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 last fall Harcourt published "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, April 9, at 2 p.m.

A transcript follows.

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Michael Dirda: Welcome to Dirda on Books! At last, this afternoon the sun is again peeking out, with the tentative possibility that spring may yet come this year. It seems to have been gray and cloudy here for the longest time. And I'm not talking about my mood.

As it happens, I'm fairly upbeat--a dangerous place to be, lest the gods notice--since I've just emailed off the last of several big projects of the spring. Not that there aren't other obligations on the horizon, but I'm still glad to have these out of the way.

Well, that was all pretty vague.

Anyway, let's look at this afternoon's queries and see what kind of literary mischief we can all get into.

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New Lenox, Ill.: I read "The Odyssey" by Homer, translated by Alexander Pope. It's an epic poem recounting the ten years it takes the hero, Ulysses, to return home to his wife, Penelope, after the Trojan war. It's filled with mythological characters and marvelous adventure stories concerning the goddess Athena, who changes her guise at will to help Ulysses; a bag of winds that was meant to ensure a safe return to Ithaca; the sea-nymph Calypso, who kept Ulysses imprisoned for several years on her island; the land of the Lotus-Eaters, where people have to be dragged away because they no longer care if they go home; the Cyclops, and Polyphemus, who is Poseidon's son and is blinded by Ulysses (that "Nobody" scene had me smiling); the sea monsters, Scylla and Charybdis; the Sirens, whose song is death; etc. It was full of fantastic tales, which made for an exciting and magical reading experience.

John Cowper Powys wrote, "There is no poem in the world in which the dramatic significance of the revolving hours of the day plays so dominant a part. From the earliest rising of 'rosy-fingered dawn' upon her twilit 'dancing lawns,' till the moment when 'all the ways grow dark' we are made aware of the huge ethereal background against which we are fated to yield or endure, to perish or survive."

Michael Dirda: This is uncanny. Sometimes I do think I might possess some muted form of paranormal powers. Why do I say this? Because the big piece I sent in this morning was a long essay on Homer's Iliad and Odyssey (the introduction for a forthcoming reprint). I even quoted a big chunk of Pope's translation.

Everything New Lenox says about the Odyssey is true, but I would have thought that nearly everyone knew these adventures already. I certainly started hearing them when I was just a small boy and my steelworker father would tell me about the Cyclops and the Sirens.

Both Jasper Griffin and Bernard Knox--extremely eminent classicists, both--think the Pope translation is the best translation of Homer in the language, despite the heroic couplets and the occasional Queen Anne flavor of the thing. I myself am a big Pope fan, as readers of Classics for Pleasure know.

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Holliston, MA: I need help. Mothers' Day is fast approaching and I need to find a well-written celebrity biography (not an autobiography). Any person in the entertainment industry would be preferred. Thanks for your help!!

Michael Dirda: A celebrity biography? Hmmmm. Does Walt Disney count? There was a splendid new biography of him last year--quite massive but full of interesting material about the cartoons, movies and empire. A few years back there was also a terrific life of Robert Mitchum, beautifully told. Alas, the authors of both these escape me--even though I reviewed the Disney.

I will also throw out one semi-literary work: Kenneth Tynan's Show People. This appeared 20 years ago, but it is an comparable set of portraits of entertainers of the first water: Mel Brooks, Johnny Carson, Tom Stoppard, Louise Brooks, and two others.

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Minnetonka, Minn.: Michael,

I just finished Penelope Fitzgerald's The Blue Flower. I know that she started writing late in life. There are several other writers who came to writing late. It use to be said that if you didn't show your genius by 30 you probably were not one. Any thoughts about late bloomers?

Michael Dirda: Well, I think that poets do come to writing fairly early, but novelists often pick up their pens later in life, often because they've been out doing things in the world and have thus built up enough material for fiction. Those of us of a certain age obviously do take comfort from the possibility of a late flowering. Even yours truly has thought again about trying a novel. That said, only a few writers seem to really make a mark if they start so late in life. Fitzgerald is the exception that proves the rule. Sometimes, of course, writers have been working for a long time without much recognition and only strike it big in their later years. A writer like Cormac McCarthy was pretty much relegated to the "Minor Southern Gothic" bin until he wrote All the Pretty Horses and saw his reputation skyrocket. The Road and No Country for Old Men just solidified things further.

