1001 Books for Every Mood

by Hallie Ephron

What are you in the mood for?

A little romance? Get swept away with Scarlett and Rhett, become enriched in Love in the Time of Cholera, or understand the pangs of want with Jane Eyre.

A grand escape? Hit the high seas aboard Gulliver's several ships, slide down the rabbit hole alongside Alice, or shoot into the fantastic beyond with The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

Some thrilling chills? Let The Turn of the Screw haunt your dreams, attend prom with Carrie, or go off the deep end in American Psycho.

However you feel (or want to feel), let 1001 Books for Every Mood be your guide. Acclaimed critic and novelist Hallie Ephron serves up a literary feast, sure to satisfy your emotional appetite. Whether you want to cry or laugh, remember or forget, behave or misbehave-it's all here.

It's your must-have guide to hours and hours of reading pleasure, now and forever-no matter what your mood!

Want even more?

Genres: Books About Books, Nonfiction, Reference, Literature, Writing, History, Literary Fiction

400 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2007

About the author

Hallie Ephron (http://hallieephron.com) is a New York Times bestselling author of suspense novels. Her last five have all been Mary Higgins Clark Award finalists.

Her (August 2019) Careful What You Wish For tells the story of a professional organizer married to man who can't pass a yard sale without stopping. In this respect, Hallie is writing from personal experience. Her husband is a champion yard sailor who's packed their basement, garage, and attic with his finds.

A STARRED review in Publisher's Weekly proclaimed it an "outstanding standalone." Reviewing it for TIME Magazine, Jamie Lee Curtis called it "thrilling and suspenseful." From Kirkus: "Ephron's tidy approach to stowing clues, arousing suspicions, keeping the chaos of the climax under control, then tying up loose ends makes her a professional organizer of this type of entertainment. In a word—neat."

Hallie's Never Tell a Lie was made into the Lifetime Movie Network film.

A book lover, she also wrote The Bibliophile's Devotional and 1001 Books for Every Mood. For twelve years she reviewed crime fiction for the Boston Globe. Her Writing and Selling Your Mystery Novel (now in a revised/expanded edition) was an Edgar and Anthony award finalist. She teaches writing at writing conferences and workshops all around the world.

Hallie lives near Boston with her husband and has two fabulous daughters. She is the third of four writing Ephron sisters.

Reviews

[Carol · Rating 3 out of 5]

Author Hallie Ephron certainly gives it the old college try in defining every possible inclination you, the reader, could conceive to match a book to your mood. She may have gone a bit overboard in her zealousness to cover all bases; almost 80 moods are defined.

1001 Books for Every Mood is certainly a nice book to have on hand when you’re looking for something good to read. Quick descriptions will give you a flavor of its offerings. Each book is given ratings based on twelve characteristics. These include useful ones like award winners, humorous, page-tuners, but others are less helpful to me; brainy, bathroom book and even literary merit defined by stars leave me wondering. Each category has its own symbol with a page looking like this:


To say the least 1001 Books for Every Mood is an ambitious undertaking with good intentions. I conducted a few tests of my own to see if the myriad of mood terms would help me choose something to read. So say I’m inclined to reinvent myself. Offerings here include David Copperfield by Charles Dickens, Catch Me If You Can by Frank W. Abagnale, The Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi, The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith, and even Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka. Interesting choices, good books, but will they be useful for my reinvention? Ok, let’s Run Away From Home. The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum, Stuart by E. B. White or perhaps, Under the Tuscan Sun: At Home in Italy by Frances Mayes. I'd rather read Angry Housewives Eating Bon-bons by Lorna Landvik.
I’m not certain how useful 1001 Books for Every Mood would be if used for readers’ advisory or for the intended audience as a guide to suit your reading mood. It certainly would give any reader 1,001 books to consider for reading pleasure. That’s a good thing.

[K.D. Absolutely · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love list books. I have been picking and reading books based on existing list books. I started with 501 and 1001. Then I also tried some titles listed in Pulitzer, Man Booker, Oprah, Guardian, Time 100, Metalist and books by Nobel Prize for Literature laureates so I consult them from time to time too.

