My book porn

If there's one thing I'm serious about collecting, it would have to be the books published by the New York Review of Books (NYRB). NYRB titles are an eclectic sort -- from novels, essays, travelogues, biographies, poetry, and what have you. Plus, they look good on one's shelf.


We all have our favorite imprints. For classics, I just love Penguin and Oxford University Press (OUP). But the titles that NYRB publishes are those that have been forgotten by many.

Because of NYRB, I have been able to read Tove Jansson's wonderful novel for adults, The Summer Book, Elaine Dundy's hysterically funny The Dud Avocado, the original version of Collodi's Pinocchio, Alberto Moravia's haunting novel about marriage entitled Contempt, and the stories of Daphne Du Maurier collected in Don't Look Now, among others.

Some of these titles are very little known, dear reader. Nut now, readers are rediscovering the novels of Gregor von Rezzori, Victor Serge, Glenway Wescott, and Sylvia Townsend Warner, to name a few. You gotta love NYRB because of that. They've managed to bring back outstanding works of the past century much to the delight of readers.

Here are some NYRB titles that I absolutely loved. Don't you just love the covers? Simple and elegant at the same time.