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Leave Me Alone, I'm Reading: Finding and Losing Myself in Books
As book reviewer for NPR’s Fresh Air and contributor to many publications, Maureen Corrigan literally reads for a living. For as long as she can remember, books have been at the center of her life, a never-failing source of astonishment, hard truths, new horizons, and welcome companionship. Now Corrigan has added a volume of her own to the shelf of classics, by reading her life of reading with all the attention to complexity, wit, and intelligence that any good book–or life–deserves.
Part memoir, part coming-of-age story, and part reflection on favorite and influential books, Leave Me Alone, I’m Reading views the world through an open book. From her unpretentious girlhood in the working-class neighborhood of Sunnyside, Queens, to her bemused years in an Ivy League Ph.D. program, from the whirl of falling in love and marrying (a fellow bookworm, of course), to the ordeal of adopting a baby overseas, Corrigan has always had a book at her side.
We read this life in reverse as Corrigan begins the book as a “professional reader” always conscious of the many people, like her own mother, who don’t “get” the power of reading, and we end up as a fly on the wall of this only child in Queens, transported to exciting yet threatening worlds beyond her small apartment, a block from the #7 subway.
Corrigan’s references range from Richard Wright to Philip Roth to Chekhov, but certain themes emerge. Corrigan subverts the classic “man conquers mountain or ocean or battlefield” genre by juxtaposing it with what she calls “female extreme adventure novels”–books such as Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre, the Collected Poems of Stevie Smith, and Anna Quindlen’s Black and Blue, which feature women quietly fighting for their lives.
Hard-boiled detective stories that cloak social criticisms of work and family beneath their protagonist’s trench coat–-Dashiell Hammett’s The Maltese Falcon, Gaudy Night by Dorothy L. Sayers, Sara Paretsky’s mysteries–are another abiding passion. More surprising, and perhaps more revealing, is her taste for tales of Catholic martyrs and secular saints, a holdover from her days in parochial school that left an indelible impression.
Moving from page to life and back again, Corrigan writes ultimately of fashioning a complicated, sometimes contradictory self out of her class background, her classroom teaching, and her own classics of literature; a list of favorite books is also included. In Leave Me Alone, I’m Reading, Maureen Corrigan invites us to accompany her on the journey of a lifetime.
Part memoir, part coming-of-age story, and part reflection on favorite and influential books, Leave Me Alone, I’m Reading views the world through an open book. From her unpretentious girlhood in the working-class neighborhood of Sunnyside, Queens, to her bemused years in an Ivy League Ph.D. program, from the whirl of falling in love and marrying (a fellow bookworm, of course), to the ordeal of adopting a baby overseas, Corrigan has always had a book at her side.
We read this life in reverse as Corrigan begins the book as a “professional reader” always conscious of the many people, like her own mother, who don’t “get” the power of reading, and we end up as a fly on the wall of this only child in Queens, transported to exciting yet threatening worlds beyond her small apartment, a block from the #7 subway.
Corrigan’s references range from Richard Wright to Philip Roth to Chekhov, but certain themes emerge. Corrigan subverts the classic “man conquers mountain or ocean or battlefield” genre by juxtaposing it with what she calls “female extreme adventure novels”–books such as Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre, the Collected Poems of Stevie Smith, and Anna Quindlen’s Black and Blue, which feature women quietly fighting for their lives.
Hard-boiled detective stories that cloak social criticisms of work and family beneath their protagonist’s trench coat–-Dashiell Hammett’s The Maltese Falcon, Gaudy Night by Dorothy L. Sayers, Sara Paretsky’s mysteries–are another abiding passion. More surprising, and perhaps more revealing, is her taste for tales of Catholic martyrs and secular saints, a holdover from her days in parochial school that left an indelible impression.
Moving from page to life and back again, Corrigan writes ultimately of fashioning a complicated, sometimes contradictory self out of her class background, her classroom teaching, and her own classics of literature; a list of favorite books is also included. In Leave Me Alone, I’m Reading, Maureen Corrigan invites us to accompany her on the journey of a lifetime.
201 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2005
77 people are currently reading
3928 people want to read
About the author
Maureen Corrigan
11 books201 followersMaureen Corrigan (Born July 30, 1955) is an American journalist, author and literary critic. She writes for the "Book World" section of The Washington Post, and is a book critic on the NPR radio program Fresh Air. In 2005, she published a literary memoir, Leave Me Alone, I'm Reading: Finding and Losing Myself in Books.
Corrigan holds a B.A. from Fordham University as well as an M.A. and Ph.D from the University of Pennsylvania and is Critic in Residence and a lecturer in English at Georgetown University. Her specialist subjects include 19th-century British literature, women's literature (with a special focus on autobiographies), popular culture, detective fiction, contemporary American literature, and Anglo-Irish literature. Corrigan is a member of the advisory panel of The American Heritage Dictionary and an Advisor to the National Endowment of the Arts "Big Read" project.
(from Wikipedia)
Corrigan holds a B.A. from Fordham University as well as an M.A. and Ph.D from the University of Pennsylvania and is Critic in Residence and a lecturer in English at Georgetown University. Her specialist subjects include 19th-century British literature, women's literature (with a special focus on autobiographies), popular culture, detective fiction, contemporary American literature, and Anglo-Irish literature. Corrigan is a member of the advisory panel of The American Heritage Dictionary and an Advisor to the National Endowment of the Arts "Big Read" project.
(from Wikipedia)
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 389 reviews
June 11, 2019
As a true book lover, I was drawn to this book by its title.
However, I found the book a little disjointed and less about the joy of reading books in general, less about the transportive effect of books, and more a literary analysis of various books thrown in amongst various autobiographical bits of the author's life.
Also, I have a bit of a "pebble in my shoe" issue after reading this book. I very much dislike it when authors throw in certain "facts" to support an argument but don't provide you with enough detail to verify the data for yourself. Corrigan states that "according to a Wall Street Journal article of a few years ago, some 59 percent of Americans don’t own a single book. Not a cookbook or even the Bible" pxiv-xv. I found this "fact" astounding! However, Corrigan does not provide a year or a title of the article; I suppose I should be grateful that she at least sources the periodical. I have attempted to track this down, to verify it--no luck. The only thing that I can come up with that is even in the ballpark is a Roper poll from 1978 indicating that 45% of American's polled had not read a book that year.
And yet...yet, there are these moments, these small moments, where she does talk about the impact of books on her life, the power of the written word. Many of these ring as "true" for me, as a bibliophile. For instance, one of my favorite quotes from the book:“…sometimes even a few good sentences contained in an otherwise unexceptional book can crystallize vague feelings, fleeting physical sensations, or, sometimes, profound epiphanies." Yes! Unfortunately, I think the quote also is descriptive of her own work--a few good sentances in an otherwise unexceptional book.
