Avid Reader: A Life

by Robert Adams Gottlieb

Winner of the Anne M. Sperber PrizeA spirited and revealing memoir by the most celebrated editor of his time.After editing The Columbia Review, staging plays at Cambridge, and a stint in the greeting-card department of Macy's, Robert Gottlieb stumbled into a job at Simon and Schuster. By the time he left to run Alfred A. Knopf a dozen years later, he was the editor in chief, having discovered and edited Catch-22 and The American Way of Death, among other bestsellers. At Knopf, Gottlieb edited an astonishing list of authors, including Toni Morrison, John Cheever, Doris Lessing, John le Carré, Michael Crichton, Lauren Bacall, Katharine Graham, Robert Caro, Nora Ephron, and Bill Clinton--not to mention Bruno Bettelheim and Miss Piggy. In Avid Reader, Gottlieb writes with wit and candor about succeeding William Shawn as the editor of The New Yorker, and the challenges and satisfactions of running America's preeminent magazine. Sixty years after joining Simon and Schuster, Gottlieb is still at it--editing, anthologizing, and, to his surprise, writing.But this account of a life founded upon reading is about more than the arc of a singular career--one that also includes a lifelong involvement with the world of dance. It's about transcendent friendships and collaborations, "elective affinities" and family, psychoanalysis and Bakelite purses, the alchemical relationship between writer and editor, the glory days of publishing, and--always--the sheer exhilaration of work.Photograph of Bob Gottlieb © by Jill Krementz

Genres: Memoir, Nonfiction, Biography, Books About Books, Writing, Autobiography, Biography Memoir

353 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 13, 2016

About the author

Robert Adams Gottlieb (April 29, 1931 – June 14, 2023) was an American writer and editor. He was the editor-in-chief of Simon & Schuster, Alfred A. Knopf, and The New Yorker.

For many years, Gottlieb was associated with the New York City Ballet, serving as a member of its board of directors. He published many books by people from the dance world, including Mikhail Baryshnikov and Margot Fonteyn. He was also a member of the Board of Trustees of the Miami City Ballet

Gottlieb was a frequent contributor to The New York Review of Books, The New Yorker, and The New York Times Book Review, and had been the dance critic for The New York Observer from 1999 until 2020.

Reviews

[Lauren · Rating 2 out of 5]

Having finished this book, I feel like I've just ended a bad relationship. Things started off well: I was so sure that I would enjoy Avid Reader that I had it, sight unseen, on my wish list, but my library hold came through before I could buy it. I dove in and the first, fortuitous chapter was smooth sailing. Then came the uncertainty. Was this all there was? What I said I'd liked about previous flings with memoir and biography--the gossipy sense of famous people endlessly colliding--was now being used against me in a series of anecdotes that went nowhere and meant nothing. A self-assured, confiding voice turned petty and prideful. Style devolved into tics. We fought, and I contemplated giving up on things for good, but then some little gem of insight or narrative would come along to remind me why I'd picked up the damn thing in the first place. It's over now. I stayed up late to finish reading, not because I couldn't put it down, but because I couldn't bear the thought of having to spend another day reading it.

...I rated this three stars at the beginning of this review, typed that, and then lowered it down to two. I can easily see why someone would like this book, but I am not that someone.

Avid Reader is Robert Gottlieb's memoir of--mostly--his work: how he started at Simon & Schuster, moved to Knopf, briefly took over The New Yorker, and slid sideways into working for ballet companies and writing dance criticism. As a behind-the-scenes tour of publishing, there's a fair bit here to enjoy--one passage near the end, on "giving the reader a break," nearly justifies the entire book in and of itself: "Keep the price of the book as low as possible. Make sure the type is legible--when possible, generous, readability is all. Don't talk about an important photograph or portrait and then not show it. Deploy useful running heads--the name of a particular story or essay rather than the name of the author (the reader knows the name of the author). Shun running feet as opposed to running heads..." This is great, crunchy insider-detail, Gottlieb taking the lid off to let you see the inner workings. And there are occasional stories here that are charming in the flippant way Gottlieb describes as the folly of editorial memoirs ("Leo! Don't just do war, do peace, too!"). Gottlieb and Joseph Heller struggling to think of a replacement number for Catch-22 because the original, 18, was used too recently in another title; Gottlieb eventually has the epiphany that "twenty-two is even funnier than eighteen," which he admits doesn't quite make sense, and yet somehow does. Or there's Gottlieb's story of working with Bill Clinton as he was writing My Life, and how Gottlieb eventually admitted to Clinton that the experience had changed his life in two significant ways, the second of which was that he would no doubt get a more substantial advance for any memoir he'd ever write because of it. All of this is either interesting or charming.

But, unfortunately, those sections are drowned out by the rest of the book, where a culturally elite Who's Who wander through, briefly encounter Gottlieb, and either get praised by him and adopted into his seemingly endless network of friendships, "palships," "full-service friends," "undeclared closeness," and/or "real intimacy," the source of banal "we ate ice cream together at night" stories or "she stayed in my apartment in Paris" or "I stood in at his wedding" stories... or, alternately, get slapped down and put in their place. The former entries are dull and the latter are surprisingly bitter and frequently hypocritical. Gottlieb is always criticizing people for making any public show against him or daring to air their dirty laundry--I assume, at this point, that I know every word that was ever written against him, because he repeatedly notes that contrary to what was printed/rumored, he actually... instead of just telling his version of events. He has to tell his version of events versus--and then doing the exact same thing. He drags Lillian Ross for writing a memoir about her affair with William Shawn, and then goes on to gleefully describe a screenplay she wrote afterwards which features thinly-veiled versions of Ross, Shawn, and Gottlieb himself: "Can Lillian really have believed that anyone would produce such a movie?" After declining to publish a commissioned New Yorker piece by Jamaica Kincaid about her experience growing up under colonialism because it was too angry (which strikes me as a limited view of colonialism, but okay, buddy), they encounter each other at a funeral and Kincaid (apparently fulsomely) apologizes for having misjudged him and says that she now knows he's a good person--and Gottlieb describes with delight how he socially snubbed her by passive-aggressively pretending not to know what she was talking about. This is, perhaps, the kind of story you tell your friends, who share your annoyances and are in automatic sympathy with you, but being kind of a dick to a woman at a funeral after telling her that she was too upset by her country having been colonized does not really make you come off well. Nor does the story of sending Pauline Kael a sarcastic "thanks for your support, Pauline" note after Kael, who criticized everyone, criticized The New Yorker in an interview. Nor does dragging Katherine Hepburn for her sense of privilege and self-absorption and desire to remain famous, when Gottlieb himself is equally self-absorbed despite not being nearly as famous as Hepburn.

