iceangel9's review
adventurous
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
4.5
A wonderful nonfiction list of books to help readers find their next read. Pearl is a masterful resource for all readers. The book is categorized by different regions and countries each complete with a list of possible reads related to the country or region. A great guide for those about to travel or for those who wish they could travel.
blueskygreentreesyellowsun's review
4.0
Well, my to-read shelf just got a lot bigger after reading this book. Lots of great suggestions, although I was surprised by how often the books she recommended had terrible GoodReads ratings. Maybe this is because she already put out two bibliographies, and in trying not to duplicate entries from them she ended up selecting quite a few mediocre books for 'Book Lust To Go'. Since she suggests anywhere between 4 and 20 books for every single category, the presence of some mediocre books isn't a deal breaker; there are still dozens (hundreds?) of great titles to tempt you.
My favorite thing about this book is how she groups the subjects. She covers cities, regions, and entire countries, of course, but she also throws in some fun categories too. These kept popping up just when I needed a break from the ordinary, and they helped put me in a new frame of mind. My favorites include: Making Tracks by Train; Peace Corps Memories; Hiking the (Fill in the Blank) Trail; Comics with a Sense of Place; and So We/I Bought (or Built) a House In....
My favorite thing about this book is how she groups the subjects. She covers cities, regions, and entire countries, of course, but she also throws in some fun categories too. These kept popping up just when I needed a break from the ordinary, and they helped put me in a new frame of mind. My favorites include: Making Tracks by Train; Peace Corps Memories; Hiking the (Fill in the Blank) Trail; Comics with a Sense of Place; and So We/I Bought (or Built) a House In....
jobinsonlis's review
5.0
I'm pretty sure that this is my favorite of Nancy Pearl's always engaging series. I'm admittedly biased because this book revived a feeling that I'd been ignoring for a few years, namely the desire to read books simply because they sounded interesting. I've been trying to read the mountain of books in my home for over a year now without paying attention to that desire because I just wanted to not have so many damn books everywhere. However after reading through this guide I marched myself to the library and with a sick, guilty thrill I checked out two books with fantastic titles. It felt like I was cheating on a spouse with someone gorgeous but unreliable. I have no intention of living forever with these two books. I just wanted to read them. Thank you, Nancy Pearl, for reminding me that I can just do that.
tiacarnes's review against another edition
I didn’t realize this is a book of book recommendations.
liralen's review
3.0
A librarian suggested this to me when I inquired about travel books to places less commonly written about—Eastern Europe, etc. It's a mixed bag: plenty of promising-looking books (although not travel books to the specific places I was looking for) set in places all over the world, but frustrating organisation. I don't really mind the overall organisation, that is—jumping around from country to town to country to region—but within the sections I found it pretty frustrating that, for example, some sections were divided by fiction and nonfiction and others weren't, and that while there was an index by book/author, there wasn't an index by country. (Then again, had there been an index by country, I probably would have used that rather than going through the whole book, page by page. So there's that.)
One to check out from the library rather than one to buy, but well worth paging through.
One to check out from the library rather than one to buy, but well worth paging through.
bgg616's review
4.0
This Nancy Pearl book is for armchair and actual travelers alike. Although there are many books I'd add, it provides a plethora of choices of reading - both fiction and non-fiction- about places around the world. Many of us love to do some reading about a place before we visit, and will find great suggestions in this volume. It's a a book to keep around, and dip in and out of. I'd love to see a book about those places that are less written about. Of course, in some cases, for example Paraguay, it's understandable why. Or lists that are more specific and include regions, states, counties etc. of countries other than the U.S. While Pearl's book doesn't include all 50 states, she does mention some such as Wyoming. I can imagine creating lists of books specific to different regions and states in countries such as Mexico and Brazil. Ireland (ROI and NI) would yield great lists for various cities and counties and islands. I wish I had kept track of all the titles that appealed to me while reading this book but there were so many, my TBR list would have increased by well over 100 titles.
chicknobody's review
1.0
i didn't finish this book.
reviewing items you've (clearly) never read in such a flippant way is an insult to the literary community.
reviewing items you've (clearly) never read in such a flippant way is an insult to the literary community.
mactammonty's review
3.0
A good starting point for filling in my Around the World reading challenge. Most of them are American authors though.
sawyerbell's review
1.0
Nancy Pearl introduced this rather odd guide by admitting she doesn't like to travel. Perhaps the task of recommending fiction and non-fiction for world travellers should have been passed on to a travel enthusiast. While I certainly found some interesting titles to add to my TBR, I have to seriously question a book that offers a larger section on the city of Detroit than the entire countries of Canada and India and offers more titles for Baltimore than the entire history and civilization of Egypt.
districtreads's review
3.0
Great collection! Wish it had more nonfiction history rather than so many memoirs, but still a valuable addition to my library.