The Coward Reading, Memory, Fragments

In this collection of short, personal essays, Gavin Paul explores a range of topics, including fatherhood, gun control, terrorism, death, imagination, the heroic models of perseverance offered to him by his grandparents, and a quiet longing for the past that is “all around you, just out of reach.” Above all, Paul seeks to understand the pains and pleasures of a life devoted to reading. From recollections of the formative books of his childhood, to reflections on reading outdoors and the unique wonders of rereading, to memories of his daughter reading for the very first time, these essays recognize that reading’s great gift is also its curse: “it is always, in its essence, an act of solitude.” Beginning with a haunting dream of murderous obsession and ending with an image of familial love, the collection thus seeks, in Paul’s words, “to both celebrate my solitude and attempt to overcome it.”