At one point, with no visible irony, Gottlieb pats himself on the back for having "kept his mouth shut" and refused to criticize Tina Brown, the woman who took over his editorial position at The New Yorker ... after a pointed parenthetical mentioning that the magazine hemorrhaged money after he left, a story about how Brown had to ask if a cartoon was funny or not, and some snide commentary about how Brown had been hired "to make the magazine 'hot, hot, hot' (to use a favorite phrase of hers."

More charming bits. Gottlieb knows "with absolute certainty that [John le Carre] was not anti-Semitic, far from it," but decides that what his memoir needs is a prolonged section about his struggle to get le Carre to edit out some, in fact, fairly anti-Semitic language. (His inclusion of this despite his backhanded assertion that it means nothing about le Carre's character or beliefs makes more sense once you know le Carre left Knopf, but that's okay, because Gottlieb is here to tell you that his novels deteriorated.) Both Katherine Hepburn and Lauren Bacall get diagnosed by Gottlieb as being, by virtue of being actresses, desirous of, and "responsive to" firm "direction," and he happily tells stories of them being unreasonable until he decisively tells them what's going to happen, whereupon they, delighted by a strong hand, go along. (I feel like this kind of language could be saved for the bedroom.) And after sidelining his family for the entire book--which, given that this is a work memoir, made sense, or would have made sense if Gottlieb weren't so eager to brag about his friends that seemingly everyone he's ever spoken to makes their way into the pages--the closing pages give us Gottlieb's summation of his son Roger--"He's as nice a man at sixty-three as he was a boy of ten, and I'm very fond of him, but our lives rarely converge"--which is a) one of the most tepid accounts of parental love I've ever read and b) basically how Dexter Morgan (of Dexter, unsurprisingly), a sociopath, described his nascent feeling of affection for his sister. And after reasonable praise throughout the book, Gottlieb's wife Maria gets this lovely bit at the end: "Her intelligence is deep if masked, though it's irksome that Janet Malcolm insists Maria is more intelligent than I am. (I can't believe she really means it.)" What a guy, right?

None of this, honestly, would be a problem in a biography, which may be why I favor biographies over memoirs. Gottlieb's humblebrags (did you know that, unlike other editors, he preferred humble sandwiches in his office to elaborate, expensive lunches? If you don't, you'll surely find out, because he mentions it several times) and celebrity obsession would be anatomized or at least neutrally-presented character quirks and not narrative padding to struggle through. The revolving door of famous and semi-famous intellectual elites would get some context and development and not just drift in and out after they and Gottlieb braid their friendship bracelets and declare their undying loyalty to each other. Generous and undoubtedly genuine praise wouldn't be slightly tainted by the fact that it's the person who received that praise making sure that you know he got it. This is, really, a memoir in search of a proper biographer, because right now, it's too constricted by pettiness to have any real perspective.

Also, in the very last section, we find out that Gottlieb's uncle was a famous Soviet spy. I feel like that could have been given more attention, as it's almost objectively more interesting than anything else here.

[Reading_ Tamishly · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved how this memoir started.
Right from the beginning of the book, it talks about his first experience of reading(or being read to!).
I wonder how he can remember all those books so vividly.
No wonder...he is a genius.
I love how he describes his parents; his father being a non-fiction reader (who would buy books even during difficult times) his mother, a reader who always reads.
(I wish my family was like his. But who's complaining?!)

He gets a bit critical (way too critical) when it comes to his schooling, his teachers (we can all note a bitter tone here), and the way he was being taught those days.
I too condemn rote learning. Thanks for that part.

Here's something that I totally loved and can relate to:
'But my problem with religion didn’t stem from these misadventures. I’ve simply always lacked even the slightest religious impulse—when people talk about their faith, I can’t connect with what they’re talking about. This isn’t a decision I came to, or a deep belief or principle; I’m just religion-deaf, the way tone-deaf people hear sounds but not music. I suppose my religion is reading.'

And another much relevant to my life in real:
'It was, all in all, an education that kept me unchallenged and unstimulated.'

He knows how to express without the use of unnecessary words.

I can so relate with the author about almost all the topics he has mentioned in this memoir.
His love of other art forms like the theatre, plays and musicals, and his passion of discovering new 'literary' worlds.

This memoir, at times, turns out to be really intimidating. Sometimes he describes his life so dramatically in details but he sums up his journey at other parts by just mentioning some names(books, authors, acquaintances).
Somehow I find his relationship and sexuality narrations a bit overwhelming and out of place.
It diluted the book and and made me wonder what kind of memoir I was holding in my hands.

I thought the book would not pick up. But yes, it did.
It made me speechless when I actually read his words :
'Finally, I had no interest in the books Simon and Schuster published: They just didn’t live up to my exquisite literary standards.'
Oh boy...I need caffiene 🤨

But I love knowing about Simon and Schuster through this memoir: how they worked, the schedule, and the various personalities involved in the making.

I lit up when the book talked about 'Catch-22' damn...I am so happy to know what was behind the bringing out of this book!

One thing though. Each of the chapter are really long that sometimes you will just be happy and satisfied that they are detailed but at other times you will start wondering what he is writing about.

I don't like the parts where the author describes other people in length. I really don't want to know them and I really don't care who these people are and what they were doing.
I just want to know more about the author's reading journey.
He could have skipped these parts(distractions alert!).

Why is his working life so elaborately written in 4 freakingly long chapters?
It could have been represented better with less to read. It took up the major part of the book which I find it disappointing.
The title could have been something else rather than 'Avid Reader'.
This part is like a part from another big book.
I was actually searching for the names of the books and the authors who he must have read during this entire journey.
And I couldn't find it.
It's just work, work, work, work, other people and their lives.

And more work chapters as the last few chapters.