Quotes:
"I think that, consciously or not, what we readers do each time we open a book is set off on a search for authenticity. We want to get closer to the heart of things, and sometimes even a few good sentences contained in an otherwise unexceptional book can crystallize vague feelings, fleeting physical sensations, or, sometimes, profound epiphanies. Good writing is writing that’s on target…” p xvi
"I've also noticed that I use semicolons a lot. That punctuational rut is partly a consequence of the years I spent reading Victorian nonfictional prose writers...who were capable of raging on in page-length semicolon-studded sentences...But there's more to it than that. The semicolon is my psychological metaphor, my mascot. It's the punctuation mark that qualifies, hesitates, and ties together ideas and parts of a life that shoot off in different directions. I think my reliance on the semicolon signifies that I want to hold on to my background...and yet, also transcend it." pxxxi
However, I found the book a little disjointed and less about the joy of reading books in general, less about the transportive effect of books, and more a literary analysis of various books thrown in amongst various autobiographical bits of the author's life.
Also, I have a bit of a "pebble in my shoe" issue after reading this book. I very much dislike it when authors throw in certain "facts" to support an argument but don't provide you with enough detail to verify the data for yourself. Corrigan states that "according to a Wall Street Journal article of a few years ago, some 59 percent of Americans don’t own a single book. Not a cookbook or even the Bible" pxiv-xv. I found this "fact" astounding! However, Corrigan does not provide a year or a title of the article; I suppose I should be grateful that she at least sources the periodical. I have attempted to track this down, to verify it--no luck. The only thing that I can come up with that is even in the ballpark is a Roper poll from 1978 indicating that 45% of American's polled had not read a book that year.
And yet...yet, there are these moments, these small moments, where she does talk about the impact of books on her life, the power of the written word. Many of these ring as "true" for me, as a bibliophile. For instance, one of my favorite quotes from the book:“…sometimes even a few good sentences contained in an otherwise unexceptional book can crystallize vague feelings, fleeting physical sensations, or, sometimes, profound epiphanies." Yes! Unfortunately, I think the quote also is descriptive of her own work--a few good sentances in an otherwise unexceptional book.
Quotes:
"I think that, consciously or not, what we readers do each time we open a book is set off on a search for authenticity. We want to get closer to the heart of things, and sometimes even a few good sentences contained in an otherwise unexceptional book can crystallize vague feelings, fleeting physical sensations, or, sometimes, profound epiphanies. Good writing is writing that’s on target…” p xvi
"I've also noticed that I use semicolons a lot. That punctuational rut is partly a consequence of the years I spent reading Victorian nonfictional prose writers...who were capable of raging on in page-length semicolon-studded sentences...But there's more to it than that. The semicolon is my psychological metaphor, my mascot. It's the punctuation mark that qualifies, hesitates, and ties together ideas and parts of a life that shoot off in different directions. I think my reliance on the semicolon signifies that I want to hold on to my background...and yet, also transcend it." pxxxi
March 17, 2020
I discovered a kindred spirit in Maureen Corrigan. A Georgetown professor and book reviewer for NPR’s “Fresh Air,” she is lucky enough to make a living by reading and then writing (and talking) about what she’s read. The very first lines of her book convinced me that I’d found a like-minded soul: “It’s not that I don’t like people. It’s just that when I’m in the company of others – even my nearest and dearest – there always comes a moment when I’d rather be reading a book.” I couldn’t agree more.
For people who read and write for a living, creating a personal realm of seclusion and silence may well be essential. Corrigan refers to reading as a “necessary solitude” and “essentially an antisocial and even voluptuous indulgence.” Growing up, she avoided social situations such as dating; “Given the choice, I’d always opt for staying home and reading a book.” And even as an adult, despite the multiple joys of interacting with a large social circle and her extended family, Corrigan insists “I would go nuts if I couldn’t go off by myself regularly to read.”
Her introduction is by far the best chapter; much of the rest of the book is, alas, filled with rather facile and boring literary critique, though I like her invented subgenre of “women’s extreme-adventure tales” (to which I would add Margot Livesey’s The Flight of Gemma Hardy, The Virago Book of Women Travellers, Susanna Jones’s When Nights Were Cold, Sara Wheeler’s O My America!, Molly Peacock’s The Paper Garden: Mrs. Delany Begins Her Life’s Work at 72, and Diana Athill’s Somewhere Towards the End). I also enjoyed her tale of adopting her daughter from China.
Luckily, I happen to share her delight in academic farces and Victorian literature (her PhD was on master prose stylists like Ruskin and Carlyle), though not her enthusiasm for detective fiction (she completely ruins the plot of Dorothy Sayers’s Gaudy Night) or Catholic martyrdom tales.
Throughout, Corrigan has the peculiar habit of twisting facts to fit her own preconceived definitions. So her experience of infertility and foreign adoption is phrased as an ‘extreme adventure,’ while her preference for semicolons apparently reflects her desire to always be holding two things together. Psychoanalyzing punctuation might just be a step too far.
All this said, a true bibliophile will certainly find some tidbits to love here, even if it’s just the many great quotes about the love of reading. Be prepared to skim, though.
For people who read and write for a living, creating a personal realm of seclusion and silence may well be essential. Corrigan refers to reading as a “necessary solitude” and “essentially an antisocial and even voluptuous indulgence.” Growing up, she avoided social situations such as dating; “Given the choice, I’d always opt for staying home and reading a book.” And even as an adult, despite the multiple joys of interacting with a large social circle and her extended family, Corrigan insists “I would go nuts if I couldn’t go off by myself regularly to read.”
Her introduction is by far the best chapter; much of the rest of the book is, alas, filled with rather facile and boring literary critique, though I like her invented subgenre of “women’s extreme-adventure tales” (to which I would add Margot Livesey’s The Flight of Gemma Hardy, The Virago Book of Women Travellers, Susanna Jones’s When Nights Were Cold, Sara Wheeler’s O My America!, Molly Peacock’s The Paper Garden: Mrs. Delany Begins Her Life’s Work at 72, and Diana Athill’s Somewhere Towards the End). I also enjoyed her tale of adopting her daughter from China.
Luckily, I happen to share her delight in academic farces and Victorian literature (her PhD was on master prose stylists like Ruskin and Carlyle), though not her enthusiasm for detective fiction (she completely ruins the plot of Dorothy Sayers’s Gaudy Night) or Catholic martyrdom tales.
Throughout, Corrigan has the peculiar habit of twisting facts to fit her own preconceived definitions. So her experience of infertility and foreign adoption is phrased as an ‘extreme adventure,’ while her preference for semicolons apparently reflects her desire to always be holding two things together. Psychoanalyzing punctuation might just be a step too far.
All this said, a true bibliophile will certainly find some tidbits to love here, even if it’s just the many great quotes about the love of reading. Be prepared to skim, though.
