Michael Dirda

Michael Dirda is the author of two collections of essays, Readings and Bound to Please, the memoir An Open Book, and, most recently, Book by Book: Notes on Reading and Life. In 1993 he received the Pulitzer Prize for his reviews and essays in The Washington Post Book World. Before drifting into journalism, Dirda earned a Ph.D. in comparative literature from Cornell University, concentrating on medieval studies and European romanticism.

From the Review

January 14, 2010: Wake Up and Dream

Generosity: An Enhancement by Richard Powers

August 13, 2009: Messing About with 'The Wind in the Willows'

The Annotated Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame, edited with a preface and notes by Annie Gauger

The Wind in the Willows: An Annotated Edition by Kenneth Grahame, edited by Seth Lerer

July 2, 2009: This Woman Is Dangerous

The Complete Ripley Novels: The Talented Mr. Ripley, Ripley Under Ground, Ripley's Game, The Boy Who Followed Ripley, Ripley Under Water by Patricia Highsmith

April 30, 2009: A Family Worth Knowing

Lark and Termite by Jayne Anne Phillips

December 4, 2008: Spellbound

Man in the Dark by Paul Auster

Travels in the Scriptorium by Paul Auster

Oracle Night by Paul Auster

The Brooklyn Follies by Paul Auster

The Red Notebook: True Stories by Paul Auster

Hand to Mouth: A Chronicle of Early Failure by Paul Auster

Mr. Vertigo by Paul Auster

The Art of Hunger: Essays, Prefaces, Interviews by Paul Auster

Moon Palace by Paul Auster

Squeeze Play by Paul Auster, published under the pseudonym Paul Benjamin

The Invention of Solitude by Paul Auster

The New York Trilogy: City of Glass, Ghosts, The Locked Room by Paul Auster with an introduction by Luc Sante

In the Country of Last Things by Paul Auster

The Music of Chance by Paul Auster

Leviathan by Paul Auster

Timbuktu by Paul Auster

I Thought My Father Was God and Other True Tales from NPR's National Story Project by Paul Auster

The Book of Illusions by Paul Auster

August 14, 2008: The Treasure Hunter

Books: A Memoir by Larry McMurtry

May 15, 2008: An Epic of the Everglades

Shadow Country: A New Rendering of the Watson Legend by Peter Matthiessen

December 20, 2007: The Wand of the Enchanter

The Journal of Joyce Carol Oates, 1973–1982 edited by Greg Johnson

The Gravedigger's Daughter by Joyce Carol Oates

The Museum of Dr. Moses: Tales of Mystery and Suspense by Joyce Carol Oates

Joyce Carol Oates: Conversations, 1970–2006 edited by Greg Johnson

May 31, 2007: The Pleasures of Casanova

History of My Life by Giacomo Casanova, translated from the French by Willard R. Trask

History of My Life by Giacomo Casanova, translated from the French by Willard R. Trask, abridged by Peter Washington, with an introduction by John Julius Norwich

Casanova's Women: The Great Seducer and the Women He Loved by Judith Summers

March 15, 2007: The Way We Live Now

Surveillance by Jonathan Raban

January 11, 2007: Dante: The Supreme Realist

From New York Review Books

Dante An inspiring introduction to one of world's greatest poets and a brilliantly argued essay in the history of ideas.