Lessons On How to Live, in 26 Books

In his new collection of essays, Will Schwalbe points out that all books are at the mercy of the reader's mood. And not just books — every piece of art. Schwalbe quotes the 19th-century critic John Ruskin: “When I have been unhappy, I have heard an opera from end to end, and it seemed the shrieking of winds; when I am happy, a sparrow's chirp is delicious to me. .â??.â??. It is not the chirp .â??.â??. but I that makes it sweet.”