The heyday of reading is probably behind us, but in these shrewd and witty essays Brooke Allen examines the relics of the saints (and sinners) who made it what it was. Focused as much on literary lives as oeuvres, she excavates the glories of August Strindberg, George Sand, Patricia Highsmith, Anthony Powell, Truman Capote and even the late great diarist Richard Burton (who also did some acting). There are 22 essays in all, drawn from the New York Times, the Atlantic, the New Criterion and elsewhere, and Allen offers delight and surprise on every page. If the age of reading isn't yet behind you, get this book in front of you.

"Her prose swaggers with an authority drawn from true learning, and she cracks her snobbery like a whip." - John Freeman, The Wall Street Journal