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How to Read and Why Audiobook
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(3.01) - 1,187 listener ratings
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Publisher Description
Harold Bloom is Sterling Professor of Humanities at Yale University, Berg Professor of English at New York University, and a former Charles Eliot Norton Professor at Harvard. He has written more than 20 books of literary criticism. From a lifetime of writing and teaching about literature, this great scholar exhorts readers to consider the pleasures and benefits of reading well. Beginning with a basic question, "Why read?" Bloom offers his thoughts on works that form the canon of great literature. Short stories, poems, novels, and plays are held up to the light of Bloom's considerable intellect. Here are the authors that bear reading again and again, including Turgenev and Tennyson, Cervantes and Shakespeare. Harold Bloom's many honors include a MacArthur Prize, membership in the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and the Academy's Gold Medal for Criticism. As he shares his passion for literature, his discussion is made even more enthralling through John McDonough's warm narration.
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"This is one of my absolute favorite books. It is a psychological perspective of becoming a bibliophile. Even deeper, though, it explicitly describes how we become connected to a story, a character, a moment. How does reading turn into experiencing? Why does it happen? What do author's do to make sure you love the experience or at least remember it forever? Why do we strive to gain this experience? What characters should we turn to so we can meet that need? These are the questions and answers of the book. READ IT! It's amazing, introspective, dead on, and will provide you with books to read for a lifetime."
— Riah (5 out of 5 stars)
How to Read and Why Listener Reviews
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" This is a book for believers: the message is that there is one God only and his name is Shakespeare! If you have a prejudice against literature and its prophets, than prof Bloom's obscure writing will most certainly confirm it. This is pompous bs, and I really can't remember why on earth I gave it that second star. Maybe there was a decent piece about Kafka. No, it is not worthwhile to ponder how to read Bloom. Just why is enough. "
— Wendel, 2/11/2014 -
" I am a huge Harold Bloom fan and enjoy his style of literary criticsm. H ehas a way of letting the reader know what he thinks but also gives the reader an opportunity to agree or disagree with what he is saying. He will give you a new way to look at what you have read or are reading. "
— Deborah, 12/9/2013 -
" I'm with him. "
— Matt, 11/8/2013 -
" This book certainly won't appeal to everybody as it is academic and offers very little in the way of pleasure. However, Harold Bloom's insight, intellect, and practically boundless knowledge of literature is more than impressive. "
— Jeff, 10/29/2013 -
" great intro. the book reviews demand that you have actually read some works of great literature, so I had to skip most of them. "
— Puddinheadjoe, 10/25/2013 -
" Equal parts insight and arrogance. Dogmatic. Bloom is unquestionably bright but full of self importance. "
— Drew, 10/20/2013 -
" Interesting, but more like "WHAT to read and why". "
— Eric, 8/31/2013 -
" Bloom explains what makes great literature, why it matters, and how we should approach it so late in history. "
— Paul, 7/9/2012 -
" the man's a genius. i agree with much of what he says and appreciate all of his thoughts. you gotta love literature to read harold bloom. go for it. "
— Maggie, 7/4/2012 -
" Harold Bloom is God. "
— Jessie, 10/24/2011 -
" I've read **in** this book for several yrs., & finally left it at a friend's, 1/2 read.<br/><br/>It's good, though hardly spritely reading.<br/><br/>I trust Bloom (even when I may not share his judgments), but hope he was a more lively teacher than, in this book, is shows himself an author. "
— Phil, 2/28/2011 -
" Another great book of literary criticism! It left me with a list of books that I want to to make sure to read.It even made me re-evaluate books that I have read and disliked, like As I lay Dying by Faulkner. I might even give that one a second chance at some point in the future. "
— Tim, 1/11/2011 -
" This man is brilliant and boring. I`m used to reading difficult and highbrow material. I just drag my way through his. Maybe one day , after I read EVERYTHING there is to read , I can revisit this man`s work and find it less tedious. "
— Kevin, 7/7/2010 -
" Bloom explains what makes great literature, why it matters, and how we should approach it so late in history. "
— Paul, 6/15/2010
About Harold Bloom
Harold Bloom was Sterling Professor of Humanities at Yale University and Berg Professor of English at New York University. The author of twenty books and the editor of many more, he has been a MacArthur Prize Fellow, a past Charles Eliot Norton Professor at Harvard University, a member of the American Academy, and the recipient of many other awards, honorary degrees, and prizes.
About John McDonough
John McDonough, one of AudioFile magazine’s Golden Voices, has narrated dozens of audiobooks, and won eleven Earphones Awards. He is known for his narrations of children’s books, including Robert McCloskey’s Centerburg Tales and Albert Marrin’s Commander-in-Chief Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War. Outside of his audiobook work, he has starred in a revival of Captain Kangaroo on the Fox Network.