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Pittsburgh: Whilst idling away a few minutes online before today's book chat, I serendipitously came across an article re a new collection of linked short stories (a topic about which another chatter had inquired a few weeks ago). The book is titled "Barnacle Love," by Canadian Anthony De Sa; it contains stories about a fisherman who immigrates to Newfoundland from the Azores, and about his son, who grows up in Toronto's Portuguese neighborhood in the 1970s. Sounds interesting to me; I wonder if it's available in the US.

My favorite line from the interview is re immigrant parents' aspirations for their children:

"Mind you, the Portuguese who started arriving here in the 1950s didn't come to Canada to write, so it's understandable that it would take at least a generation for literary talent to emerge. And even then, anyone raised in an immigrant household can attest to the unlikelihood of ever having heard: 'Make your parents proud. Be a writer.'"

The whole article is here.

Michael Dirda: Many thanks. This sounds like a charming interview and book.

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Arlington, Va.: I am currently reading Under the Volcano but there is one thing that is frustrating me. Could you enlighten me as to how Quauhnahuac should be pronounced?

Michael Dirda: Just as it looks.

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Lenexa, Kan.: Joe Queenan's NYTBR piece on Questions for Book Clubs -- which seem omnipresent with new paperback issues -- was great fun. Joe sees things like: "Can 'Anna Karenina' be read as a cautionary tale, a warning against adultery?" and in a new release of "The Picture of Dorian Grey" the question, "Is sin ugly or beautiful?" Joe thinks there might be money in doing these. How tough can it be? He decides to practice up on some classics first: "The Odyssey," "The Red and the Black" (a keystone novel in the formation of young Dirda), "Wuthering Heights," et al.

Joe concludes: "Frankly, I thought I was getting somewhere with my questions. Then I turned to the back pages of 'The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde' and found this:

'What do you make of Hyde's appearance? (He is small and subtly deformed.) Do you think he should have been depicted as tall and hypermuscular, or obese and debauched, or pale and cadaverous. Why? (Or why not?) Is there a specific meaning in, or reason for, Hyde's appearance?'

That's when I decided to bag the whole enterprise. I was a dwarf among giants. These people were totally out of my league."

QUESTION: Have you met or know Queenan? Is he as much fun in person? Thanks as always.

washingtonpost.com: There Will Be A Quiz (NY Times Book Review, April 6)

Michael Dirda: Have never met Queenan, though I used to read him pretty regularly and reviewed one or two of his loosely linked collections of essays. He is very funny and more learned than he often lets on. I think he made up that Jekyll and Hyde question.

As it happens, I've had to make up some questions and teaching assignments for a classic book just recently, and it's a lot harder than I thought.

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Vienna, Va.: I enjoyed your review of the Alfred Kazin biography a couple of weeks ago. Now, I'm reading the memoirs of the late Maxwell Geismar, which provide a far different picture of Kazin than Cook's bio does (Geismar hates Kazin). I like Geismar's work (especially his attack on Henry James) but I suspect Geismar is mostly forgotten these days. Do you have any opinion on Geismar as a critic?

Thanks.

Michael Dirda: I think you're right, Geismar is pretty much forgotten. When I was young, I read stuff by him--just as I read Malcolm Cowley, William Troy, Philip Rahv, Lionel Abel, and a zillion others--but I can't remember what now. I'm not surprised that Geismar hated Kazin--I do point out that he could be pretty obnoxious and was himself a good hater of rival critics. Ah, the literary life!

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RE: I would have thought that nearly everyone knew these adventures already.: You would think that, but I am often embarrassed by the number of classics I do not know. When I was in high school, I took a special English class one year and missed many of the classic works that my fellow students were reading. I never read The Odyssey, The Scarlet Letter, Beowulf, Canterbury Tales, Moby Dick... and many others. Instead I read things like "Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man" and spent time discussing the history of music. It was a terrific class in its own way, but I feel like I really missed out on the classic novels. My fellow students told me I was lucky. Now, I want to read these books.

