So Many Books, So Little Time
by Sara Nelson
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Book Summary Information
Author: Sara NelsonEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2003-10-13
ISBN: 0399150838
Number of pages: 256
Publisher: Putnam Adult
Book Reviews of So Many Books, So Little Time
Book Review: Trying To Control My Reading Life
Summary: 5 Stars
Sara Nelson starts this book discussing the fact that she took a year to chronicle her reading habits and started with the wrong book- it didn't fit the time and the place. I started reading this book and didn't like it- "oh, it's just fluff, I thought, nothing substantial". How wrong I was. Once I realized that like Sara Nelson, I too have a "bifurcated reading brain" I love to read "junk" and I love to read "literature", we were one, she was my friend.Sara Nelson began her reading life at a young age as did I, and she was initiated by her mother, as was I. "Marjorie Morningstar" was one of the first books she read that she could identify with. She was Marjorie- young and Jewish. She moved on to Nora Ephron's "Heartburn". Because Sara is an editor,reporter and reviewer (she does review books on Amazon and reads Amazon reviews before she buys a book), "Heartburn" depicted a world Sara and her friends knew and recognized. She realized that books open your life.
Sara Nelson organizes the books she reads during this year according to the events of her life. When she and her husband, Leo have a fierce quarrel,she goes into her study and finds a beloved book, a friend, and immerses her grief into the book. By the time she is finished with the book, she is ready to quietly discuss the quarrel with Leo and put their lives back into place.
Sara has won and lost friends according to their likes and dislikes of books. If they cannot see that a certain book has no useful purpose, well, what could she possibly have in common with them. One ex-boyfriend whom she happend to meet years later was taken aghast when the first thing Sara says upon meeting is "Where is my book?" He sheepishly sent the same dog eared book to her a few days later.
Sara's year has many twists and turns and each turn is planned with at least two books in mind. What Sara discovers is that the books she has in mind are not what she ends up reading or as the old saying goes "Even if you know what you are doing, you don't" One of Sara's favorite authors is Calvin Trillin. It is right after reading a book on the fashion business that Sara realizes that Trillin's book "Floaters" depicted that world of magazines and publishing better than any other novel she has read. She happens to meet Calvin at a book signing and mentions how much she likes his books, especially "Floaters", and he looks at her strangely- it appears that not many others appreciated that book not even his editors. Discussing the authors that you love and stick with and will even read their not so great novels is part of our life. Sara loved "The Crimson and the Petal" by Faber so much she hoarded the pages- reading a little here and saving it for later- a novel you don't want to end. I understand- that is like my reading life.
Sara Nelson's book meant so much more to me at this time of my life, because I am involved with a group of people who read books and review them and then discuss them. We have all shared our great love of books, and the fact that we are spending so much time discussing books and other things that we don't have any time to read books. That is what Sara found, a year of reading was luxurious and wonderful, but she missed some of life, she missed the theatre, museums,her friends, her family. We will never leave our books forever, but we should take some small time way to get back into the life we want to lead.
One important lesson- never leave the house without a book, preferably a smaller book without a cover so that you can stuff it into whatever you are carrying. You have to have a book for those times when there is nothing to do- waiting in the dentist office, riding in a car, we need, we yearn to read- we cannot be without a book, NEVER! prisrob
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