The most attractively laid out and compactly informative guide that I know of to books that are currently in print. By the manner in which The Reader's Catalog presents what is essentially an attractively annotated list of books, it must be called a triumph. This best-books guide is an enlarged and updated version of a work first published in 1989. The titles listed have been selected by about 140 writers and academics. Nearly all the titles were published by major commercial publishers, while denominational and smaller publishers are ignored.
Emphasis rests on the exotic and bizarre at the expense of mainstream material. . . .
This book industry index to the current taste of popular reviewers is significant as a cultural document but of limited use to academic libraries. A Novel Based on True Events by Ursula Mandel tells the heart-stopping story of a woman's desperate attempt to rescue her niece from Berlin, just as the 'iron curtain' falls across Europe. More . . . Up by Janet Evanovich More . . . The heartrending story of an old man taking his last chance towards an elusive redemption and the distant hope of love.