The Art of the Wasted Day

"It‘s impossible to do justice to the cumulative power of Hampl‘s dream-weaver writing style by just quoting a few lines. You have to go on the whole voyage with her . . . by wasting some of your time with Hampl, you‘ll understand more of what makes life worth living." – Maureen Corrigan, "Fresh Air" "Hampl’s lyrical repetitions and abstractions can be as poetic as prayer." – The Wall Street Journal " The Art of the Wasted Day is literary art in and of itself . . . Hampl invites readers to take a journey to explore the idea of a life steeped in leisure without schedules." – The Washington Post "A wise and beautiful ode to the imagination – from a child’s daydreams, to the unexpected revelations encountered in solitary travel, meditation, and reading, to the flights of creativity taken by writers, artists, and philosophers." – The Minneapolis Star Tribune "Sharp and unconventional . . . a swirl of memoir, travelogue and biography of some of history’s champion daydreamers." – The Seattle Times "A moving, lyrical, intellectually bracing read . . . part essay, part travelogue, part interrogative memoir, part mourning love letter, The Art of the Wasted Day touches on a head-spinning range of historical and literary phenomena . . . Hampl dexterously turns all these topics into lenses bent on a central concern: the value of a certain kind of psychic space, which she refers to as ‘leisure.‘" – Commonwealth "About how rich life is when one focuses, at least part of the time, on being rather than on doing . . . it’s about being still, being aware, about seeing what is in front of your eyes, about being open to what one thinks and remembers and feels." – The Chicago Tribune "Hampl [is] an eloquent apologist for solitude. It is not just important to the creative life, she proposes, but a cornerstone of spiritual well-being. Its prime function, and prize, is a closer experience of reality." – The Boston Globe "Hampl lets her mind wander, as one does on a wasted day. Readers familiar with her work will recognize the confident tone and poetry-infused language." – Ploughshares "Delightfully nebulous – dangling somewhere between travelogue, literary criticism, memoir, and love letter . . . Hampl’s style is so lithe and lively that I happily followed her anywhere . . . reading her thoughts is a bit of magic that allows us to share in the solitude of ideas together." – The American Scholar "A wonderfully lavish and leisurely exploration of the art of daydreaming . . . [a] remarkable and touching book." – Publishers Weekly (starred review) "An exquisite anatomy of mind and an incandescent reflection on nature, being, and rapture . . . Memoirist extraordinaire Hampl [is] a master of judiciously elegant vignettes and surprising, slowing unfurling connections." – ALA Booklist (starred) "Lucent, tender, and wise . . . a captivating and revelatory memoir." – Kirkus Reviews (starred review) “Vivid; passionate, bursting with ideas and insights, Patricia Hampl‘s new book is a summation of a lifetime of sensitive searching and thinking. A love story, a meditation on death, travel, Americanness, Catholicism, integrity and Montaigne, this beautiful journey is finally about the education of a soul.” – Phillip Lopate "This book, tender, curious and crazily wise, brings to mind Michel de Montaigne‘s saying that ‘A spirited mind never stops within itself; it is always aspiring and going beyond its strength.‘" – Azar Nafisi "What ties together this beautiful book are the imaginary conversations born of Hampl‘s mourning for her life companion. An elegy, a reader’s pilgrimage, a reflection on the writing life, full of humor, surprises, and wisdom gently given, The Art of the Wasted Day is a book for the ages." – Alice Kaplan "The art of Patricia Hampl is the art of a lyrical, contemplative self, a self as instrument attuned to the world’s vibrations. Through reflection and investigation, vignette and daydream, she roams centuries and continents in this book." --Margo Jefferson