More Book Lust: Recommended Reading for Every Mood, Moment, and Reason by Nancy Pearl

More Book Lust: Recommended Reading for Every Mood, Moment, and Reason Reviews

• 
  Jeanette (Ms. Feisty)

  I frequently remind myself of these great words of wisdom when I need to give myself permission to stop reading a book I'm not enjoying:
  
  "The point is, reading should be pure pleasure. You haven't failed the author by not enjoying the book. Instead, the author has, at that moment in your life, failed you. That doesn't meant that in six days, or six months, or six years, or sixty years, you won't go back to the book and find that you love it. All it means is that at that particular moment in your life, you were looking for a different sort of book."
  
  I've read Book Lust and More Book Lust twice so far. It surprised me how many books I found the second time through that I'd passed over on my first reading. It's all a matter of taste, but I've found more books from Book Lust that were to my liking than from More Book Lust.
  
  
• 
  Shellie (Layers of Thought)

  Original series review posted at
  Layers of Thought.
  
  If you love books and lists, and are an eclectic reader, you will adore this series. Each recommends books which are organized into themes, with great little descriptions; all are softbound, small and easy to read.
  
  Books reviewed:
  Book Lust: Recommended Reading for Every Mood, Moment, and Reason ~ by Nancy Pearl
  More Book Lust: Reading Recommendations for Every Mood, Moment, and Reason
  Book Crush: For Kids and Teens
  
  Thoughts: Nancy Pearl, librarian extraordinaire, has created this series of books (with the fourth to be released in a few days - its one for travelers) which contain organized collections of book recommendations, labeled under catchy little categories. Inside the categories are enticing snippets of the books in a very readable format.
  
  The books are small and easy to handle with a soft cover. With her “lust” of reading, Pearl shares with the reader the books she loves and those which she knows about, creating more desire and adding to your ever expanding book list. I spent hours perusing these books, enjoying her fun and interesting recommendations.
  
  Better yet, Nancy has a variety of philosophies which she labels “Pearlisms”. One is the “rule of fifty” which I have used recently when an abandoning a book (Pride and Prejudice – sorry Jane). What I love is that she gives you permission to stop reading a book when you are not enjoying it. It’s a free “get out of guilt card”. Here is her rule:
  
  

  If you’re fifty years of age or younger, give a book fifty pages before you decide to commit to reading it or give it up. If you’re over fifty, which is when time gets even shorter, subtract your age from 100—the result is the number of pages you should read before making your decision to stay with it or quit. Since that number gets smaller and smaller as we get older and older, our big reward is that when we turn 100, we can judge a book by its cover!

  
  
  I loved these little books and will be purchasing every one for my personal collection. 4 stars for Book Lust and Book Crush, and 4.5 stars for More Book Lust – since it has so many books I had never heard of. Highly recommend resources for teachers, librarians, and book lovers within every genre.
• 
  Deb (Readerbuzz) Nance

  Nancy Pearl knows books.
  
  In this book you will find lists (!) of books about child prodigies, horror for sissies, civil rights and wrongs, cozies, marriage blues, time travel, parrots (yes, a list of books about parrots), wayward wives, nature writing...so much more.
  
  She can recommend a book for almost every mood, moment, and reason, I think.
• 
  JZ

  I live in the land of milk and honey: Nancy Pearl comes to town once a year, to share her favorites at our local performing arts center, because, of course, the library is too small.
  
  She is a short, unassuming woman with an air of joy contained about her. She has found her right-livelihood, and revels in it. How she doesn't weigh twice what she does is a mystery to me, because I can't get nearly enough exercise to counteract all the hours I spend sitting reading my paltry little pile. Perhaps it's because books don't have commercials urging us to eat every 6 minutes.
  
  Both her 'Book Lust' books sit on my 'rotating' shelf, so that I can grab them when I'm going to the library, book sale, book store, or yard sale, and now, to my computer. They sit right next to 'By a Woman's Hand' by Dean A. James, an excellent guide for mystery readers. These are the messiest, most-marked-up books I own.
  Checks, crossing-outs, stars, arrows, and notes are all over the place. Only my favorite cookbook has more notations than these.
  These are not guides to the best literature ever written, as so many lists and other books boast. No, go elsewhere for your particular slant.
  These are books for voracious readers of well-written works of fiction and non-fiction. Dabblers, beware of her trap, because you will find one, then another, and another category to capture you in the written world.
  How she does it is her super-power, and you can get an action figure from Archie McPhee's in Seattle to sit on the shelf to keep you aware that you have a hero in Nancy.
  "Ha!" you say?
  But who else but a hero would go all the places she's been to bring back the best just for you in such a compact form?
  Thanks, Nancy. Be seeing you next month at WICA.
• 
  Naomi

  A very, very fun way to find the next good book. I really enjoyed all the little personal notes she had throughout the book and I think she did a great job telling a little about the books. Nancy also had a nice selection of different genres and "Authors Too Good To Miss". My husband and I laughed over her Dick Lit, aka Lad Lit section. We've never heard of it and are wondering when Dick Flicks, aka Lad Flicks are going to become the rage for men in movies.
  I hope one day to add this book and her first volume Book Lust to my personal library. There are too many books I want to read from her list to just write the titles down.
  
