Books, books, books

What to read next? This perennial question seems like one that shouldn't come up at all. We're bombarded with suggestions from everyone, everywhere, every day. Just recently, I cleaned out a desk drawer at work and found upward of 50 little slips of paper with titles that I, at some point, thought I would like to read.

I do pay attention to my little slips of paper, so these strays represented good books that were compelling enough for me to make a note, but somehow never quite compelling enough for me to actually seek out and read.


I couldn't just throw them away. As most readers will admit, sometimes there's just nothing to read. As I can assure you, this phenomenon strikes even those who spend days at a time in a library full of books, and there is nothing more grumpy-making than being a reader with nothing to read.

As always, your library can help. We have myriad tools and shelves full of books about books — books that you should read and will want to read once you know about them.

I was thinking about this because a new book came out about the same time I was neatly clipping my pile of notes together: "Read This Next: 500 of the Best Books You'll Ever Read" by Sandra Newman and Howard Mittelmark.

This one is organized by theme (Love, Memoir, Humor, Death, etc.) and includes both fiction and nonfiction. Though the authors direct themselves to book-clubbers, the titles chosen are not entirely expected and have single-reader appeal as well. The authors' tone, described as "bracing" and "witty" by reviewers, was a bit too flippant for me, but their selections are intriguing and diverse.

It reminded me of a much older book, "Good Books Lately: The One-Stop Resource for Book Groups and Other Greedy Readers" by Ellen Moore and Kira Stevens. This one is most valuable for its advice on how to talk about books in a group setting, but it also offers a very interesting collection of titles.

The one I found most astonishing was "The Power of the Dog" by Thomas Savage. According to the authors of "Good Books Lately," this was the one they would have to claim, if forced to choose, as their most favorite book club title.

I had never heard of this book. I checked it out, and I did enjoy it (though my astonishment was not entirely dispelled). It is a realistic portrait of life on a Montana cattle ranch. I once lived in Montana, so this had immediate personal appeal, but, truth is, lots of rather not pretty things happen in such a setting, and Savage describes them in graphic detail.

If you make it past the first chapter, though, you're home free, and I think it's OK for me to reveal that there is a relatively happy ending. The cover of the copy in my library, though, was so awful that I had to affix a piece of paper over it while it was residing in my home. Nonetheless, an avowed favorite of at least some greedy readers should not be ignored.

My own favorite of the books of books is "1,001 Books You Must Read Before You Die," with a preface by Peter Ackroyd and contributions from over 100 international critics. Despite the gimmicky tone of the title, this massive tome delivers. Ranging from the pre-1700s through the 21st century, the international critics, primarily academics, come at their titles in diverse ways.

Some dwell on the author or the historical context, others on the delightfulness of the book. Still others address the lack of delightfulness while explaining why one should read it anyway. The section on 20th-century authors is by far the largest and most surprising.

From "Pilgrim's Progress" to "The Godfather" by Mario Puzo, the selections range across genres, and the descriptions are uniformly compelling. Wonderful illustrations and portraits are a unique enhancement. You'll want to read all 1,001, but, when there's nothing to read, just one will suffice.

Photo by cybrgrl (Creative Commons)