Thank You for Not Reading

If Dubravka Ugresic didn't like what she saw in the book world a decade ago, when this collection of essays was written, she must be apoplectic by now. All the trends she identified -- the treatment of books as commodities, non-writer celebrities dominating the bestseller lists, literature's infantilization -- have only gotten worse. But this is not a sour book. It is leavened with humor and wit. I would describe Ugresic, in short, as Croatia's answer to Mordecai Richler.