The Reading Promise - Alice Ozma

Alice Ozma's school librarian father always read to her.  She can't remember a time when he didn't.  But, things do sometimes get in the way, and so there were, of course, nights when the were too tired to read.  Or Alice was sick.  Or they just got caught up in other things.  But, when Alice is 8 or 9 years old, father and daughter made a promise to each other that they would read together every single night, without fail.  And so The Streak began.  As Alice grew older, her mother left the house.  Her sister went off to college.  Alice entered high school, where it wasn't exactly "cool" to read with your father every evening.  But, still The Streak continued.  I like the concept of this memoir - Alice's recollection of how things were with her father, and the important of reading out loud, even after she was clearly old enough to read to herself.  But there is much in this book that goes without explanation.  Her mother moves out, and there is a hint that mental illness played a role, but there is no real exploration of how that impacted Alice's upbringing.  Her father seems to have some odd intimacy issues, and despite being a clearly devoted father, can't quite seem to hold real conversations with his youngest child.  While this is hinted at - in particular in a chapter in which her father reads Dicey's Song to her, again, there's no explanation of how this truly affected the relationship.  It's as if there is so much distance and discomfort between the two - but that it is erased for those minutes and hours during the day when they're reading together.  I'm not sure if I feel like that is a wonderful thing, or a charade.  Eventually, of course, The Streak has to end, but it is amazing in its endurance - and Alice and her father do have an amazing relationship that made me both laugh and cry.  There were times when the book definitely got off course, and Alice spoke more about her own thoughts and self than about the books themselves.  I get that it's not really about the books, but I still would have liked a little more reflection about why they chose the books they did and what they meant to her at the time.  Despite my reservations about the actual book itself, I did still find it inspiring, and have made a committment to read every day to my son - something that I hope will turn into a tradition of our own and hopefully help him develop a love of books himself.

The Man Who Loved Books Too Much - Allison Hoover Bartlett

The synopsis for this book reminded me of Edward Dolnick's books about art theft. Though this time, with books as the object of desire, I figured it was even more up my alley. This book focuses on John Gilkey, a man obsessed with books - not necessarily for their stories, but for their value. He fancies himself a sort of aristocrat who deserves the life and respect he believes comes with owning rare first editions and other highly sought after collectors items. He makes his way through book shows and used bookstores swindling owners left and right. The author meets with him in prison in an effort to understand why he steals. In addition she meets with the man who hunted Gilkey down, as well as various booksellers to understand the world of bookselling, and to uncover how such a wide-spread deception could occur. While the fundamental premise of this book is fascinating to me - unfortunately, I did not feel completely satisfied with the execution. I thought that the author touched on the psychological problems Gilkey suffered from and made an effort to speak to his family hoping to uncover more. In the end, however, I thought the book posed more questions than answers. This did, however, open my eyes to an entirely new world with respect to book loving. I don't really understand the value in old books - I just like them for their stories - though I do appreciate some good cover art. I'm not a collector of objects, so paying large sums for books that will never actually be touched or read is foreign to me. I thought the author explored this well - why Gilkey would become enamored with such a world, and how the various players in this world interact. I think so much more could have been done with the book, but it is an interesting story about a very strange character.

Book Lust To Go - Nancy Pearl

Nancy Pearl, a librarian in Seattle, has two prior books in this "series" - Book Lust and More Book Lust. All three are filled with her recommendations of books to read in various categories. Book Lust To Go focuses on travel - with Pearl breaking up the book into sections based on countries, cities, or type of travel (long train rides, for example). Pearl acknowledges in her introduction that she is not much of an actual traveler, but that she enjoys seeing new places through the pages of books in the comfort of her own home. And so she put togehter these lists filled with non-fiction, travel narratives, and fiction - all of which give the reader a real sense of the flavor of a given destination. Given that I predict limited ability to travel in the upcoming year - I was thinking of doing some armchair traveling of my own in 2011 - picking a country or region a month and focusing my reading on that area. Pearl has provided a lot of inspiration and suggestion for this project of mine. My only hesitation is that I want to be sure I'm reading books that are really true to a given place, and by Pearl's own admission, she hasn't herself been to many of these place. Though, it does sound like she sought out recommendations from people who had been...so I take some of her suggestions with a grain of salt. But, as with her prior two books, her lists have given me a wonderful jumping off point, and I look forward to traveling around the world with her help for the next 12 months!

