Book Lust

Nancy Pearl (author)

Sasquatch Books, USA: 2003; 236pp

ISBN: 1570613818

Genre: literature

An A-Z of recommended reading is appealing to any bibliophile, although it is always accompanied by a faint despair that there are only twenty-four hours in every day and that not all of them can be spent reading. So many books, so little time...

Nancy Pearl is a Seattle librarian of some thirty years experience and although there is therefore a heavy emphasis on American publications, the more than one hundred and seventy lists in this book cover a huge range of topics, genres and writers. There is even a brief summary of Australian fiction, which is interesting not because it recommends anything unexpected but rather for what is omitted. If nothing else it provides an interesting insight in terms of cultural perspective - what a well-read American values from our bookshelves.

Other lists include the Islamic World, Growing Writers, (American) Historical Fiction for Kids of All Ages, and 100 Good Reads, Decade by Decade. There is sure to be a list to appeal to the most selective reader who will never again have an excuse to exclaim, ‘I don't know what to read next'.