I did a few of these posts years ago, when I wanted something like a Waiting on Wednesday post, but for books that had already been released (and usually already on my physical or virtual bookshelves). I Β found the TBR Thursday meme atΒ Book BlatherΒ and realized it was just what I was going for.
Today’s pick is non-fiction, for a change: My Life with Bob: Flawed Heroine Keeps Book of Books, Plot Ensues, by Pamela Paul:
Imagine keeping a record of every book youβve ever read. What would this reading trajectory say about you? With passion, humor, and insight, the editor of The New York Times Book Review shares the stories that have shaped her life.
Pamela Paul has kept a single book by her side for twenty-eight years β carried throughout high school and college, hauled from Paris to London to Thailand, from job to job, safely packed away and then carefully removed from apartment to house to its current perch on a shelf over her desk β reliable if frayed, anonymous-looking yet deeply personal. This book has a name: Bob.
Bob is Paulβs Book of Books, a journal that records every book sheβs ever read, from Sweet Valley High to Anna Karenina, from Catch-22 to Swimming to Cambodia, a journey in reading that reflects her inner life β her fantasies and hopes, her mistakes and missteps, her dreams and her ideas, both half-baked and wholehearted. Her life, in turn, influences the books she chooses, whether for solace or escape, information or sheer entertainment.
But My Life with Bob isnβt really about those books. Itβs about the deep and powerful relationship between book and reader. Itβs about the way books provide each of us the perspective, courage, companionship, and imperfect self-knowledge to forge our own path. Itβs about why we read what we read and how those choices make us who we are. Itβs about how we make our own stories.Β
I love books about books! And before getting into blogging and Goodreads to track my reading, I used to keep a notebook of the books I read, and I’m so interested in reading about Pamela and Bob!
I bought the hardcover of this when it was released in 2017, so it hasn’t been on my shelf for as long as some other TBR Thursday picks, but I really do want to read this one this summer.