March 3, 2008
So let's start off with a couple of things. First off, I love NPR. I love Fresh Air. I love NPR. Maureen Corrigan being the book reviewer for NPR= extreme jealously/worship. Second off, I adore books about books. I could read books about books all day forever and ever. Ok now that we have that established...forward march!
I really did enjoy this memoir, I loved how she incorporated books into nearly everything and I was laughing out loud more than a few times just out of sheer disbelief. I have had some of the exact same thoughts that she has, done some of the exact same things. It's utterly bizarre but kind of ridiculously awesome. I think this alone makes me more than a little biased. I related to it way more than I thought I would and got at least 2 pages of awesome book reccomendations to boot. I only had a couple of qualms, one of them minor. First qualm: she used the word vicarious and all of its forms a lot. I understand that this word has a pretty limited meaning so when you are using it it's not like you have many other choices but really how many second-hand thrills can you have? Wait let me rephrase that, I think she could have gotten the point across without using that word so many times. I realize that the question is rather stupid considering we are talking about books here. My second qualm was the Catholic school girl chapter. I know that this was a part of a her life and all that but for a self-proclaimed "skeptical Catholic" she sure spent a lot of time talking about. I found the chapter rather long and rambling and I really had to force myself to get through it. I'm not sure if it's from my lack of interest or what but it was the longest and dullest part of the book which isn't exactly a great combination...on to the positives.
Ok the whole adopting the little girl from China? Amazing, that would be such an awesome experience and the way she wrote it really had me on the edge of the seat there for a while haha, plus all the ridiculous things people ask made me laugh. I also really liked her whole "Female Extreme-Adventure" chapter. It was rather random and odd way to start out the book but I found the subject really fascinating so I really didn't mind. I think the last part of the book is my favorite when they visit their friends house in New York. This part focused the least on books but it gave me a really nostalgic feeling which is something I have been craving for a while. To sum it up, this book is reccomended for all book lovers. It's well-written, heartwarming, relatable, and just an enjoyable experience.
I really did enjoy this memoir, I loved how she incorporated books into nearly everything and I was laughing out loud more than a few times just out of sheer disbelief. I have had some of the exact same thoughts that she has, done some of the exact same things. It's utterly bizarre but kind of ridiculously awesome. I think this alone makes me more than a little biased. I related to it way more than I thought I would and got at least 2 pages of awesome book reccomendations to boot. I only had a couple of qualms, one of them minor. First qualm: she used the word vicarious and all of its forms a lot. I understand that this word has a pretty limited meaning so when you are using it it's not like you have many other choices but really how many second-hand thrills can you have? Wait let me rephrase that, I think she could have gotten the point across without using that word so many times. I realize that the question is rather stupid considering we are talking about books here. My second qualm was the Catholic school girl chapter. I know that this was a part of a her life and all that but for a self-proclaimed "skeptical Catholic" she sure spent a lot of time talking about. I found the chapter rather long and rambling and I really had to force myself to get through it. I'm not sure if it's from my lack of interest or what but it was the longest and dullest part of the book which isn't exactly a great combination...on to the positives.
Ok the whole adopting the little girl from China? Amazing, that would be such an awesome experience and the way she wrote it really had me on the edge of the seat there for a while haha, plus all the ridiculous things people ask made me laugh. I also really liked her whole "Female Extreme-Adventure" chapter. It was rather random and odd way to start out the book but I found the subject really fascinating so I really didn't mind. I think the last part of the book is my favorite when they visit their friends house in New York. This part focused the least on books but it gave me a really nostalgic feeling which is something I have been craving for a while. To sum it up, this book is reccomended for all book lovers. It's well-written, heartwarming, relatable, and just an enjoyable experience.
March 31, 2009
I love this book.
I love this book even though it has complicated my life by adding dozens and dozens of books to the list of books I will never have time to read, dammit.
** Maureen Corrigan is related to Douglas "Wrong Way" Corrigan.
** She once lived a part-time approximation of Harriet Vane in Gaudy Night.
** Her literary loves include mysteries with hard-boiled detectives ("the ultimate independent contractors").
** As a child, she read many Catholic "martyr stories" that taught a "pedagogical tough-love message. "
** She once told a student that Gertrude Stein's Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas is "an elegant goof."
** She once taught a course called "Sleuthing spinsters and dangerous dames."
** She regrets that tomboy characters in children's books have been "gussied up and diminished into girly girls by Disney."
** (My favorite) As a critic, she has been forced to misspend reading time on mysteries narrated by cats.
I love this woman.
Corrigan's narrative is not jumpy, and is not list-like. My notes are, both. When I started reading, my notes focused on her thoughts about reading as a search for personal authenticity, to deepen one's own life. By the end, I was compiling a bibliography.
I am fascinated by her analysis of men's vs. women's literature. Both, she says, can be extreme adventure stories. Men's adventures usually are visible, external struggles with extreme topography or evildoers. Women's, however, may not be as obvious if they are internal struggles with issues as strong as the most fearsome dictator or hurricane: abortion, widowhood, childbirth, psychological or physical abuse, repression. A woman's extreme adventure, she says, is "less Herculean and more Sisyphean in nature."
I am also fascinated by the memoir that is woven through her literary adventures. She left the Catholic childhood behind and pursued a career in writing that included non-tenured professorships and writing for the "Village Voice." Her job at NPR as book critic is her dream job (which anyone reading this blog knows to be true). This trajectory was, at least, logical.
Not so logical or linear was her struggle to have a child. She and her husband endured the extreme adventure, all-too-common, of treatment for infertility. Finally, they decided to adopt a Chinese baby. That trajectory, through Byzantine paperwork and terrifying Chinese roads, careened from despair to optimism to bewilderment - and ended with their daughter, Molly, asleep in their arms.
I came away from this book wishing that I had Maureen in my life as a friend - or, barring that, wishing I had unlimited access to her library.
I don't just recommend this book. I relish it.
(In no particular order, some of the books that I now want to read or reread : Gaudy Night, News from Nowhere, The Girl Sleuth, The Unicorn's Secret, The Godwulf Manuscript, Etchings in an Hourglass, Quartet in Autumn, Villette, Lost Lady, Lucky Jim, Murder in the English Department, stories by Chekhov including "Lady with a Lapdog," Madwoman in the Attic, The Lecturer's Tale, Straight Man, and Charming Billy.)
Sheesh!
I love this book even though it has complicated my life by adding dozens and dozens of books to the list of books I will never have time to read, dammit.
** Maureen Corrigan is related to Douglas "Wrong Way" Corrigan.
** She once lived a part-time approximation of Harriet Vane in Gaudy Night.
** Her literary loves include mysteries with hard-boiled detectives ("the ultimate independent contractors").
** As a child, she read many Catholic "martyr stories" that taught a "pedagogical tough-love message. "
** She once told a student that Gertrude Stein's Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas is "an elegant goof."
