The Practice of Reading

This book is a sustained conversation about the nature and importance of literary interpretation. Denis Donoghue argues that we must read texts closely and imaginatively, as opposed to merely or mistakenly theorizing about them. He shows what serious reading entails by discussing texts that range from Shakespeare's plays to a novel by Cormac McCarthy.

The New York Times Book Review - Peter Brooks

[Donoghue's] book never really gets to the business of telling us how and why the practices of reading he approves are the right and powerful ones.