This is a book of book lists. Not of the '1,001 Books You MUST Read Before You Die' variety but lists that tell stories. Lists that make you smile, make you wonder, and see titles together in entirely new ways. From Bin Laden's bookshelf to the books most frequently left in hotels, from prisoners' favourite books to MPs' most borrowed books, these lists are proof that a person's bookcase tells you everything you need to know about them, and sometimes more besides.
This was a lot of fun. Johnson has compiled book lists, but not the usual "you must read" sort. These are lists like Darwin's TBR, Oscar Wilde's bookshelf at reading Gaol, the books on Scott's Discovery bookshelves (he had them in every room of the ship), books seen to be on Sheldon and Leonard's living room bookshelves in Big Bang Theory. Fun stuff like that.
Some of the titles listed are no longer to be found (Henry III's books, for example; probably hard to find if not impossible, and expensive to boot), some of them don't exist (books never written list - how did The Giant Rat of Sumatra not make this list?), some have yet to be written (the future library), and some of them are all to readily available and might be the death of any reader's TBR. Personally, I was doing pretty well until the very end, where he includes a list of books about books. My kryptonite! Aaahhhh...
Reading updates
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Started reading
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8 July, 2018:
Finished reading
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8 July, 2018:
Reviewed