** She once taught a course called "Sleuthing spinsters and dangerous dames."
** She regrets that tomboy characters in children's books have been "gussied up and diminished into girly girls by Disney."
** (My favorite) As a critic, she has been forced to misspend reading time on mysteries narrated by cats.
I love this woman.
Corrigan's narrative is not jumpy, and is not list-like. My notes are, both. When I started reading, my notes focused on her thoughts about reading as a search for personal authenticity, to deepen one's own life. By the end, I was compiling a bibliography.
I am fascinated by her analysis of men's vs. women's literature. Both, she says, can be extreme adventure stories. Men's adventures usually are visible, external struggles with extreme topography or evildoers. Women's, however, may not be as obvious if they are internal struggles with issues as strong as the most fearsome dictator or hurricane: abortion, widowhood, childbirth, psychological or physical abuse, repression. A woman's extreme adventure, she says, is "less Herculean and more Sisyphean in nature."
I am also fascinated by the memoir that is woven through her literary adventures. She left the Catholic childhood behind and pursued a career in writing that included non-tenured professorships and writing for the "Village Voice." Her job at NPR as book critic is her dream job (which anyone reading this blog knows to be true). This trajectory was, at least, logical.
Not so logical or linear was her struggle to have a child. She and her husband endured the extreme adventure, all-too-common, of treatment for infertility. Finally, they decided to adopt a Chinese baby. That trajectory, through Byzantine paperwork and terrifying Chinese roads, careened from despair to optimism to bewilderment - and ended with their daughter, Molly, asleep in their arms.
I came away from this book wishing that I had Maureen in my life as a friend - or, barring that, wishing I had unlimited access to her library.
I don't just recommend this book. I relish it.
(In no particular order, some of the books that I now want to read or reread : Gaudy Night, News from Nowhere, The Girl Sleuth, The Unicorn's Secret, The Godwulf Manuscript, Etchings in an Hourglass, Quartet in Autumn, Villette, Lost Lady, Lucky Jim, Murder in the English Department, stories by Chekhov including "Lady with a Lapdog," Madwoman in the Attic, The Lecturer's Tale, Straight Man, and Charming Billy.)
Sheesh!
June 3, 2023
Overall, I found this book moderately enjoyable, but for me the most transformative aspect of it was Corrigan's discussion of her own newly minted micro-genre, the "female extreme-adventure novel."
This was an "Aha!" moment for me-- that throughout the history of novel writing, while men and male protagonists have been out exploring the physical landscape and challenging their physical limits, women and female protagonists have been exploring an inner landscape as jagged and formidable as any mountain or river. They contend with dangers that are just as real, though perhaps not as obvious to the careless eye, insanity not least among them. Perhaps the more important revelation was that these characteristically female adventures are well worth recognizing and writing about, and that a story about the inner life can be as compelling and fascinating as a story about exploring the outer wilds.
Since finishing this book, I see the female extreme-adventure novel everywhere, and I have developed a great appreciation for it. Many novels that are frequently dismissed by some readers as "boring" because "nothing happens," I now recognize as being full of an entirely different type of drama. I have encountered many wonderful examples of this in my more recent reading, and I talk to my bookish friends about it almost obsessively, like so:
"I read another great example of the female extreme-adventure novel last week. This woman spends her whole life so crippled by social anxiety that she can't leave her house."
"Hmm, sounds dull."
"No, really. The drama of her inner struggle to connect with the people in the town she lives in was intense. And what she ultimately does about it is pretty incredible."
*sigh* "There she goes again, blathering on about the female extreme-adventure novel."
(That book was The Mill River Recluse, by the way.)
Other great examples I've encountered that I never would have appreciated (at least, not at this level) if it were not for Ms. Corrigan include:
* The Pastor's Wife
* The Hours (and by extension, Mrs. Dalloway)
* A Thousand Splendid Suns (has some of the more traditional adventure elements to it as well)
* Atonement
* Moloka'i
Whatever else you may think of this book, this one aspect of it has completely changed my perspective and understanding of many other books, and has quite literally made me a better and more discerning reader.
This was an "Aha!" moment for me-- that throughout the history of novel writing, while men and male protagonists have been out exploring the physical landscape and challenging their physical limits, women and female protagonists have been exploring an inner landscape as jagged and formidable as any mountain or river. They contend with dangers that are just as real, though perhaps not as obvious to the careless eye, insanity not least among them. Perhaps the more important revelation was that these characteristically female adventures are well worth recognizing and writing about, and that a story about the inner life can be as compelling and fascinating as a story about exploring the outer wilds.
Since finishing this book, I see the female extreme-adventure novel everywhere, and I have developed a great appreciation for it. Many novels that are frequently dismissed by some readers as "boring" because "nothing happens," I now recognize as being full of an entirely different type of drama. I have encountered many wonderful examples of this in my more recent reading, and I talk to my bookish friends about it almost obsessively, like so:
"I read another great example of the female extreme-adventure novel last week. This woman spends her whole life so crippled by social anxiety that she can't leave her house."
"Hmm, sounds dull."
"No, really. The drama of her inner struggle to connect with the people in the town she lives in was intense. And what she ultimately does about it is pretty incredible."
*sigh* "There she goes again, blathering on about the female extreme-adventure novel."
(That book was The Mill River Recluse, by the way.)
Other great examples I've encountered that I never would have appreciated (at least, not at this level) if it were not for Ms. Corrigan include:
* The Pastor's Wife
* The Hours (and by extension, Mrs. Dalloway)
* A Thousand Splendid Suns (has some of the more traditional adventure elements to it as well)
* Atonement
* Moloka'i
Whatever else you may think of this book, this one aspect of it has completely changed my perspective and understanding of many other books, and has quite literally made me a better and more discerning reader.
June 11, 2007
I was really excited to read this book, but I couldn't get through all of it. I liked the introduction, but then the meat of the book reminded me (in a bad way) of my brief stint at an English major. I didn't like being tricked into reading literary criticism!
June 13, 2017
I think one reason I enjoy reading is for the opportunity to get inside another human being’s head, to connect mentally with that person’s thoughts, even if that person lived centuries ago. It’s a sort of magic, isn’t it? Maureen Corrigan understands that magic. The opening line of this book is: “It’s not that I don’t like people. It’s just that when I’m in the company of others---even my nearest and dearest---there always comes a moment when I’d rather be reading a book.” Spoken like a true book person, no? The author, in addition to teaching literature at Georgetown University, also reviews books on the NPR program, “Fresh Air”. It sounds like an enviable life, doesn’t it? In this book, she tells how she ended up where she is today, step-by-step, a life in books. Her voice is sincere, sometimes bemused (as when she wonders whether the ten years she spent getting her PhD may better have been spent having youthful adventures, trekking about Europe perhaps…), but always immediately recognizable for a book lover. She puts into words what many of you have surely felt. Her father was also a reader, while her mother couldn’t quite understand their obsession. As Ms. Corrigan says, “My mom, on the other hand, would rather try to talk to just about anybody---Minnie Mouse, Alan Greenspan---than read a book.” (page xix). It is that wry, self-deprecating voice that is so endearing about Ms. Corrigan’s prose. She acknowledges that this book obsession isn’t quite normal, but there you have it: we love and accumulate books anyway. With books ever the backdrop, she tells of her Irish Catholic upbringing in Queens, her years in graduate school, her marriage, and her eventual adoption of a baby from China. The book concludes with a nice “recommended reading” list. There is something very comforting about spending time with this fellow book lover. I enjoyed every page.
