Bound to Please: An Extraordinary One-Volume Literary Education: Essays on Great Writers and Their Books

I used to read Dirda's reviews in the Washington Post back when I lived in Maryland, before I moved to the Michigan hinterlands where, it seems, very few people read at all. Not long after I arrived here in the north country I read Dirda's memoir of growing up in Ohio (An Open Book), a book which explains plainly and often humorously why he has this love affair with books - all books, both great and small. I enjoyed Mike's memoir so much that I moved on to these collected reviews. I've had Bound to Please for close to a year now and I'm still making my way through it. Reading these erudite reviews of books, many of which I have never read and perhaps never will, is a kind of education in itself. It is a humbling experience to see how Dirda absorbs, understands and then explains books about the Bible, Ovid, Rilke, Herodotus, Trollope, Flaubert, Proust, Shaw, Housman, etc. - the list seems endless. And he progresses from the classics of western civilization on to more contemporary writers like Updike, DeLillo, Gaddis, Gass, Colette, Amis, Byatt, and even Edgar Rice Burroughs. Reading Dirda on writing and writers is like listening to a favorite lecturer, and I'm over forty years past my last college classroom. He almost makes me want to go back and start over. But perhaps I'll just use these essays as a starting point and try to make time to go back and either re-read or read for the first time all those important writers I've already enjoyed or have only heard of. I keep this book handy to take with me to the bathroom. It's always nice to learn something while taking care of baser bodily business. Thank you for sharing your erudition and opinions, Mr. Dirda. - Tim Bazzett, author of Pinhead: A Love Story

Mr. Dirda adopts a wonderful tone as he shares with his readers his fine appreciations of the books included in this compilation. He is never pedantic or narrow or arrogant, but he is fully aware of the nuances of the many works he discusses. Each essay is short and crisp. What a pleasure it has been to read this book. This is a fine book for booklovers.

The love of books, the search to know the world through books, the real hunger for books, the appreciation of books, the understanding that books can be the means by which we enhance our own life and experience- all of these are apparent in the work of Michael Dirda. His reviews by and large augment the interest we have in the work. They make us want to know the books better and read them more. His taste is wideranging, but it includes first and above all the truly greatest literature of mankind. It is possible not only to derive great enjoyment from these reviews but also to learn a great deal about the world's literature from them.

Here is a book, at long last, that does not derive its energy from sniping at authors. Rather, Dirda has read everything (EVERYTHING) and will tell you which humor, sci fi, mystery, romance, intellectual history, european bildugsroman, thrillers, well, I could go on for a while -- which ones are worth reading. His descriptions are exact, his enthusiasm enlivening, and as a reader of his for several years, I can attest that his recommendations are spot on. Here is a book to live with -- it is that good. My only criticism is that it will leave you with an ever lengthening shelf of books you are eager to read!