Inkdrinker,
Great resource. Thanks for doing the work and posting a link. I've bookmarked you.
Here's what's in my catalogue under the "books on books" tag:
Lilithcat's Books on Books. These are non-fiction. I haven't so tagged any of my fiction, but you're tempting me to do so!
Lilithcat, Have you read "The Book on the Bookshelf" yet? That one is one of my favorites so far.
I found
The Book on the Bookshelf absolutely fascinating! It was interesting to read about how changes in the book's basic structure (from chunk of clay to scroll to codex), as well as its change from a precious to a common object, changed the way it is stored.
Eurydice,
The book is a history of the book and the bookshelf. It's very readeable and I was facinated by the evolution. There were some early versions of shelves (wooden) which attempted to aproximate something akin to what the internet would be like for us today. The book was just a great read with so many bits of interesting information.
Sounds excellent. I'm especially intrigued, of course, by how early wooden shelving could attempt to approximate the internet, in any sense (and changes in the book itself). :) Another title, then, to move higher on my wishlist. Thank you both.
On the editorial/ publisher side of things, I enjoyed Dear Donald, Dear Bennet. It's the wartime (WWII) correspondence of Bennet Cerf and Donald Klopfer, the guys behind Random House. RH is a cool story in itself. Dovetails well into Horace Liveright.
I Love Books by John Snider
Message edited by its author, Aug 27, 2007, 1:09am.
I just found one this past week that I couldn't pass up, called
The novel 100 by Daniel S. Burt. It's a Barnes & Noble 2007 publication, hardcover, just over 600 pages, and it was in the bargain section for $9.95. It seems like a lot of books that recommend other books have only a paragraph or two about each title (I'm thinking of
Book lust and a few others I've seen), whereas this one has five to seven pages about each novel - basically 100 short essays. I didn't really think about whether or not to buy it, I just picked it up and carried it around till I got to the check-out line. :-)
(Nothing against
Nancy Pearl, I just remember thinking her book sounded great, and then when saw how short the descriptions were for each book, it just wasn't what I was looking for.)
Two contributions to bibliophiles, both fiction:
The Shadow of the Wind, and detective stories about the book trade, The Bookman's Wake, Booked to Die. In non-fiction,
Old Books, Rare Friends, by two antiquarian dealers. Also:
Collecting Modern Books,
The Meaning of Everything, and one that I found very influential,
The Gutenberg Elegies. Have fun!
Message edited by its author, Jan 5, 2008, 10:03am.
Books that Changed the World by Robert B. Downs - haven't read it yet
How to read a book by M. Adler - read it, it was so-so. It talked about hoe to take notes on a book, how to understand different structures of books, etc. It was pretty much stuff anyone with a *good* college education or a lot of common sense would know.
Great Books by D. Denby, about a middle-aged guy who returns to school to do the "Great Books" curriculum
The Lifetime Reading Plan if it hasn't been mentioned
I just read Classics for Pleasure and it's inspired me to check out some of the other books by Michael Dirda. All of those books by
Nicholas Basbanes are excellent. And I'm still a fan of that good ol'
The Lifetime Reading Plan.
Richard de Bury's Philobiblon is a delight, and, if we can squeeze in books on the evolution of libraries:
Justus Lipsius: A Brief Outline of the History of Libraries and James Branch Cabell: These Restless Heads. These last two will be of interest to anyone who has enjoyed Borges's writings.
Message edited by its author, Apr 4, 2008, 6:53pm.
I recently read
How to Read a Book. It can be exceedingly dry but it is overall excellent. I would recommend it to a serious student. It is full of great advice on how to study books of various genres. Take it in small doses, you will learn quite a bit.
Anatomy of Bibliomania by Holbrook Jackson is an entertaining and joyful book about books, though it isn't really about any particular books in the manner of
The Western Canon. It's more of a celebration, along with some very funny pseudo-medical taxonomy of us poor sufferers of the title condition.
I tend to enter my non-fiction (as most people seem to do),as 'Books about Books'. However I have my fiction on the subject tagged as 'Booky Books(of Booksellers,Librarians,Bibliophiles and the like in Fiction)
You have given me an idea of combining these however. Hmmm !
Finished
The Bondage of Ballinger the other night. It was ok. Ok-ish. I found myself eyeing
The Library at Night, needing to be put away, wishing I was still reading it instead. Ballinger is alright, if you happen to like cozy, 100 year old fluff. PG Wodehouse without the wit, charm or snark.
At Home With Books is one of my favorite browsing books. I've had it for years, but hardly a month goes by without me picking it up and trying to read the spines on the books of the various personal libraries depicted within.
I'll just be honest and say that, for me personally, the Nicholas Basbanes books get less interesting as time goes on. It appears that he has come close to exhausting his material.
The various collections of Dirda's Washington Post writings, however, are wonderful, as his taste seems to overlap with mine.
Message edited by its author, Nov 25, 2008, 7:13pm.
Re 36
I do the same thing with Living with Books. Trying
to decipher whats on the shelves......
I somewhat agree that Basbanes books are getting
repetitious, though Patience and Fortitude was great.
The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield I consider a book about books-that was what kept me reading it.
Lots of good ideas here as well on the list the link goes to to add to my collection of books about books. I agree with #36 and #37--I love the Dirda books!
I recently read "People of the Book," by Geraldine Brooks. It's the fictional story of a real book, the Sarajevo Haggadah, a beautiful 15th century illustrated manuscript. I could not put the book down and weeks after reading it, I'm still thinking about it.
Again, my apologies if this was already mentioned in some of the other lists, but I just finished reading 100 Must-read classic novels by
Nick Rennison.
