Scan barcode
le_corbeau_romantique's review against another edition
3.0
A book about reading. It was a good read with a lot of personal stories from the author. HOWEVER I wasn't interested in the majority of the books she was reading during her journey.
cindyjac's review against another edition
3.0
Just finished rereading these and found that it wasn't as great the second time around; I guess that's not surprising. There are a lot of new dog-eared pages for books to look for, but I realized this time through that there is more talk about "Sara's life" than about the books she is reading in her year of passionate reading. To be fair, this was published in 2003 so is somewhat dated. However, great books are great books and I would have liked more about the books! One nice line, "...to read a book is to have a relationship."
toniclark's review against another edition
3.0
It’s easy to have mixed feelings about this book. Most book lovers, I think, will admire the project and promise but be a little disappointed with the result. Sara Nelson sets out to read a book a week for the year (2002) and to write about the books. She actually writes about far fewer than 52. I wanted to hear a lot more about the books and a little less about Nelson’s life, personality quirks, family, marital problems, son’s baseball games (though said son, 7-8-year-old Charley is endearing). I appreciate books in which the writer relates her reading to her life, but I didn’t find a good balance here.
Nelson is disarmingly honest (a phrase used by another reviewer here, but it’s spot on), but at the same time often seems frivolous, shallow, dismissive of huge swaths of literature because they strike her as “homework.” I found it odd that she worries over what she’s reading in public, and how people might judge her by what they see her reading. How bizarre for someone who’s just written a book about exactly what she reads, likes, and dislikes.
At the end of the book, Nelson provides a list of the books she intended to read and those she actually did read. No faulting her there. What we read is determined as much (or more) by mood, whim, and serendipity as by design. I totally get that.
I’m glad a read it. And I highlighted many passages that really resonated with me. I now have a few more books on my endless TBR list. I’ve read many books in this mini-genre and plan to read quite a few more. I enjoyed Nelson’s much more than Susan Hill’s Howards End is on the Landing and Andy Miller’s The Year of Reading Dangerously, but not as much as Nina Sankovitch’s or Pat Conroy’s My Reading Life.
"Reading’s ability to beam you up to a different world is a good part of the reason people like me do it in the first place—because dollar for dollar, hour per hour, it’s the most expedient way to get from our proscribed little “here” to an imagined, intriguing “there.” Part time machine, part Concorde, part ejector seat, books are our salvation." — Sara Nelson
Nelson is disarmingly honest (a phrase used by another reviewer here, but it’s spot on), but at the same time often seems frivolous, shallow, dismissive of huge swaths of literature because they strike her as “homework.” I found it odd that she worries over what she’s reading in public, and how people might judge her by what they see her reading. How bizarre for someone who’s just written a book about exactly what she reads, likes, and dislikes.
At the end of the book, Nelson provides a list of the books she intended to read and those she actually did read. No faulting her there. What we read is determined as much (or more) by mood, whim, and serendipity as by design. I totally get that.
I’m glad a read it. And I highlighted many passages that really resonated with me. I now have a few more books on my endless TBR list. I’ve read many books in this mini-genre and plan to read quite a few more. I enjoyed Nelson’s much more than Susan Hill’s Howards End is on the Landing and Andy Miller’s The Year of Reading Dangerously, but not as much as Nina Sankovitch’s
"Reading’s ability to beam you up to a different world is a good part of the reason people like me do it in the first place—because dollar for dollar, hour per hour, it’s the most expedient way to get from our proscribed little “here” to an imagined, intriguing “there.” Part time machine, part Concorde, part ejector seat, books are our salvation." — Sara Nelson
krisloveskihei's review against another edition
1.0
I wanted this book from the moment I heard about it, and it was on my wishlist until it came out in paperback. Good thing, because I would really be upset if I'd paid hardcover prices for it. The title describes my feelings, I'm like a kid in a candystore when I'm in a bookstore or on Amazon. I figured I'd get lots of ideas from the author on great books to add to my ever-growing list of must-reads. Instead I found this book to be dull and self-involved. I'm really not interested in the author's marriage or childhood or family life. I thought she spent much more time denigrating books and authors than praising them. Sure, there are a lot of books out there that aren't worth reading, but I don't want to read about them. I also don't want to read about the unpublished manuscripts that she has access to and I don't. I thought this book would be like getting a year's worth of great book recommendations from a friend - it wasn't.
tani's review against another edition
4.0
One of the things that Sara Nelson says in this book is that sometimes, or even a lot of the time, the connections we can make between a book and our own lives is what makes a book enjoyable. It's not exactly profound, but it's definitely true. I had a great time reading this book and it's because I spent a great deal of it nodding along (and laughing along) with Nelson's thoughts on the experience of reading. Sara Nelson and I don't read the same kind of books or agree on everything, but we agree on a lot. I don't know a lot of people in real life who love reading as much as I do, so for me, reading this book was like spending the evening with a good friend. I didn't want it to end.
ridgewaygirl's review against another edition
4.0
Sara Nelson is a reader and this is a book for readers, discussing things like double-booking (reading more than one book at a time) and the leaning stack of books next to her bed, waiting to be read. She is married to someone who doesn't read much, at whom she is constantly pushing books, and she often neglects other things when a book grabs her. She liked some books that I didn't care for (the complete works of Phillip Roth, [A Staggering Work of Heartbreaking Genius]), disliked a few that I loved (Alias Grace) but I agreed with her tastes more often than not. It was good to find someone who could so concisely describe my feelings about books like Tuesdays with Morrie.
nina_rod's review against another edition
1.0
Abandoned this book. Liked the title while at Goodwill and it lived on my shelf for years. Started reading it during Screen Free week since I had to read an actual book not an audio or ebook.
This book is extremely dated with references to "Will and Grace," "Beautiful Mind," and the memoir of Katherine Graham. I was extremely frustrated trying to remember books and pop culture from my 20s. Good riddance with this book. I'm glad you are off my shelf. Back to Goodwill you go!
This book is extremely dated with references to "Will and Grace," "Beautiful Mind," and the memoir of Katherine Graham. I was extremely frustrated trying to remember books and pop culture from my 20s. Good riddance with this book. I'm glad you are off my shelf. Back to Goodwill you go!
caitpoytress's review against another edition
2.0
2.5 stars. While I did enjoy some of her anecdotes and observations, I was ultimately disappointed with this book. And would it have killed her to use spoiler warnings before blurting out the endings to some of the books she was writing about?
sanjastajdohar's review against another edition
5.0
Interesting, witty, well writen, humoristic and easy to read through.