I am so done with this memoir.
Nope.
Not the kind of memoir you would want to pick up.

But yes, the first few chapters are good! I wanted to love this one so much.

[reading is my hustle]

I am going to set this one aside for now. I do so with great disappointment. I will say that Robert Gottlieb's joy and celebration of all things reading is evident but ironically this could use some substantial editing.

[Lew Watts · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although the book runs out of steam, the middle chapters on Gottlieb's time with Knopf and his experiences when he moved to The New Yorker are fascinating. Sure there is name-dropping galore, and sometimes cringing, half-hearted attempts to seem humble when describing the many accolades and praise he received—but who can blame him? Gottlieb is simply a literary phenomenon, and anyone interested in the human side of editing should read this book. And my goodness, the names, the names, the names!
I have seen some reviews criticizing his oblique (and sometimes blunt) stabs at people he didn't like, the messes he had to clear up, and his small asides over his successor at The New Yorker, Tina Brown—but these are rare, and for the most part Gottlieb is gracious. I must admit to feeling some sympathy for his wife, Maria Tucci: his aversion to taking vacations, although this didn't stop him going away on two-week shopping trips with his colleague, Martha Kaplan; his habit of working late into the night, most times at home; the mesmerizing list of people he invited to stay, or even outstay. But again, it is clear that he secured deep loyalty from colleagues and friends and was able to build amazing trust, often within minutes of first meetings. Could there have been more insights into his more iconic authors, or descriptions of the actual process of editing some of the most famous books of the 20th Century? Yes, which is the only reason I stopped at 4 stars.

[William · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was fascinated by the beginning of this memoir, since I grew up on the edge of the world Gottlieb describes. I knew fairly well a number of people he mentions: I worked for Phyllis Levy (a great spirit!), for instance when I was secretary (yes, I know the term is obsolete, but that is what I was classified as) for three women at McCall's magazine for two summers), grew up with the Shawn family and Jonathan Schell, etc. So through Gottlieb's years at Simon & Schuster, I enjoyed this book a lot. But it went downhill from there, and I struggled through much of it, and was glad I did since the final section is effective and interesting.

But the several hundred pages in between came to read like endless name-dropping. I can't remember many people described in enough depth to come to life (well, maybe Bill Shawn a bit and Katharine Hepburn). I got weary of instant deep connections with hundreds of people, an amazing (and, I think, impossible) number of BFFs, and a mass of uninteresting detail (especially, as others have pointed out, the dance section, despite the fact that ballet fascinates me and I had seen many of the dances he describes). Gottlieb's memory is astonishing, but the details too often are simply not very interesting.

There is one major upside, though. Gottlieb is indeed an avid reader, and his book has left me with a enough books I would like to read to last the rest of my life.

Somehow, even Gottlieb does not really come to life in this book. He seems without regret, and to have a somewhat inaccurate sense of himself. There is almost no human vulnerability, and a lot of crowing. I don't understand his marriage, for sure. Eventually, he and his wife have four residences. Gottlieb lives in three of them, and his wife in the fourth. He talks lovingly of Maria, his wife, but it is hard to imagine when he spent time with her, since he was a workaholic, and traveled constantly (including many long trips with friends who were almost exclusively female). There is perhaps an interesting family story there, but it is not shared with us. His son Roger is essentially invisible, and his other son, Nicky, struggles with Asperger's, but the challenges are not made clear. His daughter, Lizzie, is wonderful, I gather, but the book does not really tell us why.

I ended up with a sense that Gottlieb is very skilled professionally, but also likely to be a micromanager who can rarely be effectively told he is wrong. Yet he says at one point: "How anyone could be nervous of me was beyond my understanding." He is certainly neurotic -- afraid of flying, for instance, and does not get on a plane for fifteen years. He is eccentric -- collects plastic handbags from the 1950's (good grief!), macrame owls, patio glass sets. And while Gottlieb says people find him funny, the book is oddly devoid of humor. He seems to take himself very seriously indeed.

So much is not explained. He says of Lincoln Kirstein that "he is the person I learned the most from," but never indicates what he learned. The "New Yorker" staff hated Jonathan Schell...why?

I found the writing style annoying. So many people are described as wonderful, have a few sterling traits mentioned, and then are trashed. (Hepburn, Shawn, S J Perelman, James Thurber, and many others). He seems patronizing towards women, many of whom are described as beautiful (while only one man is described as handsome). The book also has a style of describing people with a string of adjectives (usually four) as in "I heard clarity, firmness, energy and high spirits." Sounds more like a bottle of wine than a human being to me.

I have somehow while reading pretty randomly recently read several autobiographical works by other people who are both Jewish and successful in the arts. Carly Simon and Joel Grey, for instance, came through as a lot more open and self-aware than Gottlieb does. Ironically, I think he is probably a likable guy, and his warm and long-lasting relationships with so many people suggest someone it is a pleasure to know. How odd, then, that the person in this book does not seem like that. And how odd it also is that someone with such an interesting life can create a book which fails by and large to offer the reading pleasure it could have.

[W. Whalin · Rating 4 out of 5]

As the former president, publisher and editor-in-chief of Alfred A. Knopf and the former editor of The New Yorker, Robert Gottlieb has had a huge impact on the reading public. For example about 100 pages into AVID READER, Gottlieb writes, "Two completely unknown writers she sent my way early in my Knopf years were Michael Crichton and Robert A. Caro." (Page 109) Here's a bit of behind the scenes look at Crichton saying, "What Michael wasn't was a very good writer. The Adromeda Strain was a terrific concept, but it was a mess--sloppily plotted, underwritten, and worst of all, no characterization whatsoever.His scientists were beyond generic--they lacked all human specificity, the only thing that distinguished some of them from the others was that some died and some didn't. I realized right away that with his quick mind, swift embrace of editorial input, and extraordinary work habits he could patch the plot, sharpen the suspense, clarify the science--in fact, do everything necessary except create convincingly human beings." (page 109). Now that is an inside look at the publishing business since Crichton was transformed into a mega-bestselling author.

