delphipsmith | Books about books (Reply)

For a total book nerd/geek/addict, what could be more awesome than this list??? Have read 11 of 15, which is pretty good. Nicholas Basbanes deserves some sort of Librarian Medal of Honor for his loving tributes to books, librarians, and the art of reading. 84 Charing Cross Road is a must-read for anyone who loves second-hand bookstores and misses real letters written on actual paper. People of the Book I have on good authority is suspect in its description of book restoration but nevertheless a terrific tale of the origins and adventures -- some fictional, some real -- of the Sarajevo Haggadah. And if you're a book addict like me, The Eyre Affair is the ultimate adventure. It's like being a diehard Trekkie at a Star Trek Convention: you get all the inside jokes, and when you try to explain them to your poor benighted friends they have no clue what you're talking about, which just makes it all somehow funnier and WAY MORE COOL!!!

The Haunted Bookshop is kind of a funny inclusion since it turns out to be about anarchists, not really about books at all. I listened to it on librivox.org (which is an amazing spontaneous interwebz life form that should be fertilized and fed, go see listen give some love). And of course Fahrenheit 451 ("It was a pleasure to burn..."), a classic. If I were one of those people who memorize books I have no idea how I would choose. Tolkien, Austen, L'Engle, Rand, Chiang, Alcott, McKillip, Lovecraft...nooooooooo!! Don't make me choose!!!!!!

*ahem* So anyway, a good list :)