Michael Dirda: Not to worry: Some of these books are best come at when one is older. Still, it seems odd to read Joyce before one has read Homer. Admittedly your class focused on Portrait, but as you may know Ulysses is modeled on the Odyssey.

I hope I didn't sound stupidly superior in my comment. At any event, I didn't mean to.

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Biography for Mom: How about Judy Garland? Her story is fascinating. I recently read "Get Happy: The Life of Judy Garland" by Gerald Clarke. I don't know if it's the best biography on her, or not, but I couldn't stop thinking about it when I wasn't reading. It made me want to go back and rewatch a bunch of her movies, knowing what was going on behind the scenes.

Michael Dirda: That's a great suggestion. Clarke's biography of Truman Capote was first rate and I suspect this Garland bio is too.

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Anne Carson: Among the books I'm reading is Carson's book of essays and poetry entitled Plainwater. But, to stick with the aqueous metaphor, I'm at sea and don't know where to turn. How do I begin to understand what she's doing? I can tell it's good, but (again) I'm in water over my head! Help!

Michael Dirda: Don't worry so much--just read the book and take what you can from it. Those parts that seem intriguing you can go back and reread. Or you might want to look at some of Carson's other work--the brilliant Eros the Bittersweet or her poem Autobiography of Red--and see if they help illuminate her mind for you. But she is a highly original and innovative writer, not really like anyone else I can think of.

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Washington D.C.: Just returned from a business weekend in New Orleans. Prior to this trip, my only eye into New Orleans life and culture -- exclusive of Katrina coverage -- had been through Walker Percy's "The Movie Goer." I tried to chat up associates in my group -- all of whom graduated college, most with advanced degrees -- but Louisiana natives and visitors alike seemed to be unfamiliar with the work. I loved the book and try to reacquaint myself with the musings of Binx Bolling every five years or so...Your thoughts?

Michael Dirda: In my experience, Percy is the literary god of New Orleans--certainly this is so for the people involved in the Words and Music Festival. But I suspect that all his work is dropping from sight, with the possible exception of Moviegoer. I myself have mixed feelings about the book--I both enjoy it and feel that I don't quite "get" it in the way other readers do. It's not magical, more a collection of wonderful pages and moments. But I say that as an admission of my own failure: Others revere the book.

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Glencoe, Ill.: Hi:

The Disney book was probably by Neil Gabler. I thought it was balanced and illuminating. Gabler also wrote a biography of Winchell that was quite good.

Michael Dirda: Yep. That's it

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WpgManCDA: Dear Mr. Dirda,

A few weeks ago, Friedrich Duerrenmatt came up in the chat, which got me thinking about German-language books. More recently, someone was asking for recommendations about Holocaust literature. I'd like to suggest Jurek Becker's "Jacob the Liar", which is one of my favourite books. It's set in a Polish ghetto, not in a death camp, but there is still a Holocaust connection.

I've never seen the Robin Williams film version (because I can't stand Robin Williams and I feared it would be a travesty), but I did once see an excellent film adaptation on Canadian television. Perhaps it was the 1975 (?) East German film.

I've read almost all of Jurek Becker's work with great enjoyment and highly recommend him. As near as I can tell, it's all available in English.

Michael Dirda: Many thanks. I've never read Becker at all, but will put him on my mental list of authors to check out.

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Shelby Foote and Cormac McCarthy: I've been reading a book length collection of interviews with Shelby Foote and just yesterday (speaking of paranormal!) I read (and remarked at the time)that way back in the 70s Foote was praising Cormac McCarthy as one of the promising contemporary writers. At that time McCarthy had done none of his western books, and I think it was Sutree that had caught Foote's attention. I don't think most McCarthy fans even bother with his older works today.

Michael Dirda: Only the hardcore admirers, who tend to feel those very violent early books were his best and that he started diluting his vision with Pretty Horses. Not exactly going commercial, but still not writing with the intensity of his youth.

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Alexandria, Va.: I enjoyed Harold Brodkey's "Innocence", one of the collected love stories in "My Mistress's Sparrow is Dead," recommended via a previous discussion. I also liked the story right before it, "What We Talk About When We Talk About Love" by Raymond Carver. It captured beery garrulousness very well.

