Maralou's idea to reduce her enormous book collection benefits many people.

"Gabriel Zaid's defense of books is genuinely exhilarating. It is not pious, it is wise; and its wisdom is delivered with extraordinary lucidity and charm. This is how Montaigne would have written about the dizzy and increasingly dolorous age of the Internet. May So Many Books fall into so many hands."—Leon Wieseltier "Reading liberates the reader and transports him from his book to a reading of himself and all of life. It leads him to participate in conversations, and in some cases to arrange them…It could even be said that to publish a book is to insert it into the middle of a conversation."—from So Many Books Join the conversation! In So Many Books, Gabriel Zaid offers his observations on the literary condition: a highly original analysis of the predicament that readers, authors, publishers, booksellers, librarians, and teachers find themselves in today—when there are simply more books than any of us can contemplate. "With cascades of books pouring down on him from every direction, how can the twenty-first-century reader keep his head above water? Gabriel Zaid answers that question in a variety of surprising ways, many of them witty, all of them provocative."—Anne Fadiman, Author of Ex-Libris "A truly original book about books. Destined to be a classic!"—Enrique Krauze, Author of Mexico: Biography of Power, Editor of Letras Libres "Gabriel Zaid's small gem of a book manages to be both delectable and useful, like chocolate fortified with vitamins. His rare blend of wisdom and savvy practical sense should make essential and heartening reading for anyone who cares about the future of books and the life of the mind."—Lynne Sharon Schwartz, Author of Ruined by Reading: A Life in Books "Gabriel Zaid is a marvelously elegant and playful writer—a cosmopolitan critic with sound judgment and a light touch. He is a jewel of Latin American letters, which is no small thing to be. Read him—you'll see."—Paul Berman "'So many books,' a phrase usually muttered with despair, is transformed into an expression of awe and joy by Gabriel Zaid. Arguing that books are the essential part of the great conversation we call culture and civilization, So Many Books reminds us that reading (and, by extension, writing and publishing) is a business, a vanity, a vocation, an avocation, a moral and political act, a hedonistic pursuit, all of the aforementioned, none of the aforementioned, and is often a miracle."—Doug Dutton "Zaid traces the preoccupation with reading back through Dr. Johnson, Seneca, and even the Bible ('Of making many books there is no end'). He emerges as a playful celebrant of literary proliferation, noting that there is a new book published every thirty seconds, and optimistically points out that publishers who moan about low sales 'see as a failure what is actually a blessing: The book business, unlike newspapers, films, or television, is viable on a small scale.' Zaid, who claims to own more than ten thousand books, says he has sometimes thought that 'a chastity glove for authors who can't contain themselves' would be a good idea. Nonetheless, he cheerfully opines that 'the truly cultured are capable of owning thousands of unread books without losing their composure or their desire for more.'"—New Yorker

Although he finally agrees that he has too many toys and needs to give them away, there is one toy that Spencer absolutely cannot part with.

Every time Nicolas tries to do something, people give him a book. Now, he has so many books that tell him what to do, how to do it and why to do it that he can't stand them anymore! But could books also be fun?

Baked, stewed, or mashed, pumpkins remind Rebecca Estelle of the Great Depression when that was all her family had to eat. When an enormous pumpkin falls off a truck and smashes in her yard, Rebecca Estelle devises a clever way to get rid of the unwanted crop that sprouts.

/DIV Beat the egg whites into froth. Will too many cooks spoil the broth? DIVFind out in this delightful picture book starring Remy, Emile, and the rest of the stars of Disney/Pixar's next blockbuster, Ratatouille. As the adorable rats join the cooking party one by one, the kitchen grown more and more chaotic. Will Remy and his friends be able to please Ego, the toughtest food critic in the world? With lilting rhyme and whimsical illustrations, this picture book is brimming with five-star fun!

Four peasant ladies discover that too many cooks without a plan can spoil the broth.

"When Martha gets an unusual pet, she's delighted by all of the fun things they do together. If one moose is this marvelous, then more moose must be even better! Pretty soon, Martha has more moose than she can handle"--

Mouse is full of questions. All day. All night. Everywhere he goes. Why is it always leftovers? Everything he sees. Why is my shadow bigger than me? Everything makes mouse wonder and ponder and think of more questions. Do dogs dream? What do worms eat? Why don't stars fall out of the sky? "Too many questions!" everyone says. But no one has answers. So Mouse sets off to find some until, finally, a wise man explains that there's a place Mouse can go to find all the answers ... and even more questions--the library. (And in the back of this book. After all, we wouldn't want to leave you hanging!)A delightful story about Mouse who is FULL of questions. All day. All night. Until somone finally points him in the direction of the best place to find answers -- the library!

A tale of twenty adventurous guinea pigs on sea and land illustrates the process of subtraction as their numbers dwindle.