Reading for Pleasure [antikvár]

In a thirty-year span a book publisher, contrary to the belief of numerous disgruntled authors, does a powerful lot of reading. Most of it, mercifully, he forgets immediately. Some bits and pieces make such an impression that he never forgets them. He adds them to the favorites he has stored up in his memory from his undergraduate or salad days of reading, and subconsciously defies the new generation of writers knocking on his door to "Surpass these—or tie them—if you can\" This book is a guided tour of some of the high spots I've encountered in a lifetime of reading. Not all of them, obviously, since many could not possibly be condensed, or properly excerpted, for a collection like this. Others that certainly would qualify are available in so many other editions that it seemed pointless to trot them out once again. This may be the first anthology of its kind in the past decade that includes neither "The Snows of Kilimanjaro," "A Rose for Emily," "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty," or "The Girls in Their Summer Dresses." These are all wonderful stories, but by this time a confirmed anthology buff should be able to recite them by heart. The stories I have included in Reading for Pleasure are there for one simple reason: they justify the title of the book. They impressed and delighted me so much when I first discovered them that I have remem- bered them ever since. One uncompromising old professor on the Columbia campus turned pale from merely reading the table of contents. He was appalled that I should jumble recognized classics with stories frankly culled from slick- paper magazines, and excerpts from boisterous, slapstick best sellers of 1957 next to beloved period pieces that had brought tears to his eyes when novels still retailed for $1.08 a copy. By his standard, my selections were hopelessly haphazard; by my own they simply were honest. This is not a collection of pieces you ought to enjoy (like those ques- tionable lists of "The Books That Meant Most to Me" so shamelessly fabricated each Christmastime by pompous pundits), but pieces you will enjoy. I will stake my reputation as a publisher, a columnist, and an editor on that! What an engaging title Reading for Pleasure makes for an anthology, and what a wide latitude it allows the editor! I can say this without blushing, because the title is not my own. It was presented to me on a platter by the editors of Harper's. Statistics reveal that a million or so more Americans are "reading for xiii