Customer Reviews

About the Author: The Passionate Reader's Guide to the Authors You Love, Including Things You Never Knew, Juicy Bits You'll Want to Know, and Hundreds of Ideas for What to Read Next

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

 

 

This book deserves a place on every reader's bookshelf, especially if you are thinking of tackling the works of the giants of literature.

I would also recommend the book for those with children. It offers an excellent springboard for youngsters to find out more about famous authors, and also authors with a similar writing style. If the youngster enjoyed reading a classic in class, the book will point him towards other works and authors he may like.

Each author is profiled with a brief history, a quote by or about the author, a list of their works, and even a suggestion on which book is best to start with if you want to, say, read all of Melville's works.

Both classic and contemporary authors are profiled, all in alphabetical order. The selections are very good, and I did not detect any major omissions (of course, I'm not an English Lit professor or anything).

Selected authors include Dickens, Tolkien, Salinger, Melville, Tolstoy, Toni Morrison, Garrison Keillor, and many others.

An excellent reference title, and very affordable. The writing style is condensed, but easily accessible to readers of varying skill levels.

As I say, no home with school-aged kids should be without it.

The Glossbrenners have done it again. They have created an extremely user friendly book packed with interesting tidbits about my favorite authors plus it has enticed me to read others. I've purchased this book for many friends and family and they've been thrilled. A wonderful book for the reading connisseur and a great primer for those just beginning to explore classic fiction.

This book is just plain fun reading. Little interesting tidbits written in an interesting style make it fun to page through or read cover to cover. The suggestions for additional reading are tantalizing.

To: Alfred and Emily Glossbrenner -- I'm a delighted reader of your wonderful "About the Author"! I love it! I love it! I love it! I've been reading the Top 100 Novels of the Century (The Radcliff College list) and your book has been a terrific companion. The layout is clean and easy to follow and I especially like the "if you like..." sections.

I'm buying more copies for Xmas gifts for all my book loving pals! Your dedication to reading is greatly appreciated!

A Fellow Passionate Reader

Perfect to have when you've only a few minutes to digest 2 pages of interesting facts. Only hope the Glossbrenners script a 2nd volume--not every author you may hope to find is included.

If you are a voracious fiction reader, take time out to browse through and get lost in this book. It really is addictive. The wealth of information here is astounding - each of the 125 well loved authors in the book has his or her own two page spread featuring a picture, background info, incredibly interesting "good to know" facts about the author, which of the author's books to read first, Websites featuring even more info about the author.......and more, and more, and more...... Following the author info there is more 'book-junkie' information to tempt we readers of fiction; award winners, dos and don'ts of writing to an author, information on the different fiction genres. I see this as a perfect gift for fiction readers, especially if you don't know what books the recipient has already read. It's also an invaluable resource for book groups, teachers, and booksellers. An absolute treasure for the bibliophile!

I love this book. It's so terrific to read the little bios on my favorite authors, as well as have a listing of all their works in the order of their creation.

This reference is fantastic. One only wishes it were longer! Each of 125 authors are given a dense two-page spread that includes a picture and short bio, an essay on their works and characters, lists of best books and companion volumes, and recommendations for the book you should read first as well as similar authors. All modern time periods are represented and include Jane Austen, Isaac Asimov, John Cheever, Margaret Atwood, John Irving, Leo Tolstoy, C.S. Forester, E.M. Forster, Joseph Conrad, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Leonard Elmore, Louis L'Amour, Joseph Heller, Jane Smiley etc. A wonderful selection.

The book would be great if it ended there, but further sections list literary award winners, the best of genre fiction, "best of" lists from The Modern Library and The New York Public Library, readers' resources (including those found online), information about reading groups, audiobooks, catalogues, used books, e-books, sources for book reviews and a list of national and state book festivals. Each section is exhaustive and well-organized.

An excellent index includes even those authors listed as suggestions, and highlights featured authors in bold type.

Just wonderful, if a bit dangerous. Highest recommendation.

For those who want to learn more about the men and women behind the curtains of their favorite book, About the Author provides a solid, general introduction. Around 125 writers are reviewed here; the information about them is presented in the same format throughout the book. A brief overview of the author's life is given first, followed by a section entitled "Good to Know". Trivia and interesting facts are listed here. Next, an overview of the author's works, recommendations of the author's best books and links to other resources (Author Societies, other books and websites covering the subject of the writer). Sidebars present an image of the author, family and date of birth and death.
The information given doesn't delve too deeply into any one person, but this book never claimed to be comprehensive. It is instead a guide to juicy bits of information. It does this well. One thing I didn't quite understand how it was decided on which author to include and which to leave out in the book. There seems to be a lean toward 20th Century writers than "classical" authors like Shakespeare and Hugo. I've listed out the authors included below.

I was hoping for a few more anecdotes on each of these writers. If you have read biographies or articles on a certain author here, you are probably familiar with the information within. The sheer number of writers present, however, makes this book worty a look.

*Some* of the Authors included:

Jane Austen, James Baldwin, Ann Beattie, Saul Bellow, T.C. Boyle, Truman Capote, Lewis Carroll, Ray Chandler, John Cheever, Agatha Christie, Tom Clancy, Mary Higgins Clark, Conrad, Pat Conroy, Patricia Cornwell, Michael Crichton, Don DeLillo, Dickens, Ralph Ellison, Faulkner, F. Scott Fitzgerald, John Grisham, Joseph Heller, Hemingway, Zora Neale Hurston, John Irving, C.S. Lewis, Jan Karon, Norman Mailer, Toni Morrison, Mario Puzo, J.K Rowling, Salinger, Danielle Steel, Tolkein, Tolstoy, Twain, John Updike, Vonnegut, Thomas Wolfe, Virginia Woolf

As a passionate reader of just about anything including cereal boxes, I am especially delighted to have a bit of guidance when I find an author I enjoy. I have suffered from the where-do I-go-next? syndrome when I finish something I have liked--or not liked, and this book is the best help I have found to answer that question. For those of us who gobble up trivia, the gossip-worthy facts provided are both amusing and relevant, besides giving the reader a fine collection of tidbits to scatter at literary teas. I was impressed with the Glossbrenner's crisp and concise writing, of course, but I especially appreciated their humor and delicate irreverence. I can't wait for "About the Author, Part Two."