Special Post - Resources for Finding Great Books

Situation:
You crave the perfect title to fit your reading mood, whether a thriller, romance, mystery, coming of age, biography, or history. You want something great, quirky, and definitely a grabber from the first sentence. 

Problem:
You need a source of recommendations from a source you respect who has similar passions as you for quality reads, interesting characters, and challenging plots. You want the newest books praised by this person, not just something popular from the list of New York Times Bestsellers. 

Solution:
Below are some sources, both print and online, that I use to learn about new and old titles. Reading a quick review by a smart writer rouses my curiosity and gets me to search out the first sentences in a copy from the bookstore or online at Amazon. If that writing grabs me, I am ready to actually read the book, pretty much assured I will enjoy it.

Hope these resources provide some titles that catch your interest. Maybe you have other resources you use. Please let me know in the Comments below as I am always looking for new avenues to the best reads.

Happy reading. 

Fred

www.firstsentencereader.blogspot.com

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Print Resources

Book Lust: Recommended Reading for Every Mood, Moment, and Reason - Nancy Pearl

Description:

By far the best reviews for quality reads. Pearl recommends huge numbers of books organized by eclectic categories including "Academic Mysteries," "Armchair Travel," and "Australian Fiction," to "What a (Natural) Disaster," "Women's Friendships," and "World War II Nonfiction."

She writes short, enthusiastic reviews which make you want to read every book she mentions. Even better, she has three other books about great books: More Book Lust, Book Lust to Go (travel writing), and Book Crush (kids and teens).

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Novel Cure: From Abandonment to Zestlessness: 751 Books to Cure What Ails You - Ella Berthoud and Susan Elderkin

Description:

Different books appeal to us depending on our moods. Sometimes we need cheering up, a quick escape, a look into history, or a great love story. Other times, we need help, whether to learn about ourselves, our problems, or the world itself. 

Novel Cure offers hundreds of high-quality titles and descriptions of the perfect books to fit with your needs of that moment, including "Abandonment" (Plainsong by Kent Haruf), "Age Gap Between Lovers" (A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian by Marina Lewycka) and "Aging, the Horrors of" (JItterbug Perfume by Tom Robbins).

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Great Beginnings: Opening Lines of Great Novels - Georgianne Ensign

Description:

Hundreds of opening lines to great books. Sections are broken into what these first sentences reveal, from meeting the narrator, setting the scene, critical actions, to the arrival of a stranger, revelation of the contents of a letter, and the author's philosophy. Even have sections covering the dramatically short sentences as well as openings with 100+ word sentences.

No descriptions of the contents of the books, but since I believe the first sentences determine the quality of the book, you can quickly, confidently decide how each book might meet your tastes based on style, characters, and plot.

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Booked to Die - John Dunning

Description:

It's unusual to read a fictional crime novel and discover great recommendations for books, but John Dunning's Bookman series of ex-cop-turned-rare-book-dealer Cliff Janeway are rich lodes of classic titles.

Although Janeway gets involved in murder investigations, his main interest is selecting quality books for his rare book shop. Thus, he shares his favorite titles and authors and why he loves them enough to stock them (or keep them for himself). His tastes are exquisite, uncovering forgotten authors (such as mystery-writer C.W. Grafton, Sue Grafton's father) and titles that have stood the test of quality writing, character, and plot.

There are several books about Janeway and his book recommendations/crime stories, including Bookman's Wake, The Sign of the Book, The Bookman's Promise, and The Bookman's Last Fling. Come for the book recommendations and stay for the great writing and crime stories. (Booked to Die was previously reviewed here.)

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One for the Books - Joe Queenan

Description:

Queenan estimates he has read between 6,000 - 7,000 books at about 150 per year, with usually more than 15 going simultaneously. Therefore, he's read everything and, even better, has strong opinions on what is great and what is forgettable.

His writes of his tastes organized in an unexpected way to include diverse titles, so it is preferable to simply read chapters like a regular book rather than skimming. You won't be disappointed with titles referred to in chapters such as "Prepare to be Astonished" (The Good Soldier), "The Stockholm Syndrome (The Dogs of Riga), and "Life Support" (Book of Lost Books). 

