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This is a must have for any book lover. If you are like me, you love a good book, but they are hard to find. I don't know a lot about most of the authors to know if their works would interest me. Every possible catagory of literature is broken down in these books (Book Lust and More Book Lust).I recommed using a highlighter when reading. You will find tons of new books that you will want to read.
I read that one during late spring afternoons on the lovely little patio of a townhouse I rented for awhile. Reading reviews on Amazon has made me worse. I read it for a graduate class in Latin American literature (in translation). I'll pop this book into my cart, then that one. A fascinating title is The Hole in the Universe: How Scientists Peered over the Edge of Emptiness and Found Everything. Typically, I'll go through my shelves (or stacks on the floor) to find a book for my mood.I have Amazon Friends who read entire collections by one writer, including Conrad, Melville, Wells, Nabokov before moving on to the next writer of profound importance. The first is "A.My Name is Alice" (there is even a children's book by that name).
That headiness is too focused for my weary wings that like to flit to that book, then this one, and over yonder--that one. Do you have that problem. So here's what I determined to do: Use "Book Lust" created by the librarian's Librarian, Nancy Pearl. Enjoy.
I'm flighty, a regular flibbertigibbet (if you'll pardon the oxymoron). Included are writers whose given names are Alice, and a short list of titles and descriptive phrases. Example: Alice Walker's Meridian, an autobiographical novel of the early years of the civil rights movement and an interracial marriage.The last category is "Zero: This Will Mean Nothing to You." And she lists fabulous books about, yes, the concept of zero. Doesn't that title make you want to read the book.Magical Realism with a listing of renowned and not-so-known writers: of course, One Hundred Years of Solitude (P.S). (Mine is at school where the kids LOVE rearranging the items in the set. These books are just a speck in an entire, more-than-one lifetime-of-reading in one book. After a while I will order an armload and still don't know what kind of order to use to select the next book to read. This category was so unique to me that I well remember where I was when I read it, much like the JFK assassination.Nancy also includes Latin American literature: Julio Cortazar's Hopscotch (Pantheon Modern Writers Series), Jorge Luis Borge's Borges: Collected Fictions (a most heady read.)., and Rosario Ferre's The House on the Lagoon.Iris Murdoch: The Philosopher's Pupil and a list of 25 more novels.Postmodern Condition: (Her explanation is so accessible)--Ishmael Reed's Mumbo Jumbo; or Nabakov's Pale Fire (Everyman's Library (Cloth)); or Jonathan Franzen's The Corrections: A Novel.Aging: Doris Lesser's The Diaries of Jane Somers.Africa: Today and Yesterday: Michaela Wrong's In the Footsteps of Mr.
There's even a deluxe Action Figure of Nancy: Librarian Deluxe Action Figure that you can place at your favorite reading station just for a laugh or two. I don't know how many times different ones will ask if they can check out "this book"--it's a single tiny book in the set).Here's how the book is arranged: alphabetically by categories of her naming. Kurtz: Living on the Brink of Disaster in Mobutu's Congo.I just realized something--what I created in this review is a potential reading list. And thank you, Nancy Pearl.
While I didn't read this book in its entirety, I did skim the whole thing, focusing on certain sections that caught my interest, and found it quite delightful. I came a way with quite a few books to add to my wish list. Of course, I'm a sucker for book lists and books about books, so Book Lust was right up my alley. I loved highlighting book titles I had already read and exploring genres and topics I was most interested in. It is a great reference for any bibliophile who would like to explore a further theme or subject. Pearl does a great job with the categorization of her recommendations, and I look forward to obtaining and perusing her follow-up, More Book Lust.
Readers will get more by looking under the "Customers who bought this item also bought" section in the amazon.com page of their favorite read then investing in this book. This is the sentence on it,"Of Course, Mario Puzo's The Godfather is the novel most people associate with Italian American fiction." Then made a comparison to the Sopranos "Rereading this action-packed epic, as I did recently, filled as it is with violence, love, betrayal, and deception, it's easy to see the parallels between Puzo's novel and the HBO series The Sopranos." That's it.
Sure this book covers many books for different moods, and there it does well in its choices. I have to say I was disappointed by this book and would not have bought it if I had opened it up and read some pages in a bookstore.
For instance it referenced The Godfather in the Italian American writer section. I won't even argue with the choices.
However, I expected more then two or three sentence descriptions of the titles mentioned, and at least some plot info. She took the easy parallel as well, by mentioning the ease of comparing the two instead of giving her summary of Puzo's greatest work.
The listmania sections in amazon.com do as good a job as Book Lust IMO.
She also includes a list of best novels from each decade of past century and this list is worth reading through as an experiment in widening one's reading scope. There are so many books and a limited amount of space so that is understandable.
I enjoy this guide as a read in itself. This is a unique type of "book review" list as the author categorizes books under unorthodox headings (such as "armchair travel", "first lines to remember", "boys coming of age", etc).
For example, I really enjoy Richard Ford's novels (The Sportswriter being one)and she doesn't even mention him. She devotes a paragraph or so to a title, or author and has sections on one author titled "too good to miss".
Her taste is not exactly mine as she tends toward the romantic and mystery genres and, it is my opinion, disregards more serious classic writing. What I really appreciate about this book is that she has led me to some books I never would have considered -and I really enjoyed just giving myself up to her recommendation.
Author is a retired librarian who you -can tell -really loves books.
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