These types of fascinating inside stories permeate AVID READER. I loved finding these insights in this well-crafted book. As he writes toward the end about his time at Simon and Schuster, "My love affair with readers was ignited and confirmed by the message that Richard L. Simon expressed to the entire staff of Simon and Schuster by means of bronze paperweights on which were etched these words: GIVE THE READER A BREAK. There was one on my desk waiting for me on the first day of work sixty years ago, and it's on my desk as I type today. This succinct philosophy can be adhered to in many ways. For me: Keep the price of the book as low as possible. Make sure the type is legible--when possible, generous; readability is all. Don't talk about an important photograph or portrait and then not show it. Deploy useful running heads--the name of a particular story or essay rather than the name of the author (the reader knows the name of the author). Shun running feet as opposed to running heads--they drag the reader's eye down the page. Don't deploy fancy ornaments or folios on the page that may distract from the text--in other words, don't over-design. it's easy--just remember the things that irritate you in books you'r reading. Do unto others..." (Page 318-319)

Sage advice is packed into this book and makes it worthwhile reading. I recommend it.

[Tom · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked up Robert Gottlieb's Avid Reader in anticipation of the upcoming "Turn Every Page" documentary, which explores the decades-long partnership between editor Gottlieb and biographer/historian Robert A. Caro, hoping that it would be something of a preview of Lizzie Gottlieb's (Robert's daughter) film. Of course, it wasn't. Gottlieb's lengthy career as publisher, editor and author saw him oversee the works of many writers besides Caro, and Avid Reader is stuffed (some might say overstuffed) with stories about them. Caro has his pages, but there wasn't really anything revealing about Gottlieb's recollections that I hadn't read or heard in some form or another before.

It's the stories of Gottlieb's experiences of other authors and collaborators that were the kernels of interest which lifted up a somewhat flawed book for me. The highlights include Gottlieb supervising the memoir of Bill Clinton (during which Gottlieb gets to cheekily tell the ex-president that he's actually working for Gottlieb), marvelling at the way Katharine Graham came to write her own Pulitzer-winning memoir, changing the title of Catch-18 to Catch-22, suffering and witnessing the barbs of the infamously bitchy Pauline Kael during his New Yorker years, and trying to manage the ambitious and sensitive historian Barbara Tuchman. There are plenty of less interesting anecdotes, too.

If there's a major problem, besides the book being a bit overstuffed and at times boring (my eyes glazed over for the entire "Dancing" chapter), it's that Gottlieb doesn't come across as a straight-shooting narrator. Whenever he takes a course of action that offends or undermines a friend or colleague (including taking one of their jobs), it's a misunderstanding in which he meant no harm. If he claims to hold no ill will towards someone, one can usually double back or read on to discover a petty aside that suggests otherwise. There's a good degree of false modesty on display, too; discussing Sarah: The Life of Sarah Bernhardt , his entry into the "Jewish Life" series, Gottlieb writes: "I gather that Sarah is still the bestselling Jewish Life, but I know perfectly well that whatever success it's had hasn't had much to do with me and everything to do with its heroine." OK, buddy.

Overall the book is good, but it's also a slog. There's probably too much excess fat here, which is strange considering the writer is an editor. Does a memoir called Avid Reader need a chapter on ballet? If you're not too much of a completist, I'd recommend stopping after the "Knopf Redux" chapter. By that point you've consumed the best of the book.

[Britta Böhler · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5*

[BAM who is Beth Anne · Rating 2 out of 5]

So perhaps Gottlieb got the short end of the stick because I read this book at the same time I was reading the Elizabeth Warren book. And these two are like...opposite ends of the spectrum. I found Gottlieb, while fascinating and very very very well read (duh), to be extremely pretentious. I mean...I read this with my eyes constantly rolling up into my skull.

As other reviewers mentioned, I got some interesting books added to my "to read" list, but the getting there was not worth it to me.

[David Huff · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read about Avid Reader this past November in the New York Review of Books and, as others here have remarked, the title was indeed hard to resist. Then, I saw the photos included after the index, discovered that Robert Gottlieb totally LOOKS like a bookworm, and I was hooked!

Now in his mid-80’s, Gottlieb continues a 60+ year career lived at the pinnacle of the publishing industry, with editing tenures at Simon & Schuster, Alfred A. Knopf, and The New Yorker. An interesting parallel thread, covered in no small amount of detail, is his lifelong passion for dance – specifically ballet – and his fascinating association with George Balanchine’s New York City Ballet.

Gottlieb’s autobiography is, in one sense, a decades-long excursion through the high society life of the New York Literary scene, and if Columbia offered a Pulitzer for name dropping, he could walk away with it if he chose. Yet, as I read this book, Gottlieb really didn’t strike me as the arrogant, self-important type; but rather, simply a man with a life-long passion for books whose abilities brought him and his family into the world of the elite.

Consider just a tiny sample of the authors he worked with: Joseph Heller (Catch-22), Michael Crichton (Jurassic Park), Toni Morrison, John le Carre, Bill Clinton, Lauren Bacall, and dozens more. He travelled the world, met many very interesting (and some troubled) writers and their families, and clearly cherished and loved so many of his colleagues and friends. Yes, some of the anecdotes have gossipy overtones, and the man is a workaholic extraordinaire, but most any lover of books and writing will enjoy his story.

[غيث الحوسني · Rating 2 out of 5]

حين ظنّ المحرّر أنه يروي سيرة قارئ

(لكن مشكلتي مع الدين لم تنبع من هذه المغامرات غير الموفقة، بل الأمر كنت ببساطة أفتقر دوما إلى أدنى دافع ديني: عندما يتحدث الناس عن عقيدتهم أو ما يؤمنون به، لا أستطيع أن أشعر / أفهم ما يتحدثون عنه. هذا ليس قرارا توصلت إليه أو معتقداً أو مبدأ عميقًا كل ما في الأمر أنني أصم عن الدين، لذا افترض أن ديني هو القراءة).

