Rating: 
Summary: So Many Books, So Many Moods
Review: A Christmas present well worth while. Nancy Pearl, a Seattle librarian, and local NPR celebrity where she discusses books, has
written a book that is recommended reading for every mood, moment and reason. She has organized these books into 175 useful,creative and humorous lists. These lists are quite specific and the Table of Contents lists them in alphabetical order. The one critique is that not enough information is given about the books, but maybe that was her intent. Just maybe she wants us to find out that information for ourselves.I have gone through each list and found enough books that interest me to give me reading material for the next couple of years. I have purchased several. Some of my favorites are: Action Heroines-the usual VI Warshawski and Kinsey Milhorne but several new ones like Susan Van Meter and Paul Flint. Adventure by the Book- Fiction and Non-fiction-Huckleberry Finn and National Geographic. Hamilton Basso: Too Good To Miss-New Orleans Southern writer like "View From Pompeii's Head". Bird Brains- books for and by birders Fathers and Daughters and Fathers and Sons-Solomon's Daughter and Gambler's Rose First Lines Too Remember-"First I had to get his body into the boat". First Novels-Virgin Suicides, Stern Men, Biggest Elvis The Islamic World-Islam: A Short History The Moon's My Destination-Apollo- Epic Journey to the Moon Shrinks and Shrinkees-I Never Promised You A Rose garden Three Hanky Reads-A Lesson Before Dying Texas, A Lone Star State of Mind-The Last Picture Show Zero: This Will Mean Nothing To You-The Hole in the Universe All together, 256 pages of books organized into themes that make sense. I really liked this book. I found it light reading, but full of great information.I will use this as a reference book for the times when I need a book of a particular theme, or a need for a book I can't quite put my finger on. If you are just starting out on a reading life, this book is for you. Or, if you are looking for something to read, but don't know what will strike your fancy, this book is for you. A book for everyone, for any mood or for every mood. prisrob
Rating: 
Summary: Of all to choose from, how to pick a good book?
Review: Answer: Take the advice of Nancy Pearl, librarian, reviewer and reader par excellence. Paired with Sara Nelson's So Many Books, So Little Time, you're set up with super reading for the next few years, at a minimum. These two authors approach their craft differently, however: Nelson discusses how books affect her, while Pearl is more inclined to discuss choosing a book based on her already-present mood. Together, you're covered for every eventuality.
And here's permission from an expert to do what many of us cannot give ourselves permission to do: quit reading a book after 50 pages if we're not enjoying ourselves. As hard as that is to act upon ("but surely it'll get better in another few pages..."), think about how many more books you'd have time to read if you skip the last 250 pages of every book you're really not loving.
Perhaps Nancy Pearl's most innovative and imitated accomplishment was to suggest that all the readers within a certain group (hometown, college, newspaper subscribers, PTA, etc.) read the same book and join discussion groups about it. Making this task easier is Pearl's division of her books into about 200 categories, including some unusual groupings such as "Shrinks and Shrinkees." Also invaluable to booklovers are the several "Too Good to Miss" sections in which Pearl discusses particular writers, why they are unique, and what specific books of theirs she would recommend. In this section are authors such as Iris Murdoch as well as many whom Pearl considers inadequately appreciated.
Buy this book. And then begin looking forward to the sequel.
Rating:
Summary: So much fun!
Review: Any list of book recommendations that gives Barbara Pym her own category is likely to rate highly with me. I very much enjoyed reading "Book Lust" and now have a very long list of books that I want to tackle. While some of Pearls suggestions were, in my opinion, duds, that's just part of the fun. On the one hand, Book Lust has led me to read the works of writers I would never have chosen for myself, such as Percival Everett--I enjoyed his novel "Erasure". On the other hand, Book Lust has helped me to find more books in the style that I like most. I particularly enjoyed Elizabeth Taylor's "Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont"--before reading Book Lust I had never heard of Elizabeth Taylor. I've recommended Book Lust to several people, prompting someone to present me with the Nancy Pearl action figure (complete with shushing action) as a gift.
Rating:
Summary: Good for expanding your reading horizons
Review: As an avid reader of fiction, I find that I frequently exhaust all the books by a particular author and am left wondering what to read next. Book Lust definitely helped me to identify some new authors and books to try. It is broken down into 175 different categories; rather than be based on mood as the title suggests, the categories are mostly based on very specific genres--eg, African American Fiction (further divided into male and female), Canadian Fiction, Memoirs, etc. (some categories are given particularly amusing names, such as Elvis on My Mind, Gear Up for Gardening, and Take Me Out to the Ballgame). Particular authors are also highlighted various "Too Good to Miss" entries. You will certainly find plenty of reading suggestions, but don't expect much detail about each individual book--at times the books are simply listed. Also, you may be disappointed to find that some of your own favorites do not make the list (no Maeve Bincy under Irish Fiction?). Overall, however, this is a worthwhile read for booklovers like myself.