Michael Dirda: Yes, Carver was very good on beery garrulousness. Brodkey's notorious story--it being a family newspaper I wasn't allowed to describe its action in any detail--evokes mixed feelings in me. Has anyone ever compared it to Mailer's The Time of Her Time? That said, a woman friend read it recently and said she loved it.

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Speaking of biographies...: do you have a suggestion for a good biography of Benjamin Franklin?

Michael Dirda: The most recent big ones were by Walter Isaacson and, I think, H.W. Brands. I didn't read Isaacson but did read the other, if it was Brands. At all events, it was very good, whoever wrote it. Boy, is this a helpful note or is this a helpful note?

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Chicago, Ill.: For the person looking for well written celebrity biographies - I thought "Reflected Glory: The Life of Pamela Churchill Harriman" by Sally Bedell Smith was excellent. Also Meryle Secrest's bio of Kenneth Clark.

I am waiting for someone to write the definitive biography of Oprah, but I suppose she's still young.

Michael Dirda: I wouldn't have thought of Kenneth Clark as being in entertainment, but I suppose you could make that claim--certainly his detractors would. I myself love Clark and Civilisation.

Oprah--there must be some kind of unauthorized biography already. But the truth about Oprah . . . well, there are things I know that I can't talk about just now. Just kidding. I've never even seen Oprah's show.

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celebrity bio: I have right here at hand 'Byron: Child of Passion, Fool of Fame' by Benita Eisler. Now, there's a celebrity bio!

Michael Dirda: Yes, but not the one of Byron I'd read. I'm very fond of Peter Quennell's old two-volume Byron: The Years of Fame and its companion. Also the best bio life can be found in his letters: all dozen volumes of them, or the one volume selection by Leslie Marchand. Or even in that old anthology of other's people's reminiscences called something like Byron: His Very Life and Voice. No, that's not quite right. But something like that.

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Autobiography for MIL: How about "Home" by Julie Andrews? A beautiful voice, compelling story, musical icon--what's not to like?

Michael Dirda: Okay, but I think the poster didn't want an autobiography.

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Indianapolis In: Mr. Dirda;

Regarding celebrity biographies--

I've enjoyed the actor Simon Callow's first two volumes on Orson Welles. I gather at least a third one is in the works.

And Gary Giddins' A POCKETFUL OF DREAMS about the first half of Bing Crosby's life was a fine biography and offered a very convincing case for Mr. Crosby's great influence on several areas of American popular culture. A second volume was promised. Do you know if it will ever appear?

Michael Dirda: I remember my colleague Jon Yardley reviewed and liked the Crosby bio, but I don't know when the second volume will appear. I think the Callow suggestion a superb one. I enjoy Callow as a audiobook reader too--he does an abridgment of Kenneth Tynan's diaries that is just wonderful. But we Americans are such suckers for British accents.

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I hope I didn't sound stupidly superior in my comment.: Not at all!

My thought on class works - if you haven't read many of them, you miss out on so many references in just about everything from other novels, movies, to SNL skits. I've been reading the Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde and I never read Jane Eyre, so I just know I'm not getting half of the humor. I really should have read Jane Eyre first.

Michael Dirda: Well, we all have our secret gaps. I've never actually read. . . oops, better not go there.

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Speaking of Shelby Foote: Of course we all know him for his Civil War narrative, but he thought of himself as a writer of fiction. Have you ever read one of his novels?

Michael Dirda: Nope. I had dinner with him once, in the company of Harry Shearer and Harry Anderson, and he was just as courtly and charming as on TV. The two Harrys were pretty amusing too--voices and card tricks galore.

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Baltimore Md.: The Robert Mitchum bio: I don't have the author handy, but the title (and it's a beaut) is "Baby, I Don't Care." Mitchum was an incredibly bright guy (published poetry in newspapers when a little boy, had a true photographic memory, according to Shirley McLaine), but he was also very ornery and alcoholic. It's a great read.

And re Jekyll and Hyde: This is seldom remarked, but Stevenson drew inspiration for his story from real life. A man named Deacon Brodie was an well-respected craftsman and civic figure in Edinburgh who at night led a group of thieves in burglaries and other depredations. Stevenson's Dad owned some of Brodie's furniture and told his son the story. Legend has it that Brodie was hanged on a gallows he had built.