مقدمة: الشغف بالقراءة وفتنة الكتب
لطالما كان لدي تعلّق عاطفي خاص بالكتب التي تتناول فعل القراءة ذاته؛ فالقارئ يعشق أن يقرأ عن القراءة، كأنما يتأمل مرآته الأدبية. في صفحات هذه المؤلفات، نجد اعترافات وتجارب تشبه حالنا كقراء، فتتضاعف المتعة ويتعمّق الارتباط بالكتب. ليس غريبًا إذن أن نجد كتّابًا يصرّحون بأنهم وجدوا في القراءة عزاءً عن هموم الحياة ومشكلاتها، حتى غدت مصدر أنس وسعادة لا غنى عنها. هذا الشغف المسبق بالكتب التي تدور حول القراءة جعل لقائي بكتاب يحمل عنوان القارئ النهم لقاءً مشحونًا بالتوقع والإثارة؛ فنحن أمام عمل يُفترض أن يخاطب فينا تلك اللهفة المزمنة لكل ما يتصل بعالم القارئ والكتب.
موجة المذكرات القرائية
شهدت الأعوام الأخيرة ظاهرة ازدهار الكتب التي تتمحور حول تجارب القراءة الشخصية ومذكرات القرّاء، مدفوعة بازدياد اهتمام دور النشر بهذا اللون الأدبي. كثير من هذه الكتب صدر عن مؤلفين غربيين وتُرجم إلى العربية، ولعل أشهرها سنة القراءة الخطرة للبريطاني آندي ميلر، الذي حكى فيه كيف أنقذته خمسون كتابًا عظيمًا في عام واحد من رتابة حياته. وتوازى ذلك مع ظهور أعمال عربية أصيلة لا تقل أهمية، منها كتب محمد حسن المرزوقي هكذا تكلم القارئ، التي تعنى بثقافة القارئ وأسئلته المعاصرة، ومؤلفات نعيم الفارسي التي جعلت فعل القراءة قضية شخصية وثقافية، كـعزاءات القراءة وشجون القرّاء وغيرها. وقد تميّز بعض هذه الأعمال بروح شغوفة ولمسة محلية تجعل القارئ العربي يجد صوته وهمومه بين السطور. هكذا انضم كتاب القارئ النهم إلى موجة أوسع تحتفي بالقراءة، مما رفع سقف التوقعات بشأن محتواه وموقعه ضمن هذه الظاهرة.

عنوان مستفز لجمهور متعطّش
يحمل عنوان الكتاب القارئ النهم جرعة عالية من الاستفزاز الإيجابي لفضول القارئ وعاطفته. فكلمة "النهم" توحي بشهية مفتوحة على الكتب لا تعرف الشبع، وبرغبة عارمة في الالتهام المعرفي. العنوان أشبه بوعد ضمني بأننا سنقرأ اعترافات قارئ شغوف من الطراز الرفيع، وربما ننهل من تجربته ما يروي ظمأنا للمعرفة. لا عجب أن يتبادر إلى الذهن أننا أمام سيرة ذاتية فريدة يسرد فيها الكاتب علاقته العاطفية بالكتب، ومحطات تحوّل فيها فعلُ القراءة إلى بطل الحكاية. إن العنوان يجذب محبي الكتب جذبًا، ويرفع مستوى التوقع: هل سنجد أنفسنا أمام عاشق كتبٍ يتحدث بلغة العاشق الولهان؟ أم أمام مثقف موسوعي يشاركنا خلاصات قراءاته عبر العقود؟ هل الكاتب قادر على إلهامنا نحو كتب نجهلها؟ لقد دخلتُ إلى الكتاب ممتلئًا بتوقعات صنعتها جرأة العنوان ووعوده المبطنة، منتظرًا محتوى يضاهي العنوان شغفًا وجرأة.

سرد وظيفي يخذل شغف القارئ
جاء الواقع مختلفًا عمّا أوحى به العنوان؛ إذ سرعان ما يكتشف القارئ أن مضمون الكتاب أقرب إلى سيرة مهنية منه إلى اعترافات قارئ عاشق. يروي روبرت غوتليب في القارئ النهم حكاية حياته في عالم التحرير والنشر، مستعرضًا مسيرته كمحرر مرموق في كبريات دور النشر الأمريكية، التي – بصراحة – لا أعرف الكثير عنها. يهتم غوتليب بتفصيل الكتب التي حررها والمؤلفين الذين عمل معهم، بل وكيف أنقذ بعض المخطوطات ببراعته من الوقوع في فخ الرداءة. هكذا يركّز الكتاب على فعل التحرير وصناعة الكتاب أكثر من تركيزه على فعل القراءة ذاته. صحيح أن المؤلف يذكر الكتب التي قرأها وتأثيرها أحيانًا، لكن النغمة الغالبة هي نغمة الموظف أو المهني الذي يسجل مذكراته الوظيفية.
يشعر القارئ أن شغف الكتب – الذي انتظره – قد توارى خلف سرد كرونولوجي لمسيرة مهنية في عالم النشر: من دار سايمون وشوستر إلى رئاسته لتحرير مجلة نيويوركر، وغيرها من المحطات. وبدلًا من أن يتملكنا الحماس ونشوة التعرف على قارئ نهم بحق، قد يتسلل إلينا بعض الملل؛ فالسرد هنا جاف نسبيًا، يفتقر إلى تلك الشرارة الحميمة التي كنا نترقبها.
من أسباب هذا الإحباط أيضًا الطابع السياقي الغربي المهيمن على الكتاب. فغوتليب يتحدث من قلب بيئة صناعة النشر الأمريكية في القرن العشرين، حيث أسماء الدور الشهيرة والمؤلفين العالميين وشبكة العلاقات المهنية الواسعة. هذا سياق قد يجد القارئ العربي صعوبة في الاندماج معه بالكامل، خاصة إذا كان ينتظر حديثًا أكثر عالميّة عن حب الكتب. كنا نأمل أن نرى جانبًا شخصيًا أكثر دفئًا – ربما طفولة المؤلف مع الكتب، أو لحظات خاصة شكلتها القراءة – لكن هذه اللمحات كانت نادرة وسط زحام الحكايات المهنية. وهكذا اختل التوازن بين الجانب العاطفي والجانب العملي، فجاء الكتاب أقرب إلى تقرير إنجازات مهني مطعّم ببعض الآراء، منه إلى قصة حب طويلة بين رجل وكتبه. وكأن الكتاب كُتب لمعشر المحرّرين، في حين أن ثقافة المحرر شبه غائبة عن بيئتنا العربية.

