Kim & Brajesh's Review : The Novel Cure - An A-Z of Literary Remedies

Kim's Review :

The minute I saw "The Novel cure - an A-Z of Literary Remedies" by Ella Berthoud and Susan Elderkin up for pre-order on flipkart, I just ordered it immediately. It seemed like something right up our alley. And when it arrived on 21st August, I dove into it. In fact, Brajesh and I were fighting over the book, since he was home when it arrived.

I've been dipping into it on & off since that day. Its not a book that can be read cover-to-cover, but its meant to be savoured one topic at a time, referred to often and enjoyed whenever you are in the mood for a recommendation.

Its written by 2 Bibliotherapists, like a medical handbook, but the remedies are books. Ailments are wide ranging from fear of fatherhood to fear of dinner parties, loneliness to selfishness, feeling like an idiot to bad manners and serious ones like being widowed to falling off the wagon.

They have a list of Reading ailments too - which is not just apt but also humorously written - ailments include compulsive book buying, fear of finishing a good book / series, too many children requiring attention, reading induced loneliness etc. We identified with so many of those illnesses and found some valuable tips too.

I have to recommend it to every reader, because I'm sure each one of you will love it.

The only drawback of this book : its adding more titles to my ever growing bedside books "to be read"

Rating : 4.5 / 5

Brajesh's Review :

If you are a book lover, you MUST have this book as a part of your library. A most unusual book , which I am delighted to have discovered.

First the facts, prior to this book I was unaware of “Bibliotherapy” as a concept. As I discovered, it is an expressive therapy which uses ones relationship with the written word as a cure.

This book is a Bible of bibliotheraphy, it provides a literary cure to all ailments ranging from physical problems like “headache & hiccups” to psychological issues like “pessimism & sadness”. It addresses the funny problems like “missing your flight & public urinating” while also addressing the cure of serious issues like “ageing parents & alcoholism”. So no matter what your problem is this Bible will suggest a literary cure for the same.

Obviously this is a book which can never truly be read, but without having this in your library, you can't really call yourself a book lover.

A good way to familiarize oneself with this book , is to flip through the pages while reading the highlighted pages listing the common “Reading Ailments” like “fear of finishing” and “seduction of new books” or the most common one for book lovers “overwhelmed by number of books in your house”.

While going over these, also read the book lists of 10, sprinkled throughout. To sample a few consider “the 10 best novellas” or “the ten best shocking novels” or my favorite, “the ten best novels for seemingly well read”.

At INR 595/- this is a perfect gift and my recommendation for the “best value for money book” of 2014. Go order now at flipkart or amazon.com

Rating : 4.5 / 5