"I love to read books. I love to write books. So I decided to write a book about reading books," says David G. Hallman about this collection of short stories, each of which revolves around the characters' interaction with a piece of literature.

Combining fiction, creative non-fiction, and semifictionalized autobiography, Hallman has crafted tales that draw readers into his characters' complex lives using the lens of books such as Paul Bowles's The Sheltering Sky, John Le CarrE's The Constant Gardener, E. M. Forster's Maurice, Patricia Nell Warren's The Front Runner, Robertson...