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How to Talk About Books You Haven't Read Hardcover – November 4, 2007

by Pierre Bayard (Author)

156 ratings

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If civilized people are expected to have read all important works of literature, and thousands more books are published every year, what are we supposed to do in those awkward social situations in which we're forced to talk about books we haven't read? In this delightfully witty, provocative book, a huge hit in France that has drawn huge attention from critics around the world, literature professor and psychoanalyst Bayard argues that it's actually more important to know a book's role in our collective library than its details. Using examples from such writers as Graham Greene, Oscar Wilde, Montaigne, and Umberto Eco, and even the movie Groundhog Day, he describes the many varieties of "non-reading" and the horribly sticky social situations that might confront us, and then offers his advice on what to do. Practical, funny, and thought-provoking, How to Talk About Books You Haven't Read is in the end a love letter to books, offering a whole new perspective on how we read and absorb them. It's the book that readers everywhere will be talking about-and despite themselves, reading-this holiday season.

Check out these articles about the French edition of How to Talk about Books you Haven't Read:

New York Times - 'Read It? No, but You Can Skim a Few Pages and Fake It' by Alan Riding
(also published in the International Herald Tribune)

Chronicle of Higher Education - 'Huckleberry Who? by Lennard J. Davis

Times Online (UK edition) - 'Viewpoint' by Sarah Vine

The Harvard Crimson - 'You've Read 'Gravity's Rainbow'? Bullshit'm by Madeline K. B. Ross

Broad Street Review - 'The only book you'll ever need' by Leonard Boasberg

Editorial Reviews

Review

“I probably shouldn't bring any of this up, but Mr. Bayard holds that one of the best reasons for reading a book is that it allows you to talk about yourself. How to Talk About Books You Haven't Read is an amusing disquisition on what is required to establish cultural literacy in a comfortable way. Lightly laced with irony, the book nonetheless raises such serious questions as: What are our true motives for reading? Is there an objective way to read a book? What do we retain from the books we've read?” ―Joseph Epstein, Wall Street Journal

“Witty and charming and often fun.” ―Sam Anderson, New York Magazine

“I read and adored Pierre Bayard's book. It's funny, smart, and so true--a wonderful combination of slick French philosophizing and tongue-in-cheek wit, and an honest appraisal of what it means, or doesn't mean, to read.” ―Clare Messud, author of The Emperor's Children

“It may well be that too many books are published, but by good fortune, not all must be read…A survivor's guide to life in the chattering classes…evidently much in need.” ―New York Times

“In this work of inspired nonsense -- which nevertheless evokes our very real sense of insecurity about the gaps in our cultural knowledge -- reading is not only superfluous, it is meaningless. Our need to appear well-read is all.” ―Sarah Gold, Chicago Tribune

“In this hilarious and elaborate spoof, Bayard proves once again that being almost ridiculously erudite and screamingly funny are by no means mutually exclusive.” ―Booklist

“Brilliant…A witty and useful piece of literary sociology, designed to bring lasting peace of mind to the scrupulous souls who grow anxious whenever the book-talk around them becomes too specific.” ―London Review of Books

“With rare humor, Bayard liberally rethinks the social use [of literature] and the position of the reader…Read or skim How to Talk About Books You Haven't Read. Or simply listen to what people say about it so that you can talk about it with ease. In either case, you may not be able to forget it.” ―Les Inrockuptibles

About the Author

Pierre Bayard is a professor of French literature at the University of Paris VIII and a psychoanalyst. He is the author of Who Killed Roger Ackroyd?, and many other books.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Bloomsbury USA
Publication date ‏ : ‎ November 4, 2007
Edition ‏ : ‎ First Edition
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Print length ‏ : ‎ 208 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1596914696
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1596914698
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 11.2 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.67 x 0.84 x 7.8 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #1,138,487 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #3,376 in Literary Criticism & Theory
- #5,285 in Literary Movements & Periods

Customer Reviews:
156 ratings

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156 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find the book filled with laughter and forgetting, appreciating its playful essay format. Moreover, the writing is masterful in English, and one customer notes how it presents a deeper, almost-philosophic way of looking at reading. Additionally, customers describe the book as witty.

