A Place to Read

There are books about books and even books about readers, but there are few books about reading. Michael Cohen has filled that void wonderfully, with a book of essays that in one way or another, tell about a life of reading. Cohen’s life as essayist, professor, and keen observer of ordinary things......more

On the one hand, it feels like I was reading my own life in that there are so many shared interests. On the other hand, it is rare that one reads someone for whom the art of writing seems to come so naturally. I have not read many essay collections; this one will have me coming back for more. Cohen,......more

Michael Cohen is a master of the great American essay. 'A Place to Read' is a silky flight into the wisdom of personal, as well as universally human, experience. From Odysseus to Milton, Bradbury to de Botton—Cohen’s sweeping and spacious reflections drew me into questions of being, mortality, and e......more

Michael Cohen’s essays on the reading life are a treat to read. Relaxed, personal, wide-ranging, they contain fascinating nuggets of information and lively assessments of hundreds of books, as well as a whole life’s worth of thoughtful rumination on time, love, travel, and family, as well as what it......more