So Many Books, So Little Time - Sara Nelson

I enjoy reading books about books - to get recommendations from readers, and also just to see what other people think of books that I've also read. Aunty Marji enjoys the same thing - and she sent me this recommendation - by Sara Nelson who is apparently a "well-known publishing correspondent." Nelson vows to read and write about a book a week in 2002. Her books don't seem to have any unifying theme - she just read and tells anecdotal stories about why she chose them, what she thinks of them, and how they may or may not relate to other books she's read. Overall, this book was fine - I wrote down a couple recommendations along the way. But, at the same time, for someone who makes a living writing about books, I didn't find Nelson's analyses of the novels she picked up very interesting or informative - and since I'd never heard of Nelson before, she wasn't able to convey to me why I should really care what she thinks about things. Plus, she regularly trashed books I really loved (including Peace Like a River, one of my favorite books that I've read so far this year). So, while I appreciate that different people like different kinds of books - and that's the beauty of having so many books out there, I tended to find many of her comments about the works annoying or condescending. But, Nelson's husband is Japanese, and she has a half-Japanese son - so I did appreciate her recommendations of Asian-American writers and the Japanese experience in America. I enjoyed this book from the perspective of learning how another person who loves reading goes about choosing the books they read - what they like/hate and why - but if I knew this Sara Nelson in real life, I doubt I'd go to her very often for recommendations.