Michael Dirda: That's the way to go. I've also wondered if Stevenson knew the similar, and to my mind even greater Scots/gothic tale, James Hogg's Memoirs and Confession of a Justified Sinner. It's one of my favorite nineteenth century novels.

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Chicago, Ill.: Since you have a wife in the art world - what is your favorite nonfiction book specifically about art or art history? (Not an artist bio.) What is her favorite?

Michael Dirda: I don't know Marian's favorite--maybe Dard Hunter: Papermaking--The History and Technique of an Ancient Craft (she's a prints and drawings conservator). As for me--hmmmm. I do like Civilisation, both as a series and book. I guess my pick would be Andre Malraux's The Voices of Silence--a magnificent overwhelmingly smart book, full of great pictures, now rather neglected.

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WDC: Have you read the Junot Diaz novel that won the Pulitzer for fiction? Any thoughts? I seem to remember his story collection getting some attention a few years back.

Michael Dirda: Nope. There was indeed a lot of excitement about this new book too.

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washingtonpost.com: Washington's own Kitty Kelley has an Oprah bio in the works according to  this story and others. (USA Today)

Michael Dirda: Many thanks.

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Chicago, IL: I almost forgot - Meryle Secrest also wrote biographies of Leonard Bernstein, and Stephen Sondheim. I don't know if they're any good. I hate musicals, myself.

Michael Dirda: Yes, Secrest has been a steady producer of biographies for quite some time. Earlier she wrote one on Bernard Berenson, if I'm not mistaken.

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Re: "Home" by Julie Andrews: Yes, I realized too late that the poster wanted a biography...and I guess it's not necessarily for a mother-in-law. Mea culpa. I really should look into that critical reading skill--I hear it's helpful...

Michael Dirda: No big deal, as we used to say as kids. That is, as some of us d'un certain age used to say.

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Lexington: Michael, It's great to see a Shaw play on stage today, especially when the repertoire seems to be relegated to an occasional high school production. The emphasis here as everywhere seems to be on the new. I remember the Shaw, O'Neill, and Wilder plays from my youth that encouraged one to appreciate the theater. These playwrights and others dealt with important issues that are still relevant today. Shaw wrote about prostitution, women's rights, and money and poverty. I haven't forgotten "Ah! Wilderness" or "Diary of Anne Frank" or "Arsenic and Old Lace" I saw as a teenager. Aren't we losing something as we lose these plays to just a very occasional revival?

On another note, for lovers of pirate novels, Tim Powers 1988 pirate novel has just been reissued in a very nice hardback edition by Subterranean Press. It's a cross between G. M. Fraser's "The Pyrates" and the recent Pirate movies.

Michael Dirda: If I recall correctly the Powers's novel is On Stranger Tides.

Well, I'm all for classic plays being revived with professional casts. Here in Washington, though, we're pretty lucky: the Folger and Shakespeare Theaters specialize in certain kinds of classics and many of the regional theaters and theatrical groups will mix in a revival along with the new stuff.

I often wish I were more a theater and concertgoer, but come evening, when dark falls and the shadows outside look threatening, I just can't face going out. Something in my primitive cortex wants me to huddle in my cave. Preferably with a club in one hand near a fire.

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Kensington: Who is the better Revolutionary War writer, Ellis or McCullough?

Michael Dirda: Does anyone care? Can anyone tell the difference?

Only just partly joking. I tend to think of both these writers as popular historians, but I tend to prefer scholarly history, even if it isn't quite as lively. There's certainly an honorable place for Ellis and McCullough--and it's a well compensated place--but it's not the one I would go to.

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Annapolis, MD: Re things we haven't read: oooh, what a great idea! We should all confess one thing we haven't read but want to, and one thing we haven't read but don't want to. Surely only one thing from each list won't embarrass us too much, especially since we're anonymous. Although we all know your name, so perhaps you could excuse yourself.

I'll start: I haven't read Don Quixote, but I want to; I haven't read Ulysses and don't want to.

Michael Dirda: I occasionally write an essay for Barnes and Noble Review, and one of the themes is "Books I should have read long ago but am only getting around to now." I haven't really started this in earnest, but it's a good subject, as there are shelves of such books in my bedroom.

