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

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From "A… My Name is Alice" to "Zero: This Will Mean Nothing To You", here are all the books featured in Seattle Librarian Nancy Pearl’s "Book Lust: Recommended Reading for Every Mood, Moment, and Reason".

Introduction = 1-33
A… My Name is Alice = 34-63
Academia: The Joke = 64-77
Academic Mysteries = 78-83
Action Heroines = 84-89
Adventure by the Book: Fiction = 90-97
Adventure by the Book: Nonfiction = 98-107
Africa: Today and Yesterday = 108-114
African American Fiction: He Say = 115-138
African American Fiction: She Say = 139-178
African Colonialism: Fiction = 179-188
African Literature in English = 189-196
Aging = 197-198
Alaska = 199-205
American History: Nonfiction = 206-211
American History: Fiction = 212-219
American Indian Literature = 220-237
Armchair Travel = 238-247
Art Appreciation = 248-254
Asian American Experiences = 255-271
Astronomical Ideas = 272-283
Australian Fiction = 284-306
Babies: A Reader’s Guide = 307-310
Balkan Specters = 311-318
Hamilton Basso: Too Good to Miss = 319-326
BBB: Best Business Books = 327-332
Bicycling = 333-343
Biographical Novels = 344-352
Bird Brains = 353-362
Black Humor = 363-365
Bomb Makers = 366-372
Books About Books = 373-385
Boys Coming of Age = 386-395
Brothers and Sisters = 396-402
Frederick Busch: Too Good To Miss = 403-427
California, Here We Come = 428-450
Canadian Fiction = 451-476
Cat Crazy = 477-494
Chick Lit = 495-513
China Voices = 514-528
Christmas Books for the Whole Family to Read = 529-539
Civil War Fiction = 540-553
Civil War Nonfiction = 554-573
The Classical World = 574-599
Cold War Spy Fiction = 600-609
Companion Reads: Hispanic in America = 610-612
Companion Reads: Southern Life = 613-614
Companion Reads: Single Women = 615-616
Companion Reads: Iran = 617-619
Companion Reads: The Dark Continent = 620-623
Companion Reads: Bigfoot = 624-625
Companion Reads: America in Vietnam = 626-627
Companion Reads: Mississippi = 628-629
Companion Reads: Jane Eyre = 630-632
Companion Reads: Sara and Gerald Murphy = 633-635
Companion Reads: The West = 636-637
Companion Reads: Women in the Far East = 638-639
Companion Reads: Mary Hallock Foote = 640-641
Companion Reads: Watching Life Without Fully Participating In It = 642-45
Les Crimes Noir = 646-671
Cuba Si! = 672-689
Cyberspace.com = 690-704
Czech it Out = 705-721
A Dickens of a Tale = 722-730
Dinosaur Hunting = 731-737
Do Clothes Make the Man (Or Woman)? = 738-743
Dreaming of Africa = 744-752
Ecofiction = 753-762
Elvis On My Mind = 763-771
Epistolary Novels: Take a Letter = 772-785
Essaying Essays = 786-799
Families in Trouble = 800-827
Fathers and Daughters = 828-835
Fathers and Sons = 836-840
First Lines to Remember = 841-849
First Novels = 850-884
Flying Above the Clouds = 885-899
Food for Thought = 900-918
George MacDonald Fraser: Too Good to Miss = 919-930
Gay and Lesbian Fiction: Out of the Closet = 931-960
Gear Up For Gardening = 961-964
Genuine Genes = 965-969
A Geography of Family and Place = 970-976
Ghost Stories = 977-989
Girls Growing Up = 990-1002
Graphic Novels = 1003-1012
Great Dogs in Fiction = 1013-1030
Grit Lit = 1031-1038
Growing Writers = 1039-1059
Robert Heinlein: Too Good to Miss = 1060-1065
Help Yourself = 1066-1077
Here Be Dragons: The Great Explorers & Expeditions = 1078-1087
Historical Fiction Around the World = 1088-1097
Historical Fiction For Kids of All Ages = 1098-1105
Humor = 1106-1113
I Love A Mystery = 1114-1230
Intriguing Novels = 1231-1235
Irish Fiction = 1236-1258
The Islamic World = 1259-1264
Islands, Desert and Otherwise = 1265-1268
Italian American Writers = 1269-1280
Japanese Fiction = 1281-1296
The Jewish American Experience = 1297-1326
Ward Just: Too Good To Miss = 1327-1341
