Eileen Battersby's Second Readings: 52 - From Beckett to Black Beauty is a collection of reviews, featuring a foreword by Pulitzer-prizewinning novelist Richard Ford and an essay entitled "The Reader in the Hammock" by Eileen. With authors from America to Ireland; Russia to Brazil; Germany to South Africa, there is certainly something for everyone.

Daragh Reddin of the Metro Herald praised Second Readings and Eileen:

"Each selected volume is given a short and penetrating overview accompanied by an insightful biographical sketch of its author. It's to Battersby's credit that there's not one novel here you wouldn't like to make time for. And if you only want to speak intelligently about books you've never read, this is for you."

The following is a full contents list by title:

One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich

Le Grand Meaulnes

The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne

The Trial

The Violent Bear it Away

Dom Casmurro

Persuasion

Fathers and Sons

All Quiet on the Western Front

Heart of Darkness

Cry, The Beloved Country

Wuthering Heights

A Confederacy of Dunces

To the Lighthouse

Ulysses

Berlin Alexanderplatz

The Lord of the Rings

A Handful of Dust

So Long, See You Tomorrow 

Thérèse Raquin

We

The Great Gatsby

Coming Up For Air

L’Étranger

The Picture of Dorian Gray

The Radetzky March

As I Lay Dying

The Heart of the Matter

The Expedition of Humphry Clinker 

Black Beauty

Malone Dies

Great Expectations

The Magic Mountain

The Optimist’s Daughter

December Bride

Mary

The Tin Drum

Nausea

Wide Sargasso Sea

Ethan Frome

Eugene Onegin

More Die of Heartbreak

The Charwoman’s Daughter

Empire of the Sun

Hunger

Petersburg

Death in Rome

The Go-Between

Oblomov

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Crime and Punishment

The Recognitions