July RandomCAT: Books on Books

I thought a bit into significant July events. The Fourth of July. Ice cream. Picnics. Baseball (can't ever have too much baseball). Then I thought, how about something a bit more personal to me at the moment.

I've been stuck in one of the worst reading funks/slumps of my life. Reading way less than half of what I usually read. Some weeks, hardly reading at all. Perhaps reading a few books about books will remind me of why I (usually) love to read so much.

So, for July's RandomCAT, please read a book about books. This can include books about libraries, reading, book clubs, how books are made, or any other book-related topics. It can also include works of fiction if books play a substantial role. For instance, I love the Lorna Barrett Booktown series of mysteries. Just imagine...a whole town filled with bookstores.

Also, as usual, don't forget to list your books on the RandomCAT wiki, which is located at: http://www.librarything.com/wiki/index.php/2014_RandomCAT

Enjoy!!!

I have several book themed mysteries on my shelf so this will be an easy challenge.

Love this idea, as I too feel like I'm in a book funk - reading slit but not necessarily enjoying it. Good luck to you. I hope you rekindle your love of reading!

oh goodie. I've got quite a few books about books

Linda, reading lulls are the worst. I hope you recover soon.

I have a few books that will suit this -- If On a Winter's Night a Traveler is the one that springs immediately to mind. Or maybe Library of Shadows by Mikkel Birkegaard.

I've got the first Lorna Barrett book Murder is Binding and I think I'll also read The Sherlockian.

Linda : Would a Death on Demand book be ok for this challenge?

Sounds like books about reading or writing would work, right? I've toyed with a re-read of Ray Bradbury's Zen in the Art of Writing or Stephen King's On Writing. Or I may do a Booktown or Death on Demand mystery. (I assume your answer to >6 lsh63: will be "yes" as those two series seem, to me, to fall into the same kind of category.)

And I'm still thinking . . . will wiki when I make up my mind.

I have a few options, but top at the list include:
- The End of Your Life Book Club / Will Schwalbe (which will also fit AlphaCAT)
- Murder Past Due / Miranda James

I may look at re-reading Lawrence Block's Bernie Rhodenbarr series starting with Burglar's Can't Be Choosers. Bernie is, by night, a cat-burglar who, in the course of burgling usually stumbles across a murder and has to solve the crime and clear his name. In his day job he also owns a bookstore and a lot of the story takes place there.

Great theme! I have a few that would qualify but will put these two at the top of the tbr heap:
- Mr Dixon disappears : a mobile library mystery by Ian Sansom
- Lost Classics by Michael Ondaatje

Lots of good ideas here, so far.

>6 lsh63: Of course, a Carolyn Hart Death on Demand book would be fine. I'm reading one right now (though it's taking me forever) and perhaps, next month, I'll read the most recent one. Or perhaps still be reading my current one then.

I should make it clear that I don't dislike reading. However, very busy at work and home and, more notably, I've gotten totally addicted to the trivia app, Quiz Up. With something like 500 trivia topics, I've gotten hooked. In fact, people who know me well would not be surprised that I'm #1 in the world (the Quiz Up world, at least) in my favorite topic. Anyway, I need to reorganize my priorities during my free time. Read first, then play Quiz Up.

I received a signed copy of The Sayers Swindle for my birthday, so I might read that one. I'm also in line at the library for a couple of crime-fiction-related books. Great idea for a challenge!

The books which come to mind from my TBR shelves include Growing Up with Dick and Jane by Carole Kismaric and On Rereading by Patricia Spacks. Of course, I can go to the public or UVA libraries for more choices.

#9 oh, do they? I have the first of the Bernie Rhodenbarr series but didn't realize the connection to a bookstore. Yipee!

I have had People of the Book sitting on my shelf for a couple of years now. Maybe this would be a good opportunity to read it. I'll see if anything else pops up before I decide.

> 11 Linda I know what you mean about distractions that seem to keep you from reading. This happened to me with Candy Crush last year when I had a boss who was making me nuts and playing it helped my stress level a lot. I still play it, along with Words With Friends and lately I've been playing Quiz Up too!

Sometimes the games help when the current book I'm reading isn't working for me.

>16 lsh63: I had a big spurt playing Candy Crush. Same with Words with Friends. Quiz Up, somehow, is "worse" because I'm a trivia person and seems like it'll be more enduring. Love learning new things on Quiz Up, testing what I already know and yes, making friends who like the same subjects that I do, whether baseball or board games or whatever.