• 
  Erin *Proud Book Hoarder*

  Full review to come, but quick notes:
  
  This second volume is not a repeat of the first - it covers new ballparks. Unusual categories I wouldn't have thought of, like The Family of Clergy, are included. Fiction for Foodies isn't a surprise to me since so many cozies are food themed. Even geography plays its part like with Florida Fiction, Japan, Tibet, Egypt, etc. I was especially delighted to see sections like Fractured Fairy Tales, Maiden Voyages and Ms. Mystery. I've never heard of "Dick Lit" but thanks to this book, I now have a new genre to name.
  
  As always Nancy Pearl shies away from darker fiction from the most part, so you won't find much in the way of horror, thriller or darker mysteries here - but she definitely gives an exhaustive list of valuable resources and possibilities to open your mind and explore.
  
  Used more as a reference guide and list more than you'd sit and read it like a novel, it's a worthy book to keep revisiting.
• 
  David

  I read Book Lust #2 subsequent to studying several tomes of literary reviews of serious contemporary literature of all genres and her first "Book Lust". Pearl's treatment is lighter than what I had been reading but for the most part useful. As a librarian, she has profound experience with books of a wide range of subjects and I recommend it to fellow bibliophiles.
• 
  Eva

  Good and interesting, with lots of suggestions, still (as in book one) a bit out-fashioned and some categories wouldn't have been necessary for me, but okay: no need to argue about tastes...
• 
  Leah

  First book of December. I wanted something easy, but also something that would distract me during a much-too-long sit in a hospital waiting room while Matt was in surgery. This was just the book. What booklover wouldn't want to spend a stressful day diving into 300 pages of (themed!) book recs??
• 
  Lisa Vegan

  Not at all comprehensive and it can be downright frustrating when “perfect” books are left out of the various sections. But it’s a way to find new books, and new authors also, and can bring up good memories of books already read. And these Book Lust books are an enjoyable read - I read them cover to cover. Would recommend making a detailed list of books to read as read about them, which is something I didn’t do. Different catagories lists with different books than the first Book Lust book. Shows how easily there can be multiple Book Lust books in the future.
• 
  Loco4Libros

  Darn, now I have 33 more books to add to my NEED TO READ book list! You are evil Nancy Pearl.
• 
  Kayla

  I usually like books like this, but I found myself so bored with this one.
• 
  Gabrielle

  As a fan of Nancy Pearl’s Book Lust, I decided to read the sequel to her first book, More Book Lust. Published in 2005 by Sasquatch Books, More Book Lust is on the shorter side for a finding aid book at 240 pages. However, More Book Lust still packs a punch as Pearl is able to succinctly write about a thousand new books. Pearl is unique with the way she categorizes her books, from sections like “And the Award for Best Title Goes To…” to “Gallivanting in the Graveyard.” Pearl organizes her books by these categories she creates, rather than alphabetizing them by author or title. I enjoyed this choice because it makes the book a very easy tool to use for readers’ advisory, as I can flip to any applicable section quickly. I was also able to read about my favorite genres first, like fantasy and travel, and then could read other sections that I was less familiar with or read less often.
  Pearl is very creative in the way she classifies her books, and I appreciated the very specific groups she created, like books that take place in the Midwest or books where the author plays a trick on the reader. This book would be perfect for readers who want quick recommendations from short, important details from the book—no spoilers here! This book is also perfect for readers who would like to be exposed to a broad number of genres and book recommendations in the shortest page count. Pearl has compressed and perfected the art of book-talking in More Book Lust, as even her shortest descriptions piqued my interest.
  Although Pearl’s synopses are brief, I found myself constantly switching from my book to Goodreads to log the new books I was learning about. Pearl includes so many titles in a relatively short number of pages through the categories she creates. For example, in her category entitled “Guilt-Inducing Books,” Pearl gives a brief summary at the beginning about what these books are about, instead of giving a description about every book mentioned. This is how Pearl can mention so many books without making More Book Lust very long. While the introduction at the beginning sufficed, I would have preferred to have a description of each of the books to learn the unique offerings of each one. It is important to note, however, that not every chapter is like this. Usually, she does give sentence to paragraph length descriptions. Another unique aspect of More Book Lust is that Pearl has also compiled books that are meant to be read together. This doesn’t mean she’s recommending series—while there are options for books with sequels, Pearl has found books that pair well together by having similar subjects, storylines, or writing. I thought this was not only a testament to Pearl’s expertise, but also another great readers’ advisory tool from this book. If a reader likes one book from the list, Pearl has provided multiple different options that would be very similar reads.
  This book confirmed one of my main goals: to expand my reading list and read as much as I can. One of my favorite things I learned from this book is written in the introduction. Pearl describes the “rule of fifty,” which is giving a book fifty pages until you decide if you want to keep reading it. Life is too short, and there are so many books to read in the world. Sometimes I’ll force myself to read a book I do not enjoy, and it completely stops my love for reading. By taking this rule to heart, I believe I can expand my personal library.
  
