Customer Reviews:
 A Life in the Company of Books November 7, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Books: A Memoir, by Larry McMurtry, is a book that may not appeal to a lot of people, maybe not even to hard-core McMurtry fans. However, I found it highly entertaining and enjoyable.
McMurtry has penned a book detailing his life with books; as a buyer and seller of used, rare, and antique books and as a book lover. His life with books started when he was the recipient of a wonderful gift from his cousin. On his way to enlist in World War II, Larry's cousin stopped by their house, and gave him a box of 19 books. Books, McMurtry tells you, that changed his life. Prior to those books, he lived a life of realism and immediacy. He had no thoughts outside of his current surroundings. Those books, standard adventure stories of the 1930's, opened his eyes to a vast, untapped world. One where he could go anywhere, see anything, live through the eyes of the hero's and authors. And since the age of six or seven, he hasn't stopped reading.
Books: A Memoir has plenty of book selling/buying anecdotes, some of which may not appeal to everyone. McMurtry tells of books that he held and sold that were eventually sold for much more than he asked. He also drops plenty of insider names in the book selling business. While I certainly am not familiar with those circles, those stories added to the overall enjoyment of the book. Through those incidents, you could see how those people and incidents have added to his overall enjoyment of books. As you read this, you will come to have a better appreciation of McMurtry, the man, his life's work, and for books. Along the way, you will be exposed to his thoughts concerning libraries, computers, iPods, and his personal library (20,000 books, plus or minus). If you are a reader, you can probably relate to his love of books:
"Very quickly, once I had my nineteen books, I realized that reading was probably the cheapest and most stable pleasure of life. Sometimes books excite me, sometimes they sustain me, but rarely do they disappoint me--as books, that is, if not necessarily the poetry, history, or fiction that they contain."
This is quite a memoir from a man whose life has been spent in the company of books.
McMurtry strikes again! October 13, 2008
Larry McMurtry will steal the heart of any book lover with his newest, Books: A Memoir. The collecting and selling of rare books is seldom brought to our attention. It is amazing and lucrative. McMurtry's knowledge of the movers and shakers and history of the industry is impressive. I would love to visit his bookstore/library!
A Great Book for Bibliophiles October 6, 2008
McMurtry provides an interesting peek into the life of a "bookman", a person who collects and deals in valuable books. He describes his beginnings in a bookless household and how he developed a love for reading and writing, and how he moved into the world of book dealing. Bookmen are a unique lot and one wonders how they manage to make a good living consistently, although one can see how the more established bookshops would be able to do this. Nevertheless, McMurtry and his colleagues do manage, for the most part, to make a living, although clearly McMurtry's must be vastly supplemented from royalties from his own books and his successful screenwriting career (he doesn't state this, and I am assuming it, but I think it makes sense).
There are fascinating stories about individual bookmen and book collectors, the latter mostly coming from moneyed backgrounds. They're the ones who pay thousands of dollars for rare books signed by authors. This milieu at times makes the book read like a literary version of the lifestyles of the rich and famous.
For those of us who are bibliophiles, books like these are like literary aphrodisiacs, wetting the appetite to read more, to acquire more books and to learn more about books themselves, and to imagine owning a vast library like McMurtry's (28,000 books). The photo on the dust jacket - bookshelves filled with books - is a delectable appetizer to the main dish of the book itself.
He loves books October 1, 2008
I remember a foreword to one of McMurtry's book that said to the effect that he regretted a life spent reading and rereading his own writing when it could have been better spent reading something like Shakespeare.
Perhaps it was the forward to "Cadillac Jack," A book of his I thoroughly enjoyed and he also badmouths in his memoir, "Books."
McMurtry does love books. He loves horsetrading them. And he loves the other book traders he has encountered over the years. That is what this book is about.
It may not be for everyone, but I sure enjoyed it.
 "Books" September 9, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Now and then, you read a book and wonder, why was it published? Suprisingly, "Books" is one the titles you wonder why it became a book. Yes, it would have been a few nice pieces in a book collector/trade magazine, but as published it is annnoying. What should be single pages are stretched into two pages by S&S to "fluff" the size. The annoying decision by the author and publisher to publish the volume is compounded by an annoying publisher presentation; not fun. I would only recommend this to hard core McMurtry collectors.
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