Books for Booklovers

Books about books and book readers. The selections below range from expert and opinionated reviews and recommendations to tales of bibliophilic excess. Click on titles to view and reserve these books in the Library Catalog.

Recommended Reading

	100 One–Night Reads: A Book Lover’s Guide by David C. Major and John S. Major More about this book
	1001 Books for Every Mood by Hallie Ephron More about this book
	1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die by Peter Boxall, editor More about this book
	Bibliotherapy: The Girl’s Guide to Books for Every Phase of Our Lives by Nancy Peske and Beverly West More about this book
	Book Lust: Recommended Reading for Every Mood, Moment, and Reason by Nancy Pearl More about this book
	Book Sense Best Books: 125 Favorite Books Recommended by Independent Booksellers More about this book
	Great Books for Every Book Lover: 2002 Book Suggestions for the Discriminating Bibliophile by Thomas J. Craughwell More about this book
	More Book Lust: Recommended Reading for Every Mood, Moment, and Reason by Nancy Pearl More about this book
	Reader’s Choice: 200 Book Club Favorites by Victoria Golden McMains More about this book
	A Year of Reading: A Month-by-Month Guide to Classics and Crowd-Pleasers for You or Your Book Group by Elizabeth Ellington & Jane Freimiller More about this book

Reflections on Reading

	Book by Book: Notes on Reading and Life by Michael Dirda More about this book
	Booknotes: America’s Finest Authors on Reading, Writing, and the Power of Ideas by Brian Lamb, editor More about this book
	Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader by Anne Fadiman More about this book
	For the Love of Books: 115 Celebrated Writers on the Books They Love Most by Ronald B. Shwartz More about this book
	Leave Me Alone, I’m Reading: Finding and Losing Myself in Books by Maureen Corrigan More about this book
	Remarkable Reads: 34 Writers and Their Adventures in Reading by J. Peder Zane, editor More about this book
	Rereadings: Seventeen Authors Revisit Books They Love by Anne Fadiman, editor More about this book
	The Most Wonderful Books: Writers on Discovering the Pleasures of Reading by Michael Dorris and Emilie Buchwald, editors More about this book
	Why We Read What We Read: A Delightfully Opinionated Journey Through Contemporary Bestsellers by Lisa Adams and John Heath More about this book

Bibliomania & Book Collecting

	A Gentle Madness: Bibliophiles, Bibliomanes, and the Eternal Passion for Books by Nicholas A. Basbanes More about this book
	Patience & Fortitude: A Roving Chronicle of Book People, Book Places, and Book Culture by Nicholas A. Basbanes More about this book
	A Pound of Paper: Confessions of a Book Addict by John Baxter More about this book
	Sixpence House: Lost in a Town of Books by Paul Collins More about this book

Staff Pick: Crazy Love

Crazy Love: A Memoir by Leslie Morgan Steiner

This memoir focuses on an abusive relationship between Steiner and her husband. Acting as almost a warning guide for those in potentially volatile relationships, Steiner provides a vivid chronological account of her situation and also of how she prevailed. A fast-paced account with vivid moments, Steiner gives an in-depth look at her relationship in drastic moments and events.

Sam - Adult Services

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Staff Pick: Callisto

Callisto by Torsten Krol

In this fun farce, Odell Deefus is on his way to Callisto, Kansas to enlist in the Army when his car breaks down on a country road. Deefus wanders into the nearest house and begins an odyssey of lies and misunderstanding that sinks him into deeper trouble at every turn. With his own slightly skewed brand of common sense, the hapless hero finds himself juggling a drug ring, dead bodies (literally), a televangelist, the FBI, and Homeland Security. Despite Odell's shortcomings and inability to get himself out of the ever-worsening situation, he is a sympathetic character, a sort of country Forrest Gump, but with a taste for liquor and a mad crush on Condoleeza Rice.

Author Torsten Krol, according to the book cover, "is a writer. Nothing further is known about him." He is reputedly Australian and speculatively a famous author writing under a pseudonym. Although he does occasionally allow a Britishism to slip into the text, for the most part the Kansas setting, dialogue and characters are well-written. A great read!

Maria - Community Relations

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Science Fiction... For People Who Don't Like Science Fiction

Have you been searching the galaxy for a good book? Think you don’t like science fiction? Or maybe you've just never tried it? Here's a list of sci-fi titles that are sure to please -- light on the techno jargon and warp speed robotics and heavy on great characters caught up in intriguing situations and complex plots. Check out one of these titles and expand your universe of reading!

	The Doomsday Book by Connie Willis In 2048, time travel has been perfected by historians at Oxford University. A young graduate student embarks on her first "drop" back to pre-plague England when an unforeseen glitch in the present day lands her in a small English village in the throes of the Black Death. As she struggles to survive the past, her colleagues race to bring her back to the future. Fans of historical fiction will enjoy this time travel tale. More about the book.
	Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card In a future where politics play out on the Internet and wars are won via computer games, child prodigy Andrew "Ender" Wiggin has been chosen to lead Earth's forces against an alien attack. Read beyond the military maneuvers and computer technology and you'll find the story of Ender's transformation from a boy to a leader as he navigates a suddenly unfamiliar world where rules and alliances are constantly changing. More about the book.
	The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood In the near future, the United States is ruled by a patriarchal, theocratic government that came to power after biological warfare left most of the population sterile. Fertile women are kept as concubines for powerful leaders and every aspect of their lives is controlled by others--from what they eat and drink to what they wear. The heroine of this story recounts her life before the revolution as she reveals her struggles against the people and institutions that control her. More about the book.
	Hyperion by Dan Simmons A sci-fi nod to The Canterbury Tales, this complex and highly stylized novel follows a group of pilgrims who journey forth on the eve of Armageddon to the far planet Hyperion. There they will confront a mysterious world inhabited by a monstrous creature who is worshipped by some and feared by many. As each traveler's story unfolds en route, great hopes and terrible secrets are revealed and we learn that one traveler is not who he seems. The first in a four-part series. More about the book
	Kindred by Octavia Butler Dana is a thoroughly modern black woman living in Los Angeles when she is suddenly transported back to the antebellum South. While there, she saves a drowning white boy who will grow up to be the father of her own ancestor. As the story unfolds and Dana bounces between the present and the past, she must reconcile the overwhelming urge to escape slavery with the desperate need to guarantee her own future existence. Butler was one of a very few black, women to ever write science fiction and she often used the genre to explore issues of race, gender, and religion. More about the book.
	Replay by Ken Grimwood 43 year-old Jeff Winston dies of a heart attack and wakes up in his own healthy 18 year old body, but with all of his memories of the 25 years to come intact. As he lives his life (and death) over and over and over again, he has the opportunity to start from scratch each time, examining different choices, righting wrongs, and meeting other "replayers". This book was a major influence on the popular film "Groundhog Day". More about the book.
	The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell In 2019, a remote listening post picks up radio broadcasts of beautiful singing from the farthest reaches of the universe. A group of Jesuit monks organize a delegation to travel and meet the creatures who produce such beauty. When only one member of the mission returns, he recounts both the exquisite beauty and abject horror that he encountered on his travels. A compelling take on both the physical and philosophical ramifications of contact with extraterrestrial life. More about the book.

Staff Pick: Suburban Safari

Suburban Safari: A Year on the Lawn by Hannah Holmes

A nonfiction book about the flora and fauna living in a Maine backyard. The author has a great writing style and a lot of the information applies to nature here in the Midwest.

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-Shirley, Adult Services