For the Love of Books: 115 Celebrated Writers on the Books They Love Most

The premise of this book: The editor, Ronald B. Shwartz, sent a message to 115 authors, asking them to respond via letter or phone. His prompt: "Identify those 3-6 books that have in some way influenced or affected you most deeply, 'spoken to' you the loudest, and explain why--in personal terms. All books, whether 'Great Books' or not-so-great books--books of any kind, genre, period--are fair game."Many greats--in literature, the arts, the sciences--responded. Kurt Vonnegut's was the most memorable to me, but here also are Russell Banks, Dave Barry, Art Buchwald, Jonathan Harr, John Hawkes, John Irving, Susanna Kaysen, W.P. Kinsella, Caroline Knapp, Elmore Leonard, Doris Lessing, Norman Mailer, Frank McCourt, Arthur Miller, Joyce Carol Oates, Grace Paley, Robert B. Parker, Robert Pirsig, Mario Puzo, Neil Simon, Oliver Stone (Did anyone know that he published a novel awhile ago? Has anyone read it?), William Styron, Gay Talese, John Updike, and Geoffrey and Tobias Wolff--just to name a few.Which titles were mentioned the most?Surprisingly--to me, anyway--the title mentioned the most, by far, was Marcel Proust's Remembrance of Things Past. It was not close.The others, in order:Moby-Dick by Herman MellvilleThe BibleThe Brothers Karamazov by Leo Tolstoy (or Tolstoi, which I prefer, as a T206 fanatic)Ulysses by James JoyceWar and Peace by Leo TolstoiThe Catcher in the Rye by J.D. SalingerWilliam Shakespeare's Collected WorksThe Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark TwainMost of the selections were idiosyncratic, but there were still a few Hemingways, Austins, and others in there. Most books we've heard of before were mentioned two or three times. Those in the list above were mentioned at least six times, at most ten times.But it was an interesting read, and not very taxing. It didn't take a lot out of me, which is good, since I've had a headache to drive me insane for the past week or so.Highly recommended, if you're curious at all about what made an impression on these writers--and why.

Add me to the list of five star reviewers for this book. It is an outstanding compilation of favorite books from many authors, some of which I had heard of and most I hadn't. Every one of the comments from the authors is interesting. I found the comments from Kurt Vonnegut and Geoffrey Wolff particularly informative and fun. The bad news is that if you are like me you end up adding a lot of titles to that, "gotta read" list. TThe above review was from a 2018 first reading. I found it on my bookshelf and reread it. Just as great as the first time. The bad news is my "gotta read" list is now longer.

This book is not for the casual reader. However, if you are someone who obsesses over what to read next, authors' lives, styles of writing, and consistently have a stack of books to be read by your bed, this book is for you. It's a fascinating glimpse of why authors love their favorite books (and even more interesting when one author heralds a book as life-changing, then a few pages later, a different author dismisses it as trash!) It's also amazing the caliber of authors Mr. Shwartz has gathered to contribute--Kurt Vonnegut, Robert M. Pirsing, John Irving, John Updike, etc. I have read a handful of books like these and more often than the names are not too recognizible even to the most devoted reader. He must have had some clout!The great thing about this is not only the long-imagined glimpse into our favorite writers' minds, but the fact that you can keep this book on your shelf and use it as a reference for what to read next for YEARS to come. You may flip to Anna Quindlen and be inspired by her descriptions to read all of her favorites! Or you may be amazed to find an author you never heard of who loves the same books you do---therefore you go and search out all of said author's books, knowing you will likely enjoy them. The bibliography in the back is also very helpful.One warning though: Many of the authors' picks are more often than not classics and pretty high-brow, at times difficult books to read (after all, many of the contributors have scholarly backgrounds). Some of their opinions are also based on very in-depth observations of style of writing and word choice rather than the book being a page-turner or an relatable story. If you consider yourself a bibliophile but are into more contempary books, there are other books similar to this that may reccommend slightly lighter, more varied reading. I would reccommend Book Lust and More Book Lust by Nancy Pearl, So Many Books, So Little Time by Sarah Nelson, and How Reading Changed my Life by Anna Quindlen, to name a few.