Cathy Rentzenbrink

I really tried to like this book. I read more than 100 pages which is my limit if I'm debating about continuing a book. There are lots of book recommendations, which I never lack. They are everywhere for me. I really couldn't relate with the author/speaker. I love book stores of all kinds and can spend an enormous time in them. However, I never wanted to work in one. I can appreciate how much she loves books and what solace they have provided. They have done the same for me. I'm a reader, a collector, a supporter. I'm not an author. I just didn't enjoy the story.… (meer)

Like Pat Conroy's [My Reading Life] or C. S. Lewis' [The Reading Life], this is a memoir through reading and books. While Conroy focused more specifically on his tour of Southern fiction and Lewis on classics, Rentzenbrink covers the gamut of possibilities, ending each chapter with a survey of recommendations in different sub-genres. Throughout, she recounts her life as a bar tender, book seller, and writer, never shying from disclosing poignant and painful memories and how books helped her process them. I won't search out all her recommendations, but she exposed me to books and authors far beyond my current reading. And the details of how she became a writer, the obstacles she overcame both micro and macro, were illuminating. A great book for any writer or reader.

Highly Recommended!
5 bones!!!!!… (meer)