My love of reading came a little late. Raised in a family of bibliophiles, I admired cover art and read flap copy until finally, at sixteen, I found a book that enthralled me enough to turn the pages until the end.
I have missed out on the experience of lounging around an endless summer reading thick paperbacks or being inspired by a plucky YA heroine whose troubles mirrored my own. That sounds grand.
In fact the book that won me over was hardly relatable. It was about a bereaved couple separating after the death of their son and the quirky protagonist’s journey to love with a dog trainer. Not exactly something an algorithm would point me to:
Perhaps because of this, I have a fondness for books about an author’s love of reading. I have yet to read one not written by an under-the-covers-with-a-flashlight type. That seems to be an essential part of the arc.
Here are my three favorite books about books.
1.
Praise to the copyeditor for not titling this My Life with B.O.B. This is a memoir about a young girl who creates a journal called book of books. In other words, it’s a reading journal. As she progresses through a colorful life of exotic travel and editing, we read about the books that accompanied her. I especially loved the South Asian years, when she lived in a hut without walls and read Western classics.
2.
I first read Ann Hood’s fiction before discovering her memoirs. Her life story – told over multiple books – is engrossing and unsettling, touched by blessings to envy and tragedies you would wish on no one. She writes about religion, bereavement, cooking, knitting, and even Beatles fandom. My favorite of all of them is this short memoir about reading. She had one of those girlhoods unlike my own, being pulled away from magical places by the persistent call to the dinner table. I loved hearing about the books that shaped her, including the titular tome (couldn’t resist that) by Herman Wouk.
3.
One of the few reasons I subscribe to the New York Times is to read the By The Book column. In it, authors talk about their own reading and the literary life. It’s both fascinating and guilt-inducing. Where else can you learn that Sting loves Wolf Hall or that you share a favorite book with Ann Patchett? It’s also a great resource for books you’ve never heard of. You can find some memorable columns in this collection, edited by the author of My Life with Bob.
Books Smitten 