The Case for Books - Robert Darnton

With inventions such as the Kindle and the iPad, there has been a great deal of discussion about the future of books - meaning whether actual bound books have become obsolete, as well as how we as a society best store, obtain, digest, and process the written word. This book is a collection of essays about the digitization of literature. Some of the essays take the position that by scanning books and making information readily accessible, that we have a net benefit. How could anyone possibly argue against more information? Other essays question how decisions are made about what information is available, whether there is a monopoly on information dissemination, and whether laws (in whatever form) might somehow insert a level of distrust - or create situations in in which the information is simply lost down the road. The essays are varied and cover a wide variety of concerns about the changing nature of information dissemination. Given how quickly technology evolves, some of the concerns have already been rendered moot - or technology has advanced to a point that the potential fears raised by the essays have not only been met, but possibly surpassed. When it comes to books and technology, my interest lies in whether books themselves as objects are becoming obsolete - whether the next generation of readers will still love the thrill of turning an actual page. But, Darnton isn't particularly concerned with this question (despite the title of this book). His focus is more on how the written word in general (with a heavy focus on newspapers) is maintained and accessed - and whether storing information in digital media will allow for accurate retrieval down the road. This seems like it would be a good read for librarians and others who concern themselves with these types of ideas on a daily basis. As for regular readers like us who just want to keep reading, it wasn't quite what I had in mind.

Books - Larry McMurtry

This is a funny little book by Western writer Larry McMurtry. His collection of short essays focuses on his love for books and his lifetime of scouting, saving, and collecting books for his independent bookstore and personal library. McMurtry approaches life from the viewpoint of a reader who grew up in a home without books. He talks about why he reads and his obsession with collecting. He discusses his favorite bookstore and collectors across the country, and the wonder of finding a steal, selling it for more, and then finding out it was resold again at an exponential profit. Unlike other books about books that I've loved, this one isn't filled with recommendations of books you must read of even McMurtry's favorites. It's more an adventure story of how McMurtry got from here to there and the books he's loved, captured and lost along the way. It provided interesting insight into the mind of a collector, and the excitement of one who loves something so much and can't ever seem to get enough of it.

The Library at Night - Alberto Manguel

This book was a reminder to me that no matter what random topic you can think of, someone has probably written a book about it. Manguel's book of essays centers around the theme of libraries. Inspired by his own process for picking and choosing the books for his home library, Manguel explores the idea of libraries as, among other things, space, imagination, island, identity, and home. He is more concerned with how one goes about choosing the books that are important and necessary to them, than he is about the content of the books themselves. He looks at what it means to have a collection of books - the power that books hold and the various systems of organization that they engender. Each of Manguel's chapters is self-contained, and the book does not contain a cohesive theme - other than the overarching idea of libraries. I generally relish books about reading, particulalry ones that introduce me to new books. This is not quite that kind of book - it is more a celebration of the tangible book and a meditation on the meaning of libraries as a single unit with a given purpose, as opposed to the individual books themselves. Manguel's chapters are far ranging - from the history of libraries to the history of censorship, psychological analyses of what our collections say about us as individuals and as societies, the secrets that libraries hold while also being full of the answers to unlocking all sorts of mysteries. My public library card is one of my most important possessions, and I enjoy visiting people's homes and looking through their personal collections. Libraries do say so much about us - what we love, what we value, and ultimately, who we are. I found myself amazed over and over at the creativity in this book - it made me look at libraries and books in many varied ways, and appreciate that even though I will never even read all the books in my own home, there is still tremendous value in having them all here together.

Ex Libris - Anne Fadiman

I sometimes fear that my obsession with books is abnormal. Obviously, I love to read. But, sometimes, it's not actually the reading - or the thought that I will never read everything on my to-read list - that causes me anxiety. It is the knowledge that I will never even know what all the books are that are even out there (in the categories of books that I even read, which are of course, just a small percentage of the actual books in this universe). Despite the fact that I have over 120 unread books on my shelves at home, I borrow books from the library by the dozen, and I allow myself the occassional trip to a bookstore to actually purchase books, as well as hiding my compulsive Amazon and Powells.com purchases from my husband. I troll magazines and websites for new books, and I hate nothing more than when someone mentions a book to me that I have not read - or even worse, one that I have not even heard of (at the same time I also love when this happens because it means there is even more out there for me to discover - so please keep the recommendations coming!). I have found that one way to ease my obsessive anxiety about books is to read books about books - these are books by other compusive readers. Sometimes they contain lists of recommended books. Other times, like with this book by Anne Fadiman (author of the amazing book, The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down), they are people writing about why they love books so darn much. Ex Libris is a collection of Fadiman's essays - all related somehow to her love of words and reading. In the opening essay, Fadiman discusses the merging of her library with that of her author husband's. While he stacks his books haphazardly this way and that, Fadmian prefers to alphabetize hers or arrange them chronologically, depending on the genre. I particularly enjoyed one essay about different types of readers. There are those who devour their books - scribbling notes in the margins, ripping out pages, writing irrelevant grocery lists on the blank fly pages- because, after all, it is the words that matter, not the book itself. Then there are those who treat their books with prisine care, always using a bookmark (never dog-earring pages). This description reminded me of my brother who used to barely open the pages of his really thick Stephen King novels for fear of cracking the spine. I think I fall somewhere in between. I hate when my books get wet or dirty, and while I love to highlight and keep track of important things, this was a taboo I had to work hard to overcome in college. I love booksmarks of all kinds, but there have been times when I'm at a loss and leave the book splayed open on my nightstand. Fadiman has essays about her outrageously large vocabulary and her love for words. Despite my life-long love of reading, I admit that I have a very small vocabulary. I always tell myself that I'm going to write down the words I come across that I don't know and look them up, but I never do - Fadiman's essays would have given me a very long list to start with! A couple of the essays were a bit too literary or esoteric for my tastes, but the majority were ones in which I recognized myself (though perhaps I am not quite as refined). Fadiman's essays were a reminder that my literary compulsions are not completely abnormal, and that more importantly, they make me happy and I look forward to many more years of reading, new discoveries, and of course, books about books.

