Michael Dirda (The Post)

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Dirda on Books
Hosted by Michael Dirda
Washington Post Book World Senior Editor
Thursday, April 26, 2001; 2 p.m. EDT

This week's topic: What books, or works of art, or pieces of music do you find consoling or otherwise helpful during times of stress, sorrow or confusion. What picks you up after a long day? What does the trick after a long year?

Washington Post Book World Senior Editor Michael Dirda takes your questions and comments concerning literature, books and the joys of reading.

Dirda's name appears weekly in The Post's Book World section. If he's not reviewing a fat literary biography or an ambitious new novel, he's likely to be writing a lighthearted essay about the joys and burdens of living in a house filled with way too many books. Although he holds a Ph.D. in comparative literature from Cornell, Dirda is still smart enough to be an unabashed fan of "The Simpsons," noting that "the show's genius derives from its details." He also loves P.G. Wodehouse, intellectual history, children's books and locked-room mysteries – just the sort of range you'd expect from a Pulitzer Prize winner for distinguished criticism.

These days, Dirda says he spends inordinate amounts of time mourning his lost youth and daydreaming ("my only real pastime"). Otherwise he just reads books and writes about them, with occasional visits to secondhand bookstores in search of treasures. He claims that the happiest hours of his week are spent sitting in front of a computer working on his reviews and Readings columns. "Do not imagine that I regard my taste for literary artifacts as anything but shameless and vulgar," Dirda says, "I have sunk so low as to covet Edward Gorey coffee mugs. I yearn for a bust of Dante to place on a bookcase."

The transcript follows.

Editor's Note: Washingtonpost.com moderators retain editorial control over Live Online discussions and choose the most relevant questions for guests and hosts; guests and hosts can decline to answer questions.

Michael Dirda: Welcome to Dirda on Books! Do we all the know the drill? Then let's go!

Lenexa, Kans.: Mr. Dirda,

You've been so responsive to us, I wish we could be helpful. Keep working/exercising: Churchill's "black dog" may leave as mysteriously as it came.

I've read Styron, McMurtry, and King -- King's was trauma-genic -- and how they worked their way through. All had trouble writing for a time. I think best is Hastings' play "Tom & Viv" (VCR film) showing Eliot overcoming despair.

Probably less helpful (just read): HarperCollins's new release of C.S. Lewis with Updike blurb: "I read Lewis for comfort and pleasure many years ago... "

QUESTION: Are you an admirer of Camus's Myth of Sisyphus? Thanks.

Michael Dirda: Thanks for the kind regards and info. I stopped runing six months ago, and need to get back into exercising--I'm sure that'll help with my period of despondency. I'm also about to read a big book about depression--should be interesting (and not Robert Burton's Anatomy of Melancholia, which I've already read big chunks of).
I always thought that Tom and Viv was a travesty of Eliot's actual marriage and so avoided watching it. But now I'll have to give it a look-see. I wonder if Updike was reading Lewis when he separated from his first wife. . .

Reston, Va.: Hey Michael,

Love your columns and I've been reading them for years. On to books, etc. that console...

1. Travels with my aunt by Graham Greene
2. A Confederacy of Dunces by JK O'toole
3. Handling Sin by Michael Malone

These always make me laugh out loud and will lighten anyones day.

Michael Dirda: Ah, yes comic novels. In truth, almost any good book, with a strong voice, can suck you into its narrative and awaiy from your troubles. I've never read this Greene nor the Malone--I guess I should check them out. THanks for the counsel.

Northwest, D.C.: Could you reccomend a book on Chinese history, especially the Opium Wars? Thanks.

Michael Dirda: Jonathan Spence is the best known Chinese scholar of our time--he has a history of modern China, The Gate of Heavenly Peace, which probably touches on the Opium Wars. Certainly his extgensive reading list there should point you to some titles.

Washington, D.C.: I've always found the art of Lichtenstein and the later books of Terry Pratchett to pick me up. And good staged versions of comedies like "As You Like It."

BTW - Do you know if Pratchett's latest will be reviewed?

Michael Dirda: WE've reviewed the last several Pratchetts on their own--I did The Truth--so I'll probably include the newest in a round-up of fantasy and sf. But you're right: LIke wodehouse, he is a pick me up. Not sure about LIchtenstein: sometimes he's funny, but often he makes me feel wistful.

