'Funny, smart and so fine--a wonderful combination of slick French philosophizing and tongue-in-cheek wit and an honest appraisal of what it means, or doesn't mean, to read' Claire Messud
'It is possible to have a passionate conversation about a book that one has not read, including, perhaps especially, with someone else who has not read it...'
In this disarmingly mischievous and provocative book, already a bestseller in France, Pierre Bayard contends that in this age of infinite publication the truly cultivated person does not need to read books --understanding their place in our culture is enough.
Drawing on examples from works by Graham Greene, Montaigne (Who couldn't remember books he himself had written), Oscar Wilde and othrers, he examines the many kinds of 'non-reading' --forgotten books, unknown books, book discussed by others and books we've skimmed--and the potentially nightmarish situations in which we're called upon to talk about our reading with others: with those we're trying to impress, or with the book's author.
This book will challenge everyone who's ever felt guilty about books they've missed to consider what reading means, how we absorb books as part of ourselves, and how and why we spend so much time talking about what we havem, or haven't, read.
I. Books You Don't Know
II. Books You Have Skimmed
III. Books You Have Heard Of
IV. Books You Have Forgotten
Literary Confrontations
V. Encounters in Society
VI. Encounters with Professors
VII. Encounters with the Writer
VIII. Encounters with Someone You Love
Ways of Behaving
IX. Not Being Ashamed
X. Imposing You Ideas
XI. Inventing Books
XII. Speaking About Yourself