Then last month when some GR friends and I were on our way back from a 2-day vacation, I saw this book, 1001 Books for Every Mood by Hallie Ephron, PH. D. I have so many book lists already and I did not trust her name even if she is a PH. D. so I did not buy that copy. However, one of my friends did. Another friend-passenger brought out the book during the trip back and she read some titles and asked us to give the name of the authors. We had fun and I was amazed how many of those titles I've read already or have some knowledge of. So, when I saw another copy of the book a couple of weeks after, I read it and marked the ones I have a copy of and those that I have a copy and already read:

READ: 144
TO-BE READ: 240

Not bad really. Considering that I only started reading voraciously (translation: in every opportunity) two years ago, i.e., October 2009.

Overall, I would say that Ephron's taste is that of a typical middle-age intellectual woman. She has great taste on books as those she rated with 4-stars (highest rating) are also those that are in many of those lists. However, she seemed not to be very fond of children's books anymore as she gave 2 stars for well-known classic books for children like Pippi Longstocking and The Wind and the Willows. Neither is she a fan of sci-fi as she gave 3 stars to Douglas Adam's masterpiece The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and dystopian and apocalyptic novels giving 3 stars to John Hesey's Hiroshima, Cormac McCarthy's The Road and Jose Saramago's Blindness.

Her grouping in terms of moods must also based on her own taste. For example, among those with 4 stars:

For a GOOD CRY , she recommends BELOVED by Toni Morrison and THINGS FALL APART by Chinua Achebe. I agree with the first but not sure about the latter. I did not remember even touched by that Achebe's book.

To WALLOW in Slough of Despond , she recommends THE HEART IS A LONELY HUNTER by Carson McCullers (I agree) and MRS. DALLOWAY by Virginia Woolf (I disagree). I thought the the book by Woolf was too cerebral for me to even be affected by it.

To go over the EDGE , she recommends THE GOLDEN NOTEBOOK by Doris Lessing (I agree) and THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME by Mark Haddon (I disagree). I thought that the one of Haddon is funny and there is nothing to go over the edge unless she is talking about the mouse who the boy chased at the railway. Railway edge?

TO LOVE , she recommends A FAREWELL TO ARMS by Ernest Hemingway (I agree) and GONE WITH THE WIND by Margaret Mitchell (I disagree). I thought that GWTW is too big for a novel to be only about love between Scarlett O'Hara and Rhett Butler. I did not even feel the love between them while reading that book.

For ROMANCE , she recommends THE ENGLISH PATIENT by Michael Ondaatje (I agree) but I do not agree with her other recommended titles THE SEA, THE SEA by Iris Murdoch and THE REMAINS OF THE DAY by Kazuo Ishiguro. Romance has a very little significance in those masterpieces of Murdoch and Ishiguro.

However, this book has many 4-star titles that are not in my existing book lists. For one, I have to read THE HOUSE ON MANGO STREET by Sandra Cisneros. Ephron raves about this little slim book.

I will park this and will consult if I want to read based on my moods. Normally, I read based on what my friends say as long as the books are in one of my existing lists. I have no room for moods when it comes to books.

[Lorraine · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am very surprised by Dr. Ephron's book, 1001 Books for Every Mood, pleasantly surprised. Dr. Ephron put fiction, non-fiction, old and new classics, "mood therapy in a book ", and, I think an excellent guide to all kinds of books that are in many chapters such as 'for a Good Laugh', 'to Remember Dear Ol' Dad', 'to Sift Through Clues', for a Walk on the Wild Side', for a Musical Interlude', 'for Hubris', 'to Run Away from Home','to Soar', 'to Get Wasted', to Trust No One', to Revel in Wit', and, oh, so many other categories. Dr. Ephron's goal "was to compile an eclectic list",and I believe that she has been very successful. She includes a rating system for each book and provides a key to the rating list in the beginning of her book as well as the beginning of each chapter.
This rating system consists of 12 different areas such as "Literary Merit, Influential, Brainy, Page Turner, Bathroom Book which is a book that can be read quickly, and even Movie which indicates each book that has been made into a movie. A symbol that represents a category has been placed to the right of the book. The author also listed awards that books can receive and provided an explanation of each award. Finally, I am able to appreciate more clearly when an award is given to a particular book. It is a well thought guide which I will refer often when looking for my next read! I checked off the ones that I have read, and I am embarrassed to admit that I did not check very many. Well done, Dr. Ephron!