I've got several that might fit the CAT for July. I'll just have to figure out which one(s) make the cut.

The John Dunning mystery series with Cliff Janeway is one of my favorite books series and I was thinking maybe I'd reread one, but I just checked and he has a novella that I've never read so I put a hold on it. I also have The Mother-Daughter Book Club which I was going to read for the May Random Cat but never got around to. And I have a couple more that might work.

This sounds like the perfect opportunity to finally get to the second of Nancy Pearl's books, More Book Lust. I really enjoyed the first one and got quite a few book suggestions from it.

Planning on reading Due or Die by Jenn McKinlay.

What a fun challenge! I think I'll pull The Uncommon Reader out of my TBR stash. It seems like it would be a fun summer read.

>22 cbl_tn: I read this one last year, it's the perfect summer read, light and funny :)

I loved The Uncommon Reader. You will enjoy it Carrie.

Hmm, I'm not sure I have anything "on deck" for my challenge that would fit this CAT! So I might go with The Uncommon Reader as well, since it looks like a quick and fun read!

One "definite" for me is the Kindle single, I Murdered My Library by Linda Grant. A couple of book-related mysteries, most likely, too, including the new Lorna Barett Booktown series book.

I've long wanted to read A Gentle Madness but I'm not in the mood for longish nonfiction right now. I've added it to the wiki for now but may not get to it.

Oh! There's also Howards End Is on the Landing by Susan Hill...which also doesn't fit into my challenge, but I might read it anyway. :)

AND The Haunted Bookshop by Christopher Morley! Okay, I take it back -- looks like I won't have trouble finding something after all! :)

re 25 - I loved The Uncommon Reader - quick and fun.

The Uncommon Reader is also on my tbr, and has been for a while, so if I have extra time (ha!), it's a possibility.

>14 majkia:
Just realized that Bernie doesn't buy the bookstore until the third book, The Burglar Who Liked to Quote Kipling

This looks like the perfect opportunity to try and read Laurence Cosse's A Novel Bookstore, which has been sitting on my TBR bookcases for a couple of years now.

I'm working through my 2014 Hugo Voter's Packet and plan to read Speculative Fiction 2012, a collection of reviews of SFF books and essays about SFF writing.

I'm planning to read The Library at Night by Alberto Manguel. It's a non-fiction book about libraries in general and more specifically, personal libraries.

I may look at The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

The Man who Loved Books Too Much by Allison Hoover

I've spent the last couple of days browsing through More Book Lust by Nancy Pearl. She's managed to add to my wishlist again.

I think I'll read Old Books, Rare Friends by Leona Rostenberg and Madeleine Stern. This has been on my shelf a long time and I've read bits here and there (I'm bad about doing that with a book that has an index, just pick out topics that catch my eye) but never cover to cover.

I didn't realise my first read of the month would fit here: Fly by Night with its book burning and illegal printing press. Also a long-term TBR - score!

I've just realised the book I've just finished would fit this category: The Moonlight Blogger by Carol Fisher Saller. The author is a copy editor and the book is a collection of blog posts and essays about the book editing process.

Murder Past Due / Miranda James
4 stars

Charlie is a librarian and works at the college archives. When a big-shot author, Godfrey, who went to high school with Charlie, returns to the town they grew up in to meet Godfrey's now-18-year old son, Justin, Godfrey turns up dead. It seems Godfrey was widely hated in high school and still in the town. Justin is boarding in Charlie's house, and Charlie feels the need to help Justin deal with it all... and Charlie does some sleuthing of his own while he's at it.

I really enjoyed this cozy. I'm sure it helped that I am also a librarian, so I could enjoy the library info in the book. And, Diesel, Charlie's maine coon cat, was also a big part of the book. I loved Diesel!

>41 LibraryCin: I've read a couple of installments in that series and have found that I enjoyed the books and Diesel too. I'll get around to the 3rd installment one of these days. Thanks for reminding me of it although I have thought about it a couple of times.

I read The Uncommon Reader yesterday evening. It's short enough to read in a single sitting. It was fun imagining Queen Elizabeth carrying books around in her handbag and reading in every spare moment.

Re 43
I read this with such a big grin, fantastic premise.

