from Chapter Four, "Authority":

...The point of all this is that literature can never be *just* a trick. We need to feel that something more is at stake, that something is truly being created where nothing was before...It would be inaccurate to say that authoritarian works command while works with authority persuade, for even the word "persuasion" is too blinkered, too end-achieving, too personally manipulative to cover the methods employed by the most powerful literature. (But the words "method," "employ," and "power" are also suspect here. They are blunt instruments standing in for something that is far more delicate and in fact nearly indiscernible.) The author who possesses authority has no palpable designs on us: we barely exist for him, just as he barely exists for us...And yet at some point in the process of reading, if the work has authority enough, the self yields.
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this passage (in full, anyhow...go read the whole thing!) and this chapter explained a lot for me. I avoided reading _The Color Purple_ for, like, 20 years because of all the snarky (at best) criticism of Alice Walker's place in the new canon. I didn't feel like reading anything super-manipulative and/or just not that good, and I reallyreallyreally didn't want a reading experience that would make me side with the Bad Guys. so when I finally read the novel ( because one should), I was doubly resistant...and yet, it happened: Walker's writing established an aesthetic authority to which my stupid, scared self yielded entirely.

at the same time, Lesser's notion of authority seems to explain why Eugenides leaves me cold. when I read him, I can *feel* his end-achieving designs in a way that embarrasses me. like a "miss u" text from someone you just met: dude, is your nose running? like seeing somebody wearing a Nirvana t-shirt: do you even Pixies? thx for making *me* feel like a dick, you dick.

it isn't that I dislike perceiving an author's designs on me; I am definitely not so cool that I'm not flattered by the attention. but when the author who barely exists to my barely-existing reader is, say, a more artful McSweeney's type, then that discernible design-- however overt or even heavy-handed--is more like seeing somebody wearing Velvet Underground knee socks. like, ok, i'm looking at you, so good job, but now tell me more. ( )

The author's one word answer to the question asked by the title of her book is pleasure. That is an answer that, as a reader myself, I can understand and share. But the pleasures of her book go beyond that to explore various aspects of books and reading that contribute to the many pleasures and perhaps even joy of reading. ( )

Not rated because I didn't finish reading this book.

In fact, I didn't really even try to read it after the first 20 pages because it was so dull. The author may have wonderful insights but skimming through the chapters to find something engaging didn't turn up anything to spark interest. The prologue was a long, drawn out meandering with nothing to the point. Yawwwn. For a fine example of how to drive the reader crazy, look at the first two sentences of the final chapter (chapter heading, Inconclusions).

Wendy Lesser is a very erudite reader, and I would give this book five stars except I think the title is misleading. It should be Why I Read Classic Literature: A Comparison of Writing Styles. You would really enjoy the book, for example, if you studied Russian Literature or Shakespeare. For the average reader, the author provides a suggested reading list with a web link to materials for a reading group. I share some of the others opinions such as I don't care for James Joyce's writings and we both love Scandinavian mysteries. I wish she would have included more contemporary writers such as Michael Chabon or Karl Ove Knausgard. I also reading a biography on the architect Louis Kahn by the same author that is quite good, so I looking forward to reading her other works. ( )

Its a question that I have often asked myself. I read, buy and think about books compulsively as many others here do. I loved Lesser’s perspectives on this question. She eloquently captures in thought-provoking ways our book love and acknowledges how difficult it is to understand and explain. A major treat is leaving this book with a new booklist of works of which I am not familiar. This book was a delight. ( )