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Wendy Lesser, self-employed editor of the Three Penny Review was recently featured on New York & Co. an show I listen to while doing dull repetitive work for my job.
(Where I formally got a promotion and a raise today! Hooray! I am still hurting financially, but at least it's something!)
She's recently had a book published about re-reading, returning to books we've read before after the passage of time. Intrigued by the interview, (done by Leonard Lopate who puts the nosy Terri Gross to shame with his knowledge and respect of his guests) I looked up her book online. I had mixed reviews, but the one thing the reviews had in common was praise of her previous book, The Amateur. On a whim, I reserved a copy at the public library. Three weeks later, after I'd forgotten about the book or hearing her on Leonard Lopate's show, the book finally arrives.
This happens to me all the time. It and boredom on vacation, (or heckling friends) are one of the few ways I ever get out of my well-worn reading rut. I'm glad I stepped off the path for a few subway rides to read this book.
There isn't a lot of substance, but it was well written, entertaining, and somehow, like Fay Weldon's Letters To Alice Upon First Reading Jane Austen, it felt like finding a kindred soul.
As many people as like to read, it's not everyday that you meet someone who is devoting large portions of their life to the goddess of literature. Even in my lowly position of Senior Editorial Assistant at an Academic Press, I spend more time with books in a day, then some people spend in a year.
Wendy Lesser is one of those people who happened to gravitate towards exactly what she is supposed to be doing. Even though an undergrad degree at Harvard, Masters work at Cambridge, and PhD at Berkeley, not to mention her own business, running a successful literary magazine, separate us, the passion is shared. It made me feel that perhaps there's hope for me also.
I recommend the book, not because I think you will like it, but because I liked it.
Overall rating: B - better than average. A remarkably light, yet very satisfying book of essays.
(Where I formally got a promotion and a raise today! Hooray! I am still hurting financially, but at least it's something!)
She's recently had a book published about re-reading, returning to books we've read before after the passage of time. Intrigued by the interview, (done by Leonard Lopate who puts the nosy Terri Gross to shame with his knowledge and respect of his guests) I looked up her book online. I had mixed reviews, but the one thing the reviews had in common was praise of her previous book, The Amateur. On a whim, I reserved a copy at the public library. Three weeks later, after I'd forgotten about the book or hearing her on Leonard Lopate's show, the book finally arrives.
This happens to me all the time. It and boredom on vacation, (or heckling friends) are one of the few ways I ever get out of my well-worn reading rut. I'm glad I stepped off the path for a few subway rides to read this book.
There isn't a lot of substance, but it was well written, entertaining, and somehow, like Fay Weldon's Letters To Alice Upon First Reading Jane Austen, it felt like finding a kindred soul.
As many people as like to read, it's not everyday that you meet someone who is devoting large portions of their life to the goddess of literature. Even in my lowly position of Senior Editorial Assistant at an Academic Press, I spend more time with books in a day, then some people spend in a year.
Wendy Lesser is one of those people who happened to gravitate towards exactly what she is supposed to be doing. Even though an undergrad degree at Harvard, Masters work at Cambridge, and PhD at Berkeley, not to mention her own business, running a successful literary magazine, separate us, the passion is shared. It made me feel that perhaps there's hope for me also.
I recommend the book, not because I think you will like it, but because I liked it.
Overall rating: B - better than average. A remarkably light, yet very satisfying book of essays.
