The Bibliophile's Devotional: 365 days of literary classics by Hallie Ephron, PhD

A page from The Bibliophile's Devotional: 365 days of literary classics

Every time I pick up The Bibliophile's Devotional: 365 days of literary classics by Hallie Ephron I have a sad little feeling. Why? Because I purchased this gem on one of the last days that Borders Books was open for business. Sigh. I loved that place. I would drop in there all the time since it was on the way home from both work and church. It seemed like I was always at Borders wandering up and down the shelves perusing the books and finding some treasures. I had my eye on this book before I learned that Borders was going out of business. I should have purchased it for full price. Maybe if I had been willing to pay full price the store would have survived. It is my fault. Double sigh.

Anyway, The Bibliophile's Devotional: 365 days of literary classics is truly a treasure. Every day Ephron highlights a book that she thinks will "nourish the book lover in each of us." Many of the books are classics that we have all heard of: The Great Gatsby, In Cold Blood, The Color Purple, etc. Other books are destined to become classics that most of us haven't heard of, while others are just good books that should not be missed.

Organized like all devotionals I've read, there is one entry per day. Each entry starts with the first line of the book. This is followed by a summary and some interesting facts about the book and or the author. Lastly there is a quote by some famous person about the book or the author. Just about every entry made me want to read the book, if I hadn't read it, and re-read, it if I had. I figured it out once, if I could read two of the books per month (along with my other readings) it would only take me eleven years to read them all.

I started marking up my book to help me remember which books I wanted to read next. Slash marks meant I had already read the book. Stars for those books I want to read soon. Double stars for my favorites each month. Pretty soon I couldn't even remember my own system for keeping track of which marks meant what. After reading through the book pretty much constantly since I bought it (I've probably read every entry at least three times, maybe four) I figured it was time to share the wealth with you--- to tell you about this book maybe make you want to run out and find a copy for yourself. I keep my book in a spot where it can have my undivided attention for short periods of time, if you get my meaning.

Allow me to recommend The Bibliophile's Devotional: 365 days of literary classics. I'm positive you will thoroughly enjoy it, too.