but reread the books of my past.

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Carlisle, Pa.: For the woman who wrote in last week to say that her husband loved adventure stories, especially those of the shipwreck-and-survival sort, I'd like to recommend "The Voyage of the Narwhal," by Andrea Barrett. It's the story of a group of "discovery men" who sail from Philadelphia to the Greenland coast in 1855, hoping to find the remains of the doomed Franklin expedition, or new scientific knowledge, or an open polar sea, or fame. They find some of those things, but at great cost. A beautifully written novel, based on prodigious research.

Michael Dirda: Many thanks. I remember the fine reviews of the Barrett.

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Arlington, Va.: So, next Monday, how will you be celebrating the anniversary of P.G. Wodehouse's birthday (1881)?

Michael Dirda: Hmmm. Probably by noting it and nothing more. I did, however, listen to much of the "Inimitable Jeeves," read by Jonathan Cecil, on my trip back from Ohio yesterday. I also realized while listening that Bingo Little was christened Richard, so that in America he might have been Rich Little, like the famous mimic.

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Richmond, Va.: re: Carver -- But I wonder if he's read quite as much as he once was.

Contemporaries are appreciating him through the movies made from his stories. "Short Cuts," by Altman.

Michael Dirda: Okay. Is that a recent movie?

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Vienna, Va.: Do you know of any good lists for "good" sci fi books? Is there a Web site that I could reference? I love the Space opera/militaristic scifi genre, such as David Weber, Bujold, Heinlein, and Elizabeth Moon. I ordered "Old Mans War" and looking forward to it from the reviews I have seen. Do you have any recommendations?

Michael Dirda: Try David Hartwell's big anthology of The Hard Science Fiction Tradition. You might look into the books of Charles Stross, too.

As for lists: I wonder if the Science Fiction Writers of America suggests titles on their Web site? If I were you, I'd go to Capclave this weekend -- at the Hilton Hotel in Rockville -- and talk to some of the fans, pros and dealers who will be there. I'll be on a panel on Saturday afternoon talking about Heinlein's legacy.

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Arlington, Va.: I'm looking forward to two forthcoming releases and was wondering if you knew when I could expect to see them in bookstores -- your "Classics for Pleasure" and the Pevear/Volokhonsky translation of "War and Peace."

Thanks!

Michael Dirda: "CFP" is officially published on Nov. 1, though I have copies in my grubby paws already. That means it'll probably hit bookshops in a week or so. The PV Tolstoy -- which I'll be reading soon -- should be out around the same time.

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Washington, D.C.: Okay, so I'm looking to read a book about the recent years of the Supreme Court and am trying to decide between Jeffrey Toobin's "The Nine" and Jan Crawford Greenburg's "Supreme Conflict." All the reviews seem to both be relatively positive with liberals preferring Toobin's and conservatives preferring Greenburg's. I'm more in them middle, so can you give me a recommendation on which to get?

Michael Dirda: Sorry, this one's your call. The last time I thought about Supreme Court books was when I had to assign the one by Bob Woodward and Scott Armstrong. I got a rather dotty Princeton professor of law to review the book. For me, the best thing ever said vis a vis the Supremes was John Riggins sexist remark to one of the women jurists on the court: "Loosen up a little, baby."

Hmmm. Is that just a sexist remark by Dirda or is there a deeper meaning in it?

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Silver Spring, Md.: Hi Michael -

For the reader asking about rock 'n' roll novels - Don DeLillo's "Great Jones Street" comes to mind.

And as for "making even Spinoza interesting," that hardly seems like a challenge, based your own pieces on Spinoza and Matthew Stewart's book on Spinoza and Leibniz. He sounds like quite an exemplary character.

Michael Dirda: Many thanks.

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Washington, D.C.: Rock 'n' roll novels: "Great Jones Street" by Don DeLillo. Also, these aren't novels, but Nick Tosches has written a several great books about early rock n' roll stars like Jerry Lee Lewis and the funky musical cultures (country, blues, etc) that fed early rock music.

Michael Dirda: Yes, there are many excellent works of rock nonfiction, eg. Guralnick's two volumes on Elvis Presley. But novels -- that's hard.

