Books on the Nightstand, Episode 19 (19:11)
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We’re still polishing off the Thanksgiving leftovers, so this episode is a little bit like our refrigerators — a little of this, a little of that…
First, we answer the most often-asked question related to our jobs: “Do you have to read all of those books?”
In the second segment, we tell you what books we hope to find under our Christmas trees this holiday season, as well as some books we’d want to find there if we didn’t already own them. If we didn’t have them, we’d both want every book in our 2008 Holiday Gift Guide (wouldn’t you?), but we picked out some favorites nonetheless. Oh, and Ann wants someone to pick out a great graphic novel for her (no superheroes, please). The books that we don’t yet have we are hoping to unwrap in a few weeks — we’ll let you know.
Lastly, we present our usual “Two Books We Can’t Wait For You to Read.” Ann discusses The Senator’s Wife by Sue Miller, which will be published in paperback on January 6th. Michael talks about Colum McCann’s This Side of Brightness — it was published in 1998 but Michael wants you to read it now so that you can look forward to the summer 09 publication of McCann’s new novel.
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The Complete Robuchon by Joel Robuchon, Knopf hardcover
Martha Stewart’s Cooking School by Martha Stewart, Clarkson Potter hardcover
Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics by Ina Garten, Clarkson Potter hardcover
Giada’s Kitchen by Giada De Laurentiis, Clarkson Potter hardcover
The Oxford Project by Peter Feldstein and Stephen G. Bloom, Welcome Books hardcover
Doomed Queens by Kris Waldherr, Broadway trade paperback
Turquoise: A Chef’s Travels in Turkey by Greg and Lucy Malouf
The 33 1/3 Series, paperback published by Continuum Press, paperbacks
Queen and Country, the Definitive Edition by Greg Rucka, Oni Press trade paperback
Hellboy by Mike Mignola, Dark Horse hardcover
Local by Brian Wood, Oni Press hardcover
The Senator’s Wife by Sue Miller, Vintage trade paperback
This Side of Brightness by Colum McCann, Picador trade paperback
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i haven’t read it, but i saw that recently, a graphic novel for f. scott fitzgerald’s the curious case of benjamin button recently came out.
i’ve never delved into the realm of graphic novels, and this looked like a nice place to start for me, but i wanted to read the original first.
A question occurred to me as I listened to you explain how you get through 1500 titles per year: How do you reconcile your personal feelings with your professional responsibilities? How do you manage not underselling the books you don’t particularly care for or, conversely, overselling your faves?
Not sure if you can really answer that, but was curious.
Hi Stephen — that’s a great question, and I can take a brief stab at that.
The hardest part is, of course, not overselling our favorites. Passion tends to be contagious.
As for the rest — it is really true that there are books for everybody. And while we may not love a particular title, we are very good at knowing what type of person would like the book, based on other authors, etc. And the computer systems at the bookstores help. So if I have a book that I don’t care for that is similar to a book by John Smith, we’ll see how many copies of John Smith’s book the store sold, and that will give us an idea of whether or not the store should stock it, and how many.
On top of all that is marketing and publicity that the publisher gets for the book, so even if I don’t love a book but it’s going to be on NPR and likely reviewed all over the place, my feelings don’t really matter, because the customers will come looking for it anyway.
Lastly, we know the floor staff at our bookstores, and we know what they like, as does the buyer. That’s one of the most important factors in a buyer’s decision.
Hope this helps a little. It’s an art, not a science, despite the computerization of the industry.
thanks, Ann. I was hoping it was something like that. The arcane should never be taken out of the book experience, and your intuition contributes to a little bit of the magic behind a book’s journey from being written by the author to being read by we readers.