[Marisol · Rating 1 out of 5]

Los libros donde recomiendan libros siempre son bienvenidos, en la mayoría de los casos se consiguen maravillosas sugerencias pero también alguna que otra decepción.

En este caso el libro tiene una presentación bastante creativa, pues es en forma de esquema que va enumerando libros con una pequeña descripción de unas pocas líneas y unos emojis que muestran por ejemplo si tiene película 🎥, si es un libro para el baño 🛁, y cuantas estrellas ⭐️ le concede, me parece que trata de mostrarse como una guía tipo para dummies.

La selección es realmente decepcionante, casi la mitad de las sugerencias son libros que no tienen ningún mérito literario, y las categorías en algunos,casos son prescindibles como: para culpar tus genes, para abrazar a tu perro, para comportarte mal, es decir categorías que quieren ser refrescantes u originales pero que la verdad suenan muy ridículas y no aportan nada mas que lo anecdótico.

También existe un gusto muy marcado por lo estadounidense, libros que a lo mejor gustarán mucho al público anglosajón pero que no tiene una visión más amplia, que incluya muchos más autores de otros países, o de otras culturas.

[Trudi · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love the idea of matching books to mood -- but I guess I just wasn't overly impressed by the choices. For example, in the category "to be afraid, be very afraid" there is no Stephen King. What!? That's just ludicrous. King is a prolific author whose writing can be placed in many categories, but he's consistently been the world's bogeyman for the past 35 years, delighting in scaring the bejesus out of people. If you're in the mood to be badly frightened, King is your man. To omit him from this section really made me doubt Ephron's selection process. The irony is, King's books appear in five other categories, just not the "be very afraid" one.

Ephron also includes Pat Conroy's Beach Music over The Prince of Tides, another dubious choice as the latter is the far better book (I've read them both and loved them both and as a Conroy fan I can say that with confidence).

Ephron labels books as being provocative, influential, humorous, brainy, challenging, as easy reads or page turners, as having literary merit or a bathroom book, she even denotes which books have been made into movies. But such labels are so subjective as to render them almost meaningless. Even if you wanted to use the labels, it's tough because they are not cross-referenced or indexed in any way. If you want to get a list of all the provocative books or the brainy reads, you have to go through each "mood" chapter book by book and look for the appropriate icon.

Disappointing overall.

[NTE · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read for CB6

At the risk of becoming too meta, I’m going to talk a little bit about one of my go-to books for choosing other books to read.*

I tend to think – judging by the Cannonballers I actually know, the general bookish-ness around here, and the sheer amount of things that Must. Be. Read – that a lot of you CBReaders are similar to me, in that you tend to read quite a bit. (And write rather less often than you should/would like too, but that’s a horse of a different color.) One of the things about being a certain type of bibliophile – the type whose books accumulate on any and every available flat surface, the type who use Excel spreadsheets to cross-reference their TBR piles, the type who could happily wile away an entire day (and easily an entire week’s pay) in the local used book store “just browsing” – is that there are SO MANY CHOICES.

There are so many good books to read, and there are new ones being written everyday. And it seems to me, since I’m on everything from Goodreads to LibraryThing, that someone is always, always, always giving me the name of yet another book I just should be reading. And I love that – an overabundance of choices is a problem I am privileged to have, make no mistake.

But sometimes, I just want to read something funny without worrying that halfway through someone’s going to get Cancer and die.

There are days when I can’t face another minute of beautiful grace and shattered people: I know I don’t have it in me to do the heavy lifting those kind of books require. Other times, the opposite is true – I need to read something about overcoming every shitty thing life throws at you, because there are just no other options, so keep pushing.

Sometimes you want to swim in the shallow end; other times, you want to be immersed in the whole ocean.

And it’s nice to have some guidance when those days come, so you’re not left floundering.

I use a handful of websites, as I mentioned, for things that might strike a particular fancy at a specific moment in time, but I’ve got three books that I’ve been using lately to help me narrow things down, help me figure out if I’m swimming in the right pool. The one I’m talking about today is the one I use the most, and it’s the one mostly focused on adult books (although some children’s literature is included in its recommendations).

1001 Books for Every Mood – is written by Hallie Ephron, and has books broken down every which way you can think of: Looking for something funny, that has both literary merit and is easy enough to read in the bathroom or on the beach? She’s on it. Longing for a challenging, hopeful page-turner? She’s got that covered, too. You feel like wallowing, or suffering; taking a trip, joining the circus, or being redeemed? All acceptable, all answers found within.