This is a fantastically fun, enlightening, opinionated, and wild book about books. I just love following his wandering tastes and accompanying stories, discovering many new books including those he's read more than once (e.g., Flaubert's Sentimental Education). A great resource for classic and obscure reads. (One for the Books was previously reviewed here.)

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Education of a Wandering Man - Louis L'Amour

Description:

As a young man, Louis L'Amour, the great Western story writer, spent much time hopping onto trains and riding the rails, jumping off wherever he liked, working a bit, then traveling some more. Education of a Wandering Man complies entries from his diaries of these years of roaming, but also contain lists of the books he read during his travels.

He always carried a bag of book to read and share with fellow travelers. Even better, he kept copious lists of every book he got his hands on. Fascinating to examine what he read (everything). An interesting note: he only kept the books for his own library which he could not easily be able to acquire again (e.g., The Annals and Antiquities of Rajahstan). Using this criteria, one can view the titles he classifies as of the highest quality and the rarest.

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Page-A-Day Booklovers Calendar

Description:

I have found more fascinating books from this calendar than any other resource. Every day offers a title from the recent or distant past, books that have proven quality, but maybe have slipped into undeserved obscurity. Each title is reviewed in only a few short sentences, but so passionately written that you want to search out every selection immediately. And once you purchase this, you can access the titles and descriptions online or have them emailed to you each day. Learning about a new book is a wonderful way to wake up in the morning!

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Free Online Resources 
(Blogs, Newsletters, etc.)

   BookPage






   
Description:

This is a monthly book newsletter distributed free in print format in 450,000 bookstores and libraries. The online version offers book-of-the-day email postings for the newest titles and reviews, as well as more extensive lists of current and past reviews. An excellent resource to keep up to date on the best and brightest of new books.

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    NPR Books

    

Description:

Wonderful weekly resource for great reads by topic, whether new publications or off-beat older selections. Newsletters are available to be sent you via email, RSS, etc. You can listen to podcasts with Nancy Pearl and other reviewers as well from this web site.

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The Huffington Post Books

Description: 

Online newsletter with lots and lots of quality books and reviews from a variety of readers with differing tastes. The variety is wonderful and the writing and passion makes you want to get every book.

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  Booklist Online 

Description:

Over 130,000 book reviews created by the American Library Association "for librarians, book groups, and book lovers." A very wide range of current books with high-quality reviews. Also, their newsletter provides many pre-publication titles so you can be the first to order one from your library or book store.

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The Longest Chapter                     The Longest Chapter

Literary fiction, poetry, first editions, classics… 

                                           

Description: 

Really great book review blog from the NPR book critic for WOSU in Columbus, Ohio. Introduces lots of great, lesser-known titles (at least to me) that have proved captivating, well-written, and challenging (e.g., Norwegian by Night, The Collector of Lost Things, The Good Luck of Right Now, Burial Rites, and my newest favorite, Brewster). 

All of these titles I can honestly say were among my favorites of the past few months. She even offers her list of the most memorable 54 books for her 54 years.

Special Post - Short Reviews #2

Sometimes I read books that are delightful but I just don't have time to write a full review for each. So, behold. Here are ten short reviews of particularly noteworthy titles. These are true gems, well worth your time for their unique characters, quality writing, and unexpected stories.

Happy reading.

Fred

www.firstsentencereader.blogspot.com

_______________________

The Enchanted - Rene Denfeld

First Sentences:

This is an enchanted place. Others don't see it but I do

I see every cinder block, every hallway and doorway. I see the doorways that lead to the secret stairs and the stairs that take you into stone towers and the towers that take you to windows and the windows that open to wide, clear air. I see the chamber where the cloudy medical vines snake across the floor, empty and waiting for the warden's finger to press the red buttons. I see the secret basement warrens where rusted cans hide the urns of the dead and the urns spill their ashes across the floor untiled floods come off the river to wash the ashed outside to feed the soil under the grasses, which wave to the sky. 

Description:

What at first sounds like a castle of fairy tales in these first sentences soon takes on an ominous air with the realization that the "enchanted place" is a prison where the author writes from his death row cell. This is a fictionalized tale of the lives of people who have no names and are without hope, punished for their actions. Yet for the narrator, there may be a possible future through a woman and a priest who work with these men and have their cases re-examined and possibly change their sentencing. But not every prisoner, as we find out, wants to stay his execution.

