FOR THE LOVE OF BOOKS by Ronald B. Shwartz (Editor)
115 Celebrated Writers on the Books They Love the Most
Berkley Publishing Group - May 2000
Non-Fiction / Literary Collection
ISBN: 0425172945 - Paperback

Reviewed by Nancy Mehl, MyShelf.com
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From a Los Angeles Times newspaper article:

MAN ALMOST KILLED BY LOVE OF BOOKS
Friends and neighbors said Anthony P. Cima, the 87-year-old San Diego man who was buried under thousands of books in Sunday's earthquake, had recently counted the volumes in his room and by his tally, there were 9,900 hardcover copies in his 12-foot-square hotel-apartment room…Fire Department spokesperson Larry Stewart said it took firefighters about 20 minutes just to locate Cima's foot and another 20 minutes to get him out…

Almost all of us have encountered books that have affected our lives. Whether they have inspired us, changed our outlook, made us laugh, or just allowed us to escape for a while when we needed to - books have an important place in our hearts.

Ronald B. Shwartz has brought together 115 writers who share the books they love the most. Dave Barry's favorite author is Robert Benchley, but Archie comics also rate right up there near the top of his list. Mario Puzo mentions The Brothers Karamazov by Dostoevsky, while Elmore Leonard finds Hemingway's For Whom the Bells Tolls, the book that made the greatest impression on him at a young age.

FOR THE LOVE OF BOOKS looks at everything from War and Peace to The Hardy Boys. It highlights the books that have shaped us - and fanned our literary flames. It is a wonderful look into the likes and dislikes of our favorite writers - and forces us gaze again at the dusty books shoved to the back of our bookshelves. Perhaps it's time to take them down and discover again the things that captured our attention the first time we ventured inside their pages.