So Many Books, So Little Time: A Year of Passionate Reading | Book Review
So Many Books, So Little Time: A Year of Passionate Reading by Sara Nelson Original Publication Date: 2004
Genres: Non-Fiction
Source: I purchased this book
Goodreads
The project began as an experiment with a simple plan—fifty-two weeks, fifty-two books—that fell apart in the first week. It was then that Sara realized the books chose her as much as she chose them, and the rewards and frustrations they brought were nothing she could plan for. From Solzhenitsyn to Laura Zigman, Catherine M. to Captain Underpants, the result is a personal chronicle of insight, wit, and enough infectious enthusiasm to make a passionate reader out of anybody.
So Many Books, So Little Time: A Year of Passionate Reading
Table of Contents
This book is about Sara Nelson’s decision to read one book a week for a year.
While Nelson didn’t quite accomplish that feat, she did find many interesting books that were important to her at a particular moment in time.
She also found out that you DON’T have to read or finish a volume if you don’t want to.
Nelson recalls a time when her reading life took over:
Slowly, it dawned on me: Books could be more than a path to good grades or something to do when, in those pre-cable days, you’d already seen the Movie of the Week.
Nelson Finds Herself Reading in Interesting Places
She found out that sometimes everyday life can interfere with your best-laid plans.
For example, she took Funny Men by Ted Heller with her on a weekend to Vermont.
In Vermont, she stayed in Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s old compound. She discovered that Heller’s book was exactly the wrong book to read. She was surrounded by Solzhenitsyn’s personal library.
She apparently intended this book mostly to be about the books she read. It eventually became as much a memoir as a book on books.
Final Analysis
I admit that I had never heard of some of these books before I read So Many Books, So Little Time. I now will check them out!
I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it. You will enjoy it.
There is an interesting review by Publisher’s Weekly.
You can also read my review of Books: A Memoir by Larry McMurtry.
Also please read my post about I Bought More Books!
Thank you for reading The Literary Lioness!
No Comments
Calista
This has been on my list for a while, since I first read a review of it. It sounds like the perfect book for a bookworm!
Book pusher
Life interfering with reading plans is a familiar experience for many of us I suspect, this does sound an interesting read.
The Literary Lioness
It's a really good book. I think that Nelson intended for this book to be just a record of the books she read over the course of a year, but it turned into a personal memoir, with stories about her husband and son.