For the Love of Books: Stories of Literary Lives, Banned Books, Author Feuds, Extraordinary Characters, and More

by Graham Tarrant

Which famous author died of caffeine poisoning? Why was Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland banned in China? Who was the first British writer to win the Nobel Prize in Literature? What was Truman Capote superstitious about?

Here is a light-hearted book about books and the people who write them for all lovers of literature. A treasure trove of compelling facts, riveting anecdotes, and extraordinary characters, For the Love of Books is a book about books—and the inside stories about the people who write them.

Learn how books evolved, what lies behind some of the greatest tales ever told, and who’s really who in the world of fiction.

From banned books to famous feuding authors, from literary felons to rejected masterpieces, from tips for aspiring writers to stand-out book lists for readers to catch up on, For the Love of Books is a celebration of the written word and an absolute page-turner for any book lover.

Read all about it!

Genres: Nonfiction, Books About Books, History, Historical, Audiobook, Reference, Literary Fiction

240 pages, Hardcover

First published June 4, 2019

About the author

Graham Tarrant is the author of a variety of books on many different subjects. Quiz books hold a particular fascination and Everything but the Oink! manages to combine this passion with his other great love: food.

Reviews

[Regina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun facts! Do you like them?

Books! Do you love them?

Books about books! Do you want them?

You need to answer a resounding YES to all three of these questions to enjoy Graham Tarrant's For the Love of Books. This is not your favorite book blogger's "warm and fuzzy love letter to the books that changed my life," but rather a text of anecdotes and factoids covering anything from when paper was invented to how many books Danielle Steel churns out in a year.

It oddly feels like it either belongs in the classroom or the bathroom. Great for passing a test or just passing the time. You'll for sure get a leg up in the Arts & Culture category of Trivial Pursuit next time you play, but overall it's a pretty dry read. Even this book lover was ready to wrap it up at about the 50% mark.

For the Love of Books was originally published in 2018, but the audiobook releases March 30, 2021. I received an advance listeners copy from Tantor Audio via NetGalley.

Find me on IG @confettibookshelf
or at www.confettibookshelf.com

[MischaS_ · Rating 2 out of 5]

***Advance Review Copy generously provided through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.


I believe I stopped reading this around 85%, so, this is not a DNF.

At first, I was rather excited; however, as I progressed, the excitement diminished. Mainly at the point when I realised that many of these things which were featured in this book were in the literature textbook, we had in high-school. And other things I would note as "common knowledge"(not the right word... basically things most book worms know just by searching new books, reading and due to the existence of Wikipedia), very few things were surprising to me, and suddenly I had to push myself through this book.

I'm going to give this two stars if only for the excitement I had at the beginning. Unfortunately, for me, this book is pointless.

[Seema Rao · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable book for the book nerds out there. I'm a lover of the books on books, in general. This one has some interesting facts and stories. The author did a pretty good job of giving space to a diverse set of writers. This is the kind of book where you might read a few pages periodically, grab a vignette or read a quote. I would have enjoyed it being a bit more like essays (a la Kurlansky), but it does good for what it is.

3.5

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Tabatha (tab.talks.books) · Rating 3 out of 5]

BOOKSTAGRAM | BOOK BLOG | AMAZON

Very factual, 90% about authors who have already passed away. It was kind of a bore. I powered through it because some of the facts were interesting. I thought it was going to be more about the newer authors towards the end. Though the author did mention Harry Potter and the Fifty Shades trilogy-which I was all about!

[Deb (Readerbuzz) Nance · Rating 3 out of 5]

Graham Tarrant recounts all the book-related stories---fights between authors, writers put in prison, alcoholic authors, and much more---intermingling these with lists of good books, author quotes, and brief facts about writers.

[Kyra Leseberg (Roots & Reads) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a book about books, which means every bibliophile will need a copy for their shelf!

If you've ever been interested in the love life, drug use, secrets, superstitions, and feuds of noted authors, this book is chock full of the facts.

For the Love of Books takes a look at the history of book banning and why certain books have been banned throughout the ages, the history of printing and invention of e-books, famous author feuds, word origins, top ten book lists, and more.

This is an entertaining book that is certain to hold a story or two readers haven't heard before.

Thanks to Skyhorse Publishing for providing a DRC via Edelweiss. For the Love of Books: Stories of Literary Lives, Banned Books, Author Feuds, Extraordinary Characters, and More is scheduled for release on June 4, 2019.

