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How to Talk About Books You Haven’t Read
- jjgreen 6y agoI'd recommend this, you might think it's a one-shot jokey text but, on the contrary, the author takes the question quite seriously and makes interesting points (if you've studies the secondary literature for years but have never actually read it, are your comment more-or-less valid than if you've read it years ago but forgotten it). Not to say that it's dry, more wry.
- thundergolfer 6y agoThe article makes the book sound enjoyable and insightful to readers. After reading this article, I am keenly interested in actually reading the book, so well done to the article writer. The excerpts seem to show Bayard is exploring usefully the practices of living with books and being in a literary culture, which is something I don’t see discussed much.
- _qulr 6y agoThis article is from 2012. Please label your older submissions with the year in the title.
- tobylane 6y agoAs the article somewhat proves: just read a review of it. This morning I read the LR review of a book about the Habsburgs [1]. This afternoon I will watch Lindsey Ellis's third video on the Hobbit [2], where I've learned not just what LOTR and the Hobbit meant to readers but the influences on readers, watchers and people in the country they filmed in. Both have changed how I talk about books I've read fully. https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v42/n18/ferdinand-mount/the-dwarves-and-the-onion-domes https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v42/n18/ferdinand-mount/the-... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qi7t_g5QObs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qi7t_g5QObs