A Reading Diary: A Passionate Reader's Reflections on a Year of Books

Synopsis

While traveling in Calgary, Alberto Manguel was struck by how the novel he was reading (Goethe's Elective Affinities ) seemed to reflect the social chaos of the world in which he was living. An article in the daily paper would suddenly be illuminated by a passage in the novel; a long reflection would be prompted by a single word. He decided to keep a record of these moments, rereading a book each month, and forming A Reading Diary : a volume of notes, reflections, impressions of travel, of friends, of events public and private, all elicited by his reading.