Each book is presented with little symbols that judge their compatibility with your mood in different categories – say if it’s ever been made into a movie, or if it’s a family friendly book you might be able to read aloud, or if it’ll keep you thinking or help you to relax. Each is accompanied by a snippet – cunningly, wittily crafted by Ephron – to give you some idea of what the book is about, some clue as to whether it’s the one for you. If it’s the next one for you. If it’s the RIGHT one for you.

She includes facts about the books (have they won any awards, for example) or the authors, or the stories behind the stories “Anyways it’s about not being afraid to live your dream, something we thought quite a lot about back in the ’70s when this was published” she opines regarding Jonathan Livingston Seagull, by Richard Bach. She couples books, yentas them, plays matchmaker as if pairing the fish with a certain type of wine – Read Chris Bohjalian’s Midwives with Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird, or Dune with Salt, for optimum enjoyment. She provides humorous quotes from the books, or famous first lines that encourage you to recall if you’ve actually read the book or just heard that line a few million times and should actually give it a shot.

And sure, the book that best suits my mood might not actually be lurking in my current TBR mountain, but I usually manage to find a pretty good substitution, based on what flipping through 1001 Books has made me realize I’m actually looking forward to reading. It’s a neat trick, honestly ~ helping me pick apart my brain enough to decipher what the heck I should be reading next.

In the foreword to the book, NPR’s Susan Stamburg talks about how reading is a form of transportation – magical, creative transportation – and that Ephron is merely providing a way key, a map, a means of navigation for our safe travels. I’ll gladly take them, because having Ephron’s voice as your own personal librarian is off-the-charts awesome.



*And if you want, I can do the books I use to help me make sure I’m covering all the kid lit corners with the Littles in my life, if you guys are interested.

[Vanessa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have an abiding weakness for books like these, although my bulging TBR shelf certainly doesn’t need any assistance.

For the sake of full (and overly obvious) disclosure, I’ve thumbed through this a couple of times, but I haven’t read it cover to cover.

What I liked:

You’ll get plenty of bang for your buck. This book is 384 pages and a bit oversized. It’s broken down into a ridiculously specific number of moods: for adolescent angst, to save the world, to get wasted (or to get sober, if you prefer.)

Each heading has a list of around roughly 10-20 books, each with a short blurb, occasional excerpt, and a star rating system for literary merit (highly subjective, see below.) Additionally, there is a symbol legend to break the book down into further sub-categories: humorous, a page turner, challenging, and so on.

There is a fairly thorough index.

There is a good, sometimes cheeky mix of fiction and non-fiction.

Finally, it’s noted if the book has won any of a group of well-known awards (Booker, Hugo, Pulitzer, Newbury, etc.)

What was mildly problematic:

I don’t know this if this is a problem as much as it’s just the way opinions go, but some of the star ratings don’t make sense. Two out of four stars for All Quiet on the Western Front?? That’s the same, for the record, as what the author, Hallie Ephron, gave Jaws.

I hesitate to mention this, as it’s in no way the author’s fault, but this was published in 2008, so you’ll find the occasional outdated entry. I doubt anyone is reading Three Cups of Tea for inspiration these days.

Some of the choices are too obvious. While you’ll find some new to you reads here, other selections are no brainers:

—Want to be scared? Read The Exorcist. (I did appreciate how she also includes The Hot Zone, in case you really don’t want to sleep.)

—Want to have a good cry? Read Love Story.

(Please, that book is so maudlin. Oliver and Jenny meet at Ivy League schools, Oliver’s dad doesn’t approve, Jenny gets a terminal illness, Oliver’s dad shows up grief stricken at the hospital to apologize after she.....she....damnit, why are my eyes burning? WHO IS CHOPPING ONIONS?)

45 minutes later......

Bottom line: The younger of a reader you are, the more you’ll get out of this. If you’ve been reading for a while, you are going to be familiar (or overly familiar) with some of the selections, but you’ll still find new books, books you were only glancingly familiar with, and books you’ve forgotten. We all seek out specific types of reads sometimes.

