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acudocchris's review against another edition
I did not actually read this. Maybe I did not give it enough of a chance but I was having a hard time reading about his amazing self.
tedgraham's review against another edition
2.0
A series of repetitive and generally dull reflections on the author's reading life and middlebrow proclivities. I will admit to putting the book down halfway through. I saw no point to continue reading a series of wittily phrased (but half-baked) expositions on literature. Time and again Queenan takes pains to emphasize how much he has read; I kept wondering how a person could read so much but have it affect them so little.
karinlib's review against another edition
4.0
I laughed all through this book, because Queenan is just plain funny. Having said that though I disagree with his attitude about Kindles (which I take for ereaders in general). All the things that he says you cannot do with an ereader, you actually can. Just a couple that I would like to point out. You can highlight and write notes in the book. You can buy other Kindle owners books. You can lend the reader to someone to enjoy that wonderful book you just read. I bought several Kindles just for this purpose. I love finding books that I have been looking in bookstores and libraries for years, and finding them on Amazon. I find that I am reading books that I never imagined reading before the Kindle. When I visited the bookstore or library, I always went to the same subjects. One other aspect of this is finding books on the Kindle that bookstores have stopped carrying. I have found entire collections of authors, that you can no longer find at Barnes and Nobles. I never knew for example, that Arthur Conan Doyle was such a prolific author, and wrote anything other than the Sherlock Holmes series, until I downloaded his complete collection for $5.00. Something I never could have done at Barnes and Nobles.
geisttull's review against another edition
2.0
it had its moments, but the lists and lists of books got to be too much, especially since i was reading it aloud to my husband. and joe queenan, altough at times funny, is so arrogant it is difficult weeded through his flaunting. his love of books shines through though and i could certainly relate to some of what he said.
bunrab's review against another edition
3.0
Very idiosyncratic and personal essays about what he reads and why, what he doesn't read and why - and how he thinks the Kindle is useless for a "real" reader - it's only for people who have some kind of problem. He doesn't seem to have talked with anyone who actually reads books on a Kindle. Yeah, I'm picking on a small thing out of all he talked about - except that he gives that dig at the Kindle in EVERY DAMN CHAPTER no matter what else it's about. Anyway, some of his stuff is amusing, some of it's just blather. You might find some of his book recommendations interesting. His calculations of how many more books he has time to read in his remaining lifetime, and how he plans to allocate those book slots, are amusing. Nothing in his book is astonishing.
meghan111's review against another edition
3.0
This guy is a crank. A book-reading crank, with several suspect opinions, including the complete dismissal of fantasy, science fiction, and children's books. But wait! His opinions are often outlandish, but he's hilariously clever in a Bill Bryson-esque way. His jabs at libraries and librarianship are awesome, as when he is asked to give a talk at the public library because he is a local author:
His talk doesn't go that well.
He also coins the phrase 'matriculated from The Beatrix Potter Academy of Small-Town Librarian Charm', which is a perfect way to describe those effusive and theatrical children's librarians.
This book is more or less the author talking to the reader about reading, and how the act of reading over a lifetime is an ongoing dialogue or conversation with both yourself and the larger culture. But, he reminds us, we mostly read because we aren't satisfied with reality. Reading goals and plans come up often, and among other plans, he mentions spending a year reading only books he chose from library shelves at random with his eyes shut, spending a year reading an entire short novel every day, and spending a year rereading only books he'd already read twice. That's the kind of stuff that gets me excited.
Oh, and also he's casually insulting and dismissive of the books he doesn't care for, so much so that it's hard to take seriously. He says an author writes like "Nora Roberts on Robitussin DM", which made me laugh and laugh.
One last note: I kept wondering what Nancy Pearl, professional reader, would think of this. I think she would like it?
"Library events scare me, as they provide refuge for local historians, fabulists, tellers of tall tales, historical reenactors, and even dream weavers."
His talk doesn't go that well.
He also coins the phrase 'matriculated from The Beatrix Potter Academy of Small-Town Librarian Charm', which is a perfect way to describe those effusive and theatrical children's librarians.
This book is more or less the author talking to the reader about reading, and how the act of reading over a lifetime is an ongoing dialogue or conversation with both yourself and the larger culture. But, he reminds us, we mostly read because we aren't satisfied with reality. Reading goals and plans come up often, and among other plans, he mentions spending a year reading only books he chose from library shelves at random with his eyes shut, spending a year reading an entire short novel every day, and spending a year rereading only books he'd already read twice. That's the kind of stuff that gets me excited.