I read Due or Die the second book in the Library Lover's mystery series. I really enjoyed it and will definitely read more in the series at some point. Love the inside look at library's, plus the stray dog named Heathcliff was a nice touch.

>42 thornton37814:. That happens with me all the time with series. I never read them close together. I move on to other stuff and have to keep coming back to them later!

>43 cbl_tn: I'm planning to read The Uncommon Reader at some point, as well. Would really help if I didn't have to work and could spend all my time reading! ;-)

>47 LibraryCin: It won't take long once you get to it. It's short and it reads quickly!

I read Libriomancer by Jim C. hines, a humorous urban fantasy where libriomancers can pull objects out of books to use in the real world. There were a lot of refernces to classic sci fi and fantasy books throughout.

>48 cbl_tn: Thanks! I'll remember that. This month would have been good, but I have so many challenges, and often lots of books that fit each challenge, that I have to pick and choose.

After reading about The Uncommon Reader I borrowed it from the public library, and read and enjoyed it.

I just finished Christopher Morley's The Haunted Bookshop, which is absolutely delightful! It's about a secondhand bookshop run by the enthusiastic Roger Mifflin (who also appeared in Parnassus on Wheels), who claims that his store is haunted by the ghosts of great literature. There's a mystery in it, and some romance, but primarily it's an excuse for the author to gush about how great books and booksellers are. So it's a great book for LTers! :)

I am reading How to Read Literature Like a Professor by Thomas C. Foster. It is really fantastic. It not only is giving me a lot of really fun insights that I can use, I am also accumulating a list of books to read. Fun, fun!

I've finished The Man Who Loved Books Too Much by Allison. Hoover Bartlett. Interesting book about boom dealers, book thieves, and books.

I think I forgot to mention that I read (ok, reread) the very entertaining Libriomancer by Jim C. Hines. I'll get to the sequel Codex Born sometime this month.

Just started The Sayers Swindle, by Victoria Abbott. I got stalled in a heavier book so thought I should switch to this nice light mystery. So far so good.

I just realized that my current e-book, No Doors, No Windows by Joe Schreiber, might fit this challenge. The protagonist finds an unfinished manuscript written by his father, and sets out to finish the novel (under spooky circumstances, since it's a horror novel).

#57 by @tymfos> I love when that happens.

ER, I mean, the serendipity of a book that fits a challenge, not the finding of an unfinished manuscript. Although the latter sounds like a cool thing too, I must admit.

>58 majkia: I know exactly what you mean! And I love it, too.

Even better, the W starting the word Windows in No Doors, No Windows qualifies it for the AlphaKIT, too! I only paid 99 cents for the Kindle version on sale when I bought it, and it's really pretty good so far, if you like slow, atmospheric horror stories. I usually read e-books in bed at night when the lights are out (so I don't wake hubby) or via my phone when I'm out of the house (lunch at work, waiting rooms, etc.) But this one, I'm picking up to read just whenever.

Not a book, but an interesting article about global books and English as the dominant language in literature by Tim Parks in Saturday's FT: http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/2/a68127ea-0765-11e4-b1b0-00144feab7de.html#axzz37W... (Should be free to access for a couple of days).
He says that few people in Europe read English language fiction on a regular basis, but that is not my impression. I see more and more people on the bus reading English-language paperbacks, and there were many kids who couldn't wait for the translations of Harry Potters and bravely struggled with the original.

I'm reading One For the Books by Joe Queenan and quite enjoying it.

I just finished a short story Bookscout by John Dunning. He wrote an intersting introduction about short stories in general. I notice the title says "The Boston Bookfair" in parenthesis after the title which confuses me. I'm not sure what that is supposed to indicate. It doesn't take place at the Boston Bookfair. Odd.

I'm almost finished with Northanger Abbey in which Jane pokes gentle fun at gothic novels. It's utterly charming and often quite funny.

>60 MissWatson: Very interesting article!

>63 sturlington: Great to see some Northanger Abbey love. It really is such fun!

I finished my first book about books. I Murdered My Library by Linda Grant.

It's a quick-read Kindle single. The author is moving out of her long-time flat and needs to get rid of most of her books. What follows is a lot of reminiscing about when/where she obtained the books, how she has started using a Kindle, why people hang on to books, and how she chose which to keep.

She also came to the realization that books are probably not going to be a legacy to the next generation.