Between the Covers - Ellen Heltzel and Margo Hammond

I can never get enough book recommendations, and the one thing I love even more than reading books is reading a book about books I should read. The authors of this one are book critics, book bloggers, and good friends who have come together to suggest over 600 titles for women and our complicated lives. They have suggestions for women of every age group, and for all aspects of life - from childhood, to working years, to retirement - and for all the phases in between - books about having children and careers, books about being caretakers for elderly parents, books about all the phases of love, books about dreaming big and moving on, books about friendships and mother-daughter relationships, books about struggling with our inner demons, books about cooking, books about inspirational women - both non-fiction and fiction the lists are endless. There are some obvious favorites in here like Maya Angelou and Amy Tan, but also lots of hidden gems. The books are grouped by category, with the authors' 10 suggestions in each genre. Each book has a short description. I kept a pad of paper with me as I read through the entries, and by the end had a list of 50+ new books to add to my to-read list! The more of these kind of books I read, the more convinced I am that I just need to retire and become a volunteer book reader. And it makes me happy to know that my excitement for reading and all the books out there will probably never end.

The Angels's Game - Carlos Ruiz Zafon

A couple of years ago, I read Zafon's novel Shadow of the Wind and absolutely fell in love with it. Since then, I've been waiting for his follow-up novel. This one came out last year - but it took SO LONG for the English translation. When I received it in the mail from Powell's, I wanted to stay up all night reading, but I only allowed myself to read one chapter a day so that I could extend my enjoyment. Mostly I stuck to the rule, but sometimes I cheated a little. While The Angel's Game is not as mesmerizing as Shadow of the Wind, I still found it utterly captivating and beautifully written. The book takes place in Barcelona in the 1920s and features a struggling young writer named David Martin. David makes his living publishing popular horror stories under a pseudonym, but longs to write real literature. He is approached by a strange publisher and made the offer of a lifetime to write a book like no other in the history of books. Obsessed by a childhood romance, and falling ill from a mysterious disease, David accepts the offer, and moves into a long abandoned house to complete his project. Like Shadow of the Wind, this novel is filled with gothic imagery, forbidden love, poisonous secrets, and of course lots of books and booksellers. At times, the story is a bit crazy - it's obviously far-fetched and the only way to enjoy it is to suspend disbelief, but even in that mode it was sometimes difficult to believe or understand the explanations for all the weirdness in David's life. But, overall, I loved this book and highly recommend it to anyone who enjoyed Shadow of the Wind.

Shakespeare Wrote for Money - Nick Hornby

This is Hornby's third and last collection of his columns from Believer magazine. The first two, Housekeeping vs. The Dirt and The Polysyllabic Spree have been reviewed in previous posts. I didn't know this third one had beeb published and was positively ecstatic to find it among ornaments and stationery and other treasures in a small shop on Fillmore Street in San Francisco. Hornby's columns are about the books he's bought and the books he's read every month. Clearly, a column after my own heart. The difficulty is that I waiver between wanting to just sit myself on the nearest corner and devour every chapter, and wanting to just read one here and there so that they will seemingly last forever. And now that Hornby has announced his retirement from Believer to focus on his family of all things, I really did want to make this one last. Alas, it was impossible, and like a DVD of Lost episodes, I found myself saying "just one more," until sadly I'd reached the end. As with many Hornby novels, there are many football/soccer references. I could do without these. But, to my delight, in this series of columns, Hornby discovers the excitement of the world of young adult fiction. Given his recent book, Slam, written for young adults (which is on my shelves and I am saving for a very special occasion), Hornby has entered a world of literature that I have loved - ever since I was a young adult. I was happy to get some new recommendations, and to learn about something called the Alex Awards - which are given out every year to the 10 books written for adults that are found appealing to young adults. - or as Hornby calls them "The Non-Boring Book Awards." While encouraging young adults to expand their reading horizons and transition them to "adult" literature, they are no doubt a good place for adults to look for fun books! I took a look at past winners - which include some of my favorites: Into Thin Air, Caucasia, Plainsong, Peace Like a River, The Book of Lost Things, and Water for Elephants. So, needless to say, I definitely plan on mining the list for future reads. Hornby's essays, as always, are filled with humor and literary insight, and are a wonderful celebration of my favorite pastime. I'm sad that I won't have more collections to look forward to, but am sure that I will continue to go back and re-read his columns for more recommendations for a long time to come.