Beautifully written, compelling, and shocking, the book still offers hope and love despite the darkness.

_______________________

The Thoughts and Happenings of Wilfred Price, Purveyor of Superior Funerals  - Wendy Jones

First Sentences:

It was because of a yellow dress.

She was wearing a yellow dress and her arms were bare. It was slightly tart, the colour of lemon curd. He couldn't remember seeing a dress in that shade before.



Description:

On a whim, Wilfred Price, the mortician/narrator of this 1924 tale, proposes to the woman who is wearing the yellow dress, thus making a binding promise that he almost immediately regrets. He must think of how to break this promise of marriage to her and especially to the girl's stern father. It doesn't help that he also meets another girl who he feels real attraction to. And one of them turns up pregnant. A story of customs, social norms, love, honor, and duty ... all wonderfully wrapped together to present a picture of life in the early 1920s by ordinary people trying to do the right thing and yet searching for someone to be with forever.

A must read. This is a keeper for all lovers and readers, for people who understand what it means to love "like its possible to love when your heart hasn't been broken."

_______________________

Doc: A Novel  -  Mary Doria Russell

First Sentences:

He began to die when he was twenty-one, but tuberculosis is slow and sly and subtle. 

The disease took fifteen years to hollow out his lungs so completely they could no longer keep him alive, In all that time he was allowed a single season of something like happiness. 

Description:

Dr. John Henry (Doc) Holiday, a Southern aristocrat, moves to Texas for his health and opens one of the first dentistry offices in Dodge City. After becoming a gambler to survive when business is bad (always), he befriends Wyatt Earp in this rich, compelling historical fiction of the people and environment of the Old West. 

Highly recommended in every way for strong writing, historical details, and great characters.

_______________________

Down the Great Unknown:John Wesley Powell's 1869 Journey of Discovery and Tragedy Through the Grand Canyon - Edward Dolnick

First Sentences:

The first inhabitants of Green River Station, Wyoming Territory, gather at the riverfront to cheer off a rowdy bunch of adventurers...

Their plan could hardly be simpler. They will follow the Green River downstream until it merges with the Grand to become the Colorado, and then they will stay with the Colorado wherever it takes them

Description:

Here is a real life adventure. Ten men, including their one-armed leader, in 1869 set out in wooden boats to follow the Green River to the Colorado River and then row and float through the entire Grand Canyon. Uncharted and unseen water faces them, with rapids, cold, and starvation a daily trial. Hold-your-breath fascinating and gripping on every page. 

One of the best adventure books I have ever read.

_______________________

The Glorious Deception: The Double Life of William Robinson, a.k.a. Chung Ling Soo, the "Marvelous Chinese Conjurer"  - Jim Steinmeyer

First Sentences:

All the World's a stage. 

Inscribed in the plaster and finished in gold leaf, those five famous words appeared over the proscenium at the World Green Empire in north London, in the smooth white halo that formed the focal point of the theater, and surrounded the blood red, gold-tassled curtain.

Description:

Here is probably one of the most fascinating (and true) accounts of the world of magic, revealing the life of William Robinson, an ordinary magician in the early 1900s who tries to find a gimmick to make his performances stand out. He hits on the idea of pretending to be a silent Chinese conjurer, Chung Ling Soo. In his foreign make-up and Asian robes, Robinson works astonishing magic he has designed himself to audiences who soon become fascinated by his mysterious nature as much as his tricks, including catching bullets fired from a gun. 

The book shows the inner working of his illusions, his constant dedication to his craft, and the imagination and technical skill behind each performance. It is a great book that provides a peek into the world of magic, illusion, and performance.

_______________________

In Search of Moby Dick: The Quest for the White Whale - Tim Severin

First Sentences:

The Essex was not going to founder immediately. That soon became clear to the men of the three whaleboats. 

Description:

Did the Great White Whale of Herman Melville's Moby Dick actually exist? Author Severin travels the world to record fascinating stories and eye-witness accounts of white whales and their behavior in today's world and in past history, leading credence to the idea that Moby Dick actually existed and was just as ornery as Melville portrayed him. 

