| Title | : | Book Lust: Recommended Reading for Every Mood, Moment, and Reason |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 1570613818 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9781570613814 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 287 |
| Publication | : | First published August 12, 2003 |
Book Lust: Recommended Reading for Every Mood, Moment, and Reason Reviews
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I have great respect for Nancy Pearl. Anyone who has turned reading into a "profession" deserves some serious props. That combined with a title as awesome as Book Lust (I tried to read this in public as often as possible, holding the cover up where everyone could see my wanton bibliophilia on display) was an irresistible siren song to which I had to give in.
After an inspiring introduction on the pleasures of reading, the book basically consists of recommended reading lists for an eclectic collection of topics, from various wars to family issues, from graphic novels to biographies, from postmodern literature to romance. This is definitely the type of book to read with pen and paper at the ready for jotting down book titles, and I've already added several books to my own "to read" list. However, therein lies a bit of a problem. For those who read extensively, check out the bestseller lists religiously, and read every current review/author interview for new releases, there's honestly not a lot new here. When adding them to my Goodreads to read list, I found that I had already added most of these books long before reading Pearl's book. This book may be better suited to those who are new to the reading life or to those who are rediscovering it and wondering what to read next--a quandary I seldom have. Also, some lists were just that--lists giving only title and author. I would have appreciated at least a very short synopsis of each book before deciding whether or not it was for me. So, to sum it up, interesting premise, definite admiration for Nancy Pearl, but not necessarily a "must read" for those already drowning in a never-ending parade of books to be read.
Cross posted at
This Insignificant Cinder -
I can't begin to tell you how many wonderful books that I've gotten from "Book Lust". It's a perfect manual for deciding just what to read. It's also a great conversation starter. While carrying it around I've had people ask me about it. So besides being a wonderful book of books, it also has gained me some literary friends.
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Get our of your rut! Get this book!
My daughter works at a used book store, and gave me this to keep me from constantly asking her to recommend books for me, since our preferences have diverged more in recent years. (I'm just not into graphic novels and microbiology.)
That said, everyone should have a copy of this book and its companion (More). Of course, it's not the list of the thousand books you must read before you die. Someone else did that, so don't whine that it doesn't have all your favorites in it. That's not the point of this book. She might remind you of things you've loved and suggest more like it, or just offer you a glimpse into genres that you've never even considered or imagined.
I've also reviewed "More Book Lust."
A small hint---read this with a highlighter. I use red for read, and yellow for those I'm looking for. -
First, the title. How could a reader not love the title Book Lust? Paired with the enchanting cover, it's a perfect cover/package deal that immediately drew my eye. I really need to find more books ABOUT books, and have several on my wishlist.
Nancy Pearl is an admirable woman - the intro to the book is one of more interesting parts as she discusses having a troubled childhood and using books as a path of escape. She emphasizes the second home she made in her local library and the respect gathered for the local librarians, who inspired her so much she became a librarian herself.
I have go into something here - I keep seeing everywhere on here that elsewhere Nancy Pearl's words of wisdom on giving a book a chance, and most of it is listed as wrong. Even the sequel lists this in the plot description of it:
..."and her Rule of 50 (give a book 50 pages before deciding whether to continue; but readers over 50 must read the same number of pages as their age) became a standard MO."
It actually reads from her book:
"I live by what I call "the rule of fifty," which acknowledges that time is short and the world of books is immense. If you're fifty years old or younger, give every book about fifty pages before you decide to commit yourself 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 deciding."
I love the categories in the book, and they're broken down into an amazing ensemble of categories. A qualm I hold is I wish she would have gone more in-depth with some sections and their books. Sometimes it's listing them as a mere list.
I liked how she describes blending Horror, Fantasy, and Science-Fiction: "Science fiction deals with the world of the possible, if not the probable; fantasy deals with another world, one that doesn't conform to the natural laws of the world in which we live; and horror fiction (often referred to as dark fantasy) depicts a world marked by unnatural terrors." Even with this cool description, she admits to not really being a horror fan and not even reading Stephen King books.
One thing I notice is, while she rarely mentions a book twice in any list, she has now brought up Pat Conroy's Prince of Tides at least 4-5 categories now. I've heard good things about it and the movie was enjoyable. Thankfully I own it TBR. She apparently thought it was so intriguing I just "bumped it" up to read much sooner.
I recognized some of the titles in the lists, but honestly most of the stuff she mentions was unrecognizable to me. My wishlist grew though, and I became interested in being open minded to more subjects. It's amazing that she's read so many books on so many subjects, good grief.