George Martin told me that it cost him his entire advance just to get permission to quote lyrics from real songs in his novel. That may be one reason why there are so few rock novels.

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Books about dogs..:..well not a book so much as one chapter of a book, but the last bit of "Unbearable Lightness of Being" about the dog was super.

Michael Dirda: Oh yes.

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Annapolis, Md.: Good translations of the "Republic": Allan Bloom's is by far the most enduring translation in the U.S. and is probably easy to find. Joe Sachs has a new one out that I haven't finished but is very good so far; it is published by a small publisher, Focus, and may be difficult to find. There are plenty of other, older translations by Englishmen that should be rattling around any used bookstore in a college town.

(The 13-year-old might still want to begin with Durant, but if he or she is determined to read Plato, he or she should not be discouraged from doing so.)

Michael Dirda: Bloom's is a bit daunting, though -- I think Desmond Lee's Penguin might be more reader-friendly for a young kid. There's new translation by the guy -- is it R.E. Allen -- who's doing Plato in a scholarly Yale series -- I read his edition of the Symposium and the introduction was exemplary.

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Friendship Heights: Hi Mr. Dirda,

Nothing to contribute today, just enjoying the chat immensely. Hope you and Seamus are well.

Michael Dirda: Thanks. The wonder dog is outside lying in the sun, master of all he surveys.

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Lexington: Michael, A cautionary note from personal experience. A lot of your readers have extensive libraries and fire and water damage can strike at any time. Not much can be done after the fact, water damage is ruinous, but insurance recovery can be a problem, especially if valuable books are involved. Document your collection, take plenty of pictures, and be sure to store this info somewhere safe away from your domicile. Of course, nothing really replaces a personal collection of books!

Michael Dirda: Dear Lexington,

I know about the fire at your daughter's apartment and I am so sorry. A curator at the National Gallery lived in the same building and lost his personal library and his art collection. Terrible thing.

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Is that a recent movie? : As we get older, "new" is anything younger than us! Granted, "Short Cuts" is from a decade or so ago, but it's classic Carver via Altman. There is another movie out based on Carver stories currently, I'll have to stew for a while to think of the name.

Michael Dirda: Thanks.

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Dog stories:"A Boy and His Dog" by Harlan Ellison is an all-timer.

Michael Dirda: An yes. Just talked to Harlan last week -- we'd had our differences over the years, but at the behest of a mutual friend, we buried the hatchet. As I told him, those differences are just personal and what matters is that he is a great artist and short-story writer.

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Richmond, Va.: Laura Linney stars in "Jindabyne," a screen version of Raymond Carver's short story "So Much Water So Close to Home."

washingtonpost.com: Also, "Short Cuts" came out in 1993 and earned Altman a best director Oscar nomination.

Michael Dirda: Many thanks, both.

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Munich, Germany: The topic of taxidermy caught my attention the other day. I was reminded of my old scout leader's prized trophies of stuffed Rainbow and Brown Trout, but also of the almost gothic book, "The Manikin", by Joanna Scott.

What novels would consider to be good examples of American gothic?

Michael Dirda: Joyce Carol Oates has edited an anthology titled "American Gothic Stories." Her own period novels -- "Bellefleur" and "A Bloodsworth Romance" -- would fit this bill.

If you want "classic" American gothic, though, you need to read Charles Brockden Brown -- try "Wieland."

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Rockville, Md.: Dear Michael,

With a PhD in English Lit, I spend most of my time reading lit crit all those high falutin' classics. What I would like to read now is a book on some aspect on the history of rock 'n' roll. Can you recommend any that are not puff pieces or seem to be written like a tabloid? In that same vein (and maybe it's the same book), what about quality biographies or autobiographies from the world of rock 'n' roll?

Michael Dirda: I mentioned Peter Guralnick's Elvis books. Greil Marcus is generally regarded as the pre-eminent modern critic of classic rock. He's got several books out there, including a kind of desert island discs selection, in which various critics write about their favorite albums.