Arlington, Va.: Hi Michael,

There seem to be so many current, popular books dealing with Holland in the 16th/17th century- Girl With a Pearl Earring, Girl in Hyacinth Blue, and Tulip Fever. Do you recommend any of these? I will be traveling to Holland in the next couple of weeks and thought they might be nice companions for the journey.

Michael Dirda: I just read with pleasure Anthonyh Bailey's biography of Vermeer--it deals with much in Golden Age Dutch culture besides the great painter. Of course, the contemporary masterpiece here is Simon Schama's An Embrassment of Riches. I haven't read any of these current books, I'm afriad, but Bailey has a chapter in which he discusses the current spate of Vermeer related novels.

Washington, D.C.: Michael--
Do you have any favorite bookstores in the D.C. area that you go back to repeatedly? Would you mind sharing some of these with us today and let us know why you like them?
Thanks.

Michael Dirda: I feel awkward about doing this; it would seem to endorse a couple over the others and, in truth, the DC shops are uniformly interesting--from differing points of view. For example, for expensive modern firsts, you'd go to Quill and Brush; for scholarly books, you might try Alphaville (now only online) or Bartleby's Books. Bonifant, Georgetown and Second Story have good general stock. Book House in Virginia is good on americana, etc. etc. Personally, I like to go to thrift stores and library sales--what I like is searching for books, not paying seirous money for them.

Takoma Park, Md.: With regard to Eliot and his wife, have you read Martha Cooley's The Archivist? Relevant speculation wrapped in a fine book.

Comic novels are only part of the answer to distraction. Good nonfiction about science can help as well.

That said, when I was marooned both in depression and New Delhi, India, a combination of Daniel Pinkwater, Stephen Pinker, Cold Comfort Farm and Robertson Davies got me through until I could return to the U.S. and my own library.

Exercise, unfortunately, also works but it does take time away from reading.

Michael Dirda: THanks for the leads. Pinwater, Davies etc. are all favorites. Have never read Pinker--his dustjacket photo showed this incredible mane of hair that put me off. I assigned the Cooley for review, and I remember it as seeming an appealing subject. The novel got favorable notices, but never really took off.

Swim-two-birds: Two pieces of consoling music are Bach's St. Matthew Passion and Coltrane's "A Love Supreme." And I also like Hopkins' "The Wreck of the Deutschland" for this purpose, but I'm weird.

Michael Dirda: ST. Matthew's Passion? Ok, I'll try anything. I like wistful ballads--Ella Fitzgerald, Margaret WHiting, Ben Webster, Paul Desmond, Astrud Gilberto--but oddly enough have hardly listened to Coltrane. I'll look for A Love Supreme--I hope it's melodic.
As for the Hopkins: Nothing like drowned nuns to brighten the day, eh?

EG, D.C.: Why not try renting some Russ Meyer films? Those certainly have male-cheering charms to them. I was delighted to read some weeks back that you had an epiphany, albeit an anti-movie epiphany, while waiting to see a Russ Meyer flick. Who’da thunk that our dear Michael would partake of such prurient pleasures?

Michael Dirda: Oh, there are dark currents running in us all. People think I'm a bookworm, but that's only a cover so that I can pick up adoring and complaisant college girls. Sigh.

Arlington, Va.: Dear Michael,

You have a legion of friends and fans who really care about you. I hope you will soon triumph over melancholy. Last year was a bit shaky for me as well and books were one of my healers. Strange as it may sound, The Crack-Up by F. Scott was a wonderful companion. Such a brave book! Such beautiful turns-of-phrase- F. Scott wrote throw away sentences that I don't ever have a prayer of duplicating.
Be well.

Michael Dirda: Many thanks. I like that book too. In a real dark night of the soul it is always three o'clock in the morning. Personally, I tend to feel even worse at 4.

Edgewood, Md.: Hello Michael,

When I need something to cheer me up or just relieve boredom, I've found that Ogden Nash does it every time. The incredibly varied rhymes, the nonsense, the sweetness, even the sarcasm and occasional invective always bring a smile.

When I need something more, I turn to the Book of Job. Sometimes one needs to rail against the universe. The writer of Job expressed that need better than anyone else I've read. Yet, he maintained hope and belief in the ultimate justice of God, as we must. Are there certain books or portions of the Bible that provide such an outlet for you? If not in the Bible, where else?

