Changing My Mind: Occasional Essays Audiobook

" There are some lovely essays here and I am certain Zadie Smith is a gifted literary critic. However, at times I felt as though I was reading a comp lit paper. I wish she'd write another novel and was saddened when she wrote that reading her previous work made her nauseous. "

" She is better when she doesn't like things than when she likes them. Sometimes her enthusiasm is too much for me and sometimes one feels too much like a student in one of her classes. She often has this adolescent catch of transcendence in her tone that is hard to take. Some of the essays are really great though. I would like people to please stop writing essays about Kafka, I think there are enough now. "

" A mostly charming read, gathering together a number of Zadie Smith's published journalism and essays in between On Beauty and her new novel, due out this fall. Were it not for the tediously long memorial for David Foster Wallace (38 pages, I think) that closes the book, I might have offered a fourth star, but after so much pleasant reading on literature, film, British life, etc., I was dismayed to be bogged down with a fan's turgid notes on one of her favorite writers. DFW, as much as I admire his intellect and ambition, is not among my favorites and Smith's long quotations from his fiction were an undisciplined departure from an otherwise lovely read. "

" Appreciated the honesty and humor from a growing writer and a generational peer. "

" I have a total girl crush on Zadie. I think a lot of writers of her generation get a lot of attention because they're so clever/funny/modern (also, hot. never discount literary hot.) zadie is all of these things, but she's also So Smart. So very, very smart. "

" There are really wonderful pieces in here. I especially love Zadie in her sentimental best, the pieces on her dad, brother and the homage to David Foster Wallace are quite striking in their delicacy and emotional depth. And she's evidently quite widely read. "

" Especially enjoyed "That Crafty Feeling," "F. Kafka, Everyman," and "Smith Family Christmas." "

" My brain feels bigger now. "

" sucked. One interesting story opn visiting Africa, I think. "

" a mixed bag, but I liked some of the essays very much indeed. Since I'm not big on modern fiction, I was very happy to find some essays she had written in addition to her novels. "

" She writes so well and thinks so well! This collection is aptly named Occasional essays, since they have little to do with each other, but they are interesting anyway. The best essays for me were the ones about literature and movies. "

" Smith is a terrific writer--lucid, intelligent, compelling--and this is an interesting and ecclectic collection of essays, but the piece on David Foster Wallace, though clearly heartfelt, feels weirdly truncated, incomplete. Just like his life. Sigh. "

" Loved the film pieces as well as the essay on British humor (I think I read this previously in the New Yorker). The literary essays were somewhat challenging to get through although I may now read Middlemarch. "

" best essay is on DFW, rest of the book is okay. They all are about the quality of your average New Yorker essay. So if you're a big fan of the New Yorker, read this. "

" Reading this makes you want to become friends with her badly. "

" She is really funny when she is mean.<br/><br/>In my opinion, her writing is quite accessible.<br/><br/>I was surprised how much of a cinephile she was. "

" Anyone that writes so eloquently about Katherine Hepburn, English accents, and dysfunctional family Christmases in the same book gets a big hug from me. "

" I read this book because a magazine said it would make me smart. (It was right.) "

" Some hits - especially the DFW essay - but many misses (and by misses, I only mean too academic to be consumed enjoyably. "

" Loved the literary essays! Even though I havent read most of the books the essays addressed, I found Zadie Smith's analyses of their ideas and contexts totally fascinating. I enjoyed the other essays too, but overall thought them a tad less captivating. "

" I only got through some of the essays. Some that were about authors or books I hadn't read weren't of any interest. But those that I read where interesting. "

" This girl is so brainy it's not even funny. "

" i am buying this book. i love Zadie Smith for her characters as well, and this book of essays gives unique perspectives on several authors, and their works. i just like her goddamnit. "