March 19, 2015
Maureen Corrigan, noted book critic from NPR's "Fresh Air," has written a memoir for true book lovers who do not see their reading life as separate from real life. Growing up Irish-Catholic in New York, the daughter of a World War II Navy vet (himself a huge reader), Corrigan recounts her life in terms of the books she read along the way, studying literature at Fordham and Penn, teaching at Georgetown, and eventually marrying another passionate reader and adopting a Chinese girl. Particularly compelling is her argument for classics like "Jane Eyre" and "Pride and Prejudice," and contemporary heavyweights like "A Handmaid's Tale" and "Beloved," to be considered part of a long tradition of "female extreme adventure tales." Just as men in traditional adventure tales by the likes of Jack London and Ernest Hemingway must survive physical ordeals in difficult circumstances, so too must women characters often endure great hardships by, say, caregiving to the sick or elderly, or waiting out a fateful decision at the hands of privileged men. Corrigan also explores the Mystery novel as an expression of working class values, specifically the hard-boiled crime novel depicting heroic private eyes who thrive on restoring justice to the world while independently toiling at a job well done. The modern-day popularity of writers like Robert Parker, Sue Grafton, and Lisa Scottoline, grows out of this tradition, as collectively we hold great admiration for the modern-day Spencers and Millhones, who endear us with their quirky ordinariness, but faithfully kick butt, often in non-traditional settings. Finally, Corrigan explores the Catholic martyr stories of her young adulthood, which was not as compelling for me, but introduced me to some tortured Catholic narratives and bestsellers of bygone times.
July 17, 2011
This book is what happens when a book reviewer turns her critical eye to her own existence. Any avid reader should appreciate the importance of books in one's own life and how they shape those who read. Corrigan says, apologetically, that we read to find authenticity, a scrap of something that will improve our understanding of ourselves. Perhaps. She says that reading a book can be a dangerous thing sometimes. True.
Peppered with examples from books she has read, this is a kind of memoir that eventually gets dominated by a long discussion on themes in Catholic Martyr Literature. For that reason I gave it less stars. But before the book becomes bogged down, and in places among the bog, there are some gems of learning present. Her opinion on women as adventurers in 19th Century literature was fascinating as was her discussion of the theme of 'work' in the novel form. Her musings on the importance of books in her life and the travails of a book nerd were often humorous, as when she remarks that her mother suggest she go on Jeopardy to finally put to use all those book smarts.
There is a lengthy section on adoption, wherein she speaks of everything from the challenges of the process to the tendency of complete strangers to offer their sometimes offensive opinions. As an adoptive father, I related to the pain she expressed, as well as the joy that is found in the miracle of adoption.
It was a well-written book that was easy to read, and had some great sequences, but ultimately not one I will remember too incredibly fondly due to its flaws.
Thanks for reading.
Peppered with examples from books she has read, this is a kind of memoir that eventually gets dominated by a long discussion on themes in Catholic Martyr Literature. For that reason I gave it less stars. But before the book becomes bogged down, and in places among the bog, there are some gems of learning present. Her opinion on women as adventurers in 19th Century literature was fascinating as was her discussion of the theme of 'work' in the novel form. Her musings on the importance of books in her life and the travails of a book nerd were often humorous, as when she remarks that her mother suggest she go on Jeopardy to finally put to use all those book smarts.
There is a lengthy section on adoption, wherein she speaks of everything from the challenges of the process to the tendency of complete strangers to offer their sometimes offensive opinions. As an adoptive father, I related to the pain she expressed, as well as the joy that is found in the miracle of adoption.
It was a well-written book that was easy to read, and had some great sequences, but ultimately not one I will remember too incredibly fondly due to its flaws.
Thanks for reading.
September 4, 2010
Maureen Corrigan has spent her life doing what she loves: reading and interpreting fiction as a college professor, author, and newspaper/radio critic. Her semi-autobiography uses a lifetime's reading to explore not only her own life and those of her parents, but also the role of women in Western culture, popular vs. canonical literature, and what it means to be an American. She is most effective when describing her admiration for hard-boiled detective fiction and when drawing parallels between the once-ubiquitous memoir Karen, the strongly Catholic Beany Malone series for teenagers, and centuries-old tales of martyred saints. Readers who know Corrigan best from her three-minute reviews on the radio show Fresh Air will hear her voice in every line.
October 21, 2023
I love to listen to Maureen Corrigan give book reviews on NPR, so I especially enjoyed listening to her read her own book about "books!"
This book is also a memoir in which she tells of growing up and attending a Catholic school, her high school and college years, meeting her husband, and about going to China to adopt her daughter, Molly. All the while telling of the books she was reading during those momentous times of her life, books that were popular at those times, and the importance of books overall in our lives.
Maureen just has a way with words, a down-to-earth attitude, and a genuine love for books. I enjoyed it so much!
This book is also a memoir in which she tells of growing up and attending a Catholic school, her high school and college years, meeting her husband, and about going to China to adopt her daughter, Molly. All the while telling of the books she was reading during those momentous times of her life, books that were popular at those times, and the importance of books overall in our lives.
Maureen just has a way with words, a down-to-earth attitude, and a genuine love for books. I enjoyed it so much!
March 24, 2024
The author, a book review for NPR and the Village Voice, discusses her lifelong love of books and how voracious reading has shaped her thought and life, from her Catholic school days to marriage and her adoption of a daughter from China. Corrigan reads through her Catholic, feminist prism, and though I don’t always agree with her analysis – the ending of Pride and Prejudice as subjugation of Elizabeth’s fiery spirit, for example – she’s always entertaining, erudite, and easy to read. It’s an unusually delightful tour of someone else’s reading list, an often too-subjective thing to make an intriguing subject for public discussion. Her takes on hard-boiled detective fiction and what she calls the “modern secular Catholic martyr tale” are especially intriguing and amusing.
April 24, 2007
Corrigan reviews books for NPR, and this is an interesting combination of book recommendations with parts of her own life story. I now have a longer "to read" list.
April 11, 2021
Another book for bool lovers. Talks about how we can find, and lose, ourselves in books.
