Customer Reviews

100 One-Night Reads: A Book Lover's Guide

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

My friends and I are always recommending books to each other. We pull out our notebooks and PDAs and scribble down authors and titles. This sharing is an integral part of our friendships. When I open and browse in 100 One-Nightight Reads, I feel as if I have been talking to a good friend - and want to scribble down notes to myself.

This collection of essays recommending books that one can happily read in one night - is so much more than an annotated bibliography! David and John Major are sharing their own personal recommendations with us all. They are offering an intimate tour of the books that have mattered to them. Each essay has an individual approach and when you read it, you feel as if you have had a conversation with the author.

Sometimes I am reminded of old friends - books such as Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart that had a profound influence on my thinking when I read it twenty years ago; sometimes I am delighted to find a new book that I didn't know about - such as Louis Begley's Wartime Lies that must go on The List. Then it's nice to remember old favorites such as Raymond Chandler's The Big Sleep. One of the things I like about this book is that this is not a list of classic books that `ought' to be read - its much more personal than that - broader in range - and much more fun. As I was reading, I found myself saying "Oh yes, I remember reading that,"- or "I must reread that!" - or "I must remember that one!"

Each essay elicits a specific response and this review would be too long if I wrote down all my comments. But the collection gives pleasure - a persuasive collection, that makes readers want to read more and might encourage those who don't read as much to pick up a book.

I think that teachers and librarians who offer guidance to young people would enjoy this book and find it useful.

This essay collection provides insight into 100 literary items that run the gamut from "Beowulf" to "Breakfast at Tiffany's" to "Parkinson's Law" to "Something Fresh" to "Auntie Mame," etc. The authors analyze the tale & offer background material on the author. The material analyzed range from fantasy, general fiction, non-fiction, humor, memoirs and biographies, mystery, science, and travel. Each essay is very interesting, insightful, and worth the price of 100 ONE-NIGHT READS, especially if the reader obtains the original piece and uses the work of the Major siblings as a supplement or guide.

Harriet Klausner

I have used this book to check out titles I have yet to read. ANd the authors do a very good job presenting the book and the author in such a way, that you will find yourself wanting to put down the book and pick up their recommendation. Any reference book that can achieve that effect is worth its price.

What will appeal to a wide ranging audience.....is the wide range of books they've profiled. Every thing from the Hobbit to Aunt Mame...classics as well as some modern authors.

Frankly, I hope the authors will do another book in this genre...the possibilities are endless. In the meantime, get started on this one.

If you find yourself at airport bookstores impulsively buying a best-seller that proves disappointing; or if you've been at the library for a half hour without finding something you're confident you'll like; or if your evening plans fell through and you looking for literate consolation; 100 One-Night Reads is your trusty companion to good reading. The Major brothers have selected a variety of very good books and have told the reader enough about each book, and why it will be a good read, that you'll be able to find an evening's pleasure and reward easily.

100 One-Night Reads might also introduce a young reader to authors who will show how reading is one of life's great pleasures.

I hope that the Major brothers will follow up with 100 More One-Night Reads or 100 Two-Night Reads or some other excellent guide to literature.

What an entertaining guide to a diverse collection of great books! Thanks to David and John Major for sharing their extensive literary knowledge in a very enjoyable fashion. 100 One-Night Reads will be my guide for future reading choices.

This guide is a book lover's delight in many ways. The authors' own prose is so lucid and economical, their range of learning so wide and unassuming--never obtrusive but always serving to put the "one-night read" in a grounded context and interesting perspective--that the book itself serves as a model of graceful writing. As a reader's guide, the book seduces you back to literary classics by such authors as Thomas Mann, Willa Cather and Scott Fitzgerald, reminds you not to forget R.K. Narayan or Shirley Jackson, and creates interest in unknowns (unknown to me, for example, are William Kotzwinkle, Dava Sobel, and Ann Wroe). The genres covered by 100 ONE-NIGHT READS include "fantasy and saga," "fiction," "history, public affairs, and the environment," "humor," "memoirs," "mystery and suspense," "science," and "travel." In each of these the book provides a mini-education by the time you've browsed through the selections. Authors are largely Western but with a mix of Asian, South American and African as well. From reading this graceful, judicious guide, I have made up my own book list, and I believe I can't go wrong with David and John Major's recommendations.

I heard these brothers speak at an evening event at the Library of Congress. They decried the chance nature of book publishing, where good books disappear and bad books make money.

Their own book is itself a great read. A Desiderata for essential reading. Take it with you when you pick through flea markets. Thank you, David and John Major.

There are a lot of books in the world; it's great to have such a charming, well written guide as a companion through a lifetime of reading. A good portion of what I read tends to be subjects I'm interested in, authors read previously and what the book group is reading. This book has given me new avenues: subjects I never knew I was interested in, authors forgotten by the literary world, familiar titles that I have always heard about but have never read. The description essays are so personal and so inviting that you will want to start reading immediately. The wide ranging suggestions include memoirs, mysteries, literature and history. A must for book lovers.

I wish that I was a friend of the authors. I would love to check out their bookshelves. I also want to know what they would recommend on the 101st night and nights thereafter.

How many times have you stood examining a book in a store or library, and wished for more information about the story or the author? Or how often have you presented a book to your reading group to persuade them to select your pick, but couldn't say much about it beyond "I heard this was great?" Now with John and David Major as your passionate and intelligent guides to 100 wonderful books, you can make that informed choice. For each selection, you get their succinct and witty descriptions, which are enjoyable before and after you read the book. If you love to read, I highly recommend that you buy this book. You will use it a lot, and never regret it.

This is a wonderful book about books. Basically, it is a list of great recommendations for anyone who loves to read. When I saw some of my favorite authors listed - E. F. Benson, Helene Hanff, Russell Baker, etc, I knew these guys know what they are talking about. The authors give a short synopsis of a book (without giving too much away of the plot )and interesting information about its author. I am thoroughly enoying working my way through their recommendations. I hope that there will be a second version of this book when I am finished.