Customer Reviews

What to Read: The Essential Guide for Reading Group Members and Other Book Lovers

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A few MAJOR problems with this book:

1) Pearlman has not only not read all of the books she recommends, but she has done weak research on them. She tells us that the Milagro Beanfield War takes place in California, when it actually takes place in New Mexico. Seems like a small thing, except the book is the first in a series called "The New Mexico Trilogy." That makes it a major woops. In other places she lists the second of third book of a series without any mention that the prior books exist, much less that her recommendation makes no sense if you do not read them in order. (e.g. lists Xenocide but not Ender's Game and Speaker for the Dead, tells us the Lord of the Rings is the meal and The Hobbit is dessert; good analogy except The Hobbit must come first, making it the "appetizer.")

2) Perhaps even worse than the factual errors is the almost complete lack of aesthetic appreciation. Read her review of Cold Sassy Tree and her review of Love in the Ruins and you are likely to come away thinking Love in the Ruins is the better book. Love in the Ruins is good; maybe Walker Percy's best novel. But Cold Sassy Tree is Great with a capital G. Her ignorance of great fiction and appreciation of the trivial is appalling.

3) Heavily biased toward the politics of feminism, environmentalism, liberalism, etc. Books that have the politically correct message are given space - and praise - not justified by the skill of the writer or the quality of the book. That is fine, but she needs to be honest; tell the reader "This is not a very good book but it has a great message or teaches an important lesson."

Fortunately, as the great Harold Bloom says, in the end, all the politically motivated criticism makes no difference. Great writers like Shakespeare, Cervantes, Dickenson, Hemingway, and Kennedy continue to be read, and undeserving Pulitzer Prize winners like Millhauser, Shields, Lurie, Kantor, Walker, etc. collect dust on the shelf... if they are purchased at all. In the end, fiction focused on delivering a "message" is almost always soon outdated (a "shocking" story about gays no longer shocks). With the message as the primary goal, the writer can never achieve the high artistic entertainment standards that make great novels popular across many decades and many cultures. That Pearlman fails to recognize this is to the ultimate demise of her book.

(I know this will be an unpopular review. Sorry.)

This is a wonderful book for anyone interested in forming a book club or for those who are just interested in a great read. Ms Pearlman has compiled a wonderful selection of books for all interests. She categorizes them by subject. She includes everything from early 19th century novels, to mysteries, ethnic books, sci-fi, and even non-fiction selections like health and sports. This is my second copy of this book. ( I also had the first edition) I have dog-earred and marked up this book many times. It is a must have for book lovers!

I recently started a book club with my friends (we all love to read!) :) This book was more than helpful in making our decisions on what to read next! We practically use it as our bible! Now thanks to this book we no longer have quarrels about what to read, we can agree easily! I also use this book on my own private time to decide what else I should read, I find it very useful! I would say this book was very good and I would recomend it to anyone! Happy reading!

What a terrific book! Is there anyone more passionate about books or more knowledgable than Mickey Pearlman? Books these days stay on the shelf for two or three months at best, and sometimes the best books aren't even reviewed, so a lot of wonderful choices fall by the wayside. This book rectifies that situation! What I loved most about this book was the way Pearlman introduces books you might never have thought of or known about, as well as better known choices. I also loved,loved, love the way she gave such a huge diversity of choices. No matter what you are looking for, historical fiction, mainstream fiction, thrillers, or quirky new reads sure to get you thinking and discussing--this is the book to reach for.

My book club is always arguing over which book to read next. Mickey Pearlman's book is going to give me the ammo to back up my choices. It's a great book for solitary readers, too.

Mickey Pearlman's 'What to Read' is, as far as I am concerned, the Bible for book lovers. Long before anyone was doing this sort of thing and making boatloads of money doing it, Mickey was doing it because this is what she loves and what she is the master of. Mickey is the guru of all things book. Her knowledge of picking the right book for any occasion or any person is unequaled and this book is a reflection of that wisdom - the wisdom of someone who loves the written word and wants to share that love with everybody else. Buy this book and keep it for when you need an idea for 'what to read' next. You won't be sorry.

I purchased this book to get ideas on great books to read - I'm not part of a book club. After reading MANY of the books that she recommends, you can't help but be overwhelmed by the feminist choices in books that she makes. There are some terribly written, and otherwise terrible books on her list, that apparently, were only included as they (i) cast the male characters in a bad light, and (ii) cast the female characters in a positive light. I'm not a feminist. If you are, buy this book - you'll get many recommendations that will make you feel good. (Please don't respond by saying, "oh yeah, well I see William Faulkner and Charles Dickens are on the list - they're not quite feminists". You're right, they're not, but 98% of her chosen books could be categorized as "feminist reading").