December 31, 2024
Whew!!! I finally finished this one. Enjoyed some of the middle and the end. But there are some fairly significant errors: the author says she read Pride and Prejudice many times, yet tells us Lydia is the 3rd daughter. She muddles events in Dorthy Sayers' Harriet Vane books. And so on. Why did no editor catch that? It seems odd when the author is a known book reviewer. Overall I was disappointed and it took effort to finish. But there were some worthwhile moments and insights.
August 19, 2008
Don't be fooled -- this isn't a memoir. But it's not lit theory either... it's mostly the wishy washy area in between. Here Maureen Corrigan spoils plot after plot, stringing together a series of dubiously connected book reviews. She makes excuses at various points of the book for her "lack of methodology" and lack of direction, which are the downfall of this book. She tries to read feminist themes into a variety of crappy fiction, which might be admirable if she didn't make so many gendered comments. For someone so well-read, Ms. Corrigan sure has putrid taste in literature, in addition to her painfully repetitive and disconnected writing and a mandatory reference to 9/11. Snore.
February 7, 2017
I love books about books or about reading. Maureen Corrigan's descriptions of herself as a reader felt so familiar to me. This book was written twelve years ago, but the feel of the book is fresh and present and relevant. It is a quiet book but well worth taking ones time to savor.
abandoned
March 9, 2025Corrigan and I don't overlap much in our tastes. I don't think I've ever described a book as "luminous" including The History of Luminous Motion. That's rather more of a disincentive to me. So I'm going to give up and give it back to the library.
2020 June 06
2020 June 06
March 6, 2024
I love a book about books, and I found the author’s personal stories interesting, both for her literary insight, and for her life experiences so different from my own. I thought there would be more to the book regarding the title, as in digging deeper into more and more books and talking about the introvert life. This book was more of a memoir with books as the basis. Her story focuses heavily on womanhood, race/ethnicity, and religion, particularly Irish Catholicism. I did get several book recommendations from this book to add to my ever-growing “to-read” list.
“Some people love to eat; others of us love to read. In both instances, the particular hunger and the life are absolutely intertwined.”
“I think, consciously or not, what we readers do each time we open a book is to set off on a search for authenticity. We want to get closer to the heart of things, and sometimes even a few good sentences contained in an otherwise unexceptional book can crystallize vague feelings, fleeting physical sensations, or, sometimes, profound epiphanies.”
“With the courage of the deluded, I assumed that I could easily step into a man’s profession because I so easily stepped into men’s stories in literature.”
“Books are always necessary cargo.”
“Some people love to eat; others of us love to read. In both instances, the particular hunger and the life are absolutely intertwined.”
“I think, consciously or not, what we readers do each time we open a book is to set off on a search for authenticity. We want to get closer to the heart of things, and sometimes even a few good sentences contained in an otherwise unexceptional book can crystallize vague feelings, fleeting physical sensations, or, sometimes, profound epiphanies.”
“With the courage of the deluded, I assumed that I could easily step into a man’s profession because I so easily stepped into men’s stories in literature.”
“Books are always necessary cargo.”
January 17, 2025
저자는 미국의 저널리스트이자 NPR radio program Fresh Air 에서 문학 비평가로 활동하고 있다. 그녀가 추천하는 책들을 알고 싶어 읽게 되었다. 저자의 삶과 더불어 책이 가지는 의미를 전한다 - Chinese baby를 중국 까지 건너가 입양해 오는 이야기, 그녀의 백그라운드(Irish catholic) 아래 어린시절 카톨릭 학교에서 받은 교육의 영향과 그의 따른 독서 이야기. 또한 그녀가 즐겨 읽는 Detective Fiction도 소개하는데 흥미롭다. Detective 소설에 매료되어 시간낭비가 될거 같아 우정 피하고 있는 장르 였는데, 시간 낭비 만은 아닌 좋은 책도 있는 거 같아 저자가 추천하는 책들을 읽고 싶어졌다. 한편 저자는 19세기 소설 전문 교수로 대학에서 강의 하고 있는데, Bronte Sisters와 Jane Austene의 소설들에 대해서 비평적으로 이야기 해 주는 포인트가 가장 좋았다. 소설속 여자 주인공들의 19 세기 당시 위치의 삶을 현재의 달라진 견해와 시각(Feminist)으로 바라 보는 것이다. 다시 읽어 보고 싶은 책이 꽤 생겼다. 책에대한 책을 좋아한다면 추천하고 싶은 책이다.
May 24, 2018
A professor of literature/NPR book reviewer discusses her readerly reflections and the intersections between her lifelong habit of reading and life experiences. For instance, one chapter discusses books she categorizes as “women extreme adventure stories” (like Jane Eyre and Villette), which are “heavy on anxious waiting and endurance” which leads to the story of the long, complicated process she and her husband went through to adopt a child from China. In another chapter, the author brings a fresh, feminist perspective to her love of hard-boiled detective stories and her fascination with how working for a living is portrayed in fiction. While sometimes conclusions seem too sweeping for the literary evidence presented, this is an entertaining and creative look at reading, life, and literary theory.
July 20, 2022
Maureen Corrigan ist professionelle Leserin. Sie ist Buchkritikerin beim Radiosender NPR und lehrt Literatur an der Georgetown University. Wie lebt es sich, wenn man seine Leidenschaft zum Beruf gemacht hat? Macht das Lesen immer noch so viel Spaß wie zu der Zeit, als man es "nur" als Hobby betrieben hat?
Mein erster Gedanke war, dass das Buch ziemlich chaotisch aufgebaut ist für. Jemand, der täglich Bücher liest und sie kritisch betrachtet, sollte sein Buch übers Lesen in mehr als vier Abschnitte einteilen, die auf den ersten Blick keinen Zusammenhang haben.
Auf den zweiten Blick passt es perfekt. Maureen Corrigan hat mich auf eine ungewöhnliche Reise mitgenommen. Anhand ihrer Lektüre erzählt sie ihr Leben: wie sie sich als Jugendliche mit den Protagonisten ihres aktuellen Buchs identifiziert hat, wie sie mit 150 Bücherkisten umgezogen ist und wie einer ihrer Studenten ihren Unterricht vor Allen Ginsberg lobte, so dass der ihr eine Zeichnung schenkte.
In Leave me alone, I'm reading geht es auf eine ungewöhnliche Art um Bücher. Die Autorin stellt Zusammenhänge zwischen Büchern her, die ich so noch nie gesehen habe. Aber bei den Büchern, die ich kannte, konnte ich diese Zusammenhänge gut nachvollziehen. Allerdings muss ich gestehen, dass ich nie selbst darauf gekommen wäre. Vielleicht fehlt mir dieser besondere Blick auf das Gelesene, das Maureen Corrigan hat... und wahrscheinlich auch ihr unglaubliches Gedächtnis, denn sie kann sich an weitaus mehr aus ihrer Lektüre erinnern, als ich das kann.
