It's taken me two weeks to get through Hallie Ephron's 1001 Books for every Mood, but not because it was a bad book. Just the opposite. I wanted to carefully read each of the 1001 entries, deciding if I wanted to read the books, and marking the books I've already read. Most book nerds out there will find this book just as fascinating as I did. It's the perfect book for book club selections, personal book lists, and gifts for the readers in your life.
Ephron breaks the books into eighty chapters. She asks, "What are you in the mood for?" Are in the the mood for books for a good laugh? Do you want books to revel in art? Do you want books for thrills? For chills? For intrigue? There's something for everyone in this collection.
It didn't surprise me to discover that I had read a number of books in the chapter "To Sift through Clues," since I'm a mystery reader. And, I read fantasy, so "To Be Astonished," had a lot of check marks. "To Slide Down the Rabbit Hole" included not only Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, but also The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde, and A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle, books about alternate realities. Each chapter included books I had read, and ones I want to read.
Ephron includes quite a nice mixture of books, fiction, non-fiction, and even titles for younger readers, all included in the same chapters. She also has a rating system that readers will appreciate. Books are rated for their literary merit, their influence, whether they are family friendly, and whether they've been made into a movie. This last rating for movies is a little out-dated, but is easily explained because movies have been produced since the book first went to press. Each entry also includes the awards that book won.
Cover price for 1001 Books for Every Mood is just $14.95, so it's an affordable addition to any collection. Most of all, it will prove to be an invaluable addition to any reader's collection.
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