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We’ve got a special guest for this episode!
Stan Hynds is the Senior Book Buyer at The Northshire Bookstore in Manchester Center, Vermont. Michael and I work closely with Stan, and we thought you’d like to hear how all of those books get onto the shelves of your local independent bookstore. Stan is the perfect person to tell us.
In Segment 2, Stan tells us about three of his favorite novels from this past year. Await Your Reply by Dan Chaon, which Michael also loved, is a novel of identity, and is made up of three connected stories that turn out to be intertwined. Juliet, Naked by Nick Hornby is the story of a music, fandom, and relationships that fans of Hornby’s previous novels, especially High Fidelity, will surely love. But really, Stan’s favorite novel of the year is The Anthologist by Nicholson Baker. You can see Stan’s review of this book on The Northshire Bookstore blog. (Since this episode was recorded, I have indeed purchased both Juliet, Naked and The Anthologist. You may want to budget for a few additional book purchases after hearing Stan talk about his favorite novels).
Stan was also great enough to handle both books in our “Two Books We Can’t Wait for you to Read” segment. First up is a collection of essays from Chuck Klosterman called Eating the Dinosaur, which Stan blogged about at The Northshire blog. Sam Lipsyte’s forthcoming The Ask, will be published in March 2010, and may lead to a future Books on the Nightstand episode about novels set in academia. Got any candidates? Call our voicemail and let us know!
Many thanks to Stan for helping us out with this week’s podcast. It was great fun for me, and I hope that our listeners will enjoy it as much as I did. You can read more of Stan’s book recommendations at the “Staff Picks” section of The Northshire Bookstore’s website, and on The Northshire Bookstore blog, where Stan usually posts on Mondays.
(You can listen to the podcast by using the player at the top of this post. If you’re using Internet Explorer, click twice to listen. If your browser does not support javascript, you won’t see the player; click the link below the player to listen, or right-click to download the episode. If you are receiving this post by email and cannot see the player at the bottom of the message, please visit http://www.booksonthenightstand.com to listen)
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We encourage you to write down or print out the title information and shop at your local bookstore. Titles link to LibraryThing, a social networking site that allows you to catalog your home library. LibraryThing also links to various online purchasing options. Here are the books from this post:
Await Your Reply by Dan Chaon, Ballantine Books hardcover
Juliet, Naked by Nick Hornby, Riverhead hardcover
The Anthologist by Nicholson Baker, Simon & Schuster hardcover
Eating the Dinosaur by Chuck Klosterman, Scribner hardcover
The Ask by Sam Lipsyte, Farrar, Straus & Giroux hardcover (due March, 2010)
(all information is for the U.S. editions).
Have a comment, question, or book recommendation? Call our voicemail line and wait for the beep. Tell us if we may play your message on a future podcast.
Loved, loved, loved listening to Stan Hynds talk about books today. Thanks, Ann & Michael for sharing your mic! I’ve been inspired to buy better, read more, and speak up about my favorite books. Great show.
Becky, thanks! We’ll likely be calling on you someday in the future — be ready!
Great show! It’s always interesting to get a peek behind the curtain of bookselling. Mr. Hynds was a great guest.
I loved the idea of having a guest host and this guy was great. Later that night I was listening to Authors on Tour live pod cast and it was Chris Kimbell, (spelling?), anyway, he put in a plug for Stan’s book store as well. I will go check out his blog. Great show Ann. Michael, enough catching up on your sleep, we miss you.
Carla
Thanks Carla… It’s nice to be missed! (i’m back on tomorrow’s episode…)
I think that the guest host idea is fantastic! I was a bit worried that I wouldn’t be as captivated as I usually am, but I hung on every word.
I also think that a theme of books set in academia is a fantastic idea! I would certainly be interested in hearing about books from other listeners and yourselves on this topic.
Thanks for continuing to produce an amazing podcast week after week!
Really good choice in a guest host and some really great recommends. I am finding more and more that I using BTON as my guide for recommended reads.
I have loved every book that I have read (or listened to) that you guys have recommended! I just finished listening to Await Your Reply. Thank you, thank you, thank you! What an engrossing story.
Your podcast is wonderful-entertaining and useful!! Firmin in next on my list-I am sure I will love that to!!