April 12, 2016

10 Books Every Book Nerd Should Read

I hate the "S" word. Don't read books you "should" read. Read books you want to read. If you would like some recommendations for books, I would be happy to oblige. But today's Top Ten Tuesday topic is Books Ever X Should Read. So with my little caveat in mind, here are 10 books every book lover should read.

  1. The Pleasures of Reading in an Age of Distraction by Alan Jacobs - Of course. I love this book. It gives you such warm fuzzies about your reading preferences. He is also a big hater of the "s" word.

  2. The Reading Promise by Alice Ozma - Such a sweet book. The author's mom died when she was about 12, I think. Somewhere in there. Anyway, her dad promised her that he would read to her for at least 20 minutes every night. And he keeps his promise until the day she moves to college.

  3. Tolstoy and the Purple Chair by Nina Sankovitch - This book really resonates for me. The author and her sister bonded over books. Then her sister died. To deal with her grief, she and her husband came up with a plan. She would sit in their breakfast room in her special purple chair and read a book a day for a year. This is my dream. Everyone in my life just clear a time for me to read every day for a year. Sigh.

  4. Book Lust by Nancy Pearl - One sentence book recommendations sectioned by various topics. Such as books by authors named Alice.

  5. The Novel Cure by Ella Berthoud - I had the best time with this book. Any ailment you may have, from a cold to anxiety to a break up, can be relieved by literature. And this book will recommend perfect books to help.

  6. All Roads Lead to Austen by Amy Elizabeth Smith - This might be best for Austen lovers, but all book lovers can appreciate the premise. The author spend a couple of years traveling around South America and having book club meetings with women in different countries about Jane Austen books. She wanted to see if Austen's works can make the jump to other cultures and languages.

  7. Read For Your Life by Joseph Gold - This book is about how reading can help you deal with stuff. Big stuff. Little stuff. It's about how you should get into those feelings that reading brings up, not just avoid those books that cause the feels.

  8. So Many Books, So Little Time by Sara Nelson - You knew this was coming. Don't lie. Again, it's not actually even relevant, anymore, but I just love that peek into someone else's reading life.

  9. Literacy and Longing in L.A. by Jennifer Kaufman and Karen Mack - Here's a novel. Surprise! This is a fluffy little thing about a woman who deals with stress by putting a huge stack of books and a bottle of wine next to the bathtub and shutting out the world for days at a time. This is something I can get behind.

  10. Howard's End is On the Landing by Susan Hill - This is another book about a year-long endeavor in reading. The author decides to spend a year reading only books she already owns. I feel like that is a worthy project, but, well, remember this post about my library addiction patronage.

Got any to add to this list? I'm always looking for more books about books!