Dirda, the Pulitzer Prize winning book reviewer for The Washington Post, spent one year writing a weekly column for the on line edition of The American Scholar, the publication of Phi Beta Kappa (once edited in paper version by Joseph Epstein and then Annie Fadiman).   These 52 essays, written in 2012-2013, range widely about ‘bookishness’.  Dirda is a “bookman, an appreciator, a cheerleader for the old, the neglected, the marginalized, and the forgotten….a literary journalist.”  While reviewing current bestsellers and recent releases for the Post, he devoted his weekly on line essay to a broad range of topics, but primarily his favorite, the richness of storytelling between 1860-1935, primarily in sci fi, fantasy, horror, and gothic tales.  He provides the names of authors and volumes by the dozens if not hundreds, almost none of whom I’ve ever heard of, but it’s entertaining, interesting, and from one bookman to another, quite a wonderful read.  The good news is that largely because of his recherché taste in reading, I came away with almost nothing to take out of the library, though on pages 198-201 he does provide a list of holiday book gifts for ages from 1-4 to adults and I may just have to copy it for Simon and for myself.  He also provides another version of my ‘reasons for reading’:  They (books) will make you laugh, or hug yourself with pleasure, or deepen your thinking, or move you as profoundly as any experience this side of a serious love affair.”  Eager to read his other books now.