How to talk about books you haven't read

In this mischievous and provocative book, a bestseller in France, Pierre Bayard contends that in this age of infinite publication, the truly cultivated person is not the one who has read a book, but the one who understands the book's place in our culture. Drawing on examples from works by Graham Greene, Oscar Wilde and many others, he examines the many kinds of 'non-reading' (forgotten books, unknown books, books we've skimmed briefly) and the potentially nightmarish situations in which we are called upon to discuss our reading with others. This book challenges us to consider what reading means, how we absorb books as part of ourselves, and how and why we spend so much time talking about what we have, or haven't, read.