With Borges

Alberto Manguel's short book With Borges is a personal profile of Jorge Luis Borges, based on Manguel's own experiences as a youth when he spent four years reading aloud for the then-blind Borges. More than anything, Manguel reveals Borges's deep and single-minded commitment to his craft:

For Borges, the core of reality lay in books; reading books, writing books, talking about books. In a visceral way, he was conscious of continuous a dialogue thousands of years before and which he believed would never end... Borges loved conversation and at meals would select what he called "unobtrusive fare," such as white rice or pasta, so that the experience of eating would not distract him from the talk.

Recommended.