How to Talk About Books You Haven't Read
by Pierre Bayard
Granta, HK$155
There is nothing wrong with discussing books without actually having read them. In fact, says Pierre Bayard, reading may put you at a disadvantage because you stand to lose your identity by doing so. Not surprisingly, the author, a professor of French literature in Paris, quotes Oscar Wilde, who recommended spending only 10 minutes on any work and quipped, 'I never read a book I must review; it prejudices you.' In arguing there is not only one way of reading, How to Talk About Books You Haven't Read shows how we unwittingly downgrade other activities associated with books: Bayard argues, for example, that skimming may be 'the most efficient way to absorb books'. He argues essentially that books do not exist in isolation but in a 'collective library, which we do not need to know comprehensively in order to appreciate any one of its elements'. Some practical advice is included to help non-readers out of sticky situations but the work's worth is in showing why one should not feel guilty about never having consumed the world's 'best' books. Bayard also deserves brownie points for tagging symbols to titles he refers to, indicating whether they are unknown to him, books he has forgotten or those he has only heard about.
