Best Classic Literature Books - My Adventures With Homer, Rousseau, Woolf & More | Perfect for Book Lovers, Students & Home Libraries

Note: This review is based on the unabridged audiobook narrated by Ed Asner."Great Books" is itself a great book. The surface plot involves Denby's returning to his alma mater, Columbia University, to revisit (some of) the great books of the Western canon as a middle-aged adult, 30 years after first reading them as a young undergraduate.But this is no superficial treatment focused on frivolities related to going back to school. Instead, Denby goes deep, thus making the book intellectually elevated in a manner which befits the great books (mixed metaphor intended). He covers a sampling of these books and probes them with sensitivity, thereby giving us insights which are often penetrating and profound, and sometimes even rather original. He didn't say so, but I imagine that his professors were pleased.An added plus, which is what makes the book uniquely special, is that we get to see the difference between Denby's response to these books as a mature adult versus his younger formative years. For those of us in our own middle years, Denby thus gives us a sense of what we might gain from returning to these books.I agree with Denby's ultimate conclusion. The primary reason for reading these books isn't that we become trained to (ethnocentrically) value Western culture, but rather that, by wrestling earnestly (and sometimes painfully) with these books, we're stimulated to grow as individuals, but still each on our own path.Last but not least, Ed Asner did a fabulous job of narrating the book, thereby rendering the audiobook perhaps even superior in some ways to the print version. And this is on top of Denby doing a fabulous job of writing the book itself.Needless to say, I highly recommend this book to anyone open to the possibility of growing via encounter with the great books (and great books about the great books).