King Arthur = 1342-1357
Kitchen-Sink Poetry = 1358-1361
P. F. Kluge: Too Good To Miss = 1362-1367
Eric Kraft: Too Good To Miss = 1368-1375
Mark Kurlansky: Too Good To Miss = 1376-1379
Lady Travelers = 1380-1397
Latin American Fiction = 1398-1412
Jonathan Lethem: Too Good To Miss = 1413-1418
Elinor Lipman: Too Good To Miss = 1419-1425
Lost Weekends = 1426-1429
Magical Realism = 1430-1446
Ian McEwan = 1447-1456
Mechanical Men, Robots, Automatons, and Deep Blue = 1457-1465
Memoirs = 1466-1472
Mexican Fiction = 1473-1481
The Middle East = 1482-1487
Merle Miller: Too Good To Miss = 1488-1501
Montana: In Big Sky Country = 1502-1517
The Moon’s My Destination = 1518-1526
Mothers and Daughters = 1527-1532
Mothers and Sons = 1533-1554
Iris Murdoch: Too Good to Miss = 1555-1580
Music and Musicians = 1581-1586
My Own Private DUI = 1587-1614
New Mexico = 1615-1622
New Orleans = 1623-1634
New York, New York = 1635-1650
9/11 = 1651-1661
Lewis Nordan: Too Good To Miss = 1662-1669
Not Only For Kids: Fantasies for Grown-Ups =1670-1679
100 Good Reads, Decade by Decade: 1900s = 1680-1689
100 Good Reads, Decade by Decade: 1910s = 1690-1699
100 Good Reads, Decade by Decade: 1920s = 1700-1709
100 Good Reads, Decade by Decade: 1930s = 1710-1719
100 Good Reads, Decade by Decade: 1940s = 1720-1729
100 Good Reads, Decade by Decade: 1950s = 1730-1739
100 Good Reads, Decade by Decade: 1960s = 1740-1749
100 Good Reads, Decade by Decade: 1970s = 1750-1759
100 Good Reads, Decade by Decade: 1980s = 1760-1769
100 Good Reads, Decade by Decade: 1990s = 1770-1779
Our Primates, Ourselves = 1780-1785
Passage to India = 1786-1791
Pawns of History = 1792-1796
People You Ought To Meet = 1797-1809
Physicians Writing More Than Prescriptions = 1810-1816
Poetry: A Novel Idea = 1817-1829
Polish Poems and Prose = 1830-1837
Politics of Fiction = 1838-1844
The Postmodern Condition = 1845-1862
Richard Powers: Too Good To Miss = 1863-1873
Presidential Biographies = 1874-1894
Prose by Poets = 1895-1905
Pym’s Cup Runneth Over = 1906-1919
Real Characters = 1920-1935
Van Reid and The Moosepath League: Too Good To Miss = 1936-1938
Riding the Rails: Railroad History = 1939-1944
Rivers of Words = 1945-1954
Road Novels = 1955-1961
Romance Novels: Our Love is Here To Stay = 1962-1972
Romance Novels: Classic Romances = 1973-1986
Romance Novels: Contemporary Romances = 1987-1998
Romance Novels: Historicals = 1999-2010
Romance Novels: Paranormal = 2011-2016
Romance Novels: Regency = 2017-2021
Romans-Fleuves = 2022-2030
Russian Heavies = 2031-2050
Science Books (For the Interested but Apprehensive Layperson) = 2051-2060
Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror = 2061-2140
Sea Stories = 2141-2156
Sex and the Single Reader = 2157-2168
Short Stories = 2169-2174
Shrinks and Shrinkers = 2175-2186
Southern Fiction = 2187-2219
Spies and Spymasters: The Really Real Unreal World of Intelligence = 2220-2238
Sports and Games = 2239-2246
Rex Stout’s Nero Wolfe: Too Good To Miss = 2247-2299
Take Me Out To The Ballgame = 2300-2311
Teachers and Teaching Tales = 2312-2318
Techno-Thrillers = 2319-2327
Texas: A Lone Star State of Mind = 2328-2340
Ross Thomas: Too Good To Miss = 2341-2364
Three-Hanky Reads = 2365-2379
Gore Vidal’s Historical Novels: Too Good To Miss = 2380-2382
Vietnam = 2383-2391
Western Fiction = 2392-2408
Western Memoirs = 2409-2414
What a (Natural) Disaster = 2415-2424
What A Trial That Was! = 2425-2437
Wild Life = 2438-2447
Connie Willis: Too Good To Miss = 2448-2461
Women’s Friendships = 2462-2480
Words to the Wise = 2481-2486
World War I Fiction = 2487-2496
World War I Nonfiction = 2497-2503
World War II Fiction = 2504-2536
World War II Nonfiction = 2537-2548
Zen Buddhism and Meditation = 2549-2555
Zero: This Will Mean Nothing To You = 2556-2559

