Literary tastemaker

A recent Instagram of Ron Charles’s home office could easily be mistaken for a photo of a library basement. For the Washington Post book critic, “CBS Sunday Morning” contributor, and revered literary tastemaker, the books are the thing. “If I have any sophistication whatsoever, it came from my love of novels.”

After attending Principia from preschool to college, Charles stayed in Elsah to teach at the College before becoming book editor at The Christian Science Monitor and then the Post. “Being an English teacher was a lot like being a book critic: convincing people that books are important, that their lives are enhanced by reading a book . . . You’re trying to reach out to people, find them where they are, and lead them to books they might enjoy. That’s how I see my job.”