For more reviews, visit www.rootsandreads.wordpress.com

[Joseph · Rating 5 out of 5]

This delightful little book was a real treat. It was full of little known literary tidbits that held my interest. The author delved into some of history's greatest literature and gave us the story behind the story, so to speak. This book was easy to read as it wasn't really divided into traditional chapters. Overall, if you like to learn about the stories behind the books we read, give this one a shot.

[Geoff · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was essentially a coffee table book of literary trivia and lists of minutia. Some fun history and anecdotes that remind us that authors (even famous ones!) are still human, but pretty disjointed to read straight through. God to browse in idle moments if you love books.

[TS Chan · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars.

Some interesting insights, although the stories mostly just skimmed the surface. Understandably so given that a lot is being covered and the book is relatively short.

[Lynn · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an interesting book about the history of books. It’s an easy read, with chapters about the history of physical books and ebooks; factoids about authors; different genres; and the publishing industry. Some information is repeated in a couple of chapters and some information is very esoteric and bizarre.
It’s a light, fun read with some snarky comments popping up unexpectedly. It almost feels like a dialogue with the author at times, because the writing is so conversational.
If you love books, and I will assume you do since you are reading this, then this is an enjoyable book filled with useful (and useless) information.

[Elaine · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thanks to NetGalley for a Kindle ARC of For the Love of Books.

This was a quick, amusing read about the lives of some of the most celebrated authors in the world.

To be honest, if you love books (like I do), some of these anecdotes are not new but some were, like the fact that Truman Capote was so superstitious.

I enjoyed the fun facts section and sidebars where readers are given a brief overview of some of the authors' lives, offering brief insight into their childhoods, adulthood and what shaped their path toward becoming a literary star.

My first caveat is that I would have enjoyed additional exposition on some of the authors; nearly all are too brief and only a few paragraphs long. Very Cliffsnotes-like.

Second, this book is very UK-centric, focusing mostly on authors in the UK, so I'm going to make an educated guess and say the author of this compilation is based in the UK or, a local, at least.

This may put off some American readers (like moi), looking for juicy and/or fascinating tidbits on our favorite American authors. There definitely wasn't enough of that here.

The part about book festivals was interesting but they are all in the UK! Seriously? As if the US didn't hold literary events???

This was a fast read with some funny and amusing facts but it could have been so much better!

[Morris · Rating 4 out of 5]

As both a trivia nerd and a bibliophile, I absolutely loved this book. Some of the facts I already knew, but even those were written in a way that was still entertaining. Bonus: Guaranteed to up your jeopardy and trivial pursuit skills.

This unbiased review is based upon a complimentary copy provided by the publisher.

[Flybyreader · Rating 5 out of 5]

A bibliophile's heaven, this is a 5-star book on books for book-lovers!
I loved every single page of this splendid reference guide, took a lot of notes, highlighted a great many lines and added several dozen books to my to-read list. Best of all, I learnt so much!
This great collection gives hypnotizing information about the history of books, libraries, the act of reading and writing (an introduction to civilizations that contributed to this process), interesting facts about famous books and authors, publishing houses, literature awards. The chapters were beautifully created under several provocative titles such as banned books, writer's feuds, prison sentences and pseudonyms. It is quite obvious that the author has gone great lengths to collect this cluster of information and create this well-thought work.
Definitely recommended for everyone, who loves reading!

(I received an advance readers copy from Skyhorse Publishing and Netgalley in exchange for honest review)

[Lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Joy To Read

This was a really enjoyable book to read. I had so much fun reading it. I learned all these things about books that I wondered about but was afraid to ask.

[Pascale · Rating 4 out of 5]

Disclaimer: I received an advance copy of this title from NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Reading is a really subjective thing, while I did for the most part enjoy this, I don't think mine and Tarrant's reading taste are similar.

Also noteworthy, this book is geared first to readers in the UK, resources and references cited are all English (Times Literary Supplement and others cited). And I don't know if this is a Brit thing, but Tarrant interchangeably used Gay and Homosexual to describe several authors - in my experience the use of the term homosexual has fallen out of favour and Gay or Queer are much preferred.

There were a couple errors (and these are ones that this inexperienced reader caught so there could be more...) that I hope the publishers can fix: 1) A quote attributed to Dorothy Parker about Somerset Maugham, was actually spoken by Somerset Maugham, and 2) in the pseudonym section Anne Rice is the pseudonym attributed to a man - unless there is another Anne Rice I don't know about, this is clearly wrong.

As I noted, reading is highly subjective, and perhaps this is why Mr. Tarrant seems to favour male authors (or perhaps it is because of the long standing patriarchal nature of the industry), but I found it particularly ironic that he noted the lack of female Nobel laureates, and then made a list of 10 authors he thought had warranted the award for their body of work and most were male ("Pot? It is I Kettle, calling you black" much?!).