Rating:
Summary: Good for expanding your reading horizons
Review: As an avid reader of fiction, I find that I frequently exhaust all the books by a particular author and am left wondering what to read next. Book Lust definitely helped me to identify some new authors and books to try. It is broken down into 175 different categories; rather than be based on mood as the title suggests, the categories are mostly based on very specific genres--eg, African American Fiction (further divided into male and female), Canadian Fiction, Memoirs, etc. (some categories are given particularly amusing names, such as Elvis on My Mind, Gear Up for Gardening, and Take Me Out to the Ballgame). Particular authors are also highlighted various "Too Good to Miss" entries. You will certainly find plenty of reading suggestions, but don't expect much detail about each individual book--at times the books are simply listed. Also, you may be disappointed to find that some of your own favorites do not make the list (no Maeve Bincy under Irish Fiction?). Overall, however, this is a worthwhile read for booklovers like myself.
Rating:
Summary: My (good) bad habit multiplied!!!
Review: Books about books are the most wonderful things, because the obsession never ends. The author is a librarian who grew up in a dysfunctional household and turned to her books. She found the joy of reading in her childhood years, like most of us have, and has very eclectic tastes. I love the way she breaks up the books:
Intriguing Novels
Wild Life
Zen Buddism and Meditation
Ecofiction
Elvis on my Mind
Bird Brains
Black Humor
and many many more! Each section recommends and gives a tiny synopsis of the book you would be reading! I have to write down all of the ones I'm interested in so I can make yet another list!
Rating:
Summary: For the delight of bibliophiles everywhere
Review: I adore books about books, and BOOK LUST is the best one I've come across thus far. Filled to the rim with over 175 lists, it's guaranteed to satisfy any bibliophile's appetite. I've been carrying around this book since I purchased it and I still can't get over how much I enjoy it and how useful it will be for me. Each list is so much more than a simple rundown of assorted books. Nancy Pearl's narrative provides a much-appreciated glimpse into the book genre that only an experienced reader/librarian with decades of experience under their belt can provide. Her writing is intelligent and witty. Browsing this book is like sitting down and discussing books with a good friend over coffee. Included is an excellent selection of list including fiction and non-fiction books such as: African Literature in English
Art Appreciation
Australian Fiction
Brothers and Sisters
Chick Lit
Czech it Out
Elvis on my Mind
Families in Trouble
Food for Thought
Etc. etc. BOOK LUST solves a question many readers ponder: what should I read next? Now I know that this question will not haunt me anymore. Get this book. It's worth every penny.
Rating: 
Summary: mediocre
Review: I checked the sections on science writing and
science fiction, two areas I am very familiar
with, and found many selections to be poor to
mediocre. The author did not seem to be able
to distinguish trash from titles of value.
Rating:
Summary: A Local Treasure
Review: I have the priviledge of hearing Nancy on KUOW every Monday (she's a local treasure). Her book recommendations are widely known in the Seattle area and we were thrilled when she wrote Book Lust. Now I can figure out what to read no matter what my mood.
Thanks Nancy!
Rating:
Summary: A must for book discussion group leaders
Review: I lead and advise book discussion groups in the San Francisco Bay Area and think this book is a jewel for creating reading lists! The author, Seattle public librarian Nancy Pearl, has well honed personal and professional instincts for quality books with broad appeal. For one thing, she serves as the Director of the Washington Center for the Book, where she created the program, "If All of Seattle Read the Same Book." This program became a model for programs like the California Council for the Humanities statewide promotion of John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath. (Isabel Allende will be Seattle's featured author for 2004.) Book group leaders will appreciate Pearl's historical context for different genres including the experiences of different ethnic groups in America, and a list of 100 good reads, decade by decade for the 20th century. (Ten books are listed for each decade.) Imagine immersing your book group in one book for each decade over the course of a year. Or just reading the 1940's with picks like Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls, Richard Wright's Native Son and Marjorie Kinman Rawling's Cross Creek. The 1950's picks include Salinger's Catcher in the Rye and Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man. Book group leaders may also appreciate her section on Companion Reads--books that can be linked sequentially to broaden the understanding of each. For example, she suggests three "moving memoirs about growing up Hispanic in America: Down these Mean Streets by Piri Thomas, and When I was Puerto Rican and Almost a Woman by Esmeralda Santiago." Another interesting idea: pairing two novels about single women, written almost one hundred years apart, one by a man and one by a woman: The Odd Women by George Gissing and The Odd Woman by Gail Godwin. There's also a list of books about Elvis for those so inclined. One caveat: some of the books that she recommends are now out of print--which might mean more interlibrary loan work or asking your bookstore for a special order.
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