Fourteen brilliant new reviews fromthe author ofA Love of Reading. Passionate, thought provoking, and witty. A Love of Reading, the Second Collectioncontains 14 new reviews of modern classics from a discriminating, highly entertaining, and prodigiously well-read guide. In a stimulating selection, ranging from Margaret Atwood’sAlias Graceto Zadie Smith’sWhite Teeth, and from Charles Frazier’sCold Mountainto Sheri Holman’sThe Dress Lodger, popular literary critic Robert Adams skilfully interweaves a nimble and enlightening discussion of plot, theme, and characterization with fascinating historical, biographical, and literary context. Adams is repeatedly drawn to the spectacle of less-than-perfect humans making their way in a hostile world, and as a result his reviews are a hugely satisfying mix of rich pathos and abundant humour. In the words of theCalgary Herald, they are “a bibliophile’s dream. ”