I'm not too certain for whom this book is intended, other than us lovers of all things books. I suppose if you are one of these people, or you know of one of these people this would be a lovely little addition.

The format is quite nice with "It's a fact" and lists throughout the text that make it an easy reference guide. The sections are also nicely arranged into areas of interest making it easy to pick-up recommendations on particular genres.

All in all, I love books about books, and I love finding 'new' authors whose catalogs I can go back and explore. I also appreciate the anecdotes presented that gave authors life, which makes me think there are quite a few biographies I should also explore.

[Bandit · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don’t know how this one didn’t get more favorable reviews. Being a booklover (like presumably everyone on GR) I found this book to be a delight of random information pertaining to all aspects of literary world. Aside from featuring great many stories that prove once again just how much stranger truth is than fiction, this book was just really fun to read. Literary feuds, quirky factoids behind your favorite books and authors, tons of trivia…even if you’re fairly knowledgeable about the behind the scenes sort of information, I bet you’ll still be able to find something new within these pages. The book is categorized into sections and all entries are succinct and told in a cheery lighthearted manner. In that way it’s much more of a trivia book than a proper encyclopedic literature’s who, what and why sort of book, but then again it’s 224 pages, what did you expect. Definitely more of a cream off the top than the drags at the bottom of the cup, but very entertaining at what it does. I enjoyed it thoroughly, got to revisit some known facts and learn some new ones and really all learning should be this much fun. I can’t imagine a booklover who wouldn’t like this. Recommended. Thanks Netgalley.

[Jenny · Rating 3 out of 5]

Intriguing title? Check. Cool cover? Check. A book about books? Check. As a librarian and self-proclaimed “book nerd”, I was very excited to receive a copy of this book. Unfortunately, this book missed the mark for me. Although the book contained some very interesting facts, the delivery was very dry - at times I thought I was reading a textbook! There is some humor, but it gets drowned out in the dryness of the overall text. Some of the anecdotes were too short and left me wanting more, and I feel like the author jumped all over the place in the organization. This may have worked for a physical book, but this made it very confusing when listening to the audiobook. This was a short read with some interesting facts, but I ended up disappointed. 2.5 stars.

Audiobook ARC generously provided through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Celeste · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received an advance copy of this book from the publisher, Tantor Audio, via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Is there anything more fun for a bookworm than sitting down with a book about books? Not that I’ve found. As a lover of both books and useless trivia, Tarrant’s For the Love of Books was a perfect marriage for me. This book was originally published in 2019, but the audiobook just released in March of 2021. The audio was beautifully narrated by Michael Lloyd Davies. I could happily listen to that lovely accented voice forever, but I ended up consuming this particular book over the course of a single day. Having eaten through the book so quickly means that I regrettably didn’t retain a ton of the facts presented, but I very much enjoyed my time with it. After paging through the print copy, I believe that reading this book in the its printed form would lead to a greater connection with, and greater retention of, the text. But for sheer enjoyment, I highly recommend picking this up on audio.

There were sections that I found more interesting than others. For instance, I loved the chapters about writerly feuds and author deaths, but didn’t really care for those about the publishing industry itself. That being said, I believe this was a pretty well-rounded collection of facts, though some were on the dry side. I think that this is a book that would benefit from being flipped through at leisure, and I might purchase myself a physical copy so I can do just that.

[McKenzie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

5 dragons for what it does to book lovers. 3 dragons for what I wanted/expected. Averaged out gives us four dragons.

I’m giving this four dragons rather than five because it was difficult to read straight through. It jumped very quickly when it could have slowed down and given a more complete look at some of the more interesting sections. Basically this book was a book of paragraphs that didn’t connect which is fine for the style of the book, but is not my personal taste.

For the Love of Books: Stories of Literary Lives, Banned Books, Author Feuds, Extraordinary Characters, and More is the type of book that almost needs to be read as a physical copy. I

wanted to have this book in my hands where I could flip through it and peek around. I wanted to be able to annotate and highlight (in the real world). I wanted to be able to take the time to commit some of these stories to memory. Instead I found myself flipping through page after page in fascination but remembering very little. This would also make an amazing coffee table book if those are still a thing. I wanted to be able to pick this up and wow my family with strangle little tidbits.

