We all love reading books and reading about books (and reading about the people who write books), so I figured this trio of new titles would appeal to just about all of you:
In Writers Gone Wild, learn about “The Feuds, Frolics, and Follies of Literature’s Great Adventurers, Drunkards, Lovers, Iconoclasts, and Misanthropes.” (How’s that for a subtitle?)
In Bound to Last: 30 Writers on their Most Cherished Book, authors ranging from Julia Glass to Danielle Trussoni wax poetic on their favorite reads.
Read This Next promises 500 book recommendations that have been “vetted and approved by two literary professionals with discerning taste and witty wit.” Recommendations are even divided into categories, from books about “Love” to “Death” with “Humor,” “Family” and others in between.
Sound like books you’d like to read? Enter to win all three by leaving a message in the comments with your favorite book about books or writers. Novels with a particularly bookish theme—like The Shadow of the Wind or The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society—count, too!
Recent BookPage faves include Jane’s Fame: How Jane Austen Conquered the World and Louisa May Alcott: The Woman Behind ‘Little Women’.
Oh goodness, I love books about books and reading. My favorite is probably Anne Fadiman’s Ex Libris.
Books: A Memoir by Larry McMurtry
“The Night Inspector” by Frederick Busch; about Melville, and a Civil War vet; great time and place writing, and an incisive portrait of a writer’s struggles,
So Many Books, So Little Time by Sara Nelson is a fun read.
My favorite is Susan Hill´s Howard´s end is on the landing.
Hotel de Dream by Edmund White, a superlative salute to the mind of Stephen Crane.
I too have read both Larry McMurtry’s book and Sara Nelson. Both of them are tops! Reading books about books and those who read them are fantastic. I look forward to reading the three listed above.
This is a favorite genre of mine;some of my personal picks include 84,Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff,Used and Rare by Lawrence and Nancy Goldstone and The Pulpwood Queens’ Book-Sharing-Tiara-Wearing Guide to Life by Nancy L. Patrick.
Pat Conroy’s My Losing Season. Great.
I loved Leave Me Alone, I’m Reading, but Maureen Corrigan. I really wanted to like Larry McMurtry’s Books: A Memoir, but it was one of the most disappointing reads of the last few years for me. I have 84, Charing Cross Road and Shadow of the Wind both on my list!
i would have to say probably book lust by nancy pearl. it isn’t the book so much as the introduction when she shares about her childhood and the importance books and libraries had in her life from a very early age. it was very similar to my experience and i wrote her to thank her for it. she even wrote me back!
I love reading books about books. I really enjoyed Nicholas Basbanes’ A Gentle Madness.
Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief is probably my favorite. I have a whole shelf devoted to “books about books” though!
The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield had mystery, books, and so much more. It was love at first sentence.
I also have to say my favorite book about books is Nancy Pearl’s Book Lust. I don’t agree with all her opinions, but I love her enthusiasm. Also, she’s a wonderful storyteller.
I love mysteries ie Cleo Coyle, Kate Collins etc., but I love Jane Austen as well.
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society was great– I love epistolary novels and anything set in WWII!
“On Writing” by Stephen King. Really solid, honest advice from someone who knows a thing or two about writing.
My favorite Is “The Smithsonian Book of Books”
I am loving Views from the Loft: A Portable Writer’s Workshop. Collected by Daniel Slager (Editor). Such great essays and stories from a great variety of authors and poets. What a fun giveaway-I love books about books! Thanks!
Francine Prose, Reading Like a Writer.
Books about books are always useful, because one can never find too many recommendations!
I also loved So Many Books, So Little Time by Sara Nelson and Book Lust by Nancy Pearl. My favorite fiction about books that I’ve read recently would have to be The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett- such a quick, comical read.
I absolutely loved the Shadow of the Wind!
I really enjoyed reading Book Lust, More Book Lust by Pearl and also So Many Books, So Little Time by Sara Nelson. I can never read and learn enough about good books, LOTS of them!!
Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird…
So Many Books, So Little Time by Sara Nelson is my favorite. Also, My favorite library is in my hometown. The librarians know what I love to read and always tell me about new books that they know I will enjoy. They have never failed me yet.
I love everything to do with books and books of books is perfect!!!
The Yellow Lighted Bookshop by Lewis Buzbee is awesome for all bibliophiles/book lovers. Part history, part memoir – if you love books and bookstores you won’t be able to put it down!
My favorite book about books: USED AND RARE by Lawrence and Nancy Goldstone. A book about books, book collecting, life and marriage. Terrific.
I have to say The Yellow Lighted Bookshop,simply because he is SO on my wavelength regarding the love of books. A Novel Bookstore is on my TBR shelf though…I would love to win your titles! Thanks
On Writing by Stephen King is very good.
So many books, so little time- Sara Nelson
Oh my gosh, Oh my gosh, PLEASE pick me! This is one prize I would want more than other book on this site! I am weirdly obsessed with books about books.
It lets me know I am not alone.
I’d have to say How Reading Changed My Life by Anna Quindlen and For the Love of Books, a collection of prominent authors’ and scholars favorite books and their thoughts on them, edited by Ronald Schwarz. Although it was hard to just pick those two. Ahh!
Fahrenheit 451. What a fantastic theme for this week’s contest!
WOW! Books have been a big part of my life since my Dad got a library card for me when I was five years old.
