Sorry for the late post today, but I got all caught up in reading the comments from yesterday. Thanks to everyone for what I thought was the best comment thread ever--it was like the best spontaneous book conversation ever, with everyone suggesting titles and bookstores and talking about true crime and, most importantly, largely agreeing that Richard Dawkins needs to be served a large cup of shut the fuck up.* So thank you to everyone for that.
In other news, today I thought I'd announce why I've been reading fiction pretty hardcore for the last couple of years. It's because I've been working on a new book with Nancy Pearl called Now Read This 3: A Guide to Mainstream Fiction. Pearl, also known as the Librarian Action Figure and frequent book commentator on NPR, is the author of the first two volumes in the series, Now Read This (along with assistance from Martha Knappe and Chris Higashi) and Now Read This 2. They're the books (along with the Genreflecting series) on which I modeled The Real Story and The Inside Scoop: we list mainstream fiction titles, provide a summary or annotation for them, and then suggest similar books that readers might also enjoy. It's not quite done yet, and I notice in Amazon that the pub date's been pushed back a little farther than I thought it would be, but we're getting very close to finishing it and I couldn't be happier. How often does one get to work with not only an unparalleled reader (which Nancy Pearl most certainly is) but also a librarian icon? Not very often, and it's been so, so great.
I didn't completely ignore nonfiction along the way--I could never do that--the new Now Read This is going to include lists of nonfiction books that might particularly appeal to fiction readers, and we tried to make both fiction and nonfiction suggestions for most of the novels.
And with this announcement, I hereby end this week of somewhat garish self-promotion. Sadly, I have to finish the week out with some bad news: author Dominick Dunne, himself a true crime writer and brother of author John Gregory Dunne, has died at the age of 83.
*Sorry, Robert, I had to steal your line, it was too good not to use.
Congrats on the new book! Any special finds in your hardcore reading?
Speaking of Dunne, I read a piece of his in the Library of America true crime collection, a book I think you would greatly appreciate. So sad.
Posted by: Tripp | 28 August 2009 at 01:08 PM
Tripp,
I totally agree that I am sad over Dunne. I think he had kind of a tough life and turned to writing late to try and understand the travesty of justice that was the trial of his daughter's killer. No one should have to live through that. And I am sad that another member of the Dunne family is gone--it's put me in the mood to read some more John Gregory again, and by extension, some Joan Didion.
Thanks for the congrats. Any new finds. Well, most of them you saw here already, I think: Tom Drury. P.F. Kluge. David Mitchell. David Nicholls, another Brit. I actually really enjoyed Chang-Rae Lee's "Aloft," and I grew to love Ian McEwan, which was really quite strange. Oh, and Penelope Lively, LOVE Penelope Lively. Martin Millar, of course. (God, I'd really been missing all kinds of great British and Scottish authors.) I found Antonya Nelson kind of interesting, and Jean Thompson, oh, Jean Thompson's short story collection Do Not Deny Me is the best thing ever. Also found some grudging respect for Jhumpa Lahiri and Elizabeth Strout, and must read more Stewart O'Nan. I know there's lots more...maybe I'll have to post about that sometime soon.
Posted by: Citizen Reader | 28 August 2009 at 02:00 PM
You wrote a book with NANCY PEARL!?! I'm so jealous. Not that I have or am going to write a book with anybody, let alone Nancy Pearl, but still.
Posted by: Kathy | 28 August 2009 at 04:54 PM
Kathy,
Yup, I was pretty lucky. And, although her action figure comes with full shushing power, she didn't shush me once! It was wonderful.
Posted by: Citizen Reader | 29 August 2009 at 09:06 AM
you are officially "library cool" frigging NANCY PEARL! Congrats Sara, now I know someone famous :)
Posted by: katharine | 31 August 2009 at 07:39 PM
Oh, Katharine, you're a doll, so I'm sorry to break it to you, but you only know someone who knows someone famous. And thanks--I'll take "library cool" any day of the week--that's the first time I've ever been in the same room with any kind of cool at all! :)
Posted by: Citizen Reader | 31 August 2009 at 08:28 PM
The one that feels good, that feeling of hope or happiness or love.
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