The mother of book-lover books is, in my opinion, Anne Fadiman’s essay collection Ex Libris. Fadiman also edited an essay collection called Rereadings, in which writers re-read a book that they had read as a youth. [Here’s a funny story about ReWatching movies Too Much, from The Moviegoer’s Companion.] I really enjoyed it. Nick Hornby’s The Polysyllabic Spree is a collection of essays about what he’s been reading, and it’s a blast, written with Hornby’s characteristic wit. I’m most of the way through it, reading it aloud with my wife, and he has two more volumes of the same: Housekeeping vs the Dirt and Shakespeare Wrote for Money.
I read Nelson’s So Many Books, So Little Time a few years ago and didn’t love it. Ex Libris Lite, as a friend said. Stick with Fadiman. or Fadiman. or Hornby.
What am I missing that you recommend?
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