‘Books for Living’ a timeless look at some really good ones
Will Schwalbe, author of “The End of Your Life Book Club,” has once again given life to his love of books and reading.
“Books for Living” is sort of a book club for everyday living and a pure pleasure to recommend.
There are as many reasons for reading as there are readers. Schwalbe’s introductory pages contain his inventory of reasons for picking up a book. “I’m not the same reader when I finish a book as I was when I started. Brains are tangles of pathways, and reading creates new ones. Every book changes your life. So I like to ask: How is this book changing mine?”
The author takes us back to some of the books he read in his youth, into the reading of his middle years and now in his maturity. Each chapter captures not only a singular title, but his reasons for reading the book at the time it was picked up and how the book may have changed him.
The first chapter bears not only a book’s title, “The Importance of Living,” but also its life lesson: “Slowing Down.” I’ve reread this chapter several times and have already ordered a copy of Lin Yutang’s “The Importance of Living.” It is a book first published in 1937, and I suspect its mantra of slowing down is more important today than it was in its popularity all those years ago.
For those who love books about books, Schwalbe’s latest is a treasure. Not only does the reader get to see which books have made a difference in the author’s life, but we get to measure, and often remeasure, our own association with those titles. We may not begin a novel expecting to discover something within its plot or characters that will change our lives, but it can happen and often unexpectedly does.
David Copperfield becomes a lifelong hero of sorts for Schwalbe, which is another reason for recommending “Books for Living.” It’s not only the author’s personal take on books, but without becoming preachy his writing about books that were or are important to him invites us to remember our favorite books and maybe discover that they, too, taught us something about living.
You will love his appendix of authors and titles, and I would bet that you will see some book titles you’d forgotten you’d read. Schwalbe’s books range from novels (literary and popular) to history, self-help, essay collections and “how to” books (“Bird by Bird”) and even cookbooks.
“Books for Living” is the perfect winter read. It is the sort of book that can be read straight through or by skipping around to chapters that strike your fancy.
Sunny Solomon is a freelance writer and head of the Clayton Book Club. Visit her website at
bookinwithsunny.com for her latest recommendations or just to ‘talk books.’
Sunny Solomon
Sunny Solomon holds an MA in English/Creative Writing, San Francisco State University. She is a book reviewer for “The Clayton Pioneer” and her poetry and other writing has been published in literary journals, one chapbook, In the Company of Hope and the collection, Six Poets Sixty-six Poems. She was the happy manager of Bonanza Books, Clayton, CA and Clayton Books, Clayton, CA. She continues to moderate a thriving book club that survived the closure of the store from which it began. Sunny currently lives next to the Truckee in Reno, NV.