Nelson, Sara. So Many Books, So Little Time: a Year of Passionate Reading. GP Putman’s Sons, 2003.
Reason read: Read in honor for Melvil Dewey’s birth month. I also needed a book with a title of six words or more for the Portland Public Library Reading Challenge.
The premise of So Many Books, So Little Time is simple. Nelson has set out to read a book a week. Fifty-two books in fifty-two weeks. To some people that is a herculean task. To others, it might be child’s play. It all depends on the book…and the reader, for that matter. Only Nelson’s plan falls apart in the very first week. Her first book is a bust. So is the next one. And the next one. So Many Books, So Little Time turns out to be a memoir about books read, books skimmed, and books skipped (a total of 266 titles if you are curious).
Disclaimer: I am about to have so many meltdowns about this book and for various reasons. Please excuse my childish temper tantrums.
Rant #1: even the dust jacket states that Nelson chronicles a year’s worth of reading in So Many Books, So Little Time. Indeed, there is a section at the end of the book called “What I Actually Did Read” and it lists twenty-one books. Even what she planned to read is vague (she lists twenty-three books by name). What happened to the fifty-two? The Heartburn (March 22) and the Bird By Bird (April 6) chapters were how I thought the entire book would read. I was really looking forward to that. Here’s the weird thing. In the appendix of books actually read, Heartburn and Bird By Bird are not mentioned. And if you look a little closer she only read nineteen books, reread another, and skimmed another. Again I ask, what happened to fifty-two?
Rant #2: I didn’t understand her freaking out when someone didn’t share her opinion about a book. What is the big deal if you disagree? That is what makes books and people interesting. Imagine how boring a book club would be if everyone had the same opinion about a book?
Rant #3: Nelson will reread a book if she loved it. With so many books and so little time I move on from a reread unless I don’t remember the plot or it doesn’t take that much time. Why spend so time on something you already know?
Rant #4: What was her deal with Mitch Albom? I honestly feel she was a little jealous of his relationship with a mentor. Tuesdays with Morrie was not just an “All I Really Needed to Know” kindergarten lesson. It was about human (re)connection with a person who was dying; squeezing out as much time as possible with someone. Also, what was her deal with making excuses about reading Mary Higgins Clarke? It was if she was embarrassed to read something non-academic. Everybody needs some fun now and again.
Rant #5: The chapter on Anthony Bourdain was less about Kitchen Confidential and more about Nelson’s personal feelings towards the man. I found myself asking what was the point exactly? Maybe I am a little sensitive because the man committed suicide since the publication of So Many Books…
All is all, I felt So Many Books, So Little Time was an opportunity for Nelson to rattle off all the books she has either read, partially read, read and given up on, or only skimmed. In the end I found myself finishing just to see what books we had in common (202).
Confessional – there is a lot of Nelson’s story that I can relate to:
- She talks about double-booking (reading two books at once). However, I often read six at once.
- She talks about having a book at all times so that she is never bored. I do the same thing except I explain it as never having to wait for anything whether it be in line at the grocery store or in a doctor’s office.
- She talks about the dilemma of having to chose what to read. Imagine trying to figure out when to read over 5,000 books. For that same reason I know what I am reading (and in what order) for the next twenty-five years if I live that long.
- She talks about separating owned books from unowned. I do the same on LibraryThing. Only I don’t own a lot of my books. I support local libraries by borrowing, borrowing, borrowing.
- She talks about having a rule that you only read a percentage of a book you don’t like. I do the exact same thing. Why waste time with something that doesn’t hold your attention?
- She has horrible memories of trying to play organized sports in middle school. Try never seeing an organized sport until high school. Talk about childhood trauma!
- She misses conversations with her father. Me too. Every. Single. Day.
- She spends a lot of time talking about books she reread (Roth) and books she couldn’t get into. I couldn’t read Infinite Jest either.
Here is how I can’t relate:
- Nelson can’t read in the car. Luckily, I do some of my best reading in a moving vehicle. Plane, boat, car, train, treadmill, it doesn’t matter.
Author fact: Nelson went to the same high school as a few friends of mine. She went to the same college as my grandfather.
Book trivia: There are 266 books mentioned by title in So Many Books. I probably missed a title here or there. To be honest, when she mentioned movies or television shows I thought they were books because, as you all know, I am not up on my visual arts.
Playlist: Bessie Smith, Bob Dylan’s “Motorpsycho Nightmare”, a Chorus Line, Frank Sinatra, John Lennon, Mick Jagger, Rolling Stones’s “Sticky Fingers”, Roseann Cash, Bruce Springsteen, Jefferson Airplane, Glace Slick, and “Somebody to Love”.
Nancy said: I think Pearl described So Many Books, So Little Time better than Nelson when she said it was a collection of essays about books Nelson has read.
BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Dewey Deconstructed” (p 62).
~*LunaSea*~ 