There are three books,about books,which I appreciate very much: A Passion for Books (Edited by Harold Rabinowitz and Rob Kaplan);Books,a memoir by Larry McMurtry;and a novel,Famous Writers School by Steven Carter.
The books,listed for this weeks contest,Writers Gone Wild;Bound to Last;and Read This Next,would be great additions to my library.
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society — definitely!!!
Love books about books! The Eyre Affair and The Club Dumas are two of my favorites.
“Guernsey” is a great read, but I think THE BOOK THIEF should be read by all book lovers. I also have a lovely photo book called A BOOK OF BOOKS (photos by Alberdo Morell).
“Writers Gone Wild” looks fab. Can’t wait to check it out
The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown! I was lucky enough to read an advanced reader’s copy. If you like books about the power of books (and great story to go with it!), look for it in January. Fabulous.
A History of Love by Nicole Krauss-a book was the main character!
Oooooh I love this contest. I have to copy down all these wonderful books everyone is posting! Which book to choose is the only question.
Ruined by Reading: A Life in Books by Lynne Sharon Schwartz comes to mind first.
I love the Inkheart series by Cornelia Funke. It’s a young adult fantasy series about a bookbinder who can read characters to life. It’s beautifully written, and the crazy book collector aunt is, i think, giving me a direct look into my future. It isn’t really a book about books, but the theme of the whole trilogy is books, and their beauty, and the characters in them.
The Book Thief is also pretty great.
I would have to say On Writing by Stephen King.
I would enjoy these books, but moreso I would really, really like to win this because my girlfriend gave me like a ten minute speech about how much she wanted to win this prize. A bit more into it than I am, but we would share!
I enjoyed So Many Books, So Little Time a lot. That’s really the only book I can think of off the top of my head that’s within this…so I should win to expand my horizons and open me to more books!
Like a previous poster said, I have an entire shelf devoted to books about reading books. There’s no way I could pick just one. And actually, I think it’s a bit torturous to ask an avid reader to narrow down.
The Red Book by Barbara Lehman. I have shown this to my son’s class for literacy week three years in a row. It is being requested again for this year by the students. They follow the journey of a red book and through the illustrations tell me the story one picture at a time.
The Club Dumas by Arturo Perez Reverte
Every Book Its Reader by Nicholas A. Basbanes. The subtitle is “The Power of the Printed Word to Stir the World.” I learned so much! For sheer delicious pleasure, Inkheart by Cornelia Funke. Who hasn’t dreamed of falling into her favorite book?
Two of my favorite books about books are BOOK LUST and MORE BOOK LUST by Nancy Pearl.
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I am currently reading “Books a Memoir” by Larry McMurtry(sp?) and it is a interesting look at a dealers love of books.
My favorite book about books is Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury.
My favorite book about books is “The Book Whisperer” by Donalyn Miller. Her views, on encouraging young students to read for enjoyment and then reap the benefits in other academic areas, are refreshing.
My favorite book is – A Passion for Books, A book Lover’s Treasury of Stories, Essays, Humor, Lore, and Lists on Collecting, Reading, Borrowing, Lending, Caring for, and Appreciating Books. (now how about that subtitle, huh) edited by Harold Rabinowitz & Rob Kaplan with a forward by Ray Bradbury. The title and subtitle sums up everything I love about books about books. Once I found this genre there was no turning back, none of it is ever boring.
This book is what got me into books about books, its so much my favorite that I had the UPC code with the ISBN and ELAN number tattooed on my neck. I have actually went into a major bookstore while they were doing inventory and the salesperson wanted to scan my neck but it would not pick on my skin but when he typed in the ISBN the title came up and I showed him which book it was.
This book is always in my backpack and goes everywhere with me…….you ever been asked the the question “if you were ever stuck on a deserted island what would you take with you?…..well I would take this book.
I have three 6′ bookcases that are filled with books that only are books about books, printing histories, library histories, bibliomysteries ect. I love this type of book but I do enjoy the occasional book outside this scope but what tickles my fancy is and always will be Books about Books.
Helene Hanff’s 84, Charing Cross Road
Thanks for the opportunity!
forsurveysonly at gmail dot com
Pat Conroy’s “My Reading Life”.
Hmmmm I think The Man Who Loved Books Too Much? Great prize!
I would love these books. I am the person who loves books and books about books too!
My favorite novel about books/writers/reading is A.S. Byatt’s The Children’s Book.
Two totally different books about books are my favorites in fiction and non-fiction: Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott motivates, instructs and disciplines writers with exercises and personal stories; March by Geraldine Brooks is the story behind the story of “Little Women” and what happened to their father during the Civil War.
Loved Shadow of the Wind and The Book Thief
i loved booklust. i love books about books. i think this is a great site, i just found it tonite!
I love picking up The Bookpage at the library. Good reviews and news on what book to pick up next.
One of my favorites is an oldie-but-goodie: The Pleasure of Reading, edited by Antonia Fraser, which includes essays by a wide variety of writers discussing their reading, and each one ending with a “top ten” of the writer’s favorite books.
I love books about books. The Bookmans Wake. favorite. Shadow of The Wind. I threw a hissy when my library stopped giving out this magazine.Book Lovers need to have a voice. They are starting a new subscription. I liked the Read Aloud handbook for Childrens books.