Giggle, weep, shudder, smile

The most common question that comes to a book editor? "What should read?" (The second most common question is some variation of "Will you review my self-published masterpiece?" The answer to that is always an emphatic "NO. NEVER. Pigs will fly, etc.")

Anyway, if you don't have an editor handy, Hallie Ephron's new book will come in handy. 1001 Books for Every Mood offers suggestions when you want to laugh (Dave Barry, Evelyn Waugh, David Sedaris); cry (Jamaica Kincaid, Andre Dubus III, Jane Hamilton); or indulge your inner child (Laura Ingalls Wilder, Louise Fitzhugh, Frances Hodgson Burnett).

Those seeking thrills are offered Erik Larson, George Pelecanos and Donna Tartt (that would be The Secret History. The Little Friend would fall under the "Books to Read That You Will Hate With Every Fiber of Your Being" category, if there were such a thing.) Want inspiration? Try Barbara Kingsolver's The Bean Trees, The Collected Short Stories of Eudora Welty or Midwives by Chris Bohjalian. (Actually, the only fault I can find with this book is that it lists Mitch Albom's The Five People You Meet in Heaven as inspirational. The only thing that book inspired me to do was vomit and then shake with wrenching envy.)

In any case, this is a neat reference book that's going to find a place on my desk (provided I actually clear space for it).

Comments

[Brett Bayne]

Wow. I guess no good deed truly goes unpunished.

[e.p.l.]

it is dispiriting, to say the least, that books like "five people" and "marley and me" are what pass for inspiration. and now hiaasen has written a book about the zen of golf! but maybe i too am just jelly.
p.s. i've heard albom has activated the gag reflex in many people.

[Connie]

Actually I feel a little bad trashing Mitch Albom. First, he's an easy target because he writes those sentimental books. But mostly because his Tuesdays With Morrie book meant a lot to my dad, who was a high school English teacher in Fort Lauderdale for more than 30 years. When that book came out one of his students sent it to him and said, this is what you meant to me (or something along those lines), which was an incredibly thoughtful thing to do.

[e.p.l.]

i was told a funny story about him by a sports writer who once worked w/him, which colored my feelings even more about what seemed to be his shameless sentimental pandering. but i guess yr story is proof that people have their own very personal reasons for being touched by these kinds of books.

[e.p.l.]

i was told a funny story about him by a sports writer who once worked w/him, which colored my feelings even more about what seemed to be his shameless sentimental pandering. but i guess yr story is proof that people have their own very personal reasons for being touched by these kinds of books.

[Connie]

Well, it's hard to feel a lot of sympathy for the beating he takes when you hear stuff like the story that the book editor refused to run a negative review of one of his books (I forget which one, but I want to say it's the Heaven one). That I can tell you would not happen at the Herald. But it's true that people have their own reasons for liking certain things. I think he hit a nerve with Morrie simply because so many of us have favorite teachers who have been important mentors in our lives.

I can't explain the Heaven one, though.

[Phoebe]

Whenever you feel bad for trashing Mitch Albom, I have a plethora of columns I'd be happy to forward you that will set you right again. I personally feel very betrayed by the Delicate Genius.

[Connie]

Why, did he hammer the Red Wings? I thought he loved them. Or does he not have time, what with whining about Michigan all the time?

[Phoebe]

I was more talking about the UF issues of past seasons. But, yeah, Albom cares about the Wings like two times a year, and usually in a misguided way.

However, his column in the first series against Nashville, about Darren McCarty's goal, was pretty fantastic. It was hard to acknowledge. But it was.