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Palookaville: Hello, Michael. I'm currently in the middle of -- and absolutely stunned by -- Rebecca West's "Black Lamb and Grey Falcon," her study of Yugoslavia just prior to WWII. I can't think of any other book I've read that is anything like it; I'm not a buff of either travel books or history but this is something else altogether. (Also her meditations on sex and sexual politics would make Camille Paglia green with envy.) Are there any close parallels to read after getting through its 1,200 pages? How are her novels? Her prose style is so lavish and brilliant that I have to give them a try.

Michael Dirda: West is a superb stylist and nonfiction writer. You should try her collection "A Train of Powder" next.

As for comparable books: That's tricky. Tocqueville's "Democracy in America" comes to mind. I'd also suggest -- as a portrait of Europe in the 18th century -- Casanova's memoirs.

But you may simply like grand encyclopedic books, in which case you might try J.G. Frazer's "The Golden Bough"; Andre Malraux's "The Voices of Silence"; Clause Levi-Straus's "Mythologies"; Northrop Frye's "Anatomy of Criticism"; and Spengler's "Decline of the West."

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New Lenox, Ill.: Please accept my deepest sympathy to you, and your family, at the passing of your mother-in-law.

Michael Dirda: Thank you.

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Alexandria, Va.: I recently read a Victorian short story. It starts out with an impossibly happy family. A member of the family tries to do something noble, and fails with tragic consequences. Then the family is impossibly miserable. Does anyone still write this kind of story?

Michael Dirda: Hmmm. This sounds like one of the 36 basic plots. Isn't a novel about happiness being disrupted for a while, then -- sometimes -- being restored? In that respect, many novels would fit your recipe.

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Adams Morgan: For a 13-year-old, "Sophie's World" would be a good introduction to a range of philosophy, and an entertaining review for the rest of us.

Michael Dirda: Oh yes. I'd forgotten about his Josteein Gaardner or something like that. My son Mike read this in high school, but I never have.

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Friendship Heights: Re: Taxidermy (Munich's early mention)

At vet school (Virginia Tech) we always said that when we graduated, we'd hang out our shingle:

Veterinarian/Taxidermist

(Either way, you get your pet back!)

Michael Dirda: I like that. My next door neighbor Max was a professional mechanic, and when I'd help him work on cars, he'd sometimes get frustrated when something was jammed and hammer away at it with considerable force. His motto was to fix it or fix it so that nobody else could fix it.

In truth, he was a superb mechanic. Would that I could be 15 and go see him in his garage today.

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Washington, D.C.: The actual quote was "Come on, Sandy Baby, loosen up. You're too tight." Riggins then passed out drunk on the floor.

Michael Dirda: Well, one must excuse such lapses in the great.

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Colorado: "The 13-year-old might still want to begin with Durant, but if he or she is determined to read Plato, he or she should not be discouraged from doing so."

Oh, I'm not discouraging him, quite the contrary, I want to get the Durant book while he's still curious. I just thought it would be best if he didn't jump in cold.

Thanks to you and the other posters for the suggestions.

Michael Dirda: You're welcome.

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Pittsburgh: My condolences to your wife and you on the death of her mother. Kind wishes to her family as they continue navigating this sad, painful time in their lives.

Michael Dirda: Thank you.

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Washington, D.C.: On rock 'n' roll novels: these do seem to be rare, but William Gibson's "Idoru" has members rock of a duo as main characters, with some fun riffs around teenage idolatry of the same. Also, I'm not a fan, but Rushdie's "Ground Beneath Her Feet" is about a rock star, I believe.

Michael Dirda: Yes, good choices both.

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RocknRoll: Tom Perrotta's "The Wishbones" -- suburban rock'n'roll

Roddy Doyle's "The Commitments" -- Irish rock'n'roll

Danny Sugerman's "Wonderland Avenue" -- not a novel, but an autobio about a manager for the Doors and Iggy Pop

Michael Dirda: I haven't read any of these, alas, but I have seen the movie of "The Commitments," which is simply wonderful. So, I'd give these a try. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

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Michael Dirda: And that, my friends, is it for this Wednesday's session of Dirda on Books. Hmmm. Session -- that sounds vaguely therapeutic. Oh well, perhaps this hour is just that. At least for me.

Until next Wednesday at 2 -- keep reading!

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