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Foote fiction: I read Love in Dry Season or something like that. Enjoyed it but don't remember a thing about it, and if a book has any substance it usually leaves an impression on me.

Michael Dirda: Nancy Mitford maybe? Love in a Cold Season? She's pretty amusing, but I can see that her work might not be indelibly printed on your mind.

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Bethesda, MD: Funny you should be talking about classics never read. Just a few days ago, I was reading about Ursula LeGuin's new book, Lavinia, which is from the point of view of a princess in the Aeneid. I've never read the Aeneid and was thinking I should do that before reading the LeGuin.

Michael Dirda: Two or three good translations of the Aeneid are out there: Robert Fitzgerald and Robert Fagles, for instance. N.B. the first six books are the best. Once Dido is dead--oops, hope I didn't spoil things for you--things get a little ponderous.

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Washington DC: The Secrest bio of Stephen Sondheim: It's excellent, if only because it introduced me to the most nastily witty comment I have ever heard. Sondheim was not exactly fond of his mom, though he supported her after he had made it big. But he held such resentments toward her from childhood that, on receiving a silver serving platter for a birthday gift, he wrote a note saying:

"Thank you for the lovely platter. But where was my mother's head?"

Michael Dirda: Very nice. Hope our Mother's Day poster sees this.

I love "Into the Woods"-- a brilliant piece of work on every level.

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Lenexa, Kan.: Speaking of Cormac McCarthy, he turned up at the Oscars looking handsome, suave, and totally at ease--so different from the image we had of him writing like a hermit those many years beside the river. I hope he basks in it all--certainly paid his dues.

Michael Dirda: Yes, we all contain multitudes. As someone I know used to say, "you clean up pretty well."

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washingtonpost.com: For Ben Franklin, let me recommend "A Great Improvisation" by Stacy Schiff which focuses on his years in France, if that angle is of interest. - Elizabeth (producer)

Michael Dirda: Many thanks, Elizabeth. I enjoyed Schiff's biography of Vera Nabokov--though I couldn't quite see the need for it.

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Celebrity bios ...: Simon Callow's ROAD TO XANADU is a wonderful exploration of the first half of Orson Welles' life. I haven't read the second volume, so I can't comment on its quality.

Also, Peter Guralnick's LAST TRAIN TO MEMPHIS, the first volume of his Elvis Presley bio, is quite good. I've heard, however, that the next volume doesn't live up to the first.

Finally, William J. Mann's KATE, a bio of Katherine Hepburn, is wonderful. What a fascinating woman.

Michael Dirda: Many thanks. I own the Guralnick books, having met and liked the man himself in New Orleans, but haven't read them. I was never a big Presley fan when young--I don't think I was allowed to listen to him--but do like many of the songs know. But my favorite Presley song is actually a cover by Jimmie Dale Gilmore of "I was the one."

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Alexandria, VA: What author can you suggest for a guy who likes books by Stephen King, John Grisham, and Robert Ludlum?

Michael Dirda: Seppuku.

A cruel joke.

Well, he likes popular adventure stories, of one sort and another. Has he ever read, say, the actual Ian Fleming novels about James Bond? They are first-rate entertainments. I might also point him to the original novel of Rambo, called First Blood, by David Morrell--nonstop action. Has he read Elmore Leonard?

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Indianapolis In: Just to be fair, Stephen Sondheim had reasons for disliking his mother so much, as the Secrest biography made clear. It's very good, but there's a bit of a reticence about it. Is it possible to write a really good biography about someone who's still alive? Especially if the subject is working closely with the biographer?

Michael Dirda: Probably not. And even then biographers have all sorts of hurdles with the family, sealed archives, etc etc.

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Lexington: Nothing wrong with your memory; the Powers is indeed "On Stranger Tides" and well worth looking for!

Michael Dirda: Thanks

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Elvis: It wasn't Guralnick's fault the second volume was a letdown, it was Mr. Presley's fault.

Michael Dirda: Yes, I think you're on to something. If only he'd hit the gym a little more often--or at all.

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Can I play??: Not as 'highbrow' as some, but...