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was a little disappointed by this book. I didn't get nearly as many new books to read as I thought I'd get out of it. I had either already read them, they were already on my to-read list, or they just didn't sound like my cup of tea. I really liked the concept of this book though and I think it'd be a nice gift to add to a young-adult/teenage person's library. Ephron offers a nice mixture of fiction and non-fiction, well-known and unheard-of titles, and tries to limit one book per author. There are also some quizzes and trivia factoids in between chapters to keep things interesting. I really like how she has a little symbol guide for all the books:

* Literary Merit - She rates the books out of four stars. It's not clear how she grades this and comes up with her stars and I disagreed on a lot of her decisions. She gave some really awesome books, like Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy two stars, while The Time Traveler's Wife got four stars. Wtf?
* Provocative
* Influential
* Inspirational
* Humorous
* Brainy
* Easy Reading
* Page Turner
* Challenging
* Bathroom Book
* Family Friendly
* Movie

So that plus the plot summary she gives for each book makes it really helpful for you to figure out whether or not you'd be interested in reading a particular book. And if you're looking for a specific book to find out what kind of mood it might put you in, there's a handy index in the back.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

This would be an excellent addition to any Young Adult reader's shelves. Many of the selections are classics and most are geared towards a teen audience, but there are some adult titles mixed in. Not only are the "mood" designations helpful, but each book is marked by a multitude of symbols denoting different features, such as "literary," "quick read," or "influential." This system makes "1001 Books..." great for Reader's Advisory quick reference.

[Eva · Rating 2 out of 5]

The first half is very well-picked and offers a lot suggestions, the second half though is very specific without that many.

[BirdiesBookshelves]

We all know how much I love these type of books and this is a good one. I found a few gems I had never heard of and remembered a few I had forgotten.

[Jeanette (Ms. Feisty) · Rating 3 out of 5]

November 7, 2010
I started looking through the book again to see if I could get a rough count of how many of these books I'd read. In the process, I ran across a lot of titles I'd dismissed too hastily on my first trip through. So I made a full second pass through the book and found a lot more books I'd like to try. I think I can bump my rating up to 3 1/2 stars. I suggest you completely ignore the author's four-star rating system. On my second time through, I found that I had been influenced by those one and two star ratings more than I thought I had. Subliminally, apparently, because I had skipped over many of them without realizing I was doing it.
Below is my review written after my first time through the book.

___________________________________________________________________

November 4, 2010
Ho hum. Not much new here. Out of 1001 books, I found less than 70 I was interested in seeking out. When I get a book like this, I'm hoping for book titles I wouldn't normally find on my own. These are all mostly mainstream. I've either read them, tried to read them, or heard enough about them that I've dismissed them already. This is a two-star book, but I'm adding an extra star for one reason only: for each book there is a small paragraph giving the basic story. Nice to have, so you can know right away if the plot interests you enough to do further research on the book. Saved me a lot of work.

There's one thing in this book that seriously bugged me. She has a four-star rating system for what she calls "literary merit." She gives no indication of how she decided this for each book. There are some crappy books to which she has assigned four stars, and some great books to which she has assigned one or two stars. What are her criteria?

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I didn't have high expectations for this book, mainly because these compilation/recommendation books never seem to deliver the goods. This book, however, delivers the goods.

The author (who is a librarian) recommends the books based on different categories (books to make you laugh, cry, grieve, scare, etc), but she also gives you other criteria to judge the book, such as is it provacative? Can it be read in one sitting? (She calls these 'bathroom books'. ;D) What is its literary merit (Which is subjective, of course, as she only gives two stars to Harry Potter and five stars to 'His Dark Materials'. What??!!?!?)

There's a good mixtures of high brow (think all those books you read in high school and college) as well as low brow (The Preppie Handbook, The Hipster Handbok), and she does a good job of recommending a variety of authors.

This is actually a book I would think about purchasing and keeping on my own bookshelf for those time when I'm lost as to what to read next.

[Rabbit {Paint me like one of your 19th century gothic heroines!} · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rating: 3.5

This book was okay, it was a collection of books to read, divided in very basic categories. IMHO where each book belongs varies on your opinion.

YMMV, and I am tempted to start making my own version of this book on my shelves here, or/and list them on booklikes.

[Stacy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book of book lists and recommendations. Ephron chose to list one book per author and the format is easy and fun to read. There are bits of trivia included too. Of the 1001 books she has listed, I have read 65 and 33 of those are on my personal Top 100 list.

