An entirely new kind of biography, Built of Books explores the mind and personality of Oscar Wilde through his taste in books
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Sep 03, 2010
Richard
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How very much I loved the idea of this book! I can't imagine why no one ever thought to analyze the content of Wilde's character through the lens of his library before. I think it's brilliant!
I like the author's delicate, clear sentences, leavened with a good dose of irony, in the best Wildean tradition. He is forced to rely on supposition and probability in many places in this book...how a volume came into the subject's library, what the effect of a particular book probably was on W More...
I like the author's delicate, clear sentences, leavened with a good dose of irony, in the best Wildean tradition. He is forced to rely on supposition and probability in many places in this book...how a volume came into the subject's library, what the effect of a particular book probably was on W More...
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Aug 04, 2010
James K.A.
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This is the sort of book that Wilde afficianados, like myself, will gobble up. But Wright's premise/conceit is of interest beyond that: he considers the way in which Wilde's work and persona were the product of his (voracious) reading from his boyhood, reminding us especially that Wilde was a first-rate classicist. Thus we'll fail to understand Wilde if we fail to appreciate his indebtedness to the Greeks (as well as Pater's revival of "Platonic" love). A really delightful read. An
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Jul 27, 2010
Bonnie
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The main point of this book (that I gathered) was that Wilde had a very unique approach to readership, that in turn heavily influenced both his view of the world and his authorial identity. For Wilde, one of the most important things about a book was the aesthetic appeal. The irony of Built of Books is that, in my opinion, it had almost none. The author was dealing with incredibly interesting content, but I found the presentation and organization to be incredibly boring. It didn't pick up for me
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Jul 07, 2010
Cari
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An interesting, original approach to biography that wasn't nearly the heavy read I was expecting. Unfortunately, the author makes a lot of jumps from the material to what may have motivated Wilde, and it seems that this is more a biography of the author's romantic idea of Wilde, rather than the man himself. Nevertheless, an easy, entertaining read that's simultaneously intriguing for Wilde fans.
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Jul 26, 2011
By reconstructing the personal library of Oscar Wilde, tragically auctioned after his arrest, the author painstakingly traces all of his literary influences, from Irish folks tales, Greek poetry and trashy 19th century Gothic novels. It makes me wonder, as I post my own reading list on Facebook, what you can tell about people from what they read.
Jun 16, 2009
Bradley
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"Hermes was the Olympian god of orators, wits and poets, and the inventor the lyre. He was also the deity of liars of thieves. In most legends he is depicted as a cheeky trickster, who becomes embroiled in scrapes out of a love of mischief and extricates himself from them through marvelous eloquence, a prodigious gift for telling stories and a genius for playing the lyre. This is the god whose shadow was cast across Wilde's writing-desk."
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Nov 13, 2009
Janet
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The only book I’ve read by Wilde was The Portrait of Dorian Grey, but it was very interesting to hear Wright discuss the rest of Wilde’s work. Not being familiar with Victorian literature as a whole, I had never heard of most of the books Wilde read. I knew a couple Dickens, and some Matthew Arnold and that was about it. My next goal is to go find a copy of Wilde’s Salome.
Jul 31, 2009
Steven
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Interesting look at the books in Wilde's library and how they impacted his work, life, etc.
Feb 05, 2011
Murphy
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This was an extremely fun book. The author Thomas Wright tries to read all of the books that Oscar Wilde had in his library and then he explains how these titles effected Wilde's life and work. It's a fun idea-that the books we are attracted to reflect a bit of our personality. Oscar did not write a diary but he did write marginalia in his books so those writings really show what he thought of the book and are memories of what was going on in his life at the time.
Jan 16, 2012
Emmett
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Such a lovely, lovely book. It was enjoyable, while reading, to note common favourites shared with one of my favourite authors, and to discover new ones. This is a different take on biography, and I thoroughly appreciate the angle from which that author took to narrate Wilde's life and the influences which shaped him.
Oct 20, 2009
Kaethe
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There's nothing wrong with it, but the idea paled pretty quickly for me. Not a big reader of classics, I just didn't care too much about all of Wilde's classic textbooks.
Jul 13, 2010
Stephanie
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Can't wait to start this book! I learned about it through the Post's book review section and hope that it is as good as it sounds.
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