BOOK LUST

Are you looking for something to read? Because I just finished this book, Book Lust: Recommended Reading for Every Mood, Moment, and Reason by Nancy Pearl, and now my to-read list is about 35 books long. I love that the online library catalog has a handy feature that lets you make a sort of “wish list”—it’s saving me a lot of paper—but then it’s way too easy to hit the handy “Reserve” button next to each book. And so I totally lost control and put 7 (!!!!!!!) of them on hold, and of course they all came in at once, and I apparently I’ll have to quit my job now so I can read them. Reading books about books always does this to me—makes me exhilarated and then totally overwhelmed with the realization that I’ll never, ever read them all, let alone reread all my favorites. I was shamed by Pearl; she included hundreds of books in this book and had obviously them all, plus she’d often make offhand remarks like, “I reread this book every year.” Granted, she’s a librarian and a book reviewer, so there’s some happy occupational overlap there. But still. In the 12 years or so that I’ve been keeping track (yes, I keep track, OK? Not so much for the statistics, but because I want to remember what I read and when—it’s helpful when recommending to others, remembering what books I want to buy myself, or feeling nostalgic), I’ve read roughly 40 to 100 books per year (the higher numbers are from the days of yore, when I read shorter books, had fewer friends, was assigned books for school, and didn’t hold down a full-time job—or at least had that summer job at the beach concession stand, where I read all day), and maybe less than half of those are ones I’d bother even recommending to people. And I’d only read a tiny fraction of the books she discussed. Despair! Anyway, not all the books sounded good or up my alley (she covers every imaginable genre), but often I was reminded about books I’d always been meaning to read, or her recommendation reinforced good things I’d heard about a book from elsewhere. So in turn I recommend this book. Certainly it’s something I’d like to have around the house—just in case I ever get through all the books on my list and need more suggestions.