How to Talk About Books You Haven't Read
- ISBN-10
- 1596917148
- ISBN-13
- 9781596917149
- Category
- Literary Criticism
- Pages
- 208
- Language
- English
- Published
- 2010-08-10
- Publisher
- Bloomsbury Publishing USA
- Author
- Pierre Bayard
Description
In this delightfully witty, provocative book, literature professor and psychoanalyst Pierre Bayard argues that not having read a book need not be an impediment to having an interesting conversation about it. (In fact, he says, in certain situations reading the book is the worst thing you could do.) Using examples from such writers as Graham Greene, Oscar Wilde, Montaigne, and Umberto Eco, he describes the varieties of "non-reading"-from books that you've never heard of to books that you've read and forgotten-and offers advice on how to turn a sticky social situation into an occasion for creative brilliance. Practical, funny, and thought-provoking, How to Talk About Books You Haven't Read-which became a favorite of readers everywhere in the hardcover edition-is in the end a love letter to books, offering a whole new perspective on how we read and absorb them.
Get the book
Other editions
Similar books
-
How to Really Talk about Books You Haven't Read
By Henry HitchingsNowadays, there are so many books: how can anyone be well read anymore? Well, help is at hand. Let Henry Hitchings educate you in the invaluable skill of literary bluffing in this survivor's guide to talking about books you haven't read.
-
How to Talk About Places You've Never Been: On the Importance of Armchair Travel
By Pierre BayardWritten in the irreverent style that made How to Talk About Books You Haven't Read a critical and commercial success, Pierre Bayard takes readers on a trip around the world, giving us essential guidance on how to talk about all those ...
-
Get to the Point!: Sharpen Your Message and Make Your Words Matter
By Joel SchwartzbergWhether you want to improve your impact in speeches, staff meetings, pitches, emails, PowerPoint presentations, or any other communication setting, this book provides a novel approach that teaches you how to go from simply sharing a thought ...
-
The Collaborators: A Novel
By Pierre SiniacA noir set in the seediest backwaters of the French publishing industry, The Collaborators tells the story of a hapless drifter who, after years of not particularly heroic effort, finally manages to write a book.
-
Ask a Manager: How to Navigate Clueless Colleagues, Lunch-Stealing Bosses, and the Rest of Your Life at Work
By Alison GreenIdeal for anyone new to the job market or new to management, or anyone hoping to improve their work experience.”—Library Journal (starred review) “I am a huge fan of Alison Green’s Ask a Manager column. This book is even better.
-
The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms
By N. K. JemisinAfter her mother's mysterious death, a young woman is summoned to the floating city of Sky in order to claim a royal inheritance she never knew existed in the first book in this award-winning fantasy trilogy from the NYT bestselling author ...
-
A Little Life
By Hanya YanagiharaNATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST • MAN BOOKER PRIZE FINALIST • WINNER OF THE KIRKUS PRIZE A Little Life follows four college classmates—broke, adrift, and buoyed only by their friendship and ambition—as they move to New York in search ...
-
Why I Read: The Serious Pleasure of Books
By Wendy LesserAs she examines these works from such perspectives as "Character and Plot," "Novelty," "Grandeur and Intimacy," and "Authority," Why I Read sparks an overwhelming desire to put aside quotidian tasks in favor of reading.
-
The Book Whisperer: Awakening the Inner Reader in Every Child
By Donalyn MillerPowerful and practical, this book will support you as you change your classroom for the better while helping you to understand how to overcome current classroom cultures where some children learn and many learn to hate reading.” ...
-
The Arctic Fury: A Novel
By Greer MacallisterSet against the unforgiving backdrop of one of the world's most inhospitable locations, USA Today bestselling author Greer Macallister uses the true story of Lady Jane Franklin's tireless attempts to find her husband's lost expedition as a ...