[Terra · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is perfect for individuals, book groups, library displays.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, first of all, I'd already read 166 of the 1001. But this did give me some good new ideas for books to read. I didn't realize it was published in 2008, though, which makes some parts of it unintentionally hiliarious- like one book being Alexander Hamilton, with no mention of Lin-Manuel Miranda. And Lance Armstrong's memoir being in here, before he'd been exposed as a cheater. Hallie Ephron sneaks in recommendations for books by all three of her sisters and her brother-in-law as well.

[Becky S · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm a sucker for books about books, have read many, and this is my least favorite. While many of the books Ephron listed sounded interesting, the chapters are strangely organized, making the book difficult to navigate. How did 'Betty Crocker's Picture Cookbook', 'A Tree Grows in Brooklyn', and Daniel Schacter's 'The 7 sins of Memory ' land in the same category?
A minor annoyance, the edition I read was printed in purple ink, probably not the author's decision.
Much more readable/useful are Nancy Pearl's 'Book Lust' and 'More Book Lust', also 'The Book of Books'.

[Senthil Ram · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well compiled list of most acclaimed and famous books. Interesting to read. I liked the concept of marking each titles with cute icons like Bathroom Book, books that have been made into movies and so on..

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great resource!

[Reginna Lopiccola · Rating 5 out of 5]

gives you alot of different books to look at and see if you really want to read the or not.it can also help you find the right book for whats going on with you

[Fiona · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book makes a lot of good recommendations. I enjoyed just reading through it because I read about books I'd never heard of.

[Lora Kelly-Benck · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm a sucker for "list" books, but I found this one debatable when it came to her Literary Merit "stars". There were also too many catagories. And yet, I still found a dozen that I want to read.

[Sonja · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's a fantastic compilation with all the info you're looking for when getting ready to read something "new."

[Bobbi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Until reaching the table of contents, this book seems like any other readers advisory resource. Instead of a generic list of genres, you will find what the author calls a "table of moods". This creative table includes a myriad of moods such as: “For thrills”, “For romance” and “For revenge”. Or less commonly: “To hug your dog”, “For apocalyptic vision” and “To get wasted”. Each of these moods has a corresponding page number with a fascinating array of suggested readings ranging from the year 1916 to present day.

In the foreword, Susan Stamberg of NPR commends Hallie Ephron’s taste, expertise as a librarian and skill at creating useful navigational tools. This book is printed on thick quality paper with room for the eye to rest in spite of the wide range of graphics in the key. The spacing is well thought out making the guide simple to understand at a glance.

The books on the menu for each mood are rated by a fun, interactive key. In this key, Ephron rates the books with stars from one to four to show levels of literary merit. Other symbols are used to indicate details of each reading. The symbol of a flame shows that it is provocative. If it is inspirational there will be small graphic of a dove. Influential readings boast an exclamation point. Humor is aptly assigned a comedy mask. Brainy books are indicated by a brain symbol and easy reading gets a beach umbrella while a real page turner includes the picture of a little book. Challenging reads have a pair of glasses for their icon and bathroom books are signified by a toilet emblem. A family translates to family friendly and a movie camera shows that it is also a movie.

Each entry incorporates small reviews with side notes about awards that these books may have won. Ephron is not afraid to add the unexpected to a category. One such entry is under the mood, “A walk on the wild side”. The books in this section tend towards animal themed books such as, The Call of the Wild and Animal Farm. Nestled among these titles, The Complete Walker is rated with one star for literary merit, an exclamation point for influence, a dove for inspiration, a brainy brain, and a toilet because it makes a good bathroom book. While thorough, the review of the material does not contain spoilers. Ephron’s review states, "Often called the backpackers bible this book by the notoriously reclusive Fletcher is an exhaustive guide to the most basic form of outdoor travel. Lyrical, practical -- when it was first published in 1968 it sent thousands of us striding into mountains and deserts".

Fanciful in many ways, this resource still incorporates an index. Both librarians and casual readers will find it entertaining and practical. The final page lists a website with tips for using this source for book groups.

[Amy Paget · Rating 3 out of 5]

The organization of this bibliography is really interesting. Books are grouped together by the mood they might engender or support. NPR's Susan Stamberg provides a brief introduction. Within the mood enhancing categories, books are coded for literary merit, provocation, influence, inspiration, intellectual content, easy reading, challenging, or as 'bathroom books' or 'family friendly'. The annotations are at most 10 lines long. 11 Books for every Mood is an accessible, unassuming book list , great for readers’ advisory or making your own selections.

