People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks

An entertaining, very well-written fictionalized history of the Sarajevo Haggadah, a 14th century illuminated manuscript, which is on permanent display at the National Museum in Sarajevo. A rare manuscript, interesting characters, mystery, intrigue, history, romance, multiple time lines… what’s not to like? (See also New Yorker article about Dervis Korkut, the museum’s chief librarian, who saved the book from the Nazis.)

The Polysyllabic Spree by Nick Hornby

Subtitled “A hilarious and true account of one man’s struggle with the monthly tide of the books he’s bought and the books he’s been meaning to read.” (Know what he means?) This is a collection of 14 of his monthly columns/reviews. Be forewarned that this book will add to your list of books to read.

Nabokov’s Butterfly by Rick Gekoski

A rare book dealer, Gekoski tells the stories of 20 major books that he’s handled in his career. Very fun reading.

Sixpence House by Paul Collins

Collins moves from San Francisco to Hay-on-Wye, Wales, a village known for having a population of 1,500 and 40 bookstores. Very amusing.

Ex Libris by Anne Fadiman

A well-written and witty collection of 18 essays about books and language. The first essay is about how, after 5 years of marriage and a child, she and her husband decide they’re “ready for the more profound intimacy of library consolidation.” Then came the issue of how the co-mingled books should be organized. Other essays are about shopping at a secondhand bookstore (from which she buys 19lbs of books), her family and the word games they play (eg, competing to find typos on menus), and the pleasure of reading a book in the location that it describes. A fun and entertaining read.

The Book on the Bookshelf by Henry Petroski

About the evolution of books and bookshelves, with emphasis on bookshelves. Slow in places where he delves into gory detail on how the certain shelves were constructed, etc., (the author’s an engineer) but I’d never thought about how books and bookshelves have changed over time.

Great Books by David Denby

Denby is a 40-something movie critic who returns to Columbia Univ. to take the Humanities Literature and Western Civ classes that all students are required to take. The book is about his thoughts on the books, the class discussions, the profs and the students as he takes these classes again 25 yrs after he took them as a freshman - and obviously with a perspective including 25 more years of "life experience".