The Yellow-Lighted Bookshop - Lewis Buzbee

While browsing at Books, Inc. in Palo Alto after a delicious breakfast at Hobee's, I came across this little gem. Lewis Buzbee is from the Bay Area and has spent his life surrounded by books. This is a both a memoir about his experiences working in and with bookstores, as well as a history of books and bookstores, and all things literary. Buzbee has a love, not just of the written word, but of that word printed on paper and bound in beautiful hardcover and paperback. He speaks about the development of gadgets such as the Kindle (he does not refer to the kindle by name, but devices like it), and the concept of libraries. But, in the end what he loves most is to possess the actual physical book. He cannot get enough of browsing in stores, of learning about new titels by eavesdropping on other customers, or through the relationships he has cultivated with various owners. He is a product of the independent bookstore, but he does not turn his nose up to large chains. In short, Buzbee pours out in his little book, the giddiness I feel everytime I open the door to a bookstore - the excitement of seeing new displays, and the knowledge that I can wander around and read whatever I want for as long as I want and I'm unlikely ever to be interrupted or asked to leave. He also dispels some of the wonder I have about how booksellers choose which books to put into their stores, and how books get from a publisher to the store floor. Part of the charm of this book for me also comes from the fact that Buzbee spends a great deal of time talking about stores in Palo Alto/Menlo Park that I frequented in high school (Printer's Inc., Kepler's, Stacey's), and the ones he puruses while living in San Francisco (City Lights, the now defunct Cody's and A Clean Well-Lighted Place for Books, Green Apple) Buzbee does not write about his particular favorite books or provide commentary about what he feels is worth reading and what is not - rather this is an informational and personal exploration of the concept of the book - and a true tribute to bookstores - and the wonder they hold for everyone.

How Reading Changed My Life - Anna Quindlen

This is a short little book of author Anna Quindlen's experiences growing up a bookworm. She recounts her adventures and travels through literature - how in many ways it set her apart from her peers, but also how it allowed her to grow as a person. She confronts and attempts to dispell negative views of lifetime readers, and explains quite perfectly (but perhaps only for those who share the same malady) the compulsion to read. While I found this book interesting, and I definitely could relate, there wasn't anything particularly coherent or revealing about it - and I mostly spent the whole time I was reading it thinking, "Wow, if you become a best-selling author, you can pretty much write about anything you want memoir-wise and people will probably buy it." Or in my case, think it's worth borrowing from the library.

Nothing Remains the Same - Wendy Lesser

I have the following conversation with my mom probably on a weekly basis: one of us asks the other, "so what are you reading?" The response is given. Then one of us says, "There are so many books to read, I need to quit my job and just read." Then we talk about how many books we have to read and how we'll never get through them all. You'd think that reading was a torturous endeavor, as opposed to the exciting relaxing one that we all know it can be. Yet, despite all the books I have yet to read, I do find myself often wanting to go back to books I read when I was younger. Sometimes I do this with disastrous results - discovering that a character I once identified with and admired is now simply irritating and immature (Holden Caulfield, Howard Roark). Other times, I find that a book I struggled to get through and found boring is suddenly transformed into a highly relevant story (anything by Dickens). So, I was interested in reading this book - which is about the very act of re-reading old favorites. While the author chose many books that I was either not familiar with, or ones that I should have read but have never gotten around to (for example, she lists Anna Karenina as one of those books that everyone wants to re-read - and I admit I have never read anything by Tolstoy) - I still found her observations and reactions to re-reading books, sometimes nearly 40 years after her first reading, quite insightful. Lesser has a deep literary background having studied at Harvard, Cambridge, and Berkeley, so sometimes her references are a bit esoteric, but I thought she really captured the idea that as readers, we like books that remind us of ourselves. As a young 20-something in a tumultuous relationship, she identified with free-spirits, while decades later she finds their choices impetuous and ill-conceived. Also, with more years under belt, came more reading, and as a result more points of reference from which to enjoy or criticize a given book or author's perspective. Nothing Remains the Same is a good concept book to me. I wouldn't say that I loved it or found it incredibly fascinating, but I like the idea of reflecting on reading - what books mean to me and why - and how as life changes, so do the things that are important and bring meaning to us.

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.