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Created by grenisu on May 02, 2007.

Comments

Jillian
Bangor

Untitled — 28 weeks ago

Holy crap!

Note to self: Pick up at page 10

Apr 21, 04:49PM | 0 comments | Reply to this

Mandy Jo
St. Louis Park

Repeats — 42 weeks ago

There are many things repeated… King Leopold’s Ghost being one of them, and that’s not a book I could bring myself to read twice. Does anyone know exactly how many books should be on this list?

Jan 13, 12:50PM | 2 comments | Reply to this

Sara Marks
Fitchburg

Duplicates on the list — 44 weeks ago

There are a number of books mentioned more than once in the book and on this list. Does it make sense for us to just list the book once? It would be a more realistic representation of how many books we actually need to read.

Jan 02, 06:09PM | 0 comments | Reply to this

grenisu

Finally Finished! — 1 year ago

So this list is finally finished. PHEW! I wonder if it’s the biggest list on this site?

Anyway, thanks to those who helped me out on this.

Now, I would recommend printing this out, because it’s pretty likely someone will come in and goof with it.

Anyway, next is Nancy Pearl’s “More Book Lust” (that’s the sequel, and yes there are just as many books to list on that one).

Sep 21, 05:29PM | 1 comment | Reply to this

lizatleeds
Milwaukee

Multiples — 1 year ago

What do you do when a book is used in multiple categories, as happens quite a few times? Are you including it multiple times in the list or just the first time it appears?

Jul 24, 06:38AM | 2 comments | Reply to this

grenisu

I added some, why did they disappear? — 1 year ago

Did anyone remove any?

Nov 25, 11:01AM | 0 comments | Reply to this

Atheliana
Seria

Untitled — 2 years ago

wah… I was looking for this list thanks :D

Aug 22, 03:37AM | 2 comments | Reply to this

southernbohemian
Austin

Great list! — 2 years ago

Thanks for going through all the trouble. I wish there was a source list url so we could help you, but I guess you’re getting it out of the book. Checking back every day for progress!

May 14, 06:13PM | 1 comment | Reply to this

The Subjected Reader

Woah... — 2 years ago

This is going to be such a great list! Thanks for being brave enough to make it. :)

I just wanted to let you know that your numbering’s gone all wonky – on page 8, there’s no #387 or #388. I was going to just fix it, but I realised it would screw up your numbering system.

May 09, 10:53AM | 4 comments | Reply to this

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