How to Talk About Books You Haven’t Read
Year: 2007
Author: Pierre Bayard
Length: 269 minutes / 4.48 hours
The title of the book, How to Talk About Books You Haven’t Read was intriguing to me because there’s a huge litany of creative works out there that I haven’t experienced yet, and I was curious how Pierre Bayard would address this challenge. Of course, the wit and humor that I’m sure was present in the French version doesn’t really come across in the translation, and the whole thing feels judgmental of those who can’t improv their way through a conversation about a classic piece of art.
If anything, the premise that people would feel guilty about not having consumed some piece of popular culture or classic literature is probably more indicative of the high society or intellectual circles that would shame someone for this gap in their knowledge. I’d much rather be in a world that’s like the XKCD comic that’s about sharing these moments of discovery and providing a place for someone to express their excitement of learning/experiencing a new thing that allegedly everyone else had already found.
What felt more unnecessary about this book was that we are in an age of constant synopses. We don’t have to read a book or watch a movie to know what it’s about. Sure, the finer details might mold our experience with the work and our ultimate opinion of its execution, but that doesn’t mean we can’t have an opinion on something based on the limited information we have on it. The fact that more and more people are choosing to not read the literary greats or watch the classic movies just goes to show that nobody cares if you’ve experienced them or not—knowledge of them is enough.
A dry, almost unnecessary primer on how to pretend you’ve experienced art, I give How to Talk About Books You Haven’t Read 2.5 stars out of 5.
1/2