This is more of a guide/list/reference than something that you sit down and enjoy reading. I do wish it were a bit more organized sometimes, more details were given for many of the books, and more explanations on some things. -
What an unfortunate title. I expected some bibliothecal titillation, Viagra for the bookworm, tales of mad pursuit, extreme in their quest to hunt, have, and swallow whole the objects of our literary passions. But like all lusts, this joy proposed proved a very woe. Instead of a biblio-buzz, I wasted an hour or so skimming over some of the most limp and dispassionate recommendations of modern writing imaginable. To my shame, I didn't finish the book. In fact, Pearl recommends that you abandon any book that hasn't hooked you after 50 pages. Sage advice. I read 51, and shunned the rest.
The brevity and baldness of her reviews was frustrating, and some of her 'creative' categories seemed to have been borrowed from Jeopardy! (Do we really gain anything from list of books written by authors whose first name is Alice?). After twenty pages I started to doubt that Pearl had really read more than the back cover of the books she lists, and by page 50 I was certain that she didn't have anything exciting or particularly useful to say about most of them (Could she at least have told us when the books were published?). I usually devour books on books, but Book Lust (2003), left me peeved not only with the author, but with most of the books she listed. I got the impression that the great bulk of recent fiction is hardly worth writing about ... or reading. Pearl's lust for books may have led her to indiscriminately swallow a library, but where is the love? -
The prospect of more books to read has always been a seductive one for me. Knowing that there are more books out there than I can ever hope of reading is a fact that stimulates ( to read more & more ) and depresses (but I can’t read them all !) me in equal measure. It was a conscious decision to read more books about books this year and keep fantasizing about them all. It certainly made me think if this is what they might someday call bibliophilic masturbation ?
So, I did start off the year with Heather Reyes followed closely by Michael Dirda whose writings are impassioned experiences on how reading changes and enriches lives. There were anecdotes to learn from and anecdotes to cherish among those pages. An afterburn of these books was what led me to Nancy Pearl’s work titled Booklust. Now the word lust evokes a fiery passion of sorts (stirring in the loins apart !) towards a topic which in this case was bibliophilia. The introduction for this book was something that got me interested and here is a sample of Pearl’s reading habit :
"I live by what I call "the rule of fifty," which acknowledges that time is short and the world of books is immense. If you're fifty years old or younger, give every book about fifty pages before you decide to commit yourself 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 deciding."
In a watered-down format, I follow the same strategy to read. Considering the volumes out there which are unread, there isn’t much time to plod through the uninteresting ones. However,as I read the first chapter, I realized that it fails this litmus test.How’s that for irony ?
A book attracts you when it has a soul, when the author or the characters are able to reach out and find a resonance with you.Unless there is a life to the topic, the book is just words printed on paper. The contents of this book while they talk in detail about a lot many works and authors lacks this zest. The effort that the author has put in to categorize books under the different headings is something that needs to be applauded though. There are books on various topics, moods and yes it lives up to its subtitle of “Recommended Reading” but the actual meat of the book is not anything to lust after. There are names of countless books in here but the author never tells us why we should read it. For instance, under the topic of the Vietnam war she mentions that one must read Tim O Brien’s - The things they carried. But my question is : Ms. Pearl why do you think I should read it ? What are your insights on it ? What makes it stand out ? The answer to these is deafening silence and you will only hear your own voice echoing back. The book rattles out names and titles which start to resemble a grocery shopping list after a few chapters.
I went through the book, skipped a few chapters and pages and finally completed it. Then comes this questions as to what did I gain. A few interesting book titles to check out, but beyond that ? Nothing.
Quite interestingly, a good 60% of the books listed here are the usual suspects. You wouldn’t need an expert to tell you that John Le Carre’s – The spy who came in from the cold is a masterpiece in espionage fiction !
For someone starting off on the reading journey, this is a fantastic start. But if you already have a ton of books marked out as ‘to-read’, this one will give you a few additional things to read with no indicator as to why to read them ! -
I'm a huge fan of booklists, and this was a good example of one. Most of the books chosen by Pearl aren't bestsellers or award winners, but are more obscure options that you probably haven't read yet. She arranges the collection into 175 useful, creative, and humorous lists. The lists are named specifically, presented in alphabetical order, and posted in the Table of Contents. Some examples are: Adventure by the Book, Bird Brains (books about birds), Fathers and Daughters, First Novels, Shrinks and Shrinkees, Hanky Reads, Zero (literally...books about the concept of zero), Chick Lit, Elvis on my Mind, Families in Trouble, and 9/11. She also includes works from "Too Good To Miss" authors, and most of her recommendations include a brief description of the work. I checked this out from the library, but I'll probably buy it at some point. This is a great gift for book lovers and a wonderful addition to the shelf of any reader. There is also a companion volume, "More Book Lust," and a movie version, "Movie Lust," that are probably worth checking out.
