Many feel the pressure to be able to say that they have read all important works of literature and feel awkward when they land in a social situation where they are asked to talk about a book they have not read.  In this witty, provocative book, literature professor and psychoanalyst Pierre Bayard suggests that it's possible to have an interesting conversation about a book without reading it.  He argues that it’s actually more important to know about a book’s role in our collective library than its details.

 

Using examples from such writers as Graham Greene, Oscar Wilde, Montaigne, and Umberto Eco, and even the movie Groundhog Day, Bayard describes the many varieties of “non-reading” and the sticky social situations that might confront "non-readers."  Practical, funny, and thought-provoking, How to Talk About Books You Haven't Read is an homage to books that offers a new perspective on how we read and absorb them. It’s the book for readers and book lovers to enjoy, ponder, and argue about.

“In this hilarious and elaborate spoof, Bayard proves once again that being almost ridiculously erudite and screamingly funny are by no means mutually exclusive."—Booklist

 

"Bayard begins this primer by explaining that even the most voracious readers can only read so many books, and for every book one chooses, 'all the other books in the universe' are put aside. Even if one has not read a book, it is still possible to be aware of its 'cultural location' or how it is situated in relation to other titles in our collective awareness. For example, the author confesses that he has not read Joyce's Ulysses, but he knows that it is a stream-of-consciousness retelling of the Odyssey, and that it takes place in Dublin in a single day. Searching his 'intellectual library,' he feels confident discussing what he knows. Books that we do read become a part of us, and those we discuss are mostly what Bayard calls 'screen books,' or substitute objects we create out of our own notion of the book. The second part espouses the idea that 'readers and nonreaders alike are caught up in an endless process of inventing books' through discussion. And finally, the last part reveals how the author believes the exercise of discussing unread books offers the opportunity for self-discovery and the freedom to invent one's own text. By using our own experiences and memories, we create our own book in the telling. Witty, thought-provoking, and definitely worth actually reading, this title promises to be popular with English teachers looking for ideas to jump-start writing exercises, as well as with teens who realize that they simply can't read everything."—Dana Coburn, School Library Journal

"In this extended essay, a bestseller in France, Bayard argues that the act of reading is less important than knowing the social and intellectual context of a book. He is so convinced of this that he claims there is great enjoyment-and even enlightenment-in discussing a book one has not read with someone equally unfamiliar with it. Despite appearances, Bayard's volume is not a self-help book or a bluffer's guide to great literature, but instead serves to warn people not to try to impress others with how much they have read. The truth is, most of the time they're fibbing and there are many gradations between total reading and complete nonreading, he declares, including hearing about a book, skimming it and forgetting its contents . . . Bayard's at least partly tongue-in-cheek argument about not reading is well worth reading."—Publishers Weekly