Mmm… books about books

At the risk of becoming too meta, I’m going to talk a little bit about one of my go-to books for choosing other books to read.*

I tend to think – judging by the Cannonballers I actually know, the general bookish-ness around here, and the sheer amount of things that Must. Be. Read – that a lot of you CBReaders are similar to me, in that you tend to read quite a bit. (And write rather less often than you should/would like too, but that’s a horse of a different color.) One of the things about being a certain type of bibliophile – the type whose books accumulate on any and every available flat surface, the type who use Excel spreadsheets to cross-reference their TBR piles, the type who could happily wile away an entire day (and easily an entire week’s pay) in the local used book store “just browsing” – is that there are SO MANY CHOICES.

There are so many good books to read, and there are new ones being written everyday. And it seems to me, since I’m on everything from Goodreads to LibraryThing, that someone is always, always, always giving me the name of yet another book I just should be reading. And I love that – an overabundance of choices is a problem I am privileged to have, make no mistake.

But sometimes, I just want to read something funny without worrying that halfway through someone’s going to get Cancer and die.

There are days when I can’t face another minute of beautiful grace and shattered people: I know I don’t have it in me to do the heavy lifting those kind of books require. Other times, the opposite is true – I need to read something about overcoming every shitty thing life throws at you, because there are just no other options, so keep pushing.

Sometimes you want to swim in the shallow end; other times, you want to be immersed in the whole ocean.

And it’s nice to have some guidance when those days come, so you’re not left floundering.

I use a handful of websites, as I mentioned, for things that might strike a particular fancy at a specific moment in time, but I’ve got three books that I’ve been using lately to help me narrow things down, help me figure out if I’m swimming in the right pool. The one I’m talking about today is the one I use the most, and it’s the one mostly focused on adult books (although some children’s literature is included in its recommendations).

1001 Books for Every Mood – is written by Hallie Ephron, and has books broken down every which way you can think of: Looking for something funny, that has both literary merit and is easy enough to read in the bathroom or on the beach? She’s on it. Longing for a challenging, hopeful page-turner? She’s got that covered, too. You feel like wallowing, or suffering; taking a trip, joining the circus, or being redeemed? All acceptable, all answers found within.

Each book is presented with little symbols that judge their compatibility with your mood in different categories – say if it’s ever been made into a movie, or if it’s a family friendly book you might be able to read aloud, or if it’ll keep you thinking or help you to relax. Each is accompanied by a snippet – cunningly, wittily crafted by Ephron – to give you some idea of what the book is about, some clue as to whether it’s the one for you. If it’s the next one for you. If it’s the RIGHT one for you.

She includes facts about the books (have they won any awards, for example) or the authors, or the stories behind the stories “Anyways it’s about not being afraid to live your dream, something we thought quite a lot about back in the ’70s when this was published” she opines regarding Jonathan Livingston Seagull, by Richard Bach. She couples books, yentas them, plays matchmaker as if pairing the fish with a certain type of wine – Read Chris Bohjalian’s Midwives with Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird, or Dune with Salt, for optimum enjoyment.  She provides humorous quotes from the books, or famous first lines that encourage you to recall if you’ve actually read the book or just heard that line a few million times and should actually give it a shot.

And sure, the book that best suits my mood might not actually be lurking in my current TBR mountain, but I usually manage to find a pretty good substitution, based on what flipping through 1001 Books has made me realize I’m actually looking forward to reading. It’s a neat trick, honestly ~ helping me pick apart my brain enough to decipher what the heck I should be reading next.

In the foreword to the book, NPR’s Susan Stamburg talks about how reading is a form of transportation – magical, creative transportation – and that Ephron is merely providing a way key, a map, a means of navigation for our safe travels. I’ll gladly take them, because having Ephron’s voice as your own personal librarian is off-the-charts awesome.

 

*And if you want, I can do the books I use to help me make sure I’m covering all the kid lit corners with the Littles in my life, if you guys are interested.