This one hit home with me. No plans to move but I know I've got way too many books. Since I got a Kindle, I've cut way back on my purchases of actual books but they still seem to take over. At some point, while I can, I am going to need to be ruthless, too, I'm afraid.

>63 sturlington: Northanger Abbey and P&P are my favourites by Jane Austen.

My next book, which I'll probably start today or tomorrow, is The Koran: A Very Short Introduction, appropriate for Ramadhan. As a book about a book, does this count for this challenge?

I finished the audio version of Fahrenheit 451 a few days ago and finally got around to writing my review this evening. It transcends its genre and it's one of those books that everyone should read at least once in their life.

>68 cbl_tn: it's one of those books that everyone should read at least once in their life

Wholeheartedly agree. It's a phenomenal book and I firmly believe that all people should be forced to read it.

I just listed Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones on the wiki. This is a wonderfully creative story of how a eccentric man uses the story of Great Expectations to teach native children the power of their own imaginations to help them escape the horrors of a revolution.

I reread Unsolicited, the first in the Booklover's mysteries...

I just finished reading On Rereading by Patricia Meyer Spacks. Ms. Spacks, a professor emerita of English at the University of Virginia, discusses various kinds of rereading which she did as an experiment. I enjoyed hearing Ms. Spacks speak about the book at the Virginia Book Festival several years ago; however, I found the book to be difficult going. Probably this is because I am not all that familiar with literary criticism, and I had not read many of the books discussed. Also, I was troubled with the lack of footnotes; Ms. Spacks quoted other scholars without giving the source. I had thought that she would be briefly discussing a large number of books, but instead she discussed approximately 25 books in depth. Either listing the books discussed in the table of contents for each chapter or providing an index of the titles would have been helpful.

Found The Library of Unrequited Love yesterday in a charity shop, perfect for this theme, so couldn't resist. It is a short one, so I will be sure to read it before the end of the month.

I've started Proust and the Squid by Maryanne Wolf, which is about how we learn (or don't learn) to read and what that means. It's excellent, but there is so much interesting information that I have to keep pausing to think about it.

Another book I've started this month not planning it to fit this CAT turns out to have a strong "book" element. It's yet another novel where a long-hidden manuscript is central. This time, it's The Fate of Mercy Alban by Wendy Webb. (The author fits AlphaKIT, too -- I planned it for that.)

I finished the audio of The Well of Lost Plots a couple of days ago. Of the three Thursday Next books I've read so far, I think it's my favorite. There are references to lots of classics in this one - Dickens, Wuthering Heights, Alice in Wonderland, and a number of others. It's also closely tied to Fforde's The Big Over Easy, which I read about a year ago.

>1 lindapanzo: how about Firmin?

According to the blurb on the back cover, it's the story of a rat who is born in a bookstore, and not only consumes books, but finds himself consumed by them.

Hm. Would a non-fiction book about bookmaking count?

I just started The Book of Lost Things. Enjoying it so far.

>78 MissWatson: I'd count it!

Glad to see everyone reading so many books about books. Despite my best intentions this month, I've read only the one, a Kindle single. Perhaps I'll finish a book-related mystery before the end of the month.

Well then, here is Geschichte der Buchkunst a slim volume about the history of bookmaking from illuminated manuscripts to e-books. Adequate introduction to the subject with lovely illustrations.

I've finished Parnassus on Wheels by Christopher Morley.

I inadvertently read two books for this challenge, The Silkworm and Finding George Orwell in Burma. The Silkworm involves the murder of a writer whose death mirrors a murder in his most recent unpublished book. Finding George Orwell in Burma is a non-fiction that recounts Orwell's time in Burma and finds parallels between Animal Farm, 1984, and Burmese Days and real life in Burma.

I am still working on Lost in a Good Book, which I picked up on purpose for this CAT. I'm only on chapter 3 so with what I have planned in the evenings it will be a push to finish in time.

I finished The Book of Lost Things an interesting construction of a book within a book, and fairy tales within fairy tales.

I chose The Wednesday Sisters by Meg Waite Clayton because the author's initials fit both AlphaKIT letters this month. But I misplaced my book before it was finished, so I can't count it! Grabbed the audio of The Last Dickens by Matthew Pearl, which was an enjoyable read, with a mystery surrounding Edwin Drood.