It is so full of entertaining facts about well-known and beloved authors that I took about a million screenshots while reading it. It’s definitely worth picking up even for just a few pages of escape. I was quite excited to read this and wasn’t really disappointed though I did have different expectations. And in the interest of absolute honesty I haven’t fully finished it. I’ve read well over half, but I didn’t want to rush it because then I wouldn’t remember any of the cool stuff. So I’m writing this review without being able to say I’ve read every word which is unusual for me at least when the book is not a DNF, but it is because I enjoy the book so much that I don’t want to end it just yet.

Feel free to visit my blog https://www.literarydragonreviews.web...

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Totally fun, easy read. Not recommended for the serious scholar, but very enjoyable for the rest of us! Seems like this must have been published in the UK first, but that actually makes it more fun, not less.

Came across this in the library, had to bring it home. Totally my cup of tea, loved the lists.

One example of the kind of fun fact you'll find in this book: Did you know there was a famous American author named Winston Churchill before the guy who become the British prime minister became well-known? The British Churchill had to use his middle initial to distinguish himself!

[Amanda Bennett at passionforprose · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a bibliophile’s dream, full of facts and anecdotes about books and authors throughout history.

Other than fellow book lovers, English teachers, and librarians, I’m not sure who else this book would appeal to. I read it in a few days, but it could definitely be picked up and read in bursts based on the organizational structure.

Overall, I would recommend this book if you love books and don’t mind that the author sticks mostly to the literary canon. I wish was a little more diversity to the book choices, but it was an enjoyable read nonetheless.

instagram.com/passionforprose

[Eva B. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun factoids, but this would've been improved by being less UK-centric and a good deal longer. I wanted more info! Tbh this is worth picking up for the literary feuds bit along, if I was dealt some of those barbs I would've simply perished on the spot.

[Yaaresse · Rating 2 out of 5]

"It's OK" is about right for this one. I'd heard/read a lot of the trivia in it before, and it's probably all on Wiki -- at least the ones that are really true. There are a few things included that aren't.

The problem with these sorts of books is that they get boring very fast. One or two bits of trivia can be interesting; piles of random trivia with no point aside from being trivia is tiresome. And that, boys and girls, is why it's always a bad idea to read forward on your factoid-a-day desk calendar. (Desk calendars...I totally just dated myself there.)

[melmarian · Rating 3 out of 5]

I skipped a lot of parts where it discusses authors whom I do not know of and/or not interested to read. Not the book's fault to be honest.

[Zulfiya · Rating 4 out of 5]

All things books, authors, literature, and other literary memorabilia.
The book is nothing stellar, but quite enjoyable nonetheless, especially if books play an important part in your life. It does contain a little bit of history, especially in the beginning, but then the chapters become mostly thematic. It made me think, recall, giggle, laugh, and just enjoy.

It would have been a perfect coffee table book with illustrations and better quality of printing paper, but for me, it was still a very refreshing look on literature and its powerhouses.

[Rachel Yuska · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amazing book! I enjoyed reading each part of it. Literary world can be dangerous.
The writer also gave suggestions what to read for each genre.
So fascinating.

[Melissa Bennett · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a great but slow read for me. Compiled with lots of information on books, I found myself reading with pen and paper at my side so I could take notes on some of the yummy books mentioned. The book is made up of chapters on different subjects. You have banned books, crime writers, author feuds and much more. Highly recommended for the book lover out there. Take time to savor each page.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not as entertaining or interesting as I thought it would be as a whole, but it's worth skimming through. My biggest takeaway from reading this book is that my knowledge (or awareness) of British writers is sorely lacking.

[Charlsa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this would be a book that I read through quickly perusing some sections and taking more time with others. I found myself slowing down and reading every word, For The Love Of Books covers everything from the earliest history of books to the advent of digital print to writing habits to feuds with fellow authors to authors with experience in the spy world. It has a great balance of printing history and interesting stories to keep it from being either dry or a book of bibliophile trivia. I had no idea that George Washington was once a book salesman or that there are so many authors who worked as spies or informants in the World War.

There are also lists of the best books related to each subject or chapter. I plan on listing them all in my journal and choosing a couple from each list to read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Skyhorse Publishing for an advanced readers copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

[Faouzia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very enjoyable book. Informative and interesting.
I requested it obviously for its title. I love books and i love stories about books, and this one combined both.
I had quite a good time reading stories about favorites books and authors, revisiting some forgotten information and getting to know about other authors, their books and stories.
I enjoyed a lot the chapter about the Feuds between authors, they are really a witty breed!
I have to go back to the book again and skim quickly through it to add all the books that caught my fancy while reading, i can see that this will make my list even more unmanageable but it is all "for the love of books".

Thank you NetGalley, the publisher and author for this free copy in exchange of an honest review.