Alberto Manuel’s ‘A Reading Diary’ is a true reading experience. It is a book written by an author who has an enthusiasm for reading and which offers an easy read to literature lovers.
It consists of diary entries for the months from June 2002 to May 2003 in which each month, Manguel commits to rereading one of his favourite books and recording his thoughts based on them. Each essay includes philosophies in which the reader can find relevance for one’s own life.
It is a wonderful read as Alberto Manguel writes about what he’s reading, tries to make connections with world events, with books he’s read in the past, and books on his reading list.
“Nietzsche, seldom generous in his praise, saw Goethe as uniquely above nationalities and national literatures. “Goethe,” he wrote in Human, All Too Human “is not a good and great human being but a civilisation in himself.” If that is so, then ‘Elective Affinities’, written in the last years of his life, reads like a kind of etiquette manual of Goethean civilisation.”
For anyone, who keeps a reading diary should get the book quickly as this book brilliantly shows how the world around someone can change with the experience of reading.
Another one of those must read books in a world crowded out by other demands on our precious time.
Semra Eren-Nijhar 