• 
  Leah

  The title is a little embarrassing, haha! However, it was effective at capturing my attention at the bookstore. When I picked it up and flipped through the pages I was intrigued by her creative book categories such as; Gallivanting in the Graveyard, Tickle Your Funny Bone, Alphabet Soup, and Dewey Deconstructed.
  
  There were some books in there that I would never read in a million years, but I did add 282 books to my to-read list, so that's good. (or not good ha!) Most of the books when I looked them up in goodreads had high ratings so it appeared that she could be counted on for suggesting well-written books.
  
  This book was written in an interesting way, it definitely wasn't just a boring list of books. I do recommend it. In fact I just got a text indicating that the previous book, "Book Lust", has been delivered, so I'm off to discover more books. See you in bookland. Oh, and in case you were wondering, the word book was used 14 times in this review. I'm not sure how to correct that without using the word tome, but that would just sound stuffy, so I'm signing off. :)
  
  This fulfilled the requirement "a book based entirely on its cover" for the 2015 Ultimate Reading Challenge by popsugar.
  
  Edited to Add: I need to add one thing. I thought it seemed like there was a lack of good Christian books. I am fine with books that aren't Christian as long as they're not full of sex, violence, and cussing, but it seems like her tastes definitely ran in a direction away from Christian though most of the books seemed to be tasteful. I did think that she would mention Jan Karon in her previous book but now that I've checked the index and scanned through it I cannot find anything about her. Given the sheer numbers of Jan Karon's books that have sold (without a movie to initiate sales) there can be no denying her excellent writing abilities. I can't help but feel like she was omitted because of the author's preference toward non-christian books, but this is just speculation. I obviously still found plenty of books that looked promising though, but I thought I'd give a heads up for those who prefer to read mostly just Christian books.
• 
  Celia

  All my latest additions to my "to read" list here are coming out of this book - there's lots of interesting mysteries recommended. It's sometimes a bit hit & miss - I certainly wouldn't read everything that the author recommends, but it's great to read through and note down books that sounds interesting. Plus, I love the way it's organised - alphabetical lists like, "Literary Lives", "I am Woman, Hear Me Roar" and "Guilt-Inducing Books". It's also wonderfully eclectic, which ensures that there should be recommendations within that would appeal to everyone.
• 
  Mycala

  I don't know how she does it, but Nancy Pearl's lists of books make me want to live next door to her and invite her for tea and a chat about the latest read. She also inspires me to somehow text her and say, "Oh hang on, what about this one?"
  
  I like the way she categorizes things without being dry. She tells little stories or adds little bits of information... just enough to inspire me to put stuff on hold at the library and then exclaim, "Wait a minute, how did I get 20 books on my hold list already!?"
  
  I see there's only one left in the series and then what? Get to reading, Nancy! ;-)
• 
  Kevin

  I love adding to my to-read list. I will definitely refer to this one often.
• 
  Diane Nagatomo

  I enjoyed this book--and probably the credit card company has enjoyed it, too! Compelled to read all the books Nancy Pearl recommends! (Also ordered her other lusty books!)
• 
  Scott

  4.5 STARS
• 
  Kali

  Flipped through this one after checking out the first Book Lust... and found it to be much of the same. Which means I had the same problems with this book that I did with the previous one - not enough categories of interest to me in the first place, and nothing new or interesting in the categories I DID have an interest in.
  
  I did give this one an extra star, though, because I did add ONE book from it to my "To Read" list.
• 
  Crimson

  I liked the first book more, but this had some good books within its pages. I'm really excited about reading some of these.
• 
  Dayna Smith

  Arrgh! These books are killing my TBR list! More please!
• 
  SeaShore

  continuous reference.
• 
  PuniPoli

  Really like this kind of books😎
• 
  Katja

  This book is the perfect extended money sink.
• 
  Dayla

  All kinds of reading material can be found here.
• 
  Scott Andrews

  Yeah. It was good. I have small arguments with the lists, but this is a book worth the money and time, for certain.
• 
  Lisa

  A guidebook for how many extra “more books to read” stacks you can pile around your room before you run out of bed space.