I really loved this book, the riveting accounts from eye-witnesses, and the travel to exotic locations around the world that have reported sightings of a white whale. One of the side stories involve native tribesmen who jump from small boats onto the backs of giant manta rays to ride them upright until they can harpoon them, just as they did with whales many years ago, including, they say, one white one.

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Mammoth - John Varley

First Sentences:

The helicopter flew low over the landscape as barren as any to be found on planet Earth.

This was Nunavut. It wasn't a province and hardly a territory though they called it that. As far a Warburton was concerned they could give it all back to the Eskimos. 

Description:

When examining a rare find of a Mammoth elephant in the ice fields of Canada, a carefully-preserved man in animal skins is also found next to the animal's body. This is an astonishingly historic find. But there is something else. Strapped to the ancient man's wrist is a gleaming stainless steel briefcase, not exactly something a cave man would have in prehistoric times. 

A lovely, clever page-turner of a novel.

_______________________

Mortality  - Christopher Hitchens

First Sentences:

I have more than once in my time woken up feeling like death 

But nothing prepared me for the early morning in June when I came to consciousness feeling as if I were actually shackled to my own corpse. The whole cave of my chest and thorax seemed to have been hollowed out and then refilled with slow-drying. cement.

Description:

Christopher Hitchens is a remarkably clever, intellectual, and funny writer. In Mortality, he details his battle with esophageal cancer and his entrance into the "land of malady." While a depressing topic, Hitchens retains his caustic wit and piercing observations, beautifully writing about his own sickness, fears, treatment, friends, and life facing this disease.

As a cancer combatant, this book resonates with me as few other do on this topic. 

_______________________

My Mercedes is Not for Sale: From Amsterdam to Ouagadougou...An Auto-Misadventure Across the Sahara  -  Jeroen Van Bergeijk

First Sentences: 

Stuck to the cracked dashboard was a decal of the Dutch soccer team PVS Eindhoven.

A PVS Eindhoven fan in Ouagadougou? I tapped on the team's red and white logo and asked the driver if he was an admirer of Dutch soccer. He had no idea what I was talking about. He'd never heard of PVS, didn't give a damn about soccer. He didn't even know where the Netherlands was.

Description:

The delightful, witty true adventures of the author who hits on a scheme to sell a very old Mercedes automobile to people in a Third World country where these cars are wildly in demand. The only catch is that to make any profit at all, he has to drive the wreck himself to the destination; that is, from his home in The Netherlands to Africa, including a section across the Sahara desert. 

Desert, people, travel, and culture come into contact in adventurous and humorous situations, revealing aspects of each at their best (and worst). 

_______________________

Remember Me: A Lively Tour of the New American Way of Death - Lisa Takeuchi Cullen

First Sentences:

Rebecca Love met Tommy Odom ten years ago at a Renaissance fair. 

She had her booth selling clay sculptures of women's bodies; he ran the fool's maze.

Description:

Different cultures and people choose a wide variety of ways to deal with the bodies of loved ones claimed by death. The author explores these many methods with quiet fascination and respect, no matter how unusual the practices are. She talks with the people who offer these services and learns that bodies can be: 1) cremated and dropped from a crop-dusting plane; 2) mixed with cement that is shaped into a sculpture and tossed into the ocean as a habitat for fish; 3) buried in a natural cemetery without coffin or embalming; 4) turned into diamonds using the carbon found in their ashes. Of course, there are examples of even more exotic after-death options that she explores.  

Fascinating, thought-provoking, and most of all, strangely fun. 

Special Post - Short Reviews #1

I've been reading so many books lately that I will never have time to write full reviews of all the gems I've come across. Also wanted to alert you to a few oldies that I've enjoyed in the past as well. So for your reading pleasure, here are ten short reviews for wonderful books you should definitely consider for your next reading selections. 

All have my big three requirements for a quality read: great story, involved interesting characters, and of course extremely good writing. Trust me that each will not disappoint you.

Happy reading.

Fred

www.firstsentencereader.blogspot.com

___________________________________________

Death and the Penguin - Audrey Kurkov

First Sentences:

First, a stone landed a metre from Viktor's foot.