هيمنة الأسلوب الشفهي واختلال التوازن السردي
زاد من شعور الخيبة الأسلوب الذي انتهجه غوتليب؛ فهو أقرب إلى الأسلوب الشفهي، تغلب عليه العفوية والسرد الحر والاستطراد. كثيرًا ما يشعر القارئ وكأنه يستمع إلى الكاتب في حديث ودي طويل – أشبه بلقاء بودكاست – أكثر من كونه يقرأ نصًا مكتوبًا بحرفية أدبية. صحيح أن العفوية قد تكون محببة أحيانًا، غير أنها هنا تحوّلت إلى ثرثرة مطوّلة تفتقر إلى التركيز. يمضي الكاتب في ذكر التفاصيل الصغيرة عن أشخاص التقاهم أو طرائف من كواليس النشر، وربما يكرر بعض الحكايات وكأنه يحادثنا مباشرة. هذه الشفوية الزائدة جاءت على حساب البناء المحكم والنَفَس الأدبي الرصين، مما أخلّ بإيقاع السرد، وطغت خبراته التحريرية على شغفه الشخصي، فافتقد النص وهج التجربة الإنسانية التي كنا نود معايشتها.
ورغم ذلك، لا يخلو الكتاب من ومضات جذابة. نجد مثلًا آراءً ثاقبة حول عالم النشر، وبعض العبارات التي تستوقف القارئ لاستبصارها. من ذلك قوله: «إن لكل كتابٍ جمهوره المحتمل من القرّاء، اكتشفه وتوصّل إليه»، وهي عبارة تلخّص فلسفة الناشر في البحث عن القارئ المناسب لكل عمل. لكن حتى هذه اللآلئ المتناثرة جاءت ضمن سياق يغلب عليه الطابع العملي، ولم تكفِ وحدها لإشعال الحماس الذي وعدنا به العنوان.

خاتمة: «القارء النهم» … شعور لا تُقاس قوّته بالأرقام
بعد إتمام قراءة القارئ النهم، يخالجنا تساؤل حول معنى النهم القرائي الحقيقي. هل هو مجرد قراءة مئات الكتب والعمل في أكبر دور النشر لعقود؟ أم هو ذلك الشغف الدائم الذي يسكن روح القارئ فلا يعرف للشبع سبيلًا؟ يبدو أن غوتليب قدّم تعريفه الخاص للنهم القرائي من منظور مهني بحت، فجاءت الصفحات أشبه بسجل إنجازات قارئٍ محترف بالوظيفة. أما ذلك الشعور الداخلي الذي يعرفه كل قارئ عاشق – الشعور بأن القراءة حياة أخرى تجري في العروق – فقد كان حضوره خافتًا بين دفتي الكتاب.
إن نهم القراءة الذي نعنيه أشبه بحبٍّ لا مشروط للكتب، يُقاس بمدى تحرّقنا لصفحة جديدة، وبقدر ما نغترف من لذة معرفية، لا بعدد الكتب المقروءة ولا بحجم الأسماء على الرفوف. وفي بيئتنا الثقافية العربية، كثيرًا ما يكون عشق القراءة موقفًا ذاتيًا، بل بطوليًا، حيث ينعزل القارئ بين دفتي الكتاب طلبًا لملاذ روحي وفكري في مجتمعات ربما لا تحتفي بالكتاب كما ينبغي. فالقارئ العربي النهم هو من يجد في القراءة خلاصه الفردي وجنّته الخاصة.
هذا البعد الوجداني العميق هو ما كنا نأمل أن نجده موصولًا بخيط السرد في كتاب غوتليب. لكن رغم خيبة الأمل، يبقى القارئ النهم إضافة مهمّة في باب السير الخاصة بعالم الكتب، تكشف جانبًا من صناعة النشر الغربية وتجربة محرر مخضرم مع عمالقة الأدب. وربما يدفعنا نقص الشغف فيه إلى تأمل تجارب أخرى تُكمل الصورة وتروي ظمأ أرواحنا القارئة. ففي النهاية، سيظل شغف القراءة شعلة لا تنطفئ في داخلنا، لا يحدّ وهجها كتاب واحد، ولا تخبو لمجرد أننا صادفنا سردًا أقل حرارة مما أردنا. المهم أن يبقى القارئ النهم الحقيقي هو ذاك الذي لا يكفّ عن البحث بين السطور عن نفسه، وعن ذلك الشعور الذي لا يُقدّر بثمن حين نختم كتابًا ونشعر أننا صرنا أكثر حياة.

أتقدّم بجزيل الشكر إلى منشورات وسم على جودة الإخراج في هذه الطبعة، وإلى المترجم أنس محمد غطّوس على ترجمته الجميلة.

[Holly · Rating 3 out of 5]

As I mentioned in a status update, I enjoyed this well enough once I accepted that it's a memoir made up of name-drops, "thank you's," and (semi-) vapid vignettes. I'd been hoping for at least some sections about editing itself, but for that I need to re-read the Paris Review interview Gottlieb gave on "The Art of Editing" - his interviewee is Joseph Heller himself and the long discussion gets into the nitty gritty of line-by-line editing and developmental editing. I loved that interview.

Gottlieb is a wealthy and well-connected man and a highly regarded editor. But he's paid his dues and settled scores and set the record straight on several rumors the literati might still hold about him. This book is mostly gossip.

I found one glaring contradiction that stood out to me: When describing his work with Bill Clinton on the post-presidency memoir Gottlieb finds it noteworthy to describe a conversation that occurred before starting to work together:

[Clinton says (in front of his young staff)]: "Ask anyone here. You'll find that I'm very easy to work for."

[Gottlieb]: "Actually," I said [to Clinton], "I have to point out that in this instance I'm not working for you, you're working for me." It was cheeky, it was deliberate. If he didn't understand that in an editorial relationship there had to be an equality, or at least a balance, it was going to fail: Editors can't do their work properly if they're hired hands.

This was just surprising because before and after this exchange Gottlieb reiterates many times that he feels he owes his writers his full attention and full service (and rapid turnarounds on their drafts, which is great). He even cites what he tells students in the Columbia publishing course on the basics of editing as [he] understands them: "Get back to your writers right away." "It's the writer's book not yours." "Spend your strength and your ego in the service of the writer." [...] And over and over again, "It's a service job."

I guess he thought the President was going to take advantage of him? (In the end they had an excellent working relationship.)

