A Reading Diary

In "A Reading Diary," Alberto Manguel writes about what he's reading, as he makes connections with world events, with books he's read in the past, and books on his list to read. As he writes about the experience of reading, he notices how the world around him changes in what seems to be his hap-paced mad ride through literature and life.

Manguel turns the experience of everyday into extraordinary literariness. As he explains, "The experience of everyday life is negated by what we want it to be, negated in turn by what we hope it really is." Surrounded by stacks of books, he keeps notes of those moments when he was browsing through books, rediscovering the classics he read years ago, and stumbling across unlooked-for literary treasures.

Books Come to Life

Manguel's library of books represents memories--accumulated "through these piled-up volumes." The books come to life for him; they seemed to "call out" to him when his boxes of books were in storage. "Now," he says, "I stand for a long-time among them all, flooded with images, bits of remembered text, quotations in random order, titles, and names."

"A Reading Diary" collects notes, reflections, and impressions as he takes a literary journey through "Don Quixote," "A Wind in the Willows," "The Island of Dr. Moreau," "Kim," with numerous other diversions along the way. He possesses the idea of reading, recognizing his own part in the reality of books. The books open before us, but "we forget how much the survival of the characters, the very life of the story, depends on our presence as readers..." After all, in some ways, books define who he is, and his greatest nightmare is waking to discover that his library had vanished. He says that it would make him feel that he was no longer who he thought he was. Perhaps that's why the motto on his library door reads: "Read what you will." Perhaps this collection of thoughts and recollections will help you to do just that.