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Entertainment value Reading level Reading style Wit

10 customers mention "Entertainment value"10 positive0 negative

Customers find the book entertaining, describing it as a playful essay that is filled with laughter and forgetting.

"...way, using well-chosen case studies and very witty and entertaining prose (translated flawlessly from the original French)...." Read more

"...Another fun element is a game called Humiliation, introduced in the chapter on "Not Being Ashamed," in which players name a book they have not read..." Read more

"...How to Talk About Books You Haven’t Read” is a playful essay that proposes a lighter way for us to face our intellectual deficiencies...." Read more

"...Of course, in the end, my having read this entertaining and reflective book means that I haven't read another one...." Read more

10 customers mention "Reading level"7 positive3 negative

Customers appreciate the book's writing style, describing it as a masterful work in English, with one customer noting it isn't hard to read.

"...(translated flawlessly from the original French)...." Read more

"...The books also classifies several forms of non-reading, like works we only heard about, or perused, or read and forgot; and proposes how to behave..." Read more

"...Instead I found a convoluted treatise on books that left me frustrated and angry at the author...." Read more

"...; but, it is a masterful work in English, and hope much more will be done on this topic and much more..." Read more

9 customers mention "Reading style"9 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the book's approach to reading, finding it insightful and presenting a deeper philosophical perspective. One customer notes how it transforms one's relationship with books, while another highlights its well-chosen case studies.

"This is among the very best books I've ever read, and is so packed with profound insight that I'm not sure how to review it, even after having read..." Read more

"Bayard's book is both witty and insightful. Here are the two messages I take away from it: 2...." Read more

"...to Talk About Books You Haven’t Read”, however, there is a surprisingly deep analysis of how we interact with books...." Read more

"...While it was interesting, it was more about the psychology of reading (or not) and our relationships to books and other people through books...." Read more

5 customers mention "Wit"5 positive0 negative

Customers find the book witty, with one noting it's an entertaining satire.

"...systematic and sophisticated way, using well-chosen case studies and very witty and entertaining prose..." Read more

"Bayard's book is both witty and insightful. Here are the two messages I take away from it: 2...." Read more

"An entertaining satire, beautifully translated, on the world of "professional readers", but including really everyone who reads widely and..." Read more

"...amazingly complex and ambiguous process in a manner at once elegant, witty, playful, accessible and entertaining...." Read more

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Camber
Brilliant and Liberating: A Must-Read for Readers (and Non-Readers)!
Reviewed in the United States on July 1, 2009
Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

This is among the very best books I've ever read, and is so packed with profound insight that I'm not sure how to review it, even after having read the print version a few months ago and having just finished listening to the unabridged audiobook. But one would hope that two passes through the book are sufficient, and I've recently gotten into the practice of reviewing every book I read (or listen to), so I guess it's time to try.

I think that the main thing this book accomplishes is to "invert" our relationship to books. Most of us are conditioned to treat books as though they're fixed objects with fixed contents, and so our job is to struggle to attain an "accurate" and "complete" understanding of each book, much as a scientist might aim to understand an atom, rock, or starfish. Therefore, if we're unable to properly understand a book in the first place, or if we come to misunderstand or forget a book over time, the fault and failure are ours.

Instead of falling prey to this sad state of affairs, Bayard teaches us that we should view books as being there to serve us, not the other way around (hence the inversion), and so we should freely take (or not take) what we need and want from books. And the "us" I refer to is each of us as an individual, as well as all of us collectively, interacting both with each other and with the (essentially infinite) universe of books.

When we adopt this perspective, we realize that there's no sin in skimming books, forgetting books, abandoning books, learning about books through the comments of others, interpreting books in an idiosyncratic way, disagreeing with books, judging that books are poorly written, or even deliberately not reading particular books at all. Sometimes it might even be permissible to talk about books you haven't read.

