Product Description

One woman's passion for books and search for romance lie at the heart of this touching and funny novel about literature and longing in Los Angeles. 'Women do different things when they're depressed. Some smoke, others drink, some call their therapists, some eat! And I do what I have always done - go off on a book bender that can last for days.' Whenever she's in crisis - her marriage ends, her career stalls, her fantasy man shows signs of human frailty - Dora (named after Eudora Welty) escapes into not one, not two, but a carefully selected stack of books, shutting the door on the outside world until she emerges from her book binge strong enough to face her problems. Books have always been her saving grace, sheltering her during a difficult childhood and arming her with lessons and epigrams that are right for nearly every situation. But life is more complicated than a-book-a-day, and people - like her ex-alcoholic mother and judgmental sister - aren't as compliant as beloved characters in a novel! Whether she's being seduced by a quotation-quipping Quixote, or explaining death to a child by reading from Charlotte's Web, Dora is Every-reader, and her charming story, shot through with humour and humanity, will delight anyone who's ever sought solace in the pages of a book.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #438293 in Books
• Published on: 2006-08-07
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 240 pages

Review
'Stuffed with saucy literary asides, this is a book that name-checks dusty classics as frequently as hot labels. Yet it's Dora who lifts it so far above the forest of pink-jacketed chick-lit: tart yet tender-hearted, she's fully aware of the messiness that separates real life from literature.' The Daily Mail

Glamour
'Lovingly crafted and beautifully written ..this is a book...will be adored by women everywhere.'

Heat
'This book could change your life...a perfect mixture of comedy, tragedy and brilliantly eccentric characters...' ***** (5 stars)

Customer Reviews

book bender
At first this did little for me. I couldn't take to the main character, Dora, who came across as a thoughtless, spoilt, snob. However, I'd heard many favourable comments about this book, and I do love `books about books', so I persevered. I'm so glad that I did. The descriptions of Dora locking herself away in her bathroom to have book benders really got to me. All book addicts will relate to her and how she uses books to escape from her worries. We also hear about her romantic affairs with a bookseller, her failed marriages, her ex-alcoholic mother, her judgmental sister and meet the 6-year-old niece of her boyfriend's junkie sister. Phew...no wonder she needs to escape into a world of fiction! Anyone who's ever retreated into a book to escape from reality will love Dora. I thought this was an intelligent chick lit filled with great humour.

It was also wonderful to find a list of authors and books that had been referred to in the tale at the back of the book. It made it so easy to look them up and add them to my wish list and ever increasing TBR pile!

Chick lit with a literary edge
Anyone familiar with Chick lit will recognise the basic plot of 'Book Lover'. Dora is separated from her husband, gave up her career as a journalist to look after her sick father and has lost her direction (pretty standard stuff so far?!) However, Dora also has an obsession with books and reads compulsively, which leads her to the local independent book store where she becomes attracted to Fred (a guy who works there.)

Dora gradually becomes more involved in Fred's life and with his family and soon starts to realise that he might not be the Knight in shining armour that she thought he was.

This is an easy going novel, good beach reading and doesn't require a lot of thought as you read. Some of the literary information that is scattered through the book is quite interesting (but I didn't think it wasn't always relevant to the story.)

Nice, will pass a couple of hours.

Settle down for a good read
Passed on to me by a friend (interesting to read your review :) ) and I'm so pleased it was! I was engaged within the first chapter. Dora is convincing as a character and I empathised and sympathised with her. She has ups and downs in her love life and other aspects of her personal life; it was interesting reading how she chose to tackle each incident.

To start with, she tackled them by going on a book bender. I wasn't 100% convinced about these 'benders' as the books she mentioned during them could surely not possibly have been read within the time frame discussed. However, it is only fiction and I'm possibly being picky here.

She is rescued by love of others and then herself. It is chick-lit at heart but with a more grown-up feel to it. Nothing against chick-lit - I enjoy it myself - but this felt 'different' it seemed to have more to tell us and wasn't quite as predictable.

An easy read that I found myself racing through because the ending of each chapter left me wanting more. Dora's fear of the motorways was a bit of a waste but I suppose it was revealing more of her personality. The other characters added to the story in their own ways. It was interesting to read how she bonded with Fred's family even when they weren't getting on to well.

I could see myself turning into Dora, although I don't have my books categorised - I haven't reached that stage yet! Although the process Dora goes through to chose her reading matched my own. A book lover will appreciate her quirks, a reader simply wanting entertaining and a good read will appreciate the plot.

Highly enjoyable and definitely worth a read.