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I'm upping this to three stars because she mentioned Barbara Hambly and The Little White Horse.
But honesty, if you are talking about dog books and you don't mention Albert Payson Terhune, there is something wrong with you.
It's a little bit disorganized and the list descriptions are bit weird. I also hate grouping fantasy, sci-fi and horror together, by cyber punk gets its own section. She also repeats quite a few book titles. But I did jot down quiet a few titles I want to look at. -
Not sure how useful this book will be to me, since it tends to confirm my own tastes -- I knew that from the moment I spotted a recommendation of Dorothy L. Sayers' Gaudy Night -- but I think it's worth keeping around. Nancy Pearl's recommendations are very brief, but here and there they spark a thought or lead on to another book you really must get round to reading.
Something to keep around for reference, though, not something to read cover to cover. If you're in a mood for, say, a 'coming out' story, then turn to page 93 -- but it'd help if you have GR open to get other people's perspectives on the recommended books, too. -
I found it a bit sloppy. Half-hearted reasons/reviews, then chunks of more books thrown at the end of each category for no reason whatsoever it seems. She also seems to be obsessed with adventures to the arctic and Antarctic circles and mountain climbing. I got a few recs but I think I could write this book in my sleep.
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I have very much enjoyed perusing this book full of possibilities. Nancy Pearl's true love of books permeates every page, and her categories are unconventional and sometimes amusing.
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No rating since it’s a little outdated and I didn’t read every single section. It was interesting to see what authors I only recognized from books that have come out since this was published, and what authors and books are still just as popular now as back then (2003).
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This is not a book of reviews.
Despite the fact that Nancy Pearl is a well respected critic and possibly one of the most famous librarians in history (not that I know much about famous librarians), Nancy very rarely details why she chose the books that she did. Instead, we are to assume that every book that Pearl lists is one that she likes- after all, why else would she bother to mention it? And I imagine that every title listed must be at least somewhat notable if it managed to stick in her memory, one that no doubt has housed thousands and thousands of books in its' lifetime.
Book Lust is formatted as such: there are a hundred or so chapters headlined with different genres, some of them very unique (books about cats, books written by people named Alice, books about women's friendships...) to more common subjects (World War I and II, Romance, Science) and is dotted with featurette chapters about authors she particularly favors. Each chapter is short, some of them only a page, some going on for a dozen or so, and they read like a quick conversation with, well, a librarian. Though she often has unique and slightly more obscure choices for every genre she details, I did feel that someone who is a fan of that particular genre would already be familiar with the books that she chose. For instance, I was already familiar with nearly every fantasy and sci-fi writer she mentioned.
The best use of this book, I think, is to help someone who wants to broaden their horizons but doesn't have a clue where to start. In my case, as a greedy reader, I'd like to read every title that Nancy recommends, on top of my already staggering list of to-reads. For the people who argue that this sort of book is rendered unnecessary by websites such as GR- well, they're right. This book isn't a vital part of your personal library, but it is an interesting read if you want to see what one of the most well read minds in America thinks is worth picking up. -
This book was not what I imagined. I suppose I expected a book of essays, with each essay an analysis of a particular book and why it was significant for the author.
For the Love of Books is something of a model for that. But no, Book Lust is basically a thickened-out list of librarian-approved "you might also like"s. There's nothing wrong with that. The books are spread apart into different chapters which represent categories and genres, so you can find recommendations for exactly what you might be looking for, and I would be lying if I said I didn't take down a bunch of titles for later. But there wasn't much depth here, no sense (for me) of the emotional and intellectual pleasures of reading, the strong psychic pull we can have for books that meant something to us once. Oh, well; that's why we have For the Love of Books. -
I normally love books about books but this one was very sloppily written. The author gave recommendations of books to read but gave me very little reason or enthusiasm to further investigate those books. Some good reviews and descriptions of the recommendations would have been a lot nicer than just a sentence saying don't miss this book, this author is great here is a complete list of their books with a star by my favorites. Really???? GR readers offer me more than this author did in an entire book. Skip this one as it is totally not worthy of your time. There are much better books about books available.