Oh, in relation to last week's questions, I loved my grammar school readers. Whenever we received a new one, I'd go right to the back of the book for the "more advanced" stories because they always conjured the world as I then thought it should be (more comfort, I guess). But, the books that started me in literature were Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. At age 9 or 10, I preferred Tom, but Huck has been an old friend whom I visit every couple of years.

I enjoy your chats, though I rarely get to participate. Please keep them going as long as you can.

Michael Dirda: Glad to hear yhou enjoy the chats. As long as people want them, I'll keep doing them. I think.

Somewhere, USA: I find anything by Grieg helps me when I'm feeling blue. As for the written word, a book full of bright ideas and colorful characters - Lorrie Moore or Waugh, to name a few - usually picks me up off the floor of self-pity.

Michael Dirda: Grieg! I would never have thought. The piano concerto? The songs? I really should Lorrie Moore. Thanks. I do think you may be a bit hard on self-pity though. It's hard to get through life without a little of it.

EG, DC: Going back a few weeks to books that made us readers: One of mine was probably “The Good Earth.” I know Pearl S. Buck wrote many other books, although she is far and away best known for “Earth.” Do you know of other outstanding works of hers? Was she a great writer or just a pioneer in writing about China?

Michael Dirda: There was a very good biography of Buck a few years back. I confess to having read nothing but The Good Earth, which I enjoyed--but back then I also thought The Robe was the greatest novel in the world. IN general, I don't think people read Buck any more, and that there's a general feeling that her Nobel Prize is something of an embarrassment.

McLean, Va.: Good Afternoon,
I'm wild for travel narratives, from Redmond O'Hanlon all the way to Wade Davis's major One River (which is of course much more than a travel story) and In Search of the Pink Headed Duck by Rory Calhoun. I long for your suggestions. Thanks.

Michael Dirda: Eric Newby, A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush
Peter Fleming, Brazilian Adventure
Eveyln Waugh, When the Going was Good
Robert Byron, The Road to Oxiana
Bruce Chatwin, In Patagonia
Freya Stark, The Valley of the Assassins.

Elkinstan - re: cheer-up books: You can guess who I'm gonna give you: go back and get out your favorite, Dick Gibson, and enjoy the Nebraska radio station run by brothers, the extinction of the last dodo on Mauritius, the guests on the overnight show, and mostly the genius of the language, and give in to his laugh-at-the-world, laugh-at-yourself humor of a true portrayer of what's really absurd. Cheers me up every time.

Michael Dirda: Ok. What Elkinstan is referring to is Stanley Elkin's novel, The Dick Gibson Show, about the career of a radio talk show host.

Ella and Louis never fail: Dear Michael,

Listen to the two glorious collections of Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong singing and swinging together. Always puts a smile on my face and makes me tingle. Those two are just amazing. Ella's concert recordings in Rome and Berlin are also tremendous- her sweet, funny version of Mack the Knife always has me laughing.

Michael Dirda: I've got a bunch of Ella, though not the albums wiht Armstrong. But she usually makes me want to cry in my drink over my lost youth, lost loves, etc. etc. WHich is fine, in its way, but cheering only by purgation. Still she is wonderful. I was just thinking how the world has changed. So many of the great singers of the past were nothing to look at, while today you can hardly be on stage and not have the sexy looks of a supermodel.

Cambridge, Mass.: It all depends on what is provoking your blues? Women? Money? Family? Career? Or just middle age blahs? There are specific books suited to each malady. "The Sportwriter" by R. Ford is a good start. "Unbearable Lightness of Being," too. Vonnegut is a laugh sometimes. Camus' "The Plague" always helps me reconnect.

Or perhaps you should try to read something that puts your troubles in perspective ... maybe Primo Levi or Elie Wiesel.

Good luck.

Michael Dirda: Don't think I could use the Holocaust as a means of cheering myself up. Too perverse, though I see your point.
As for your question: My answer would be the classic SAT response: All of the above.

Washington, D.C.: Definitely get A Love Supreme! Melodic and simple, but profound. Also Miles' Kind of Blue is somehow great both when you're depressed and elated. If you're more into sublimating your depression check out Trane's album Crescent (also not too out there).

Michael Dirda: Is there a good album of sax ballads, byh Coltrane or others? I have an LP of Kind of Blue.

