Michael Dirda, a weekly book columnist for The Washington Post, received the 1993 Pulitzer Prize for criticism. He is the author of the memoir An Open Book and of four collections of essays: Readings, Bound to Please, Book by Book, and Classics for Pleasure. His latest book, On Conan Doyle, is part of Princeton’s “Writers on Writers” series. Dirda graduated with Highest Honors in English from Oberlin College and earned a Ph.D. in comparative literature (medieval studies and European romanticism) from Cornell University. He is a contributor to The New York Review of Books, The Times Literary Supplement, the online Barnes & Noble Review, and several other periodicals, as well as a frequent lecturer and an occasional college teacher. (May 2012)
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One of America’s Best
May 10, 2012
The Devil’s Dictionary, Tales, and Memoirs
by Ambrose Bierce, edited by S.T. Joshi
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The Road to the Tower
September 29, 2011
My New American Life
by Francine Prose
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White and Black Banville
November 25, 2010
The Infinities
by John Banville
Elegy for April
by Benjamin Black
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Wake Up and Dream
June 10, 2010
Eight White Nights
by André Aciman
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Wake Up and Dream
January 14, 2010
Generosity: An Enhancement
by Richard Powers
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Messing About with ‘The Wind in the Willows’
August 13, 2009
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
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This Woman Is Dangerous
July 2, 2009
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
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A Family Worth Knowing
April 30, 2009
Lark and Termite
by Jayne Anne Phillips
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Spellbound
December 4, 2008
Man in the Dark
by Paul Auster
Travels in the Scriptorium
by Paul Auster
The Brooklyn Follies
by Paul Auster
Oracle Night
by Paul Auster
The Book of Illusions
by Paul Auster
The Red Notebook: True Stories
by Paul Auster
I Thought My Father Was God and Other True Tales from NPR’s National Story Project
by Paul Auster
Hand to Mouth: A Chronicle of Early Failure
by Paul Auster
Timbuktu
by Paul Auster
Mr. Vertigo
by Paul Auster
Leviathan
by Paul Auster
The Art of Hunger: Essays, Prefaces, Interviews
by Paul Auster
The Music of Chance
by Paul Auster
Moon Palace
by Paul Auster
In the Country of Last Things
by Paul Auster
The New York Trilogy: City of Glass, Ghosts, The Locked Room
by Paul Auster with an introduction by Luc Sante
The Invention of Solitude
by Paul Auster
Squeeze Play by Paul Auster, published under the pseudonym Paul Benjamin
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The Treasure Hunter
August 14, 2008
Books: A Memoir
by Larry McMurtry
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An Epic of the Everglades
May 15, 2008
Shadow Country: A New Rendering of the Watson Legend
by Peter Matthiessen
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The Wand of the Enchanter
December 20, 2007
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
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The Pleasures of Casanova
May 31, 2007
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
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The Way We Live Now
March 15, 2007
Surveillance
by Jonathan Raban
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Dante: The Supreme Realist
January 11, 2007
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Sherlock Lives!
February 2, 2012