OpinionJournal.com : “Meet Harriet Klausner, Amazon.com’s most prolific reviewer. Harriet Klausner read four books yesterday … no big whoop. The only days she doesn’t read four books are the days she reads five.” (Take the poll.)
Still, in terms of productivity (8,649 reviews as of mid-March) and the ability to turn out what the site calls helpful information, Ms. Klausner is in a league of her own.
More than 53,000 Amazon visitors have given a thumbs up to commentary like “the fast-paced story line contains intriguing heroes battling with one another as much as with their common foes.” … on the thriller “No Man’s Dog” by Jon A. Jackson. “Exhilarating British police procedural” was her word on “Flesh Wounds” by John Lawton. “Daniel’s Veil” by R.H. Stavis, meanwhile, was deemed “a fascinating and enthralling paranormal tale.” …
“If a book doesn’t hold my interest by page 50 I’ll stop reading, which is one of the reasons I give a lot of good ratings,” says Ms. Klausner, whose voice suggests she’s taken more than a few nips of helium. “And why review a book to give it a low rating or to tear it apart? Nothing in that.”
[S]he can cut the motor on her enthusiasm when necessary. “I give Ralph McInerny, the author of the ‘Father Dowling’ mysteries, a low rating and tell why I can’t stand the books,” says Ms. Klausner, … “It’s basically the same story over and over.”
She has the same “been there, read that” problem with Cassie Edwards, a scribe of Native American romances. “It’s either a half-breed Indian male or a full-breed Indian male and a white virgin,” sighs Ms. Klausner, …
Ha! I love that description! (Reminds me of the books I checked out from the Yakima Valley Bookmobile as a teen girl. Boy, did I learn a lot from those books!)
Right now, I’m reading “Emergency Sex and Other Desperate Measures,” lent to me by my daughter, who loved it. It’s the true story of three young people who who did HR work through the U.N. around the world.
In my car, I’ve got “Fire in the Lake,” the classic about Vietnam. It’s weird … while I’m waiting in the car while my daughter runs in the grocery store, I randomly open the book and anything I read directly reminds me of the war in Iraq.
The Chocolate War
The Age of Spiritual Machines
The Essential Trudeau
and
Preventing Reading Difficulties of Young Children
Man, I can’t even remember the last book I finished. Guess I spend too much time reading on the internet…
4 books a day? Heck that’s nothing. Sometimes I do six to 10 books an hour: If You Give A Pig a Pancake, The Very Quiet Cricket, the Paper Boy, the Cat in the Hat, the Little Red Hen Makes a Pizza, the Three Little Pigs, Curious George at the Hospital or the very dramatic Hop On Pop, which my reading of “Dad Sad/He had a bad day/What a day, Dad had” brings tears to the eyes — at least to mine.
Harriet Klausner, what a slouch! 4 books. Pshaw.
Do you have children?
my email has been down since shortly after 3:00 PM EST. Verizon sucks.
I just like to read lots of books. What makes you think I have children?
P.S.
Scroll down for all pics
And why am I feeling like Dean Martin about now?
(They’re adorable. Your treasure. Wonderful diary too.)
I prefer Abbott and Costello. Glad you liked the diary.
What precious babies, Carnacki. You are truly blessed.
Thank you.
are they beginning to read to you? 😉
Yes, you are indeed blessed… no wonder you’re able to do all those happy story diaries!
I don’t read nearly as much as I should or as I would like to. I’m certainly no competition for Harriet!
The last one was Touching My Father’s Soul, by Tensing Norgay.
3 (Modern) Favorites: Midnight’s Children, The God of Small Things, Confederacy of Dunces
Tell us about them. Who is Tensing Norgay? (Fears she’s outing herself as less than literate.)
Jamling Norgay wrote the book. Tensing is his father.
Touching My Father’s Soul: A Sherpa’s Journey to the Top of Everest
Since I am obviously not good at this, I will let amazon tell you about the others too.
Midnight’s Children
The God of Small Things
A Confederacy of Dunces
Confederacy of Dunces sounds wonderful and funny. What a story about the author… won’t say here so people can discover for themselves.
you are prepared to laugh till your cheeks hurt for the duration.
It does appear that John Kennedy O’Toole visited earth for the sole purpose of writing that book, and in my opinion, that was a good enough reason.
Thomas Mann: Doctor Faustus; The Magic Mountain (reading)
Mikhail Bulgakov: The Master and Margarita
J.M. Coetzee: Disgrace; Waiting for the Barbarians
Joseph Conrad: Heart of Darkness
Franz Kafka: The Castle; The Trial
Albert Camus: The Plague
Milan Kundera: The Joke; Laughable Loves; The Unbearable Lightness of Being; The Book of Laughter and Forgetting; The Farewell Party; Immortality
Hermann Hesse: Siddharta
David Malouf: The Conversations at Curlow Creek
Ian McEwan: Black Dogs
Paul Bowles: The Sheltering Sky; Let It Come Down; The Spider’s House; Stories
Gabriel Garcia Marquez: Strange Pilgrims
Amin Maalouf: The Gardens of Light
Jens Bjørneboe: Duke Hans; The Sharks; The History of Bestiality (trilogy)
J.L. Borges: Labyrinths; Doctor Brodie’s Report; the Aleph
A bright shining 4 for mentioning Mikhail Bulgakov. The scenes with Pilate in Master and Margarita are especially extraordinary.
About ten or so years ago I had the privilege of touring his home (now a museum) in Kiev. On hand was a frail old woman who knew Bulgakov, and referred to him as “dear Misha.”
Really envy you that!
‘Dear Misha’ is still no household name, but has a strong international cult status. Once, on a train from Szeged to Budapest, I sat next to an introvert guy who professed to speak no English. However, the very moment I pulled out The Master, he was beside himself with enthusiasm and spoke impeccable English.
He was a gardener by profession and about a hundred times more well-read than me. Those Magyars are an interesting bunch.
A while ago I had a pair of dKos diaries about the best fiction series ever; lots of good recommendations, I think.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2004/9/23/23550/5438
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2004/9/23/144254/722
sometimes more – but that requires skimming and would be for information only (not enjoyment).
I could tell you, but then I’d have to shoot you…
Currently, “Against a Dark Background” by Iain M. Banks.
Well, I am a Sci-Fi nut. I’ve been thinking it’s about time to re-read Nabokov’s “Pale Fire” again. I also just got a copy of T. Coraghessan Boyle’s “Stories” even though I’ve read most of them before. I don’t spend nearly as much time reading lately as I do sometimes. It depends on the mood, I suppose.