How to Talk About Books You Haven't Read

Description

In this delightfully witty, provocative book, literature professor and psychoanalyst Pierre Bayard argues that not having read a book need not be an impediment to having an interesting conversation about it. (In fact, he says, in certain situations reading the book is the worst thing you could do.) Using examples from such writers as Graham Greene, Oscar Wilde, Montaigne, and Umberto Eco, he describes the varieties of "non-reading"--Books that you've never heard of to books that you've read and forgotten-and offers advice on how to turn a sticky social situation into an occasion for creative brilliance. Practical, funny, and thought-provoking, How to Talk About Books You Haven't Read-which became a favorite of readers everywhere in the hardcover edition-is in the end a love letter to books, offering a whole new perspective on how we read and absorb them.;Cover; Title Page; Contents; List of Abbreviations; Foreword; Preface; Ways of Not Reading; I Books You Donâ#x80;#x99;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 Your Ideas; XI Inventing Books; XII Speaking About Yourself; Epilogue; A Note on the Author; Praise for How to Talk About Books You Havenâ#x80;#x99;t Read; New From Pierre Bayard; eCopyright