'Comfort, Solace, Inspiration'

“A few books, however,” writes Michael Dirda, “become lifelong companions, works we regularly turn to for comfort, solace, inspiration.” The reviewer identifies a slightly different category, “the books we find ourselves crazy about and hope to revisit someday,” as distinguished, I suppose, from such obvious standbys as Dante and Shakespeare. He names twenty-two books that “enchanted me when I first encountered them and that I look forward to rereading.” Enchantment is a rare quality, even among essential books.

 

Of the titles Dirda lists, I’ve read seven, and of them the one I will most likely reread is Wondrous Strange: The Life and Art of Glenn Gould by Kevin Bazzana. It was one of the first books I read after moving to Houston almost twenty years ago. Gould has remained a musical hero and intriguing personality since my brother and I were kids. The one previously read title I can say with certainty I will never read again is Eros the Bittersweet by Anne Carson – tedious, pretentious rubbish.

 

Two of Dirda’s titles are new to me and sound tempting -- Collector’s Progress by W.S. Lewis and Four Studies in Loyalty’ by Christopher Sykes (Evelyn Waugh’s biographer). And I’ve been stalling Lady Murasaki for decades.

 

About the books I’m “crazy about and hope to revisit someday,” it’s an eclectic batch: A.J. Liebling’s Between Meals, Mark Smith’s The Death of the Detective, Alexander Herzen’s My Past and Thoughts, John Dryden’s essays, Goncharov’s Oblomov.