Though she long served as a critic for the New York Times, Michiko Kakutani has always been a passionate reader first and foremost. Here she offers pithy summations of what we love about essential works in American history (The Federalist Papers, The Writings and Speeches of Martin Luther King, Jr.); books that address timely cultural dynamics (Elizabeth Kolbert's The Sixth Extinction, Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale); classics of children's literature (the Harry Potter novels, Where the Wild Things Are); and novels by acclaimed contemporary writers like William Gibson, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, and Ian McEwan.