"Reading Why I Read delivers all the pleasure of discussing one's favorite books with a marvelously articulate, intelligent, opinionated friend. It's like joining the book club of your dreams."-Francine Prose"Wendy Lesser's extraordinary alertness, intelligence, and curiosity have made her one of America's most significant cultural critics," writes Stephen Greenblatt. In Why I Read, she draws on a lifetime of pleasure reading and decades of editing to describe a life lived in and through literature. As Lesser examines work from such perspectives as "Character and Plot," "Novelty," "Grandeur and Intimacy," and "Authority," the reader will discover a definition of literature that is as broad as it is broad-minded. In addition to novels and stories, Lesser explores plays, poems, and essays, along with mysteries, science fiction, and memoirs. Her passion for reading is infectious-and it resonates on every page. Iconoclastic, conversational, and full of insight, Why I Read will delight avid readers as well as neophytes in search of sheer literary fun.

CONTENTSPrologue: Why I Read...3 1. Character and Plot...112. The Space Between...413. Novelty...594. Authority...895. Grandeur and Intimacy...1176. Elsewhere...1477. Inconclusions...1738. Afterword: The Book as Physical Object...187A Hundred Books To Read for Pleasure...207Acknowledgments...213Index...215