He glanced back. Two louts stood grinning, one of whom stopped, picked up another from a section of broken cobble, and bowled it at him skittler-fashion. Viktor made off at something approaching a racing walk and rounded the corner, telling himself the main thing was not to run. 

Description:

This is an offbeat, oddly humorous story, translated from the original Russian, about a man living in modern Kiev who is hired by a newspaper to write obituaries for living people. Not so unusual until his obits begin to appear in print as these people coincidentally turn up dead. Everything happening is masked in secrecy, with his newspaper Chief saying, "When you do know what's what, it will mean there no longer is any real point to your work or to your continuing existence."

Oh, and a few oddities: the obit writer owns a penguin adopted from a bankrupt zoo that lives in his apartment; a little girl is dropped off to live with him by her father who then disappears; someone is regularly entering Viktor's locked apartment at night, unseen, leaving gifts and notes including a pile of money and a gun; and much more highly unusual occurrences and people that keep the writer in a constant state of puzzlement.

Keeps you guessing to the very last sentence.

_______________________

Campus Sexpot: A Memoir  - David Carkeet

First Sentences:

"Linda Franklin had not been to bed with every boy in the junior college of Wattsville, but at nineteen she had known physical intimacy with a high percentage of those boys who knew enough to appreciate her amply endowed body."

As first sentences go, it is not a bad one. It treats Linda Franklin's promiscuity like a familiar subject, it shows a touch of wit in its sober contradiction of a preposterous assertion ("had not been to bed with every boy in the junior college,") and its categorical precision ("a high percentage of those boys who ...") tells us we are in the hands of an author with a working mind.



Description:

Author David Carkeet, while reading sleazy novel, realizes that his small town and its citizens were the basis for this sexy book which was written by a former English teacher who skipped town. Carkeet recalls his own coming-of-age story and compares it to the narration of the activities of the people in his town. Very funny.

[Side note: I accidentally left my copy of this book behind at a conference where I spoke, so had to go through the unusual experience of contacting organizers and facilitators to ask whether they had seen my Campus Sexpot book laying around. Took more than a few calls, each a bit more embarrassing than the last. Probably lost a bit of my image (or fortified it) among my colleagues.]

_______________________

Doc: A Novel  - Mary Doria Russell

First Sentences:

He began to die when he was twenty-one, but tuberculosis is slow and sly and subtle. 

The disease took fifteen years to hollow out his lungs so completely they could no longer keep him alive, In all that time he was allowed a single season of something like happiness. 

Description:

Dr. John Henry (Doc) Holiday, a Southern aristocrat, moves to Texas for his health and opens one of the first dentistry offices in Dodge City. After becoming a gambler to survive when business was bad (always), he befriends Wyatt Earp in this rich, compelling historical fiction of the people and environment of the Old West. 

Highly recommended in every way.

_______________________

Down the Great Unknown:John Wesley Powell's 1869 Journey of Discovery and Tragedy Through the Grand Canyon - Edward Dolnick

First Sentences:

The first inhabitants of Green River Station, Wyoming Territory, gather at the riverfront to cheer off a rowdy bunch of adventurers...

Their plan could hardly be simpler. They will follow the Green River downstream until it merges with the Grand to become the Colorado, and then they will stay with the Colorado wherever it takes them

Description:

Here is a real life adventure. Ten men, including their one-armed leader, in 1869 set out in wooden boats to follow the Green River to the Colorado River through the entire Grand Canyon. Uncharted and unseen water faces them, with rapids, cold, and starvation a daily trial. Hold-your-breath fascinating and gripping on every page. 

One of the best adventure books I have ever read.

_______________________

The Glorious Deception: The Double Life of William Robinson, a.k.a. Chung Ling Soo, the "Marvelous Chinese Conjurer"  - Jim Steinmeyer

First Sentences:

All the World's a stage. 

Inscribed in the plaster and finished in gold leaf, those five famous words appeared over the proscenium at the World Green Empire in north London, in the smooth white halo that formed the focal point of the theater, and surrounded the blood red, gold-tassled curtain.

Description:

Here is probably one of the most fascinating (and true) accounts of the world of magic, revealing the life of William Robinson, an ordinary magician in the early 1900s who tries to find a gimmick to make his performance stand out. He hits on the idea of pretending to be a silent Chinese conjurer, Chung Ling Soo. In his foreign make-up and Asian robes, he works astonishing magic he has designed himself to audiences fascinated by his mysterious nature as much as his tricks, including catching bullets fired from a gun. 

