Housekeeping
The last meeting of the Book Club was postponed because of Mothers’ Day in the USA. We are now meeting on Sunday 21st May at 19.00 UK time. Subscribers will also get access to my notes and resources about David Copperfield.
There have been new readers joining for several weeks, so I thought I’d put together a guide to The Common Reader and link to some of the most popular pieces, my favourites, some books I admire, and a few of my biographical profiles.
The Common Reader has been featured in the Browser, on HackerNews and on Marginal Revolution. It was called “A stimulating mixture of literature and ideas” by Ian Leslie, and was once described as “one of my favourite Substacks… a nerdy literature newsletter” by Helen Lewis in The Atlantic.
Contents
My thanks to the generous readers who have become paid subscribers. This helps me to continue writing. Subscribers also become members of the Common Reader Book Club. And there are also occasional subscribers’ only posts like this one.
The next book club is Sunday 21st May at 19.00 UK time. where we will be discussing David Copperfield. Subscribe now to join the session and to get my detailed notes and resources afterwards.
About me.
Last year I got an Emergent Ventures grant and quit my job to write a book about late bloomers, which I will be saying more about here in the coming months. My children are homeschooled, which I write about once in a blue moon—if you’re interested in that, read my wife’s blog. Oh, and before we get much further, I should probably mention that I once worked for Liz Truss.
About The Common Reader.
The Common Reader is dedicated to the idea that ordinary readers—people who read literature but who aren’t formally educated in it like critics and academics—need something that is neither academic literary criticism nor the bien pensant pontifications of the London Review of Books. The name comes from Samuel Johnson, the presiding spirit of The Common Reader.
I rejoice to concur with the common reader; for by the common sense of readers uncorrupted with literary prejudices, after all the refinements of subtilty and the dogmatism of learning, must be finally decided all claim to poetical honours.
This doesn’t mean common readers are always right or that we shouldn’t aspire to learn from academics, quite the contrary. More about common readers here.
Occasionally I interview people, although not much anymore: you can read or listen to interviews with Helen Lewis, Robin Hanson, Anna Gat, Noah Smith, Charles Moore, and Sarah Harkness. At Christmas, I post diary and letter extracts. I regularly write about Samuel Johnson. If you are interested, you can read my work in The New Statesman, The Critic, CapX, UnHerd, The Oldie, Engelsberg Ideas.
On this blog, we believe…
Here is a sort of manifesto for The Common Reader. We prioritise understanding books, rather than putting interpretations onto them. Interpretations will be historically grounded: there is no literary theory on this blog. There are no plot spoilers—every other literary outlet writes reviews like that, you don’t need it here. If you really want to know the plot, read the book. Literature has to be seen as part of the broader context of disciplines: sometimes we talk about economics. We take a catholic view of literature, not a Levisite view, but we are high-minded. There is a canon, it ought to be as broad and inclusive as possible, but Harold Bloom was basically right—and yes, I think he was onto something with the Shakespeare book. While I obviously value the Great Books, I was semi-persuaded by Richard Hanania that reading them is a waste of time. Only semi-persuaded, though: I wrote a short rebuttal.
Here are some of the ideas that are approved of on The Common Reader which you may find disapproved of in other literary places. The Great Man Theory of History is under rated. It doesn’t matter that fewer people are studying English at university (and no the humanities aren’t dying). George Orwell’s writing rules are execrable rubbish. The Netflix adaptation of Persuasion was fine actually. If you don’t like the edits being made to writers like Agatha Christie and Roald Dahl, you ought to care more about copyright than cancel culture. Deborah Levy is a very bad writer. Noel Coward ought to be in the Oxford Book of English Verse. Instagram might contain the poetry of the future.
Most Popular (a more complete list here).
My favourites.
The Anthologist by Nicolson Baker—an essay about the end of the Gutenberg Parenthesis.
Where was Samuel Johnson in 1745?—I don’t quite buy the conspiracy theory, but it’s too easily dismissed by most historians and Johnson scholars.
The Last Samurai—an appreciation of Helen deWitt and the great novel of the twenty-first century.
Polyrama and the art of character: Shakespeare, Bruegel, Tati.
The Biographies of Westminster Abbey—And in the handywork of their craft is their prayer.
Books I admire or enjoyed.
Penelope Fitzgerald’s complete works (I wrote about PF here and here—and she’s in my book).
Pachinko—Oh Noa! Noa!
The Howling Miller—I haven’t reviewed this but it is truly excellent.
Biographical profiles.
Alan Lascelles—the snake who saved the monarchy.
Bonar Law—the unappreciated prime minister.
Eugene Meyer—forgotten elite.
Baliol Holloway—forgotten Shakespearean actor.
Samuel Smiles—late bloomer with a side hustle. Part I. And Part II.
My thanks to the generous readers who have become paid subscribers. This helps me to continue writing. Subscribers also become members of the Common Reader Book Club. And there are also occasional subscribers’ only posts like this one.
The next book club is Sunday 21st May at 19.00 UK time. where we will be discussing David Copperfield. Subscribe now to join the session and to get my detailed notes and resources afterwards.
Just discovered this newsletter today and went deep down the rabbit hole.
I got here a couple of months ago I believe, but this is very useful nevertheless. Thank you very much.