Michael Dirda is the senior editor of The Washington Post Book World, as well as a recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for literary criticism. In 2003, he published an autobiographical account of his early years, telling about growing up in Lorain, Ohio. While there is much that he appreciated about his home, he also tells that his years there were colored somewhat darkly by his father, who was a cranky, difficult man. Apparently the man was not physically abusive, but neither was he easy to be around. Unhappy with his lot in life, he frequently erupted in anger over trivial family matters, upsetting his wife and frightening his children. So, as usually happens in such unsettled households, the kids grew up stepping very carefully around their father, never knowing when some innocent remark or…