On the Books
On the fourth day of My Twelve Days of Challenges, I’m chatting about the most bookish challenge of my reading year: The Bibliophilic Challenge.
Yup, I’m a Litlover. But you know that already, don’t you? Still, this kind required six books on books be read.
Here’s my list:
The Yellow-Lighted Bookshop, Lewis Buzbee
Time Was Soft There: A Paris Sojourn at Shakespeare & Co., Jeremy Mercer
An Alphabetical Life: Living it up in the World of Books, Wendy Werris
The Library at Night, Alberto Manguel
Library: An Unquiet History, Matthew Battles
A Pound of Paper, Confessions of a Book Addict, John Baxter
Most of these were shelf-sitters, so it was actually a two-fold pleasure to complete this challenge.
How challenging was it? On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the most challenging to complete? About a 4.
I’d expected more of a connection with the bookish writers of these books. But, in most cases, I found that the book’s emphasis made it hard to connect. I need to face the fact that not every book about books will be Anne Fadiman’s Ex Libris. I need to move on. (Or, else, re-read!) And this denial, on my part, made this challenging more challenging than it needed to be!
My favourite of the bunch? Alberto Manguel’s The Library at Night. Hands down.
What was your favourite book about books this year?
Erin, I liked the first two Nick Hornby books too; I haven’t read the third yet, but I like knowing it’s “waiting”.
Raidergirl: nothing gets by you. Should I be anxious or flattered? Quite right: my bookish Fridays lasted for a few months, but I only signed up for six books. For once I underestimated my reading potential! 😉
Thanks, Laura. I probably should have done an average at the end of it. Heh.
You were the one who convinced me to give Laura Miller’s book a try, Nathalie, and it was a wonderful read for sure!
Anne Fadiman will always be my favourite, and I cannot resist Nick Hornby, but a more recent favourite is Laura Miller’s _The Magician’s Book_.
I love how you’re rating each of these on “how challenging was it?” Neat idea.
And I loved this quote: “I need to face the fact that not every book about books will be Anne Fadiman’s Ex Libris.”
So true!
I thought you read way more than 6 books for this challenge. Didn’t you review one every Friday?
I read 6 books as well for this challenge. I thought I read more fiction, but I was even with Fiction and Non-fiction. I wanted to read more of books about books, and still have over ten on my list of ones I want to read.
I haven’t read any on your list. My favorite bibliophilic book this year was The Incident Report by Martha Baillie.
Ooh, I’ve wanted to read The Library at Night for a while now! It looks wonderful. My current favorite book about books is Nick Hornby’s The Polysyllabic Spree, which is both entertaining and bookish.