SciFiGirl: For the person going to the Netherlands, Girl With a Pearl Earring is a charming book, but doesn't really say much about Vermeer. However, it does capture nicely what life would have been like during the time, especially for a passionate girl who is unable to get what she really wants. For such a lively and mercantile country, the Netherlands doesn't seem to have attracted massses of historical fiction writers. I guess their royals just weren't interesting enough!

Michael Dirda: thanks.

Vienna, Va.: In John Bayley's memoir of Iris Murdoch's difficult last years, he mentions how - after a trying day - he would give himself a treat consisting of an hour or so reading Barbara Pym. I couldn't agree more -- Pym's writing is very cheering and uplifting. (Her own life was at times a struggle with lack of recognition and finances -- there is a good biography of Pym by Hazel Holt. I believe she was also a favorite of Philip Larkins)
Do you know anything about a British novelist of the 50's named Patricia Avis? She was close to Kingsley Amis and Larkin, but was only published posthumously.

Thanks.

Michael Dirda: I keep meaning to read Pym, and this may be the occasion. Patrica Avis sounds vaguely familiar, but nothing more. ANybody know anything about her?

Washington, D.C.: I can second the Lorrie Moore suggestion, though stuff out of her first collection is better as a pick me up than the later stuff from "Birds of America." "People Like that are the only People Here" is a wonderful story, but emotionally grueling.

Michael Dirda: EMotionally grueling I know from first-hand experience and thus don't need to read about. Thanks for the pointer to the first collection.

Alexandria, Va.: You've mentioned Wodehouse above in passing - I defy anyone to keep a straight face when reading about Bertie Wooster's troubles! More philosphically, "The Discoverers" by Daniel Boorstin I found very inspiring. Just reading about the tremendous march of human history, what mankind has discovered about his world and himself, and the thought processes leading us all to add our bits of knowledge to the pot - well, I just found myself in awe, feeling like a spectator to the vast panorama of human life.

Michael Dirda: THanks. I hated The Creators, but thought the Discovers was a superb piece of popular history.

Seattle, Wash.: Michael:

For the reader interested in the Opium Wars, I'd recommend Arthur Waley's The Opium War Through Chinese Eyes (or similar sounding title). Waley was one of the great Sinologists of the 20th century and a marginal figure in the Bloomsbury group. He's almost always worthing reading.

As for the exercise and such: I have recently started yoga (mainly for the stretching) and have found that I'm in a good frame of mind for the few days following. I'm not particularly athletic, being 70 pounds overweight, but the yoga is demanding while being accesible.

Enjoy your talks.

Michael Dirda: THanks. I have a friend who does yoga and she finds it worthwhile too. I like Waley too--his translations of Chinese poetry and The Tale of Genji in particular. DIdn't realize he did any hard history.

Reston, Va.: I'm back... sorry I didn't realize you were suffering from depression. I too have that problem as do members of my family. There's a really good book by Dr.Jamison (?) from Johns Hopkins. She suffers also. I'm sure you probably read Styron's Darkness Visible. By the by... I think Styron and Updike are two of our best living authors!

Michael Dirda: THanks. I have a melancholy side, but am currently in the throes of something more complex. As Ned Kelly said, just before he was hanged, Such is life.

Takoma Park, Md.: The Archivist should have done better - I read a lot of novels, and this one stood out. Probably not suited for the faddish reading groups or something.

I found Girl with a Pearl Earring hideously irritating; dead on the page, with lots of telling detail and all that writing-school stuff, but more like a wax model of a literary novel than an actual literary novel.

I think people are reading all that Dutch stuff because it is one of the few places you can see and like wealth and its effects without feeling guilty. And the Dutch are powerless now, so there's no modern resonance.

Michael Dirda: Good points.

Northern Va.: I like Barber's Adagio for Strings -- it is beautiful, though it does evoke memories of JFK's funeral.
As to advice about your melancholia, I am reading your book and just read the essay on 'Commencement.' You give some good advice there -- perhaps relevant for you?

Michael Dirda: Oh, my advice in the Comencement essay is right on, if I do say so. Usually I can manage to take it, too. But not always.

Reston, 20190: Good used book stores:
In Falls Church, visit Hole In The Wall
Books on Rt 7. Mostly used and new SF.

There's a small used bookstore in Reston in Lake Anne Center.

If you're ever in Salt Lake City visit Sam Weller on Main St. Their whole basement is used books, they have a special section upstairs for rare/expensive books, and, if they don't have it, they can get it.

