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Of all to choose from, how to pick a good book? Nov 30, 2003 (57 of 61 found this helpful)
Answer: Take the advice of Nancy Pearl, librarian, reviewer and reader par excellence. Paired with Sara Nelson's So Many Books, So Little Time, you're set up with super reading for the next few years, at a minimum. These two authors approach their craft differently, however: Nelson discusses how books affect her, while Pearl is more inclined to discuss choosing a book based on her already-present mood. Together, you're covered for every eventuality.
And here's permission from an expert to do what many of us cannot give ourselves permission to do: quit reading a book after 50 pages if we're not enjoying ourselves. As hard as that is to act upon ("but surely it'll get better in another few pages..."), think about how many more books you'd have time to read if you skip the last 250 pages of every book you're really not loving.
Perhaps Nancy Pearl's most innovative and imitated accomplishment was to suggest that all the readers within a certain group (hometown, college, newspaper subscribers, PTA, etc.) read the same book and join discussion groups about it. Making this task easier is Pearl's division of her books into about 200 categories, including some unusual groupings such as "Shrinks and Shrinkees." Also invaluable to booklovers are the several "Too Good to Miss" sections in which Pearl discusses particular writers, why they are unique, and what specific books of theirs she would recommend. In this section are authors such as Iris Murdoch as well as many whom Pearl considers inadequately appreciated.
Buy this book. And then begin looking forward to the sequel.
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So Many Books, So Many Moods Dec 31, 2003 (67 of 73 found this helpful)
A Christmas present well worth while. Nancy Pearl, a Seattle librarian, and local NPR celebrity where she discusses books, has
written a book that is recommended reading for every mood, moment and reason. She has organized these books into 175 useful,creative and humorous lists. These lists are quite specific and the Table of Contents lists them in alphabetical order. The one critique is that not enough information is given about the books, but maybe that was her intent. Just maybe she wants us to find out that information for ourselves.
I have gone through each list and found enough books that interest me to give me reading material for the next couple of years. I have purchased several.
Some of my favorites are:
Action Heroines-the usual VI Warshawski and Kinsey Milhorne but several new ones like Susan Van Meter and Paul Flint.
Adventure by the Book- Fiction and Non-fiction-Huckleberry Finn and National Geographic.
Hamilton Basso: Too Good To Miss-New Orleans Southern writer like "View From Pompeii's Head".
Bird Brains- books for and by birders
Fathers and Daughters and Fathers and Sons-Solomon's Daughter and Gambler's Rose
First Lines Too Remember-"First I had to get his body into the boat".
First Novels-Virgin Suicides, Stern Men, Biggest Elvis
The Islamic World-Islam: A Short History
The Moon's My Destination-Apollo- Epic Journey to the Moon
Shrinks and Shrinkees-I Never Promised You A Rose garden
Three Hanky Reads-A Lesson Before Dying
Texas, A Lone Star State of Mind-The Last Picture Show
Zero: This Will Mean Nothing To You-The Hole in the Universe
All together, 256 pages of books organized into themes that make sense. I really liked this book. I found it light reading, but full of great information.I will use this as a reference book for the times when I need a book of a particular theme, or a need for a book I can't quite put my finger on.
If you are just starting out on a reading life, this book is for you. Or, if you are looking for something to read, but don't know what will strike your fancy, this book is for you. A book for everyone, for any mood or for every mood. prisrob
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A must for book discussion group leaders Oct 19, 2003 (21 of 22 found this helpful)
I lead and advise book discussion groups in the San Francisco Bay Area and think this book is a jewel for creating reading lists! The author, Seattle public librarian Nancy Pearl, has well honed personal and professional instincts for quality books with broad appeal.
For one thing, she serves as the Director of the Washington Center for the Book, where she created the program, "If All of Seattle Read the Same Book." This program became a model for programs like the California Council for the Humanities statewide promotion of John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath. (Isabel Allende will be Seattle's featured author for 2004.)
Book group leaders will appreciate Pearl's historical context for different genres including the experiences of different ethnic groups in America, and a list of 100 good reads, decade by decade for the 20th century. (Ten books are listed for each decade.) Imagine immersing your book group in one book for each decade over the course of a year. Or just reading the 1940's with picks like Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls, Richard Wright's Native Son and Marjorie Kinman Rawling's Cross Creek. The 1950's picks include Salinger's Catcher in the Rye and Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man.
Book group leaders may also appreciate her section on Companion Reads--books that can be linked sequentially to broaden the understanding of each. For example, she suggests three "moving memoirs about growing up Hispanic in America: Down these Mean Streets by Piri Thomas, and When I was Puerto Rican and Almost a Woman by Esmeralda Santiago." Another interesting idea: pairing two novels about single women, written almost one hundred years apart, one by a man and one by a woman: The Odd Women by George Gissing and The Odd Woman by Gail Godwin. There's also a list of books about Elvis for those so inclined.
One caveat: some of the books that she recommends are now out of print--which might mean more interlibrary loan work or asking your bookstore for a special order.
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Great Resource For Book Lovers Aug 30, 2003 (43 of 50 found this helpful)
This book is the first of its kind: a nearly infinite resource for people who are always looking for something good to read. I will never again be at a loss for a good book. I highly recommend it as a purchase or gift for any avid reader.
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not perfect, but definitely helpful Sep 23, 2004 (25 of 28 found this helpful)
When I pick up a book like this, I look for two kinds of lists: those in which I have an interest but no knowledge, and those that are my areas of knowledge. I use the latter to gauge my trust in the former, and I have to say I was mildly disappointed with the lists about which I am knowledgable, such as Academic Satires and Historical Fiction, which neglected to mention essential authors and books. That tells me that the other lists, those in which I have no first-hand knowledge, will probably get me started but will be neither authoritative nor complete.
Secondly, I was not enamored of the format, which devotes approximately one page to each topic and is set up as commentary with book titles in bold face type. There are a wide variety of topics, from Australian Fiction to Epistolary Novels and Pawns of History, however there is usually no information about the year of publication. The general commentary is interesting but inconsistent, while the sentence devoted to each recommended work is helpful and informative, as if a friend in a hurry was telling you about the item.
This is a fun book and it will get you started in areas of interest to you; however, for a more comprehensive and authoritative list there is The List of Books (sadly out-of-print and dated, but available used) by Frederic Raphael and Kenneth McLeish and, for a guide to specific authors, which are covered idiosyncratically here, you might try About the Author by Alfred and Emily Glossbrenner.
The book concludes with a good index that lists all of the books and authors mentioned.
This will not be your most valuable guide to other books, but it will be useful.