Bayard convincingly leads us to this perspective in a systematic and sophisticated way, using well-chosen case studies and very witty and entertaining prose (translated flawlessly from the original French). Sometimes Bayard engages in what seems like provocative hyperbole, but I don't think that this book is quite a work of satire, since all of the ideas fit together too coherently. Rather, I think that even Bayard's hyperbole always contains a kernel of truth, and often much more than a kernel, so part of the reader's challenge and fun is to figure out how seriously to take him.

Again, this is one the very best books I've ever read, so of course I highly recommend it, especially for people who read with any regularity. Indeed, for that audience this book is a must read, even though the book makes the case that non-reading is also sometimes appropriate. This book has the potential to radically transform your relationship to books in a way that's liberating and even empowering.

Ultimately, Bayard doesn't argue for not reading, or reading in a lazy or sloppy way. He argues for reading actively and wisely, with a conscious awareness of what one hopes to gain from reading.

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Jeff Minick
This color highlights the black print and makes it easy to read
Reviewed in the United States on July 7, 2014
Format: Paperback
At one of the tables in the window of the coffee bar on Battery Park Avenue sits the Young Woman. She is drinking a latte and reading from Kunzru’s My Revolution. She has propped her sunglasses on top of her head with the ends slipped into her short-clipped, black hair.
At the adjacent table sits the Old Guy. He wears his reading glasses perched on his nose. He is drinking black coffee and pecking away at a laptop. Beside him on the table is an unopened book, Pierre Bayard’s recent best-seller, How to Talk About Books You Haven’t Read.
Stifling a yawn--she is recuperating from an adventurous night--the Young Woman closes her book and looks at her cell phone for the time. In an hour she must walk to the grill where she waits tables five evenings a week. The Old Guy raises his head from the computer screen to sip his coffee. He catches the Young Woman looking at him and nods to her.
Young Woman: How to Talk About Books You Haven’t Read. What a strange title for a book.
The spine of the book, which is turned toward her, is yellow. This color highlights the black print and makes it easy to read.
Old Guy: It is a strange title. It’s probably a strange book.
Young Woman: You haven’t read it?
Old Guy: Only a little.
I’ve seen you here before reading and writing.
I like to get out of my apartment.
So what are you writing?
A book review.
Really? What book are you reviewing?
The Old Guy taps the book on the table beside his laptop. This one.
Young Woman: But you just said you haven’t read it. Don’t you usually read the books you review?
Of course. But reading this book seemed to defeat the purpose. The Old Guy reads aloud from the back cover of the book: “If you don’t read one book this year, make this the one!”
He hands the book to the Young Woman. On the back cover above this quotation the publisher has listed twelve titles of books. Beside this list of titles are questions that run from (A) Which of these great books have you talked about convincingly without ever cracking the spine? to (E) Which of these great books have you actually read?
The Young Woman silently examines the titles. So have you read any of these?
All but two. I tried The Man Without Qualities about ten years ago, but couldn’t make it work for me. And I didn’t care for the plays of Jean-Paul Sartre, so I never read Being and Nothingness.
In college I read No Exit in French.
You majored in French?
In French. And in English literature.
The Old Guy says nothing. He majored in history many years ago and knows how negatively many people react when you tell them you studied liberal arts.
The Young Woman looks again at the list and smiles. Her smile reminds the Old Guy of his daughter and he smiles back at her. The Young Woman taps the back of the book with a long brown finger. I read Jane Eyre in eighth grade and loved it. For a long time I thought I was Jane Eyre. In high school we read The Scarlet Letter, which was sad, and then in advanced placement we read The Sun Also Rises. Some of the other girls didn’t like Hemingway, but I loved that book. It made me want to go to Paris and stay up all night in Spain drinking wine and having men fight over me.
Old Guy: Do men still fight over women?
Not the ones I know. Not even when they’re drunk like Jake Barnes or Robert Cohn. She slides Bayard’s book onto the table beside his laptop. So you know nothing about the book?
I read parts of the ending.
What will you say about it?
That it is written by a deconstructionist and that much of it makes no sense, especially to anyone who finds value in books and ideas.
We studied deconstruction in college, but I never understood it.
It is a new way of killing books.
Book reviewers use quotes. Will you quote from the book?
The Old Guy opens the book to a page he has dog-eared. “When you enter a book in order to critique it, you risk losing what is most yourself--to the hypothetical benefit of the book, but to your own detriment.”
Young Woman: That doesn’t say much for you critics. Have you ever lost what is most yourself?
Several times.
I mean in reviewing books.
Not that I know of.
The Young Woman is still smiling, but she looks away toward the window. The Old Guy sees the shyness in her and knows what she will say next.
Sometimes I think I about writing books. Did you ever try writing a book?
Several times. But now I’m just a reviewer.
Do you have any advice?
Keep your love of Jane Eyre and Jake Barnes. Ignore fools who make books like this one. And write.

