An Afternoon with Author Wendy Lesser

Wendy Lesser will read from her new book, Why I Read. “Wendy
Lesser’s extraordinary alertness, intelligence, and curiosity have made her one
of America’s most significant cultural critics,” writes Stephen Greenblatt. In
Why I Read, Lesser draws on a lifetime of pleasure reading and decades
of editing one of the most distinguished literary magazines in the country, The
Threepenny Review, to describe her love of literature. As Lesser writes in her
prologue, “Reading can result in boredom or transcendence, rage or enthusiasm,
depression or hilarity, empathy or contempt, depending on who you are and what
the book is and how your life is shaping up at the moment you encounter it. Here
the reader will discover a definition of literature that is as broad as it is
broad-minded.

A reception with light refreshments, courtesy of the Friends of the Belmont
Library, will take place preceding the event, and a book signing, courtesy of
Books Inc., will follow.