Something I haven't read but want to - A Clockwork Orange

Something I haven't read and don't want to - Gone with the Wind

Something I haven't read and am glad - The DaVinci Code

Michael Dirda: A good list, and neatly presented.

Here's mine:

1) Arnold Bennett's The Old Wives Tale

2) Almost anything on the best seller list

3) Ditto

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Walker Percy: I adore his tragi-comic Love in the Ruins and the torrent of anger and bile that pours out Lancelot.

Michael Dirda: Many thanks.

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Not Mitford: The book was Love in a Dry Season by Shelby Foote. He also wrote a civil war novel which was better (the name of a battlefield town is the title). Best civil war novel is Confederates by Kennealy (SP?).

Michael Dirda: Oh, I guess I missed that we were on a Foote thread. I thought the best civil war novel, at least of our time, was The Killer Angels, by Michael Shaara.

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Louisville KY: for Alexandria -

Although you, Mr. Dirda, may not approve - any of Brad Thor's books beginning with Lions of Lucerne...Yes, he is a best selling author, but one who does not insult anyone's intelligence!

Michael Dirda: Approve! Please that word is distasteful to me. Like, dislike, admire, hate--those are the kind of words I prefer. Approve calls to mind the Catholic Legion of Decency or some kind of Official List. Not my style. If you enjoy Brad Thor, that's good enough for me--even if it would take a lot for me to get past that mighty name. Of course, a guy named Dirda shouldn't be talking about names.

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celebrity (auto)bio: It's an autobiography, but it's hard to beat "The Kid Stays in the Picture" by film producer Robert Evans. You get the insider Hollywood story, a murder mystery and how a movie is really produced.

Michael Dirda: Many thanks.

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Washington, DC: I have a number of books that my high school education conveniently skipped. This sounds like an interesting topic for a future discussion: what classic book did you miss out on in high school and now most wish you had read?

Michael Dirda: Okay, let's go with this next week. That'll be our unofficial, unapproved theme. Other questions still invited.

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What author can you suggest for a guy who likes books by Stephen King, John Grisham, and Robert Ludlum?: Lincoln Child.

Michael Dirda: Excellent choice.

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D.C.: To the person looking for celebrity biographies: there have been two recent ones that were quite good. "Love Is Not Enough" was about Ava Gardner (juicy stuff!). Also a biography of Cary Grant with a great, minimalist cover. I think Donald Spoto wrote the Grant bio.

Also, there's the classic "His Way" by Kitty Kelley about ol' Blue Eyes.

Michael Dirda: Many thanks.

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Washington, D.C.: Is there an author that you would describe as "a modern-day P.G. Wodehouse" both for the musical lilt of language and the light-hearted, impossible plotlines?

Michael Dirda: Terry Pratchett.

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Woodlawn, Va.: I'm reading a collection of Paris Review interviews and discovered an interesting exchange with Graham Greene. The interviewer asked him what influence the French writer Francois Mauriac had over him (owing to their Catholicism), to which Greene replied, "very little, I think." When the interviewer responded that Greene had once told a biographer that Mauriac had had a distinct influence, he seemed surprised and said, "That is the sort of thing one says under pressure." Which leads me to a question: Why do we read literary biographies? Judging solely by Greene's unreliable feedback, surely it shouldn't be to gain insight into what motivates a writer. Yet I imagine that many people read biographies precisely for this reason. When it comes down to it, can the value of biography (literary or otherwise) be in anything other than an interesting story?

By the way, the Friends of the Arlington (VA) Library is holding its spring used book sale at the Arlington County Central Library this Friday through Sunday. For those of you who still have space on your bookshelves, come on over.

Thanks.

washingtonpost.com: Friends of the Arlington Public Library

Michael Dirda: Many thanks. Alas, your timing for the sale is such that it conflicts with the nearby Stone Ridge sale.

A really fine literary biography can help us understand certain works more fully--Richard Ellmann's Joyce or Wilde, for instance. But yes, biographies are in some ways a kind of traditional novel, and enjoyed in just that way.

I loved the old volumes of the Paris Review interviews and pulled out my hardcovers of the first three--the real classic figures like Eliot, Faulkner and Hemingway. I wish they weren't repackaging them all in a mishmash of generations.