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"I live by what I call "the rule of fifty," which acknowledges that time is short and the world of books is immense. If you're fifty years old or younger, give every book about fifty pages before you decide to commit yourself 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 deciding." -
This lady has read a lot.
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Great ideas for what to read next...outstanding! I will definitely refer to this book often.
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It’s hard to know how to rate a book like this, as it’s not really meant to be a great reading experience itself, but rather to point to future great reading experiences. It’s a collection of short (1-3 page, mostly) mini-essay/lists of Pearl’s book picks on topics ranging from novels about mothers and daughters, to presidential biographies, to children’s fantasy that adults enjoy, to fiction and nonfiction about the world’s great rivers, to Polish poetry (in translation), to…well, just about anything you can think of. Some of the most interesting essaylets were the ones under the heading “Too Good to Miss,” where she goes to bat for writers she thinks are underrated.
The author admits freely and often that these recommendations reflect her personal taste only and are not to be taken as gospel. Fair ‘nough. And often enough I agreed with her that a particular book was a gem. But I found myself several times wanting to email her in dudgeon. She liked A Confederacy of Dunces and The Unbearable Lightness of Being? Really? And why did Joan Didion not appear in the essay on California writers or the one on great modern essayists? And no Moby-Dick, even with an essay called “Sea Stories” (not to mention the 20 other topics it might have fit under)? Seriously? My biggest beef with the book, though, is that often the substance of a chapter will be little more than a list of author names and titles, without enough about why these are worth reading to make me care.
Still--taking Pearl’s advice to read with pen and paper handy--I did end up with a meaty-looking new list of books I’m itching to read (as if mount TBR weren’t high enough already!). So, yeah--I’m very glad I read this. -
Anyone who stumbles over the intriguingly titled "Book Lust" is obliged, as a book lover, to pick up this book and see what it's about.
The book is organized into LISTS, similar to a GoodReads list, except with only one voter, the author. Some of the lists are worth checking, like "Civil War Fiction" or "Russian Heavyweights". Other lists are absurd, like "Books about Cats", or "Books about Elvis Presley".
There are hundreds of lists in the book, and Pearl mentions thousands of books and writers, including many that I have never heard of before.
"Book Lust" is all about lists, and so it does not offer any further details about the selections within each list - that is left to the reader. And so the book is a quick read. If a given list is of no personal interest, you move ahead to the next list.
The lists are not intended to be "Best Of" lists. Pearl is simply offering selections that she has found in her experience as a librarian and as a voracious reader.
There were many clues that my own tastes are very different than Pearl. For example, her choice for the 2 sexiest books ever written are "Shanna" by Kathleen Woodiwiss and "Endless Love" by Scott Spencer. I'm not sure what writers would be on my own list, but Woodiwiss and Spencer would not be there.
Her choices for "absolute best short story ever" are the collected short stories of Eudora Welty and John Cheever. Once again, I'm not sure what authors would make my own list, but Welty and Cheever would not.
After finishing "Book Lust", I did identify 6 or 7 books that I would like to investigate further, so I am grateful to the author for that. -
“What to read next is every book lover’s greatest dilemma.”
Any real book lover knows that picking the next book is hard, but this is not the book that solves this issue. Book Lust is a collection of different reading lists for different topics, moods and so on. Say you want to know what Russian books to read or want a list of coming of age books. That is all well and good, hats off to Nancy Pearl for able to make a collection of book lists into a book series. The problem I found is book lovers are aware of most of the books mentioned in these lists; they have millions of books they want to read and this book doesn’t really help them at all. Personally I don’t think anyone apart from book lovers will read a book like this so really it feels pointless. There are lists in the book so obscure they start to feel like filler. My major beef with this book was there were no original thoughts, all books seemed like obvious choices and the presentation of each list needed work. Each topic isn’t a book list and they are not essays of literary criticism either, for me, this just felt sloppy. I will give credit to Nancy Pearl for being able to turn her love of book lists into a collection of books. -
Every morning after my alarm goes off but before I actually get up I read a couple pages from the book on my nightstand. In past years the books on my nightstand were books like The Bedside Baccalaureate or The Intellectual Devotional, which is the name of an actual book but also describes a category of books that aim to educate readers in short, easy bursts. This year I am really trying to put in a dent in my 300+ TBR pile, so instead of buying a new devotional I picked Nancy Pearl's Book Lust out of my TBR pile and read a few pages of that every morning.