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Robert A. Campbell
Hilarious and thought-provoking
Reviewed in Canada on December 13, 2017
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

A profound meditation on the printed word. One of the best books I've read in a long time.

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Jonathan Miller
Absolutely splendid
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 2, 2007
Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
More than a practical guide, this is a meditation on reading impeccably translated by Jeffrey Mehlman. Drawing on sources from Gustave Flaubert and Oscar Wilde to Umberto Eco and David Lodge, the book is insightful, scholarly, shocking and profoundly convincing. This is a must for any bibliophile's holiday stocking and a source of great comfort for those of us who have never got through Proust. A magnificent tour de force.

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VB
問題なし。
Reviewed in Japan on July 9, 2024
Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
違う海外業者に同じ本を発注したら期限がきても届かず、結局、返金してもらった。今回は無事に期限より早く届き、包装もしっかりとしていた。

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Amazon Customer
amazing
Reviewed in India on April 26, 2017
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
good

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Annabel Gaskell
A curate's oeuf of a book!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 22, 2008
Verified Purchase
A strange book - my verdict using the author's own rating system would be SB+ (Book I have skimmed, and have a positive opinion of). Bits of it were witty and fascinating - others less so.
Not amazingly the chapters I enjoyed most were those using books I have actually read to illustrate a particular facet of non-reading - ie: Eco's The name of the Rose; Greene's The Third Man, and David Lodge's Small World & Changing Places; and Hamlet. Each of those chapters made me want to go and re-read the source. However, I have no desire to visit any of the other major books used, mostly obscure (to me) French texts, and thus previously unknown to me (UB-) but are now heard of (HB--) and will remain so! - these were the bits I skimmed.
Interestingly the author declines to specifically say whether he has actually fully 'read' any of the books mentioned or analysed. I also found a witty degree of self-parody, as we learn very little about the author's personal reading habits. This is extended to the fact that he uses many examples of fictional non-reading that authors have created in their books to illustrate his thesis!
I admit, I'm think I'm quite a dab hand at talking about books I haven't yet read, as my own to be read pile is about 1000 books - and I do read the blurbs and reviews before filing them, and I adore looking at books on a shelf. This skill also enables me to say "Oh I've got that, but not read it yet" with monotonous regularity when helping to choose a book at our Book Group.

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5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant and Liberating: A Must-Read for Readers (and Non-Readers)!

3.0 out of 5 stars This color highlights the black print and makes it easy to read

Top reviews from other countries

5.0 out of 5 stars Hilarious and thought-provoking

5.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely splendid

5.0 out of 5 stars 問題なし。

4.0 out of 5 stars amazing

3.0 out of 5 stars A curate's oeuf of a book!

Brilliant and Liberating: A Must-Read for Readers (and Non-Readers)!

This color highlights the black print and makes it easy to read

Hilarious and thought-provoking

Absolutely splendid

問題なし。

amazing

A curate's oeuf of a book!