Michael Dirda: thanks

Washington, D.C.: Coltrane did an album called "Ballads," also get his album with Johnny Hartman.

Michael Dirda: thanks

Woodbridge, Va.: Michael--In response to your query about what we read when we are feeling a little down, I would like to mention Larry McMurtry's "Duane's Depressed", one of the few novels I have read several times. From the moment I read a review in New York Review of Books that said that the main character, sixtyish oilman Duane, comes home one day fed up with the routine of his life, throws the keys to his pickup into a cracked china cup, and starts walking everywhere, I knew I wanted to read this novel. Duane makes drastic changes in his life that lead those around him, particularly his wife Karla, to label him depressed. Duane himself is a totally non-introspective individual, not given to philosophizing about himself, and he has no idea whether he is depressed or not, but he can't totally discount what everyone else thinks. While going through my own mid-life confusions, I found Duane a fine companion. I identified with him totally.

It's intriguing that McMurtry, a man of words and of books if there ever was one, chose for his novel about aging a character whose nature is concrete and action oriented, intelligent but not interested in reading or theorizing. Many of us following this discussion are people who love books and who live a significant part of our lives in our heads, in our minds. Maybe that's part of the problem. Maybe, while books can entertain and beguile, the solution to mid-life malaise lies elsewhere.

Michael Dirda: Action, I think, is always the solution. But what sort of action, at what cost to oneself and others, is always the issue. Isn't Duane in The Last Picture Show?

Arlington, Va.: Dear Michael,

I've been wanting to read Ulysses but a professor told me not to read it until I was middle-aged. What do you think of this? There are many novels I've re-read since high school and couldn't believe how much my perspective has changed. Also, I recall Cynthia Ozick saying how reading Henry James at a too young age warped her. Are there any books you read too young? Do you believe there is truth in this?

Thanks

Michael Dirda: Sure, I read lots of classics when I was too young, but I got something out of them, and that's all that matters. Those that speak to you particularly you go back to when you get older and reread. Read Ulysses now.

Elkinstan - re: Coltrane: John Coltrane Quartet (Coltrane, McCoy Tyner, Jimmy Garrison, Elvin Jones): I think it's on MCA Impulse - though who knows what label it might be now - but this, in the spring evening, with the red sun setting into purple air and a single malt scotch to sip, will do ya....

Michael Dirda: Manyh thnaks. I should be writing these titles down. Ballads, A Love Supreme, John C Quartet. I think I can remember.

Washington, D.C.: I usually go for the familiar when I needed a pick-me-up book. However, these three make the top of the list.

The Phantom Tollbooth. Juster's writing is witty and silly and reminds me that it's all in perception.

To Kill a Mocking Bird. It never fails to revive sagging spirits.

Sue Grafton's Alphabet crimes, mainly because I used to live in Santa Barbara. The descriptions bring back good memories of the place.

cheers!

Michael Dirda: thanks.

Washington, D.C.: My favorite book when I am stressed and unhappy is The Once and Future King (TH White) -- adventuresome, jolly and kind of sad.

Michael Dirda: Yes, definitely kind of sad in the end. But The Sword in the Stone is quite hilarious in places.

Washington, D.C.: For solace during a particularly rough period in my otherwise placid life, I read, reread, and recited as silent incantations parts of Richard Brautigan's "In Watermelon Sugar." It starts: "In watermelon sugar, the deeds are done and done again as my life is done in watermelon sugar." I found this whole silly, surrealistic book to be marvelously calming. Reminded me of the utter foolishness of life, and that I might as well, as someone once said, "choose joy" rather than despair.

Michael Dirda: Choose joy. But what if one's joy started with quitting your job, leaving your family, etc. HOw, as I once asked in a review of a history of philosophy, do we decide between duty and desire?

Alexandria, Va.: When I was under much stress in law school -- big tests, failed relationships, lack of exercise, family issues -- I read Everest: The West Ridge by Thomas Hornbein and it helped me get a grip. It tells how Hornbein and his climbing partner, members of the 1963 American Everest expedition, perservered against the weather, limited resources, and friction with some of their team members to make the first traverse of Everest -- up via a new route, down via the "traditional " route -- long before Everest was a guided vacation destination. Hornbein writes very movingly about his motivations and concerns in making the climb. What could have been no more than a straightforward adventure story is in fact an inspiring meditation on success and experience. The author is a medical doctor, not a professional writer or climber, which shows that Renaissance men are not extinct. And Hornbein's partner recited Robert Frost on the summit!

