The Book of Books || Oh no..!! .....more stuff to read..!!
Written: Nov 25 '07
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Books, books, and more books.
Cons: No Knitting and Quilting list. Wait ...that is a good thing...
The Bottom Line: What..?? You are always looking for something new to read, right..?? Come and find it here..!!
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| sleeper54's Full Review: The Book of Books: An Eclectic Collection of Readi... |
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I must confess that I am a 'nibbler'. A little of this, a taste of that, a sip ...just one..! of this concoction.
No, not in my holiday season dining habits. I am a nibbler in my reading habits. Rather than spending the hours or days necessary to read a 500-page novel or non-fiction tome I would much rather read a quick thought or two about the book. That information, if presented well, will help me decide whether to add the book to my ever-growing need-to-read stack ...or whether I should leave it on the shelf.
My catalog of reviews here is studded with reviews of 'Top 100 this', '1,001 that', 'the best fifty that', etc.. Perhaps all these 'best of' reviews are symptomatic of an attention span no longer than the blink of a lightning bug at the darkening dusk of a warm summer day. Hmmm. Perhaps I never will get all those books read. Oh my.
One thing I do know is that The Book of Books: An Eclectic Collection of Reading Recommendations, Quirky Lists, and Fun Facts about Books has definitely added to my 'need-to-read' list of books.
Book of Books contains over a hundred distinct and creative mini-genré lists containing eight, ten, twelve, or more 'must-read' examples of each type or style of writing.
Each of the lists presents a short introductory paragraph to set the idea of the list, perhaps share the origin of the list, and how it is presented here. Many of the lists come from surveys and 'top ten' lists compiled by other websites and reading and writing groups and associations. Some of the lists are presented in 'ranked' order but many others are present in alphabetical order which helps avoid a 'best of' feel to the book.
Within each list, each book gets a two or three sentence blurb review. Within each list one book is generally excerpted as an example of one item in the list.
The examples of the lists presented for the letter 'S' will serve as a great illustration of the wide coverage provided here:
• Satirical Novels
Breakfast of Champions, Gulliver's Travels
• Scariest Books (from a CNN Interactive poll)
Dracula, The Shining
• Science Books
• Science Fiction Novels
Childhood's End, Ender's Game
• Seafaring Novels
Master and Commander, Mutiny on the Bounty
• Self-Help Books
• Shakespeare's Immortal Lines
"...the Bard's most-quoted works in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, with fifty or more citations each, listed in descending order."
Number one..?? Hamlet
• Short Story Collections
• Slave Stories
• Southern Literature (survey by filmmaker Ross Spears)
Invisible Man, To Kill a Mockingbird
• Sports Books (from: editors, Sports Illustrated, 2002)
The Boys of Summer, Ball Four, Seabiscuit
Ninety four books for the letter 'S' alone. Each one sounds like a winner.
Some other random lists from the book that tickled my fancy ...whatever that means:
• Baseball Novels, • Big Stuff, • Cartoon Collections, • Civil War Non-fiction, • Nonfiction Favorites, • Tiny Things, and many more. These are just a few that caught my interest. There is a category guaranteed to tickle any reader's (young or old; male or female; black, white, or green) fancy.
The Bottom Line
Les Krantz and Tim Wright are experienced writers and readers enthused about the books they bring to The Book of Books: An Eclectic Collection of Reading Recommendations, Quirky Lists, and Fun Facts about Books. With each list well-founded and the justification of each book within its list solid, the final product is rock solid, value packed, and quite an enjoyable read all on its own. Whooh ...there is one book I finished..!!
A certified 'Lean-n-mean' review.
sleeper54's reading, 'riting, and 'rithmetic reviews
Recommended:
Yes
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sleeper54
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