On December 3, 2019, Grand Central Library will host rock critic Robert Christgau and jazz critic Gary Giddins to discuss Christgau’s latest book, Book Reports, which celebrates his life of reading. And what a life. Christgau's 50+ years of writings, which appeared with intimidating regularity in the most relevant publications of his time—The Village Voice, Esquire, Creem, Newsday, Playboy, Rolling Stone, Billboard, NPR, Blender—are all suffused with his famously acerbic wit. Yet with the recent releases of Book Reports and the autobiographical Going Into the City, a previously unseen, sensitive side of Christgau has emerged. We were fortunate enough to have him answer a few questions about his upcoming program. 

This event will be held on December 3. To find out more and to reserve your spot go here.

What will you discuss at your upcoming NYPL Talk?

Christgau: I’ll either work that out with Gary before or let him decide. For my reading, I’m thinking about Patti Smith’s M Train, Norman Rush’s Mortals, or maybe Marshall Berman, and reserve my right to change my mind.

The full title of your newest book is Book Reports: A Music Critic on His First Love, Which Was Reading. Growing up in Queens, what were your formative experiences with reading and the public library?

Christgau: As I describe in my 2015 memoir, Going to the City, the "holy Queensborough Public Library" was crucial to my growing up, starting with every baseball novel in the children’s section of my local branch in eastern Flushing. My first girlfriend worked for the library. I spent many hours in Room 315 of the main branch, where I read all of the Salinger stories from The New Yorker before they were collected. My journalist-turned-English teacher sister took a sabbatical to get a degree in library science. When I started doing charitable donations in my early thirties, the NYPL and the American Friends Service Committee were my major targets, and remain so today.

How would you distinguish the pleasure of reading versus the pleasure of listening to music?

Christgau: You can’t read in the background. I’m not especially fast and do most of my book reading on my back in bed. I always carry a book; I’ve consumed thousands of pages while using public transportation and have been known to read online at the supermarket. My friend, Simon Frith, one of the three big readers to whom Book Reports is dedicated, has his own rule: he always carries two books in case he finishes the first one. He’s a lot faster than me.

How has music reviewing changed as the music business has migrated from large record companies to people recording in their bedroom and becoming an online sensation? What is the role of the reviewer today?

Christgau: The money is so bad that, for most, criticism is becoming avocational again—less than a job, more than a hobby. That sucks.

In general, what are some overlooked or underappreciated books, music, and films you would like to encourage our community to explore?

Christgau: I’ve written about a few in Book Reports, notably Henry Pleasants’s pioneering The Great American Popular Singers. Most of Simon Frith’s books, especially his late, "academic" Taking Popular Music Seriously but also Music for Pleasure; they're hard to find in the U.S. Peter van der Merwe’s Origins of the Popular Style is way too obscure. Marshall Berman’s Modernism in the Streets, my closing topic, was scandalously underreviewed. And hey, I hope the Marco Vassi porn classic Mind Blower isn’t lost to history either.

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