Michael Dirda: Thank you. I'm a similar fan of Alfred Lansing's book on Shackleton: Endurance.

Lenexa, Kans.: Your "National Tube" boyhood reminds me again how much I think you would enjoy Jean Shepherd's Hohman, Ind.--"belching furnaces, roaring Bessemer Converters, fragrant Petroleum distillation plants . . ." Shepherd recalls "Gray Christmases" and rainfall as "not water but carbolic acid."

If your 1960s Jayne Mansfield Playboys are gone, I'd start with Wanda Hickey's Night of Golden Memories and Other Disasters; IN GOD WE TRUST All Others Pay Cash; and A Fistful of Fig Newtons.

Should you get to Shepherd, it would be fun to get a Dirda reaction. Thanks.

Michael Dirda: I see Shepherd books from time to time, so the next time I'll buy them.

Washington, D.C.: My computer desktop currently has a terrific Albrecht Durer engraving titled "Melencholia."
I like to read "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" when I'm feeling down about myself. Mendelssohn's Songs without Words are lovely pieces of music... could also try something more overt, like Beethoven's Ninth Symphony.

Michael Dirda: Beethoven would never do. I love Prufrock but it's so familiar that I need to be in the right mood. I know the Durer too, and admire it, bjut have never found it particularly consoling. But the Mendelssohn--that I'll bear in mind and try.

Takoma Park, Md.: Returning to the reference book question, one of my favorites is The Order of Things, by Barbara Kipfer. Lists parts, criteria, sizes, types, arrays etc. of things.

If you ever wondered about, say, the official sizes of wine bottles or the names of the layers inside a plant or the various military ranks or the sequence of colors and sizes for stars, there it is. Both natural and human-made rankings.

Michael Dirda: Don't know this book, but I do have one called What's What that identifies the parts of things. An ocean wave I recall has about a half dozen different parts to it.

Washington, D.C.: I find that rather than reading entire works when I'm down, I look for moments in works that were particularly resonant for me. This boils down to personal preference, but the closing cantos of Dante's Paradiso, the last act of The Winters Tale, and a few famous moments in The Prelude are some that I go back to when I'm down.

But whatever you do, keep trying to pull yourself out of the dumps!

Michael Dirda: Thanks

Alexandria, Va.: If we're veering away here into a discusion re action vs. reading - have to agree, action will take it. Swimming helps to clear the brain for me. After half a mile I feel stretched and invigorated, after a mile I feel triumphant (and tired!).

Michael Dirda: I wish I could swim fast. I can freestyle forever, but at a turtle's pace. Or rather sea tortoise's. But wait, sea tortoises probably swim fast.

Alexandria, Va.: When I'm get down I read Trout Fishing in America by Richard Brautigan. Playful and poignant, and a nice journey into imagination. Unfortunate that he's been pegged as a novelty writer. Also his book of poems, The Pill Vs. the Springhill Mine Disaster, is great.

When you take your pill
it reminds me of a mine disaster.
I think of all the people
lost inside of you.

--something like that.

Michael Dirda: AH, yes, I remember it well.

Bethesda, Md.: A sure thing to read when I'm feeling overwhelmed and world-weary is Gerald Durrell, particularly "My Family and Other Animals" and the other two books from his childhood on Corfu. Images of Greek sunshine and sea; a child's witnessing of hilarious, poorly behaved adults; and lots of animal tales. Lovely!

Michael Dirda: Thanks.

Librarygirl, Va.: Stevie Smith's poetry. When I'm depressed or stressed, I like to kind of caricature or emphasize or even wallow in it with what I read and listen to. So -- if depressed, Mozart's Requiem. Its melodramatic overblownness cheers you right up. If stressed or about to go mad, any Glenn Gould-done Bach. But in phases of clinical depression, none of this works... and I find myself looking at Mondrian. Once I dreamed that God looked like a Mondrian, and shuddered at the thought of the harm a Mondrian could do to me ...

Michael Dirda: Not waving but drowning. Have you ever read her NOvel on Yellow Paper? I have all of Gould's Bach recordings, and much else by the crazed pianist. FAvorite is the second Goldberg VAriations disc,which I do listen to in moments of sadness.

