8 great books about books

Michele Filgate is an independent bookseller at Community Bookstore in Brooklyn. She is also a writer and critic, and has written for O, The Oprah Magazine, The Star Tribune, Bookslut, The Quarterly Conversation, The Brooklyn Rail, The Book Studio, Identity Theory, and other publications.

At The Daily Beast she tagged eight great books about books, including:

A History Of Reading
by Alberto Manguel

Manguel used to read aloud to Jorge Luis Borges, and it was through this amazing opportunity that he learned about some of the books he now loves. Manguel is a master of the “books about books” genre, having written several nonfiction volumes about his obsession. This particular work focuses on not just the author’s personal reading history, but a general history of one of the best pastimes there is. And one of the sentences in this book is my own personal mantra: “Reading, almost as much as breathing, is our essential function.”

Read about another book on the list.

Also see John Sutherland's top 10 books about books.

--Marshal Zeringue