Professor Orner Muses on the Value of Reading

SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS -- For Peter Orner, reading is an essential way to figure things out. In his new collection of essays – which he calls “a book of unlearned meditations that stumbles into memoir” – he casts a wide net, writing about books he’s read and experiences he’s had. Orner, who lives in Bolinas and teaches at San Francisco State University, begins with a piece describing why he likes to read in San Francisco General Hospital’s cafeteria, moving from there into an examination of Chekhov’s “The Bishop.” With “Am I Alone Here,” Orner has written a wonderful tribute to the power of literature and the importance of telling our own stories.