I just bought
The uncommon reader by Alan Bennett and am looking forward to reading it. Not sure if it 'belongs' here, but it is about the Queen neglecting her duties because she'd rather read. :-)
Message edited by its author, Feb 6, 2009, 3:17pm.
I stumbled across Literacy and Longing in L.A. by Jennifer Kaufman and Karen Mack at the library. A novel about a bibliophile who retreats into books whenever life goes wrong.
Reading
Auto-Da-Fe many years ago gave me a fearful claustrophobia about my books that took a while to shake. Even now, when I dust the shelves, the creepy memory of the isolated sinologist Klein, who meticulously performs the same act, worms its way back into my consciousness..
Canetti's breakthrough work, Die Blendung (Auto-da-Fé), apperared in 1935. It was banned by the Nazis, but beside this dubious acknowledgment Canetti did not gain much attention as a writer before the 1960s when the book was reprinted. The protagonist is Peter Klein, a forty-year-old philologist and sinologist. He knows much of ancient languages but is unable to decipher contemporary voices. "He himself was the owner of the most important private library in the whole of this great city. He carried a minute portion of it with him wherever he went. His passion for it, the only one which he had permitted himself during a life of austere and exacting study, moved him to take special precautions. Books, even bad ones, tempted him easily into making a purchase. Fortunately the great number of the book shops did not open until after eight o'clock." Klein feels safe with his 40 000 characters of the Chinese alphabet and 25 000 books. He fears social and physical contacts, and his inhumane view of the world contradicts his learning. However, he allows himself to get into the clutches of his ignorant and grasping housekeeper Therese Krummholz, nearing 60, whom he marries, and who robs him of everything. In this she is helped by Benedikt Pfaff, the proto-fascist caretaker of the apartment block. Klein descends to the lower, surrealistic depths of society. His brother Georges, who is a psychiatrist, tries in vain to cure him. Doomed Klein dies in apocalyptic self-destruction amidst his books. From:
http://kirjasto.sci.fi/ecanetti.htmMy collection of Books about collecting books is at
www.yarington.comMessage edited by its author, Mar 31, 2009, 12:21pm.
I read someplace that a biblio mystery written in the 20th century was the "oldest" biblio mystery. I believe that Scrope; or The lost Library, A novel of New York and Hartford, by Frederic B. Perkins, Boston, 1874, wins the prize as "oldest" Anyone know an older biblio mystery??
Message edited by its author, Mar 31, 2009, 12:20pm.
These may fall more specifically under book lists but I didn't notice them mentioned (forgive me if they are already noted). My favorites of these are
Writer's choice : a library of rediscoveries from which I've gleaned a wealth of gems over the years, and
David Madden's Rediscoveries: Well-known Novelists Rediscover Neglected Works of Fiction By One of Their Favorite Authors and
Rediscoveries II: Important Writers Select Their Favorite Works of Neglected Fiction.
The Top Ten: Writers Pick Their Favorite BooksBook Lust: Recommended Reading for Every Mood, Moment, and ReasonGood books for the curious traveler EuropeGood books for the curious traveler Asia and the South PacificLost Classics: Writers on Books Loved and Lost, Overlooked, Under-read, Unavailable, Stolen, Extinct, or Otherwise Out of Commission
The modern movement; one hundred key books from England, France, and America, 1880-1950
The New Guide to Modern World LiteratureGood Books by Steven Gilbar
A Reader's DelightTime Out 1000 Books to Change Your Life (Time Out Guides)The Top Ten: Writers Pick Their Favorite BooksBloomsbury Good Reading GuideJust an idle thought, and not sure where we are
going? there must be a '30 film with something
in it's eyes
Oh yes, what about
borges short story on the Library which contains ALL Libraries. I have it somewhere, but where?
And then there is the "...unseen university library..." overseen by a "mon....." sorry I meant APE,
Written by Pratchett.
Please ignore the TOUCHSTONES... again, and
again, and...
Message edited by its author, May 16, 2009, 5:45pm.
I'm reading
Comment parler des livres que l'on n'a pas lus by
Pierre Bayard - it seems paradoxical that a professor of literature would want to write a book about books he hasn't read, but he presents a compelling argument about how it's impossible to read all books and for most, it's simply a question of contextualizing them! Of course, he gives a list of books you don't need to read but about which you can still talk intelligently...
Cecilturtle, I have a copy of
How To Talk About Books You Haven't Read, but I am yet to read it. I'm wondering if maybe I could somehow work it into conversation without ever reading a single word in it.
I have just finished a delightful book by Mexican writer
Toscana, El ultimo lector. In a desert village, an old man manages a library. He uses books to explain and define reality. As the book evolves, we discover that he is in fact looking for something specific. I will not divulge the ending, but it is absolutely superb. A must read.
What a great title!
For my best interest and my wallet's, I think this thread should be deleted! :)
:-)
There is a new bookstore/literary travel book out for the Midwest
The Booklover's Guide to the Midwest. Lots of history, author's homes, bookstores and "places mentioned in books" kind of stuff.
Ooo. I live the midwest...
Amazon.com says it is not available till Dec 29, 2009
The Man Who Loved Books Too Much: The True Story of a Thief, a Detective, and a World of Literary Obsession, by
Allison Hoover Bartlett.
The books and biography of early 20th century collector, scout and dealer, Dr.
A. S. W. Rosenbach. Titles include,
Books and Bidders, and
A Book Hunter's Holiday: Adventures with Books and Manuscripts.
Editor
William Targ's books, particularly
Bouillabaisse for Bibliophiles: a treasury of bookish lore, wit & wisdom, tales, poetry & narratives & certain curious studies of interest to bookmen & collectors
Message edited by its author, Yesterday, 10:51am.
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