This is a wide-ranging essay collection both in terms of themes and, to a certain extent, styles. Still, it is quintessentially Marias and fans will not be disappointed. There are places where I wish he had gone deeper but, overall, it is always interesting to follow Marias' chain of thoughts on a topic because he takes you along unexpected places, stopping to point out aspects you would not have noticed otherwise. This is what the best writers do and he is among the best of his generation, no doubt. More to come in a published review shortly and I will share the link then.

Marias always writes with such eloquence. This collection is no exception. The only thing that stopped me from really getting into this title was its haphazard nature. The essays jumped all over the place. While there seems to be an attempt to group them together it was still a challenging read. Great book to read in small chunks and just pick up whenever you feel like reading a thought provoking essay.

Reading a book of essays written by one author I like it is almost a gift to me, because it helped to show under a new light many of the novels he wrote and to get to know him a little bit better. So these are the reasons why I liked this collection, even if it was sometimes hard due to the fact that I had no idea about some of the topics or the people he was talking about, plus I have to say I do not think he was right describing the people of Venice, but the reasons are exactly the same: he is Spanish and I am Italian.

Leggere una raccolta di saggi di uno degli autori che mi piacciono è quanto di piú simile ad un regalo da parte loro che io possa mai ricevere. Intanto perché getta nuova luce sui libri giá letti e poi perché mi sembra dopo, di conoscerlo un po' meglio e questo credo riassuma le ragioni per cui ho apprezzato il libro. Ci sono chiaramente state molte volte in cui non avevo idea di chi fossero le persone o i libri o i film che citava, né posso dire di essere d'accordo sulla sua visione di Venezia e dei veneziani, ma per entrambe le cose la ragione sta nel fatto che lui é spagnolo mentre io sono italiana.

THANKS NETGALLEY FOR THE PREVIEW!