Washington, D.C.: Michael,

At lunchtime I picked up "Comfort Me with Apples," the new one by Ruth Reichl. Have you read either this or her first memoir, "Tender at the Bone"? I'm curious what I'm in for.

Books that comfort..."Pride and Prejudice" and "Angle of Repose" always draw you in.

Do you think the most you can expect from a book is that it will distract you from your current problems, or do you believe there are valuable life lessons to be drawn from many books?

Michael Dirda: Generally, I read either for the style or for the artfulness of the book in general. I don't look for lessons or consolation--these can be side products. A real esthetic response to a book or work of art requires one to be engaged in a way that precludes too much self-pity. There's not enough room. I also find that writing always diverts me, as does chess: These create alternate realms where one can escape the self.

Swim-two-birds: Yes. Coltrane and Hartman. Also, there is a very nice compilation of Dexter Gordon ballads on Blue Note. Perhaps the greatest jazz meditation on loss and grief, however, is the Duke Ellington disc "And His Mother Called Him Bill," recorded upon the death of Billy Strayhorn, especially Duke's solo rendition of "Lotus Blossom" and Johnny Hodges' unbearably moving "Blood Count." (Perhaps you can tell that my own approach to heartache is the old hair of the dog.)

I join you many other fans in wishing you a happy resolution.

Michael Dirda: Thanks/ I'll add these to the list. I too am a hair of the dog person, mainly.

Washington, D.C.: Michael--
I'd like to nominate the following two books:
A GRIEF OBSERVED by C.S. Lewis
and
MAN'S SEARCH FOR MEANING by Viktor Frankl
for consideration for today's topic. I found the former book to be enormously comforting when two close friends died of AIDS.
The latter book really explores the big philosophic questions (Why are we here? What is the point of life?) in the face of monumental adversity.

Michael Dirda: Thank you.

Washington, D.C.: Mr. Dirda--
The New York Times had a rather sobering piece in their Media Talk column earlier this week about newspapers cutting back on the space they allot for book reviews. Is this a problem facing the Washington Post? If yes, does this mean that book reviews will cease to exist in the daily paper?
--A concerned reader

Michael Dirda: Hard to say, but I don't think we're in danger here. So long as Donald Graham lives and the Post is profitable I think they'll be a book section. But the news was disheartening.

Arlington 2.0: The best pick me up Jazz (that is not Coltrane)

- After Midnight Sessions by Nat King Cole. This was recorded after he had become big singing and his critics complained that he was getting too far away from his jazz roots (he was a phenomenal pianist).

- Final Concert (or something like that) Modern Jazz Quartet. Wonderful 2-disk set. Amazing.

Michael Dirda: thanks again

Madison, Wis.: When I'm down in the dumps I like to listen to late Beethoven, perhaps his piano sonata Opus 111, or his late string quartets. Here is someone whose music shows he had been to the slough of despond and back, and yet it is suffused with the spirit of triumph.

I'm having trouble coming up with literary equivalents - books where the author clearly has experienced melancholy, yet reflects the serenity of having won the struggle against it. Can you think of any?

Michael Dirda: The late quartets--yes. When my father was dying I read Schopenhauer.

Green Town: Hello,
Oh Michael, your plea for comfort reading immediately brought to mind one of my hands-down, all-time favorite Refresh My Troubled Mind novels, "Dandelion Wine" by Ray Bradbury. I would expound on it except that I'm sure you know about it, and I have some other things to say...but do read it! I find it so uplifting (especially during Spring!)

Now, as a soon-to-be-librarian I have to take issue with that questionable book written by Nicholson Baker, "Double Fold." Believe me when I say that I truly pine for the days when libraries were more about reader services than the internet and online databases. However, literature and information are intended to inform and teach and entertain us; to introduce us to heretofore "unknown" worlds. In other words, the value of literature (in WHATEVER form) is in its content, not in its format. Every librarian/"information professional" will tell you that his/her ultimate mission is to make information or literature accessible to the audience he or she serves.

There are plenty of archives around the country for certain types of documents (such as the National Archive & Record Administration, for government documents, or the Folger for original Shakespearean folios)if a person needs an original document. Just ask your local librarian to help you find out where a certain old issue of the New York Times is, and he/she will be more than happy to help out. But for this half-baked author, N. Baker, to make this grand statement that "the Library of Congress should keep everything it obtains" not only makes no practical sense at all but it is also NOT THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS' ROLE TO SERVE THE PUBLIC. Yes, that's right: The Library of Congress' first and foremost role is to serve the Congress (not demanding public citizens who don't understand why it doesn't have some yellowed old issue of the New York Times). Long story short: if you really want that old newspaper, maybe you should consider archiving them in your own basement.