Bei diesem Buch bin ich allerdings sicher, dass es mir im Gedächtnis bleiben wird, denn die Lektüre hat mir großen Spaß gemacht.
Mein erster Gedanke war, dass das Buch ziemlich chaotisch aufgebaut ist für. Jemand, der täglich Bücher liest und sie kritisch betrachtet, sollte sein Buch übers Lesen in mehr als vier Abschnitte einteilen, die auf den ersten Blick keinen Zusammenhang haben.
Auf den zweiten Blick passt es perfekt. Maureen Corrigan hat mich auf eine ungewöhnliche Reise mitgenommen. Anhand ihrer Lektüre erzählt sie ihr Leben: wie sie sich als Jugendliche mit den Protagonisten ihres aktuellen Buchs identifiziert hat, wie sie mit 150 Bücherkisten umgezogen ist und wie einer ihrer Studenten ihren Unterricht vor Allen Ginsberg lobte, so dass der ihr eine Zeichnung schenkte.
In Leave me alone, I'm reading geht es auf eine ungewöhnliche Art um Bücher. Die Autorin stellt Zusammenhänge zwischen Büchern her, die ich so noch nie gesehen habe. Aber bei den Büchern, die ich kannte, konnte ich diese Zusammenhänge gut nachvollziehen. Allerdings muss ich gestehen, dass ich nie selbst darauf gekommen wäre. Vielleicht fehlt mir dieser besondere Blick auf das Gelesene, das Maureen Corrigan hat... und wahrscheinlich auch ihr unglaubliches Gedächtnis, denn sie kann sich an weitaus mehr aus ihrer Lektüre erinnern, als ich das kann.
Bei diesem Buch bin ich allerdings sicher, dass es mir im Gedächtnis bleiben wird, denn die Lektüre hat mir großen Spaß gemacht.
December 13, 2014
Oh, this one was a hard one to rank. It was a three when I first picked it up, a two when I first put it down, a four when I picked it up again years later, and a three when I put it back down a second time. I was determined to knock off a lot of low-hanging almost-finished fruit from my TBR pile this weekend, and I finally read the last thirty pages. So, hey, let's average this out to a three? Ish?
This is one of those books that tragically reinforces my extreme reluctance to get rid of books. My mom gave me this for Christmas lo those many moons ago, knowing it was a good fit for me just because of the blurb quote about how at some point, during any gathering of people, no matter how much the author loves those people, she realizes she would rather be reading. My mother, perspicacious woman that she is, recognized her wee darling in that sentence.
And, yes, that is sort of what this book is about. But only sort of. It's also got a huge whack of general audience literary criticism of female action-adventure novels, detective novels, and Catholic secular saint novels. Which turns out to be fascinating to me, once I got over expecting to read about how one balances the desire to be with people with the desire to read. I was sorely disappointed when I first put the book down, midway through the first literary criticism section, but I came back to it a few years later, and it was exactly what I wanted to read.
What was the difference between Read #1 and Read #2? The internet, I think. I have learned far more - absorbed far more - about feminism and women in fiction and women who write and so much of the stuff that my literature degree attempted to beat in my head, so I was far, far more appreciative of the discussion of women and books and women in books and women writing books in this book after a few years knocking around the internet than I was after three years of Serious Literature Classes. (Okay, part of that is probably because I spent much of the time I should have been studying Serious Literature going to Rocky Horror, writing papers on Rocky Horror and the Exorcist, and discovering the wild and woolly world of internet media fandom. Slog through Anna Karenina or the Sith Academy, hmmm, that's a toughie. ) What seemed a bit dry and a bit pointless on first read was far more engaging the second time around.
And then, hm, I kind of got bored during the Catholic secular saint portion of the competition (a bit of a letdown after the female action-adventure novel section and the detective novel section, both of which I had vested interests in), and I put it down for another year or so. Picked it up again, found Corrigan's writing style just as charming as I did the second time around, and was delighted by the reading list at the back of the book.
Recommended, at least for those interested in easy reading lit crit. The bits about a life lived with books feel a bit like a framing device, albeit a lovely one.
This is one of those books that tragically reinforces my extreme reluctance to get rid of books. My mom gave me this for Christmas lo those many moons ago, knowing it was a good fit for me just because of the blurb quote about how at some point, during any gathering of people, no matter how much the author loves those people, she realizes she would rather be reading. My mother, perspicacious woman that she is, recognized her wee darling in that sentence.
And, yes, that is sort of what this book is about. But only sort of. It's also got a huge whack of general audience literary criticism of female action-adventure novels, detective novels, and Catholic secular saint novels. Which turns out to be fascinating to me, once I got over expecting to read about how one balances the desire to be with people with the desire to read. I was sorely disappointed when I first put the book down, midway through the first literary criticism section, but I came back to it a few years later, and it was exactly what I wanted to read.
What was the difference between Read #1 and Read #2? The internet, I think. I have learned far more - absorbed far more - about feminism and women in fiction and women who write and so much of the stuff that my literature degree attempted to beat in my head, so I was far, far more appreciative of the discussion of women and books and women in books and women writing books in this book after a few years knocking around the internet than I was after three years of Serious Literature Classes. (Okay, part of that is probably because I spent much of the time I should have been studying Serious Literature going to Rocky Horror, writing papers on Rocky Horror and the Exorcist, and discovering the wild and woolly world of internet media fandom. Slog through Anna Karenina or the Sith Academy, hmmm, that's a toughie. ) What seemed a bit dry and a bit pointless on first read was far more engaging the second time around.
And then, hm, I kind of got bored during the Catholic secular saint portion of the competition (a bit of a letdown after the female action-adventure novel section and the detective novel section, both of which I had vested interests in), and I put it down for another year or so. Picked it up again, found Corrigan's writing style just as charming as I did the second time around, and was delighted by the reading list at the back of the book.
Recommended, at least for those interested in easy reading lit crit. The bits about a life lived with books feel a bit like a framing device, albeit a lovely one.
July 21, 2013
Deja vu! From her 1960's parochial school upbringing to her love of books and description of the books piled all over her house, I felt instantly at home with Maureen.
Maureen weaves a narrative of her life thus far and enthusiastically delves into the books that were companions throughout. She describes the Karen books which I also had to read in school. Tom Dooley which my brother had in his room and she also gets into many great classics of literature as well as explaining her love of detective and spy thrillers.
Her chapter on adopting her daughter and the tulmultous trip to China, are a delight and also helped me to gain insight into what friends who have adopted a child may have gone through.
Ms. Corrigan might be recognized as the voice of book reviews to those who enjoy NPR's Fresh Air or to those who read the book reviews in the Washington Post.
Delighted to discover a book about reading books!
Maureen weaves a narrative of her life thus far and enthusiastically delves into the books that were companions throughout. She describes the Karen books which I also had to read in school. Tom Dooley which my brother had in his room and she also gets into many great classics of literature as well as explaining her love of detective and spy thrillers.
