Rereadings: Seventeen writers revisit books they love

Rereadings: Seventeen writers revisit books they love

Rereadings: Seventeen writers revisit books they love
List Price: $14.00
Our Price: $6.99
You Save: $7.01 (50%)
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Buy Used: from $1.80 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions


(Click here)
Buy this book at online book store in your country
Canada | UK | Germany | France

Book Summary Information

Editor: Anne Fadiman
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2006-09-05
ISBN: 0374530548
Number of pages: 272
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Book Reviews of Rereadings: Seventeen writers revisit books they love

Book Review: The Risks and Rewards of Rereading
Summary: 5 Stars

There are a few books which read when I was younger that made a strong impression on me - Slaughterhouse-Five: A Novel, A Wrinkle in Time, Enemies, A Love Story, and Something Happened. Now that I see this list it's interesting to me, though maybe not surprising, that they were all novels. Today, probably 95% of my reading is non-fiction. I have always wanted to re-read these books to rediscover why they impressed me so much.

In Rereadings, various authors go back and re-read books (in one case an album cover) that had an impact on their first read. All of the contributors to this work are excellent writers, some probably better known than others. They each take you into their world and describe how the work they chose to expound upon affected them or how they viewed it on the first read, and the result of going back. It's interesting to see how, for the most part, going back changes the perception of the book. The reader changes over time and so must the book. Once read from the viewpoint of an adolescent or young adult, the passing years inevitably cast the works in a different light. This same notion was discussed by Alberto Manguel in A History of Reading.

After reading Rereadings, I am now more than ever determined to revisit these muses of my youth. As these authors describe it, there is a risk involved, since by going back one may uncover viewpoints that are unacceptable or uncomfortable today but tolerable or glossed over on the first read. At the same time, the risk is worth it because there is also room discovery of themes, messages or nuances that were not caught the first time.




Summary of Rereadings: Seventeen writers revisit books they love

Is a book the same book--or a reader the same reader--the second time around? The seventeen authors in this witty and poignant collection of essays all agree on the answer: Never.

The editor of Rereadings is Anne Fadiman, and readers of her bestselling book Ex Libris will find this volume especially satisfying. Her chosen authors include Sven Birkerts, Allegra Goodman, Vivian Gornick, Patricia Hampl, Phillip Lopate, and Luc Sante; the objects of their literary affections range from Pride and Prejudice to Sue Barton, Student Nurse.

These essays are not conventional literary criticism; they are about relationships. Rereadings reveals at least as much about the reader as about the book: each is a miniature memoir that focuses on that most interesting of topics, the protean nature of love. And as every bibliophile knows, no love is more life-changing than the love of a book.

Books & Reading

Book Subjects
Most talked about in Books & Reading
Good Fiction Guide ImageGood Fiction Guide
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 2001-08-30; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $7.49
Price in other shops: $37.50
Plays for the Theatre ImagePlays for the Theatre
by Robert J. Ball
Harcourt College Pub; Published: 2000; Paperback; Book
Best price: $59.93
Price in other shops: $59.95
Literature: An Introduction to Reading and Writing (9th Edition) ImageLiterature: An Introduction to Reading and Writing (9th Edition)
by Edgar V. Roberts
Prentice Hall; Published: 2008-11-21; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $40.00
Price in other shops: $110.00
Literature: An Introduction to Reading and Writing, Compact (2nd Edition) ImageLiterature: An Introduction to Reading and Writing, Compact (2nd Edition)
by Edgar V. Roberts, Henry E. Jacobs
Prentice Hall; Published: 2002-06-13; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.00
Price in other shops: $65.60
A History of Reading ImageA History of Reading
by Alberto Manguel
Flamingo; Published: 1997-04; Paperback; Book
Best price: $19.54
Price in other shops: $23.00
Great Books for Girls ImageGreat Books for Girls
by Kathleen Odean
Ballantine Books; Published: 1997-01-28; Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.50
Price in other shops: $14.00
The Fourth Genre: Contemporary Writers of/on Creative Nonfiction (4th Edition) ImageThe Fourth Genre: Contemporary Writers of/ on Creative Nonfiction (4th Edition)
by Robert L. Root, Michael J. Steinberg
Longman; Published: 2006-07-21; Paperback; Book
Best price: $40.00
Price in other shops: $75.20
A Pound of Paper: Confessions of a Book Addict ImageA Pound of Paper: Confessions of a Book Addict
by John Baxter
Thomas Dunne Books; Published: 2003-12-11; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $5.98
Price in other shops: $24.95
The Encyclopedia of Fantasy ImageThe Encyclopedia of Fantasy
by John Clute, John Grant
St. Martin's Griffin; Published: 1999-03-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $246.66
Angel on the Square ImageAngel on the Square
by Gloria Whelan
HarperCollins; Published: 2003-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.98
Price in other shops: $9.99
Similar Books and other products
Enchanted Hunters: The Power of Stories in Childhood ImageEnchanted Hunters: The Power of Stories in Childhood
by Maria Tatar
W. W. Norton & Company; Published: 2009-04-20; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $4.99
Price in other shops: $26.95
The Magician's Book: A Skeptic's Adventures in Narnia ImageThe Magician's Book: A Skeptic's Adventures in Narnia
by Laura Miller
Little, Brown and Company; Published: 2008-12-03; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $9.21
Price in other shops: $25.99
The New Lifetime Reading Plan: The Classical Guide to World Literature, Revised and Expanded ImageThe New Lifetime Reading Plan: The Classical Guide to World Literature, Revised and Expanded
by Clifton Fadiman, John S. Major
Collins Reference; Published: 1999-06-02; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.60
Price in other shops: $15.99
Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain ImageProust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain
by Maryanne Wolf
Harper Perennial; Published: 2008-08-26; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.98
Price in other shops: $15.99
Ruined By Reading: A Life in Books ImageRuined By Reading: A Life in Books
by Lynne Sharon Schwartz
Beacon Press; Published: 1997-05-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.00
Price in other shops: $21.00
Howards End Is on the Landing: A Year of Reading from Home ImageHowards End Is on the Landing: A Year of Reading from Home
by Susan Hill
Profile Books; Published: 2010-10-12; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.23
Price in other shops: $15.95
How Reading Changed My Life ImageHow Reading Changed My Life
by Anna Quindlen
Ballantine Books; Published: 1998-08-25; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.35
Price in other shops: $10.00
The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down ImageThe Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down
by Anne Fadiman
Farrar, Straus and Giroux; Published: 1998-09-28; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.94
Price in other shops: $15.00
At Large and At Small: Familiar Essays ImageAt Large and At Small: Familiar Essays
by Anne Fadiman
Farrar, Straus and Giroux; Published: 2008-05-27; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.76
Price in other shops: $13.00
Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader ImageEx Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader
by Anne Fadiman
Farrar, Straus and Giroux; Published: 2000-11-25; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.35
Price in other shops: $12.00
Book store. Illustrated catalog of books on different categories