By the Book: A Reader’s Guide to Life (Ramona Koval, Text)

Imagine you are sitting in a cosy lounge room somewhere, chatting with literary journalist Ramona Koval about her life and reading interests. There are casual recollections of her past, and an impassioned discussion of books she has read and themes and topics she was into at the time. This is how By the Book reads. In it, Koval discusses her childhood and the infancy of her relationship with reading, and gives glimpses of her extraordinary mother and tragic family history. Essentially though, it is a journey through Koval’s diverse reading habits over time—from politics to science, feminism, travel, polar explorers, anthropology, classics, and even the Kama Sutra—interspersed with citations and a few personal anecdotes about the authors she has befriended. She writes: ‘the books we read introduce us to other books, as if we are at a magnificent party of the mind’. This book is just that, and one to read with a pen nearby to jot down titles. It may be hard to categorise: it fits easily on a ‘books and writing’ shelf, but would also be at home with the memoirs. Its obvious readership will be book lovers and Radio National listeners. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Koval’s enthusiasm bubbles from the page. It confirms the erudite and talented Koval is a treasure, whose voice is sorely missed on our airwaves.

Joanne Shiells is a former retail book buyer and former editor of Bookseller+Publisher

Books+Publishing pre-publication reviews are supported by the Copyright Agency Cultural Fund.

Category: Reviews