Book Lust is a basically a compilation of book lists. The lists are completely arbitrary and I love that. I mean I can't say I have ever sought out books about Elvis or thought of dinosaur stories as a genre, but I think it is cute and kind of cool that Nancy Pearl can provide list like Elvis on My Mind and Dinosaur Hunting. We all have our eccentricities.
Although I have read or at least heard of many of the books mentioned in Book Lust, Pearl's book did introduce me to some new titles and authors. More than anything, it was a great way to begin my morning. -
It's not like I honestly need any more book recommendations, my to-read list is already more than I'm likely to get through in a lifetime. But Nancy Pearl grew up near my hometown, I enjoy her reviews when I hear her on NPR and when it comes to lusting after books I think I've found a kindred spirit. So I thought I'd take a look.
The recs are divided into all kinds of lists - such as books about zero, Elvis, New Orleans, sex and natural disasters.
It's sure to expose me to some books I never would have discovered otherwise. I skipped a few topic areas, but otherwise added most to my to-read list.
I've read through it, and it makes me wonder, has she read all of the books that she recommends? If so, I'm envious. I'd love to have the time to do that, or have it work into my career.
I enjoyed learning about new books that I might enjoy, but it also left me feeling overwhelmed, because I'm not likely to get through all of them. -
A book friend told me about Book Lust and that was it....I had to go out and buy it. Just what I need, right? More Book Lust.
And then, of course, I had to share my Book Lust with others...so I mailed it off to four book lovers at On the Porch Swing Bookbox, one of my online book groups.
We ended up passing that book around all over the world on BookCrossing. I sent along a journal where people could add their own reading suggestions. It made 74 stops. It traveled all across the US, and then to Canada, Portugal, Australia, and many more places. See where it went here:
https://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/.... So much fun. -
A fantastic read! I opened the book to skim through it but ended up sitting down, grabbing a pen & paper and finally read the book in one sitting:) I agreed with Nancy Pearl quite a few times, couldn't believe some of the books she recommended (books like "The emperor of Ocean Park", "A confederacy of dunces" or "The moviegoer" just didn't do it for me...) and was just as amazed at some of the books she didn't mention. Whether or not you agree with Pearl, her choice of books and the way she categorizes them is really interesting. One more thing: more information about some of the books would have been nice.
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I read Book Lust #1 subsequent to studying several tomes of literary reviews of serious contemporary literature of all genres. 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.
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A quick skim of a read. Not a lot of personal input apart from an occasional brief 'why' as to a title's inclusion. Going through this made me think of many other titles so it was a good memory jogger and a OK book to find new directions & inspiration. Well indexed.
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this book was written in 2003 and the author has written other "book lust" books after this one. It's great for readers who need a little help finding their next book to read. It has 175 lists in all kinds od categories. I've added a few books to my own list.
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This is one of those books I debated about reviewing here on Goodreads because then I would be admitting to the Internet that I actually read this. I read this when I was recovering from food poisoning, hopsing this would distract me from my misery.
Oh, how wrong I was.
There really needs to be a law against misleading subtitles. This is in no way a book of "recommended reading for every mood, moment, and reason." If it was, I could flip right to Books That Help You Forget Your Recent Bout of Food Poisoning. Instead, this is a book of tired categories like Cat Mysteries (the cat book category degenerated into a list of cat mysteries), books set in New York and Civil War Fiction.
This is basically a bunch of lists in paragraph form, with many books winding up on more than one list. The author also lists books that she DOESN'T like in several categories, which seems puzzling. Perhaps she was paid by the word?
The only reason I gave this one star instead of no stars is that I liked the little illustrations at the end of most categories. -
Some years ago I was fortunate to attend a talk by Nancy Pearl at the Sydney Writers’ Festival. I was very impressed with her enthusiastic stories about her reading life. From that time forward I had a desire to own her book, Book Lust. And when the second Book came out ie More Book Lust I had a desire to own that book too. Life got in the way and I forgot about Nancy Pearl and her books. And then, two weeks ago I was in the 2nd hand section of a wonderful well known and loved bookshop in Oxford Street Sydney, and there, waiting for me to find them we’re both books. OMG! Fantastic! I’ve finished reading Book Lust from cover to cover (it’s a book about books), and absorbed every word. Nancy Pearl’s knowledge of a wide range of literature is a miracle. Thank you Nancy Pearl.
