How to Talk About Books You Haven't Read

This. Is. EverythingI'vebeenlookingfor.

Or at least, that's what I thought when I came across this title at the local library. Being an English major with massive amounts of required reading I snapped it up thinking, "Where has this been my whole educational life??"

I'll confess, this book was definitely not what I expected. I'd say that I don't know what I expected but that is an outright lie, because, confession: I totally expected a cheat-sheet guide to B.S.-ing my way through college literature. If you're lazy, like me (or absurdly overworked and trying to save some time/energy, also like me), then this is not the book for you.

On the other hand, if you are an avid reader, enjoy theory, and want to know how to B.S. your way through social situations involving books you haven't read, then this would be a great book to read! The first section is largely theoretical, discussing the theory of reading, specifically the difference between reading and not-reading, or even un-reading! The main premise considers that whole body of written knowledge is too vast for one to read every book that's available. In addition, Bayard talks about how our reading experience is not made up of individual books but a series of relationships between books, ideas, experiences, etc. The theory was interesting, though a bit heady for me. The author draws from a lot of literary examples, all the while designating which books he has actually read, skimmed, forgotten, or heard about. The second half of the book offers vague guidelines on how to use these theories of what is reading or non-reading in social situations when you might be called upon to talk about a book you haven't read.

Overall, an enjoyable read, even though it didn't turn out to be my easy way out of college literature!
Disclaimer: in keeping with the title of the book (and also this post) I did not actually read the whole thing. I did read large portions of it, but skimmed the rest! How did I do?


Image credit: Photo by Mark Larson used under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works license