Book Lust: Recommended Reading for Every Mood, Moment, and Reason (LUST)

While I didn't read this book in its entirety, I did skim the whole thing, focusing on certain sections that caught my interest, and found it quite delightful. Of course, I'm a sucker for book lists and books about books, so Book Lust was right up my alley. I loved highlighting book titles I had already read and exploring genres and topics I was most interested in. I came a way with quite a few books to add to my wish list. It is a great reference for any bibliophile who would like to explore a further theme or subject. Pearl does a great job with the categorization of her recommendations, and I look forward to obtaining and perusing her follow-up, More Book Lust.

I have to say I was disappointed by this book and would not have bought it if I had opened it up and read some pages in a bookstore. Sure this book covers many books for different moods, and there it does well in its choices. I won't even argue with the choices. However, I expected more then two or three sentence descriptions of the titles mentioned, and at least some plot info. For instance it referenced The Godfather in the Italian American writer section. This is the sentence on it,

"Of Course, Mario Puzo's The Godfather is the novel most people associate with Italian American fiction." Then made a comparison to the Sopranos "Rereading this action-packed epic, as I did recently, filled as it is with violence, love, betrayal, and deception, it's easy to see the parallels between Puzo's novel and the HBO series The Sopranos." That's it! She took the easy parallel as well, by mentioning the ease of comparing the two instead of giving her summary of Puzo's greatest work.

Readers will get more by looking under the "Customers who bought this item also bought" section in the amazon.com page of their favorite read then investing in this book. The listmania sections in amazon.com do as good a job as Book Lust IMO.

This is a unique type of "book review" list as the author categorizes books under unorthodox headings (such as "armchair travel", "first lines to remember", "boys coming of age", etc.) I enjoy this guide as a read in itself. She devotes a paragraph or so to a title, or author and has sections on one author titled "too good to miss". Her taste is not exactly mine as she tends toward the romantic and mystery genres and, it is my opinion, disregards more serious classic writing. For example, I really enjoy Richard Ford's novels (The Sportswriter being one)and she doesn't even mention him. There are so many books and a limited amount of space so that is understandable. What I really appreciate about this book is that she has led me to some books I never would have considered -and I really enjoyed just giving myself up to her recommendation. She also includes a list of best novels from each decade of past century and this list is worth reading through as an experiment in widening one's reading scope. Author is a retired librarian who you -can tell -really loves books.

Like any avid reader, I am always curious about the books others are reading. The patients who come to the office where I practice my profession of nursing often come bearing a book suggestion or the book itself. The word is out... I am a voracious reader! This being said, is it any wonder that when I happened upon Nancy Pearl's Book Lust: Recommended Reading for Every Mood, Moment and Reason, I could hardly contain myself?

Pearl, a librarian, author and NPR regular, has compiled an impressive array of books--some classics, some newcomers and certainly some from practically any genre or venue that you could imagine. Her book has the added appeal of being so well organized that it is one you can easily pick up and read as little or as much as you like in one sitting. Although I must admit it only took me one sitting to read the book, it took two additional sittings to go back through and compile my own list from Pearl's list. Readers might want to read smarter with paper and pen handy so they can jot down authors and/or titles as they read.

Within Pearl's 175 lists of books, I was delighted to find many well-loved works that are now on my list to re-read. I also was introduced to authors and titles that have piqued my curiosity and sent me packing to the local library with list in hand. Whether readers enjoy fiction or non, contemporary or Victorian, stories of travel to exotic places or stories of a hometown nature, they are sure to find many suggested titles.

Among my favorite lists are the ones titled "Too Good To Miss: _______," which introduce the works of particular authors. Many of these authors were unfamiliar names to me but are no longer! Pearl has introduced me to some great reads I might otherwise have missed. This is, by far, the best gift of this delightful book about books.

by Lee Ambrose
for Story Circle Book Reviews
reviewing books by, for, and about women

I love BOOK LUST and MORE BOOK LUST. Let's just get that out of the way.

Pearl gathered together a fantastic reference book filled with over 1000 titles by specific categories for every mood: Arctic adventure, Armchair Travel, Fantasy by the truckload, Gay/Lesbian Literature, For the Cat Lover and so on.

Books on almost every country (and every state in her follow up "More Book Lust"). Fiction and nonfiction abound. My bounty grew and Pearl lead me to some great treasures, including a list of other bibliographies, which fed my lust for even more books.

She includes a brief description of most books and throws a few other titles in each category that are simply "too good to miss". Both of her books include featured authors.

Naturally, these are her personal picks, but I liked the idea of setting books to moods rather than publishing dates or random genres. Now, I have a reference if I'm in the mood for a Japanese Murder Mystery or if I crave a little Academic Humor. Heed this advise: plunder her pages. You won't regret it!