To sum up: what I'm saying is that we need to recognize literature and documents, etc. for their true value, understand that librarians really are just trying to help the masses, and understand the roles of archival institutions. None of this "why don't you have the ORIGINAL??" crap.

Thank you!

Michael Dirda: Thanks. I know what you mean, and I tried to give both views in my review of Double Fold. But Baker would say that some library should be saving everything, because yhou never know what the future will need.

Reston, Va.: Mike: Two books by George E. Vaillant: Adaptation to Life(Little,Brown, 1977) and The Wisdom of the Ego(Harv.Univ.Press,1993).Through vignettes the author illustrates how changes made over a 50 year lifetime at work and at home can be seen as successful or not successful. These outcomes are the result of carefully constructed studies. In "Wisdom" the author also looks at the changes that allowed Tolstoy to write Anna Karenina,among others. I think that you'll appreciate his uplifting style and sympathetic view of the human condition. This is from someone who would not have become familiar with " The Judge" without your help.

Michael Dirda: thanks. The Judge is the villainous demi-urge of Cormac McCarthy's great and gruesome novel, Blood Meridian.

Herndon, Va.: Ah, Duty vs. Desire. A killer. Graham Greene is the pro in that area, but reading him in your state will only make matters worse. Personally, I would stick with the duty, but then, I haven't the talent you have that might make my desires attainable.

For something light, try Carl Hiasson's "Sick Puppy." I found it funny and cathartic.

Michael Dirda: thanks. Talent? I just work hard and everything I do still falls short.

Northern Va.: Re: duty and desire.

Think of the last scene of 'Casablanca.' Would it be so great if Rick decided to leave with Ilsa?

Michael Dirda: Ah, but Rick and Ilsa would have had more great sex and I suspect the allies would have won World War II anyway.

Seattle, Wash.: Another Durrell book, this one by Lawrence, is the collected Antrobus stories. Antrobus is a British diplomat (dip.. as he says) in the Balkans. Very funny, very Woodehousian in parts.

Michael Dirda: I've heard about this book before. Must check it out. thanks.

Kingstowne, Va.: Michael -- I seem to recall a few weeks back a reader suggested you do two successive online discussions on the most underrated and most overrated authors and/or books. Any plans to do it? (My nominees for underrated: William Gass' "The Tunnel" and Keith Korman's "Secret Dreams." Overrated: anything by Richard Ford, Pat Conroy, Bret Easton Ellis, Brad Meltzer or David Baldacci.) Thanks.

Michael Dirda: Ok, fans: Let's make this next week's subject--overrated and underrated authors and/or books. Ok? ONe or two more questions, and then we'll have to be through for this week.

Alexandria, Va.: Another redeeming book--Siddhartha.
I can think, I can fast, and I can wait.

Michael Dirda: neat

Somewhere, USA: Open up any one of Wallace Steven's books of poetry and read a few lines aloud. Most are so richly fantastic and inventive, you have no choice but to drop the heavy gloom out of your head.

I recite the Emperor of Ice Cream at times when I'm feeling the worse for wear.

Good luck.....

Michael Dirda: What would we be without the sexual myth/ THe human revery or poem of death?/ LIfe consists of propositions about life. . . I too love Stevens and keep the collected poems at myh bedside table.

Washington, D.C.: Have you read the article in the current issue of "Lingua Franca" magazine regarding Philip K. Dick? Apparently, he was feeding information about his academic supporters and boosters to the FBI, on the belief that they were part of a Communist conspiracy to take over sci-fi. What's your take on this?

Michael Dirda: Didn't know this. Phil Dick was craziy a lot of the time. I'll look for the article.

Washington, D.C.: Michael,

I recently picked up the Belin Noir trilogy by Phillip Kerr (March Violets, The Pale Criminal, & A German Requiem). Just curious to see what, if any opion you have of both Phillip and these books in particular. I'm 1/2 way through March Violets and the tension is building but right now it could go either way. Hopefully the second half has more in store.

Michael Dirda: I think these Kerr novels were his best; he's gone downhill since.
Well time's up and I need to return to my labors. Until next thursday, keep reading!

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