The book shows the inner working of his illusions, his constant dedication to his craft, and the imagination and technical skill behind each performance. It is a great book that provides a peak at the world of magic, illusion, and performance.

_______________________

In Search of Moby Dick: The Quest for the White Whale - Tim Severin

First Sentences:

The Essex was not going to founder immediately. That soon became clear to the men of the three whaleboats. 

Description:

Did the Great White Whale of Herman Melville's Moby Dick actually exist? Author Severin travels the world to record fascinating stories and eye-witness accounts of white whales and their behavior in today's world and in past history, leading credence to the idea that Moby Dick actually existed and was just as ornery as Melville portrayed him. 

I really loved this book, the riveting accounts from eye-witnesses, and the travel to exotic locations around the world that have reported sightings of a white whale. 

_______________________

Mammoth - John Varley

First Sentences:

The helicopter flew low over the landscape as barren as any to be found on planet Earth.

This was Nunavut. It wasn't a province and hardly a territory though they called it that. As far a Warburton was concerned they could give it all back to the Eskimos. 

Description:

When examining a rare find of a Mammoth elephant in the ice fields of Canada, a carefully-preserved man in animal skins is found next to the animal's body. An astonishingly historic find. But there is something else. Strapped to the ancient man's wrist is a gleaming stainless steel briefcase, not exactly something a cave man would have in prehistoric times. 

A lovely, clever page-turner of a novel.

_______________________

Mortality  - Christopher Hitchens

First Sentences:

I have more than once in my time woken up feeling like death 

But nothing prepared me for the early morning in June when I came to consciousness feeling as if I were actually shackled to my own corpse. The whole cave of my chest and thorax seemed to have been hollowed out and then refilled with slow-drying cement.

Description:

Christopher Hitchens is a remarkably clever, intellectual, and funny writer. In Mortality, he details his battle with esophageal cancer and his entrance into the "land of malady." While a depressing topic, Hitchens retains his caustic wit and piercing observations, beautifully writing about his own sickness, fears, treatment, friends, and life facing this disease.

As a cancer combatant, this book resonates with me as few other do on this topic. 

_______________________

My Mercedes is Not for Sale: From Amsterdam to Ouagadougou...An Auto-Misadventure Across the Sahara  - Jeroen Van Bergeijk

First Sentences: 

Stuck to the cracked dashboard was a decal of the Dutch soccer team PVS Eindhoven.

A PVS Eindhoven fan in Ouagadougou? I tapped on the team's red and white logo and asked the driver if he was an admirer of Dutch soccer. He had no idea what I was talking about. He'd never heard of PVS, didn't give a damn about soccer. He didn't even know where the Netherlands was.

Description:

The delightful, witty true adventures of the author who hits on a scheme to sell a very old Mercedes automobile to people in a Third World country where these cars are very popular. The only catch is that to make any profit at all, he has to drive the wreck himself to the destination; that is, from his home in The Netherlands to Africa, including a section across the Sahara desert. 

Desert, people, travel, and culture come into contact in adventurous and humorous situations, revealing aspects of each at their best (and worst). 

_______________________

Remember Me: A Lively Tour of the New American Way of Death - Lisa Takeuchi Cullen

First Sentences:

Rebecca Love met Tommy Odom ten years ago at a Renaissance fair. 

She had her booth selling clay sculptures of women's bodies; he ran the fool's maze.

Description:

Different cultures and people choose a wide variety of ways to deal with the bodies of loved ones claimed by death. The author explores these many methods with quiet fascination and respect, no matter how unusual the practices are. She talks with the people who offer these services and learns that bodies can be: 1) cremated and dropped from a crop-dusting plane; 2) mixed with cement that is shaped into a sculpture and tossed into the ocean as a habitat for fish; 3) buried in a natural cemetery without coffin or embalming; 4) turned into diamonds using the carbon found in their ashes. Of course, there are examples of even more wildly-interesting after-death options that she explores.  

Fascinating, thought-provoking, and most of all, strangely fun.