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Arlington, Va.: Michael,

Thank you as always for hosting this chat! I know that you highly regard the "Friends of the Library" programs. It may interest you (and our fellow bibliophiles) to know that Arlington's will be having a big sale at their Central Library. It begins tomorrow afternoon and will continue through the weekend. (I believe tomorrow is open only to Members, but memberships can be purchased at the door.)

washingtonpost.com: More information here: Friends of the Arlington Public Library

Michael Dirda: Let me urge all you people in Virginia to head over that way. The Marylanders can go to Stone Ridge. Come Saturday, everybody change, as they say at square dances.

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Books and "Superstores": Mr. Dirda, I am curious about your perspective on the recent financial troubles of one of the country's major book retailers. I once was an employee of a local DC independent, but was driven out of business by that major retailer. Now, my new job with that same retailer is threatened by cost-cutting wholesale stores. Doubtless this means a reduction in the number of places where serious readers can browse a wide selection of titles, and fewer knowledgeable booksellers. This, in turn, will drive the consumer of less-commercial works to online sources more than ever. But I have the suspicion that, by making books harder to view beforehand, the need (and demand?) for book reviews (and book reviewers) can only increase. (I confess that I assume, optimistically, that there still will be a demand for less commercial works.)

washingtonpost.com: The Changing Bookstore Battle (Washington Post, April 5)

Michael Dirda: This is an interesting analysis, and I hope it's right. We can always use more book reviews--but ideally by people who aren't friends or enemies of the author.

I've never bought books online but have purchased from my local Borders--it's the only new book store in my neighborhood, so I support them. I wish it were independent, but I've given up lying awake over that. I just can't imagine that Costco will ever sell anything but best sellers and trade name authors. What a bore! Still, once you start buying books online, there's no need to focus on new books--you can just plug in any subject or author and pick up whatever looks authoritative or amusing to you. I guess. Oh, I do miss the old days of real neighborhood shops.

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Aiea, Hawaii: For Freising, Germany: 'Da Jesus Book' is the 'Bible' in Hawaiian Pidgin.

Michael Dirda: Neat. And as the Big Lebowski reminds us, Nobody f---s with Jesus.

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Freising, Germany: I've read a bit of James Joyce and Frank O'Connor, but I've never much dabbled into Oscar Wilde. I've watched "The Picture of Dorian Gray" on television (and the story is so widely known that it's often used in conversation), but I've never been inspired to look further into Wilde's supposed rapier-like wit.

What other books by Wilde are worth looking into and to which other authors has he been compared that are recommendable?

Michael Dirda: Well, you should read or watch The Importance of Being Earnest, one of the two or three most sparkling--for once the mot juste--comedies in the language. "I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read on the train."

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What author can you suggest for a guy who likes books by Stephen King, John Grisham, and Robert Ludlum: Michael Connelly

Michael Dirda: Also a good suggestion. Maybe we could add Dennis Lehane and George Pelecanos.

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Monterey, ten o'clock scholar: Good morning, Michael --

Must post from the library this morning, as computer suffering from spavins and glanders.

Having passed through the Dantean Woods of middle age, I've decided that I can't do "stern, earnest, and full of bumps" now. Therefore, decided to embark upon your list of 100 comic novels (Readings). Chose LOLITA, as I was curious after starting READING LOLITA IN TEHRAN. Wow, what a sad book. Saddest last line I've read in a long time -- "And this is all we may share of immortality, my Lolita."

I'd like to add my two cents to the discussion of several weeks ago about whether or not Dimitri Nabokov should destroy his father's last work. My vote would be no. There was an artist, Luigi Kasimir, whose family didn't honor his request that his plates be destroyed upon his death. The advantage to the world is that many people now own Estate-signed Kasimirs who wouldn't ever have been able to afford the originals. Same with Nabokov. When artists put themselves out in public, part of them belongs to that public.

Michael Dirda: Many thanks. Yes, Lolita is both funny and sad--like so much of life, he said sententiously.

And with that, let's say adieu until next week! Do remember our theme--whatever it was--oh yes, books we should have read in high school. Now where is that copy of Silas Marner?

Till next Wednesday at 2, keep reading!

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