The book's compiler, Hallie Ephron, is well qualified to make the selections, growing up in Los Angeles, as the third of four writing Ephron sisters (Nora, Delia, and Amy). Her parents were screenwriters Henry and Phoebe Ephron who wrote classic movies like The Desk Set and Carousel. She credits genes with giving her the courage to finally get started writing fiction.

After careers as a teacher, educational consultant, and high tech marketing copywriter, Hallie tried her hand at writing fiction. She and Donald Davidoff, a neuropsychologist at Harvard’s McLean Hospital, teamed up to create fictional forensic neuropsychologist Dr. Peter Zak and investigator Annie Squires. Under the shared pseudonym G. H. Ephron, Hallie and Don have written five series mystery/suspense novels including Guilt (St. Martins Minotaur, 2004), and a story ("Malingering") for USA Today. The series has been praised for its "adrenaline-pumping prose" (Publisher's Weekly), "rapid-fire pacing" and "crisp writing" (Sun Sentinel), and "fascinating medical setting" (Washington Post).

Hallie is also an award-winning book reviewer for the Boston Globe where her On Crime column appears the last Sunday of each month in the Ideas section.

[Andrea · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is engaging and helpful in that it gave me about 24 new books to read!!! Of course they aren't "new" books but they are new to me. As an English grad and avid reader, sometimes I feel like it's hard to find books that I have never heard of and are worth reading and this book delivered.

Kind of like Goodreads in print form, this books is perfect for those moments when your standing in front of your book shelves and you swear that there is just nothing that you want to read! The nerdy version of not having anything to wear! :)

The only thing I wish that the author had done was add a little bit more of her own commentary and/or maybe some humor...we can find synopses of books anywhere, what I would have really liked was a little bit more review and a little less summarizing.

Also, I thought that the "Literary Merit" star rating system in the book was a little arbitrary, "The Jungle" by Upton Sinclair received 2 stars, "Flowers for Algernon" got 2 stars as well, and "Pride and Prejudice" only 3 stars (WHAT??), while some novels that I had never heard of got 4 stars...like I said, arbitrary!

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am a self-confessed sucker for book lists and books about books. So when I saw this bargain on Amazon, I had to get it. Considering it was published in 2008, it is already outdated, and the major example I cite is in the section “…to Hug your Dog,” which did not include The Art of Racing in the Rain or A Dog’s Purpose. I did find it hysterical that two Virginia Woolfe books were in the chapter “…for a Wallowing in a Slough of Despond.” There were many other very fitting books in relation to the moods (Mosquito Coast in “…to Remember Dear Ol’ Dad) and there were also some fun tidbits, quizzes and lists interspersed throughout. I especially loved the symbol guide, which told me which books were page turners, which were easy or challenging, which had been made into movies, etc. I totally got my nerd on with my highlighter and deduced that I had read approximately 127 of the books featured. More than anything else, though, it really beefed up my wish list!

[Clare · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book would be great to have as a reference at the front door of every library. As a lifelong reader, I went through it and checked off all the books I have read. I was happy to discover that there are lots of books that I haven't read yet and would probably enjoy. My hometown library is tiny and sometimes I feel as if I've read most of the books in there that I would like - not so. Ephron (whom I was lucky enough to meet and have her sign my copy) has done her research. I've got lots to look forward to and can choose it by my mood - the books are divided by books for a good laugh, books for a good cry, books for revenge, etc. Thank you, Hallie, for opening up new worlds for those of us who will be clutching a book as we make our way from this world to the next.

[Connie G · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading about the book recommendations because they covered a whole spectrum of interests. This was not just a book listing the classics, but it also included lots of contemporary books and books that librarians said "flew off the shelf". The book was divided into about 80 moods or interests. The areas included mysteries, history, baseball, dance, humor, music, and dogs and that's just a sample. Each book had a paragraph or two about the story, and was given a literary rating of one to four stars. Each book also had icons posted with it, such as page turner, challenging, family friendly, provocative, makes you think, easy reading, etc. I had to restrain myself so I didn't add too many more books to my "to be read" list. I'll be coming back to read this book again.