[BookBully · Rating 3 out of 5]

Who among us on this site can resist a book entitled AVID READER? Not me. Plus the author, Robert Gottlieb, has a literary pedigree that makes me salivate. Editor-in-chief at Knopf; editor at The New Yorker; friend and confidante to dozens of authors.

Gottlieb's book has the type of juicy book gossip so many readers enjoy along with stories of editing the likes of Lauren Bacall, Katherine Graham and Bill Clinton. A prolific reader himself he throws out several recommendations including a series that I keep vowing to read: The Lymond Chronicles by Dorothy Dunnett. (Just purchased the first volume, THE GAME OF KINGS.)

So why only three stars? Well, at times Gottlieb tosses in mini-bios of folks without any real cause to. It's as if someone nudged him and said, "So-and-so's family will be upset if you don't mention them...." Perhaps I'm being unfair, given that the author is now in his mid 80s and many of his dear friends and co-workers have passed.

Also - and this is strictly a personal whine - did we really need an entire chapter on dancing? Gottlieb has written several books on the subject but I would think a page or two would have sufficed in a book with this title.

Overall I'd recommend this to any one who enjoys reading about books and authors. Can't say I enjoyed it as much as say Michael Korda's ANOTHER LIFE or Lynne Tillman's BOOKSTORE but I did think it was better than HOTHOUSE by Boris Kachka.

[Joan Colby · Rating 5 out of 5]

At first blush, one might say this book includes a lot of name dropping and it does, but Gottleib is so likeable in his account and so clearly proud of his achievements that this fails to be a knock on the autobiography. For anyone who loves books and literary gossip, this book is a feast. I’ve made lists of books that Gottleib admires to check them out. His career has been spent in publishing, from Simon and Schuster,to Knopf to the New Yorker and back to Knopf. It appears he knows every writer and celebrity worth knowing and he’s forthright about them—many he loves as lifelong friends, others were ‘difficult” and some were friends where the relationship ended badly. I like this book a lot—liked the writer and his tastes, his work ethic and his evident devotion to his second wife. He speaks without self-pity of their difficulty with their second child, a victim of Aspergers syndrome and expresses gratitude that they had the means and the connections to find the best help for him. All in all, a highly enjoyable read.

[Rob Neyer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Feels more like the acknowledgments section from a book about Gottlieb's life than a book about his life itself. More substantively, I would have preferred more pages about working with Joseph Heller and Bill Clinton and fewer about writers now largely forgotten, and I would have preferred many more pages about Gottlieb's stint running The New Yorker, and many fewer about his involvement with various ballet companies. The book's certainly (and obviously) well-written, but it reads (to me) more like a love letter to his legion of close friends than like a real memoir. All those wonderful road trips with women other than his lovely and talented wife ... what was going on, really?

[Morgan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Robert Gottlieb kind of fell into publishing in his 20’s. From there he carved out a valiant career as editor and publisher with two of the most renowned publishing houses of the time and then on to the venerable “The New Yorker” magazine.

Gottleib’s reminiscences are insightful, sometimes amusing, certainly interesting to anyone who reads and loves books, and ultimately entertaining.

I thought I was an avid reader until I read this book. It turns out I am not even close since there are so many books and authors mentioned therein that I have never even heard of, never mind read, in which case perhaps it is not my place to have anything more to say on the matter except that I found his memoir interesting and enjoyable. What a life!

[Ali Reda · Rating 3 out of 5]

الفصل الأخير من أصدق ما قرأت في السير الذاتية.

[Steve Peifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

The obvious cheap shot is that this book needed an editor. It was when he told how he came to terminate the contract of Roald Dahl and how it was a financial mistake because he was a huge money maker for Knopf but that was ok because he was a hero then to his staff that I discovered the fatal flaw: this book wasn't written for his audience, it was written for his friends.

That is the only possible explanation of five pages devoted to Robert Caro and dozens and dozens to obscure friends. A good editor would tell LeBron that a book that focused on his love of chess might miss the point; the same about the lack of focus on writers. What you come to realize is that publishing was his job and dance was his passion and that is sadly why his prose is uninspired with publishing and alive with dance.

A good editor might say that he needed to remember why someone might read this.

[Dylan Perry · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5/5

[Hank Stuever · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wish there had been more about his approach to editing, techniques, memorable challenges with manuscripts and articles. When he does get into that kind of thing, it's a fascinating book. When he just glances past it, it's sort of just a tedious recounting.

[Diane Goodman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hard to review. 4 stars for his writing and his stories of years at Knopf and the New Yorker as well as his experiences with ballet over the decades which I found fascinating. But the amount he loves and admires himself gets old.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

My friend Bob Guter passed this along, and as you might guess from the title, I loved it. Actually, I was a little worried that I'd be annoyed by reading about someone so famous and accomplished and all that, but was going to give it a go anyway, because there would be so much great publishing gossip involved. And the promise of that reporting from the glorious heights of the industry I cared so much about (being an avid reader myself) did carry me along until I was captured by the author's charm and enthusiasm, and would have read on just to enjoy his voice.

Two things about the book's ending make me love it so much I want to give it 25 stars, or maybe 50. In the last chapter ("Living"), he reports on the advice on editing he gave to the Columbia University publishing course every year, which echoes what my mentor told me:
"It's the writer's book, not yours."
"Try to help make the book a better version of what it is, not into something that it isn't."
"Spend your strength and your ego in the service of the writer, not for their own sake -- or yours."
"It's a service job."
I'd like to quote several more wise things he says about publishing in that context, but I'm too lazy to re-type it, so get the book and look at page 318. If you happen to work in publishing, read this page. If you don't work in publishing, you might still benefit from reading this page. I mean, read the whole book, it's a pleasure, but this page offers a lot of condensed wisdom, in my humble opinion.

I just started to write the other thing and realized there were at least two more things, and then more than two more things to love, but I think I will try to confine myself to the two things I strongly identified with, which he treats as one and the same:
"...publishing for me turned out to have another great attraction: It was collaborative, and although I had been a loner as a child, I discovered I was much happier as part of a relatively small group of congenial, like-minded people with whom I shared a common goal. In other words, a family."
Like the author, as much as I would like to be left alone to read, I really need people to work closely with toward a common goal to feel useful - it is a basic human need to feel that you contribute, and so it is a good thing to stop reading long enough to do so. And there is something about that working together that makes a family feeling, which I have had in any job I enjoyed, even before I had the luck to find myself in publishing. The last chapter of the book is a reminder to appreciate life and the people you live it with, and what more can we ask?