Her chapter on adopting her daughter and the tulmultous trip to China, are a delight and also helped me to gain insight into what friends who have adopted a child may have gone through.
Ms. Corrigan might be recognized as the voice of book reviews to those who enjoy NPR's Fresh Air or to those who read the book reviews in the Washington Post.
Delighted to discover a book about reading books!
September 11, 2011
exciting title, tedious book. ugh. author works out her issues with catholic upbringing and lack-of-strong-female-role-models-in-books-by-males. she has two quotes that work against her-- "...reading good books doesn't necessarily make one a good person-- or a smarter, funnier, or more cultivated person." and "great books untouchables ... have always struck me as purring a bit too loudly over the beauty of their own sentence structure. the tone of a lot of academic literary theory repels me..." -- said when her own book hums like a snobby, substance-lacking dissertation.
this was not a good read.
this was not a good read.
August 7, 2015
There is a longer review at my blog.
But in short, I did not like this, and I was surprised, because it seemed so much the sort of thing I would enjoy. When Corrigan talks about books as a professional, suggesting alternate readings, she is marvelous -- but when she goes into memoir I found her quite dreary.
But in short, I did not like this, and I was surprised, because it seemed so much the sort of thing I would enjoy. When Corrigan talks about books as a professional, suggesting alternate readings, she is marvelous -- but when she goes into memoir I found her quite dreary.
July 30, 2008
A little dry and tedious at times, but an interesting read overall. I thought the book's highlight was her retelling of her daughter's adoption, and her stories about her father. The rest was a bit academia for my tastes. Maybe if there had been more "Jane Eyre", Jane Austen, and "Little Women" and a little less Karen....
January 31, 2018
If you need practice skimming a book, try this one.
Once again, here’s a title that tantalizes more than what the book delivers. This memoir did not hold my attention as the author ruminated though chapters discussing books about catholic martyrs and women’s extreme adventures.
But I did enjoy Maureen Corrigan’s asides about her life as an obsessive reader who receives fifty books a week from publishers. She lives a bookish life in a nonliterary era, Corrigan writes in her book, published thirteen years ago.
Maureen Corrigan reads for a living. She, like so many bookworms, grew up timid and introspective. As a shy kid, only child and skeptical Catholic, reading gave her companionship while growing up in Queens.
Maureen’s reading-averse mother motivates her to get other people excited about books. Her dad, meanwhile, thought she found the best job possible. As a book reviewer, she receives books for free, gets paid to read them, then talk about them on the radio.
Almost thirty years ago, Maureen Corrigan became the book reviewer for Fresh Air on NPR, “the highlight of my professional life.” She acknowledges her improvement as a critic because of the high standards set by Terry Gross, the program host, and Doug Miller, producer.
Along the way, Maureen described “Lucky Jim” as the funniest novel she ever read. So, I will add that to my to-read shelf.
Three and a half stars, rounding up because I enjoy hearing Maureen Corrigan on Fresh Air.
Naturally, a book by a book reviewer leads to thoughts about writing thoughts, comments and reviews here on Goodreads. In my case, I am in my sixth year of this. After a lifetime of reading, I like Goodreads as a holding tank to catalogue and share my books while regretting putting it off until then.
I read books with a pad of three-by-five sticky notes at hand, jotting whatever sounds new, catches my eye or engages my brain. When done with each book, about half of those notes make the first cut. Then a first draft, usually letting that percolate overnight before editing and posting. It’s interesting how some of the older postings continue to garner a like every now and then.
Once again, here’s a title that tantalizes more than what the book delivers. This memoir did not hold my attention as the author ruminated though chapters discussing books about catholic martyrs and women’s extreme adventures.
But I did enjoy Maureen Corrigan’s asides about her life as an obsessive reader who receives fifty books a week from publishers. She lives a bookish life in a nonliterary era, Corrigan writes in her book, published thirteen years ago.
Maureen Corrigan reads for a living. She, like so many bookworms, grew up timid and introspective. As a shy kid, only child and skeptical Catholic, reading gave her companionship while growing up in Queens.
Maureen’s reading-averse mother motivates her to get other people excited about books. Her dad, meanwhile, thought she found the best job possible. As a book reviewer, she receives books for free, gets paid to read them, then talk about them on the radio.
Almost thirty years ago, Maureen Corrigan became the book reviewer for Fresh Air on NPR, “the highlight of my professional life.” She acknowledges her improvement as a critic because of the high standards set by Terry Gross, the program host, and Doug Miller, producer.
Along the way, Maureen described “Lucky Jim” as the funniest novel she ever read. So, I will add that to my to-read shelf.
Three and a half stars, rounding up because I enjoy hearing Maureen Corrigan on Fresh Air.
Naturally, a book by a book reviewer leads to thoughts about writing thoughts, comments and reviews here on Goodreads. In my case, I am in my sixth year of this. After a lifetime of reading, I like Goodreads as a holding tank to catalogue and share my books while regretting putting it off until then.
I read books with a pad of three-by-five sticky notes at hand, jotting whatever sounds new, catches my eye or engages my brain. When done with each book, about half of those notes make the first cut. Then a first draft, usually letting that percolate overnight before editing and posting. It’s interesting how some of the older postings continue to garner a like every now and then.
June 20, 2022
Maureen Corrigan, noted book critic from NPR's "Fresh Air," has written a memoir for true book lovers who do not see their reading life as separate from real life. Growing up Irish-Catholic in New York, the daughter of a World War II Navy vet (himself a huge reader), Corrigan recounts her life in terms of the books she read along the way, studying literature at Fordham and Penn, teaching at Georgetown, and eventually marrying another passionate reader and adopting a Chinese girl. Particularly compelling is her argument for classics like "Jane Eyre" and "Pride and Prejudice," and contemporary heavyweights like "A Handmaid's Tale" and "Beloved," to be considered part of a long tradition of "female extreme adventure tales." Just as men in traditional adventure tales by the likes of Jack London and Ernest Hemingway must survive physical ordeals in difficult circumstances, so too must women characters often endure great hardships by, say, caregiving to the sick or elderly, or waiting out a fateful decision at the hands of privileged men. Corrigan also explores the Mystery novel as an expression of working class values, specifically the hard-boiled crime novel depicting heroic private eyes who thrive on restoring justice to the world while independently toiling at a job well done. The modern-day popularity of writers like Robert Parker, Sue Grafton, and Lisa Scottoline, grows out of this tradition, as collectively we hold great admiration for the modern-day Spencers and Millhones, who endear us with their quirky ordinariness, but faithfully kick butt, often in non-traditional settings. Finally, Corrigan explores the Catholic martyr stories of her young adulthood, which was not as compelling for me, but introduced me to some tortured Catholic narratives and bestsellers of bygone times
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