Why We Read What We Read
Author(s): Lisa Adams
A Delightfully Opinionated Journey Through Contemporary Bestsellers
What do weight loss, evil emperors and tales of redemption have in common? We readers have many dirty little secrets - and our bestselling books are spilling them all. We can't resist conspiratorial crooks or the number 7. We have bought millions of books about cheese. And over a million of us read more than 50 nearly identical books every single year. In Why We Read What We Read, Lisa Adams and John Heath take an insightful and often hilarious tour through nearly 200 bestselling books, ferreting out their persistent themes and determining what those say about what we believe and how we relate to one another. Some of our favorite (and revealing) topics include:
Repeating the Obvious: Diet, Wealth, and Inspiration.
Black and White and Read All Over: Good and Evil in Bestselling Adventure Novels and Political Nonfiction
Soul Train: Religion and Spirituality
Hopefully Ever After: Love, Romance and Relationships
Reading for Redemption: Trials and Triumphs in Literary Fiction and Nonfiction
Controversy and Conspiracy in The Da Vinci Code
Explore the nature of what and how we read - and what it means for our psyches, our society and our future.
Product Information
Award-winning authors Heath (coauthor, Who Killed Homer?) and editor/teacher Adams attempt to take the intellectual pulse of the American reading public by examining the shared themes of the best-selling books of the past 16 years (they base their findings on their review of nearly 200 titles culled from lists produced by Publisher's Weekly and USA Today between 1990 and 2005). While best sellers make up only a portion of the books Americans read, their status is determined by broad audience demand and can thus "provide a glimpse into the current state of the national psyche." In each chapter, the authors examine seemingly disparate works and present insightful conclusions regarding the common thematic threads that resonate with American readers. The text's conversational style makes for easy reading, though the numerous snarky asides more often distract than illuminate. The sidebars, including a song parody based on John Grisham's The King of Torts, are especially precious. However, the authors clearly take their subject matter seriously, presenting a sobering analysis of the self-limiting literary choices Americans continue to make. Recommended for all public libraries.
General Fields
- :
- : Sourcebooks
- : Sourcebooks
- : 0.472
- : 01 September 2007
- : 226mm X 155mm X 19mm
- : United States
- : books
Special Fields
- : Lisa Adams
- : Paperback / softback
- : 028.9
- : 340