Wednesday, August 01, 2007

So Many Books, So Little Time

So Many Books, So Little Time: A Year of Passionate Reading by Sara Nelson is one of the books I chose to read for the Something About Me Reading Challenge. This book appeared on at least three people's lists: Sally, a.book.in.the.life, and Vasilly. The book is obviously about a woman's love affair with reading. In many ways, I can relate to this "passionate" affair. I love to read. I love to write about what I read. So you would think I would love to read about a woman writing about what she is reading. I love this book, but in name only. I love the concept of this book. But the book itself, well, not so much. It's not that it was boring. But it wasn't thrilling either. I feel like I am missing something. If this book is her description of those books that she is so "passionate" about, then I don't think it "works" as a persuasive tool. If this is just a behind-the-scenes of her project and her other writings are gathered elsewhere--perhaps published week by week at whatever paper or magazine she worked for at the time...then that would be a different story. There were parts I enjoyed, but most of the book was just okay for me. I didn't hate it. But I didn't love it either.

For "A Year of Passionate Reading" I would rather follow the lives of bloggers day by day. I guess my general reaction was that with a name like that: So Many Books, So Little Time: A Year of Passionate Reading...I expected something more. I just think the passion wasn't particularly conveyed that strongly. I mean if it had been called "Thoughts on the Books I've Read This Year" instead I would have thought it delivered just fine.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi!

I stumbled across your blog while doing some research for my work at a publishing company. I agree with you exactly on this book. I was so excited by the title. I don't really know what I was expecting, but the book definitely didn't deliver anything I wanted it to.

So, I just wanted to comment, and now I'm going to read the rest of your blog. Have a nice day!

Becky said...

Jessie,

Thank you for visiting my site! It's good to know I'm not the only one with that impression of the book.

Stacey Shubitz said...

The first-ever picture book carnival is up on my blog, http://mentortexts.blogspot.com/2007/07/first-ever-picture-book-carnival.html. Thank you for participating! Please consider submitting a picture book for the next one I'm hosting on back-to-school books at: http://blogcarnival.com/bc/cprof_2189.html

Cheers!