Oh, and also he's casually insulting and dismissive of the books he doesn't care for, so much so that it's hard to take seriously. He says an author writes like "Nora Roberts on Robitussin DM", which made me laugh and laugh.
One last note: I kept wondering what Nancy Pearl, professional reader, would think of this. I think she would like it?
carolpk's review against another edition
4.0
Darn, darn and darn again...someone recommended this to me and I can't remember who but thank you anyway.
If you're a book lover and most of us on GR are, you should be able to find something useful and even amusing in this laying in all out on paper, confession of sorts, or Joe Queenan, book addict. Consider that this guy is reading over 30 books at a time, not just browsing, actually reading. He reads at least 2 hours a day, 4 is you add in time for newspapers, work material and magazines. He reads everywhere and I mean everywhere. Books, not e-books, as Queenan explains and does not apologize that he marks them up. Yep, writes notes throughout.
The very first line got my attention
"The average American reds four books a year, and the average American finds this more than sufficient"
Queenan soon had me laughing right out loud, something I infrequently do when reading a book. There are some great vignettes here, why he reads, what he reads, thoughts on libraries, his book shelves, why he doesn't like to take books others try to lend him and more.
My choice of quotes from the book comes from something he overheard at a library. He was a speaker on a panel at a county library association awards ceremony. He clearly did not care for the message of the keynote speaker. This man began his talk by holding a 33 1/3 record.
"Listen up, librarians: Physical books are a thing of the past. Your delivery system is antiquated. Downloads are the wave of the future. Your business model doesn't work anymore. Your should run your library more like a business. Businessmen, after all, have successful business models."
He sums up his thoughts on this statement with one a friend from his own library heard elsewhere:
A library is not a business. A library is a miracle."
There are some that would disagree about the business part but few library lovers who would challenge the miracle.
He rants a bit, I hope in jest, about cheap people who borrow their books from libraries. Actually, his words are less kind than my choice. Sorry Joe, but I interlibrary loaned your book. Hopefully someone will read my comments and feel compelled to buy your book.
One for the Books is a memoir of sorts, as reading is quite important to this humorist. I highly recommend it but be forewarned, you'll probably come away with a few additions to your own bulging book shelves as I did.
If you're a book lover and most of us on GR are, you should be able to find something useful and even amusing in this laying in all out on paper, confession of sorts, or Joe Queenan, book addict. Consider that this guy is reading over 30 books at a time, not just browsing, actually reading. He reads at least 2 hours a day, 4 is you add in time for newspapers, work material and magazines. He reads everywhere and I mean everywhere. Books, not e-books, as Queenan explains and does not apologize that he marks them up. Yep, writes notes throughout.
The very first line got my attention
"The average American reds four books a year, and the average American finds this more than sufficient"
Queenan soon had me laughing right out loud, something I infrequently do when reading a book. There are some great vignettes here, why he reads, what he reads, thoughts on libraries, his book shelves, why he doesn't like to take books others try to lend him and more.
My choice of quotes from the book comes from something he overheard at a library. He was a speaker on a panel at a county library association awards ceremony. He clearly did not care for the message of the keynote speaker. This man began his talk by holding a 33 1/3 record.
"Listen up, librarians: Physical books are a thing of the past. Your delivery system is antiquated. Downloads are the wave of the future. Your business model doesn't work anymore. Your should run your library more like a business. Businessmen, after all, have successful business models."
He sums up his thoughts on this statement with one a friend from his own library heard elsewhere:
A library is not a business. A library is a miracle."
There are some that would disagree about the business part but few library lovers who would challenge the miracle.
He rants a bit, I hope in jest, about cheap people who borrow their books from libraries. Actually, his words are less kind than my choice. Sorry Joe, but I interlibrary loaned your book. Hopefully someone will read my comments and feel compelled to buy your book.
One for the Books is a memoir of sorts, as reading is quite important to this humorist. I highly recommend it but be forewarned, you'll probably come away with a few additions to your own bulging book shelves as I did.
pcaron_de's review against another edition
5.0
This book is great in case you want some ideas on what interesting books to read - which should be everyone on this site. Queenan is a witty and entertaining writer as well as a reader with impeccable taste.
tsukikomew's review against another edition
2.0
The first half was four stars then the last half was one-two stars. It probably could have been about 150 pages shorter to be fully enjoyable.