Avid Reader

A Life

By: Robert Gottlieb

Narrated by: Robert Gottlieb

A spirited and revealing memoir by the most celebrated editor of his time

After editing The Columbia Review, staging plays at Cambridge, and a stint in the greeting-card department of Macy's, Robert Gottlieb stumbled into a job at Simon and Schuster. By the time he left to run Alfred A. Knopf a dozen years later, he was the editor in chief, having discovered and edited Catch-22 and The American Way of Death, among other bestsellers. At Knopf, Gottlieb edited an astonishing list of authors, including Toni Morrison, John Cheever, Doris Lessing, John le Carré, Michael Crichton, Lauren Bacall, Katharine Graham, Robert Caro, Nora Ephron, and Bill Clinton--not to mention Bruno Bettelheim and Miss Piggy. In Avid Reader, Gottlieb writes with wit and candor about succeeding William Shawn as the editor of The New Yorker, and the challenges and satisfactions of running America's preeminent magazine. Sixty years after joining Simon and Schuster, Gottlieb is still at it--editing, anthologizing, and, to his surprise, writing.

But this account of a life founded upon reading is about more than the arc of a singular career--one that also includes a lifelong involvement with the world of dance. It's about transcendent friendships and collaborations, "elective affinities" and family, psychoanalysis and Bakelite purses, the alchemical relationship between writer and editor, the glory days of publishing, and--always--the sheer exhilaration of work.


Robert Gottlieb photographed by Jill Krementz at his desk in his office at Knopf on September 26, 1972; all rights reserved.

No anecdotes, too much encomium

A great editor who knew so many great writers and interesting people, but rather than delight us with anecdotes, he goes on and on about how charming they were. This won't do. a fine and delightful, a writer of a dull memoir.

What a Joy

Enjoyed every morsel. What a life. Thank you for writing this. Can't wait to read many of the titles.

Lover of life

Gottlieb has open the door to his life as creative literary legend. Make time for the book and you will receive insights in publishing and literature that will open your mind to what is possible when you live life true to interests and passions.

A true memoir

I came to the realization that all memoirs or autobiographies should be audible, or at least have an audible version, so we can hear the earnestness and the heart beat of the author, without which I might not have appreciated this one so much.

AVID READER

Dedicated to process over produce, this man, who surprisingly finds himself to become a writer, after being an editor, catches the whole buzz. He met so many people who stimulated his life and shares it generously, like you are as important as any of whom he writes. So fine to encounter such a casual person with such strict inner discipline about a well-edited book. He also loves his writing subjects so has the joy of watching his pen lead him. A life of good fortune shared.