[Donna · Rating 4 out of 5]

It seems like I've been reading this book forever, but actually I enjoyed it so much that I couldn't quit it. I started this book after watching the movie about Gottlieb and Robert Caro and found Gottlieb so interesting that I wanted to know all about him. I don't know if I liked the constant reference to his
"old friends" by their first names...names we all know through their writings which he published. This is the editor who brought us Catch-22, Song of Solomon, Barbara Tuchman, and Miss Piggy. Perhaps a little long, but I loved it.

[jrendocrine at least reading is good · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars? This is the unexpected gossip pages covering most authors you have read over the last 50 years. Gottlieb knows, and purportedly likes every famous author of the SO MANY that he edited. He must be one helluva'n editor, and one helluva great friend (he shares his house with everyone, who shares back). He gives me a great respect for editors and... THERE AREN'T ENOUGH OF THEM (good editors!)

When I finally started reading the book, I couldn't remember why I had it on my list until on page 185 he starts talking about my favorite of favorites... Dorothy Dunnett! He says that he got her to write the Niccolo series and suggested the zodiac theme. So, I bow down before you, Bob, your association with Dame Dunnett made my adult reading life!

Also, this bit on page 93 made me laugh - talking about anti-semitism - someone's demented elderly aunt who was "uyieldingly disagreeable about Jews" trying to explain her prejudice "They dart out of alleys!... They cluster on lawns!" Yup, that about explains it for this Jewish gal.

[Bayneeta · Rating 5 out of 5]

Maybe 4.5 stars, but clearly this was a book for me! The man must not ever sleep, and he's clearly compulsive. He stumbled in to the perfect career field for his skills, loved his jobs, loved his co-workers, loved his employees, and loved most of the writers he worked with over his long and stellar career. Simon and Schuster, Knopf, the New Yorker. Joseph Heller, Toni Morrison, John Cheever, Doris Lessing, John le Carre, Michael Crichton, Katherine Graham, Nora Ephron, Dorothy Dunnett, Bill Clinton, and on and on. Only really slow part for me was 30 pages near the end where he shares his passion for ballet and dance. I have little knowledge or appreciation for this art while he's been a devoted fan from childhood.

[Erik Fazekas · Rating 4 out of 5]

All in all it was a good book!
I did fastread the opening pages about his childhood and first job. Then adorned every single page about his editorial experiences. It did teach me something too, opened my eye. I believe and hope Mr Gottlieb’s memoir made me a better editor ;)
But i mostly skipped the parts about him being editor in New Yorker amd them dancing, writing, living...
but those editorial parts made up for everything :)

[Irene]

Love how he tracks the ups and downs of his relationship with the New York City Ballet.

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

In terms of editors extraordinaire, if the first half of the twentieth century gave us the renowned and revered Maxwell Perkins, then surely the second half gave us the landmark editorial competency and mastery of Robert Gottlieb. Different in temperament and work style, I believe they nevertheless share the prestigious title of being “authors’ editors.”

Multiple times throughout Avid Reader: A Life, Gottlieb makes it his business to repeat his editorial philosophy, which is all about serving writers and their books. “A writer’s chief concern,” Gottlieb says, “is, and should be, protecting himself and his books as he thinks fit. If the editor and publisher don’t provide that sense of security, they’re not doing their job, which is first, last, and always a service job. What we’re there for is to serve the writer and the book.”

I like the way Gottlieb structures his book, beginning with Reading, then Learning, then four successive chapters delineating his working life at Simon & Schuster, Alfred A. Knopf, The New Yorker, and a return to Knopf in a somewhat different capacity to the usual editor-in-chief position he held at all these companies. Gottlieb’s concluding three chapters are Dancing, Writing, and Living.

The style of the narrative reflects Gottlieb’s dynamic character and irrepressible energy. The content is sharply focused on writers and books. The average reader, as consumer, buys and reads books repeatedly. While dust jacket blurb and other reviews may provide additional information, it is never “the story behind the story of the book.” Gottlieb’s preferred style of working with writers is close, intimate, and hands-on, and thus, his delicious and detailed accounts of what ultimately brings a book into print are like a quenching nectar to avid book readers thirsty for behind-the-scenes information.

Granted, I was personally less interested in his work and writing on dancing, or even some of his quirky pastimes (collecting handbags!), but the lion’s share of the book’s content is on writers and books. Not surprisingly, Gottlieb’s editing prowess is his primary skill, but his excellent writing is simply a joy to read. It is as fluid and entertaining and fast-paced as if he talked the whole thing out to you during an interminable coffee-shop session.

I would have favored a different and more comprehensive index to the book, rather than what simply looks like a Who’s Who of twentieth-century writers. Nevertheless, Avid Reader: A Life is a must-read for book lovers. They will find themselves gobbling up seeming trivia about the writing and publishing of books, but when that trivia happens to relate to their own favorite authors and books, it becomes an enormously satisfying pleasure.

[Didi · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an enjoyable read. Robert Gottlieb does achieve his only goal: to make the reader's life easier with his incredibly clear, engaging, and straightforward writing. Most of this book was about his friends and their relation to the work he was doing. He led a very comfortable life that I think everyone who is drawn to some sort of analytical work wants. He did intellectually and artistically stimulating work with people he enjoyed, was compensated handsomely, and continued doing it into old age, clearly a sign that he loved his work and life. As a result, this memoir rarely goes deep on personal matters like his family or emotions-everything revolves around his work. I see what people mean by not liking the last few sections on dancing and living but luckily for me I share his love of ballet so that was genuinely interesting and the living part was fairly short so I didn't mind. An enjoyable read, where I learned a little bit more about publishing and editing.

[Jo Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating memoir by a man whose whole career was spent reading, editing, and publishing books. Loved reading about the process of editing and publishing, and loved the anecdotes about authors and books I've read and all the ones I now have to add to my to read list. Was a little slow going at times and there's an awful lot of name dropping but then Gottlieb has met and worked with many authors and editors.