Hello, I have a PhD in Literature (focus on American and Canadian) but I'm no longer working in academia. Sometimes I miss my studies, though. Do you know any books where the author talks about other books and analyzes them? They shouldn't be full-on academic studies, but more popular books, more accessible to a general audience. But also not too dull, I want some smart authors who have interesting things to say about (popular) books.
I'm NOT looking for authors' (auto)biographies and I'm NOT looking for books by authors who write about their own books. I want people (preferably academics) who analyze other people's books.
Example 1: I read Taylor's Version by Stephanie Burt in which the Harvard professor analyzes Taylor Swift's songs/lyrics/albums. Fun!
Example 2: A few years ago I read Reading Lolita in Teheran which was great! I enjoyed that there's a general narrative around the book, a story about the author's secret bookclub, not just plain literary analysis.
Example 3: I read that We We Love (and Hate) About Twilight, which was a very light and easy read, because the author isn't a literary critic. She claimed to do a deep literary analysis, but I was a bit underwhelmed (she basically just summarized the novels and films).
by ina_sh