Category Archives: The Book World

Has Anyone Read this Book?

This might be a strange question to ask, but has anyone heard about a book coming from Knopf in April called The Hakawati by Rabih Alameddine? It’s gotten good blurbs from both Junot Diaz, Aleksander Hemon, and Andrew Sean Greer, all favorite authors of mine. It’s pretty meaty at 544 pages. PW just gave it a starred review, not that that means too much these days. I’m wondering if I should at it to the TBR pile.

From the Science of Sex to the Science of Shopping

I finished Bonk last night. It’s definitely a book that you have to read out loud to people. At least I do. And while she’s funny, Roach manages to write a pretty detailed and scientific book about the science of sex. I really have learned a lot, yes, some about penile implants and the mysterious workings of the vagina. But this book also contains a lot about how sex is studied and how difficult it can be even today to run studies. It’s all pretty fascinating.

Now I’m reading a book that I should have read years ago. In every seminar I’ve attended about retail, Paco Underhill’s Why We Buy is mentioned. It’s the bible of retail stores. Okay, I’m exaggerating. It does contain a lot about human behavior when it comes to shopping. I’m reading all about transition zones when you walk into a store, signage, and the displays. Underhill has spent the last several decades observing the shopper. He’s hired by everyone from Saks Fifth Avenue to the US Postal Service to investigate what goes on in the minds of people when they walk into their stores. Though Why We Buy is not always the most scintillating of books, I’m getting a lot of new information and ideas from the book. It’s definitely less sexy than Bonk.

I’m going to leave you with another quote from Bonk. This is from the chapter on penile prostheses:

What Mr. Wang [a fake name] has sacrificed today is is organ’s natural retractibility. The adjective flaccid will never again apply. In its place are the adjectives bulky and conspicuous. Mr Wang will appear to be going through life at half-mast. Too bad he doesn’t have a pair of underwear that exerts significant inward retentive press. I am borrowing the wording of the team of inventors listed on the patent for Men’s Underwear with Penile Envelope.¹ The patent nowhere states that either of the inventors—who share a last name—had a semirigid penile implant that was causing embarrassing trouser bulge. Nor does it state that the other inventor exerted significant pressure to do something about it. I am, as they say, thinking outside the penile envelope. Just guessing.

¹ Close to but not quite the world’s most embarrassing underthing. First prize must go to the Deorderizing and Sound-Muffling Anal Pad. The patent’s background material details the sad decline of the human anal sphincter muscle, whose gripping capacity fades as we age. The absorbing layer is said to “trap the sound of a flatus,” as though one might later drive the flatus to a less populated area and release it.

The Anal Pad should not be confused with a previous invention called the Anal Napkin, which, in turn, should not be confused with the dinner napkin.

End of the Week Recap

Work, work, and more work. And now some snow. I stopped reading Bonk for a few days in order to read a borrowed galley of Phoebe Damrosch’s Service Included, which details her days working at Per Se in New York. It’s the sort of book that delivers exactly what you expect. It’s behind the scenes at one of the best restaurants in New York with lots of details about how everything works plus some details about Damrosch’s love life. A quick, fun read basically.

Now I’m back to Bonk. It’s so funny. This morning as I rode the T into work, I wondered what the man reading over my shoulder thought of the chapter 9’s heading, “The Lady Boner: Is the Clitoris a Tiny Penis?” Here’s a sample from the chapter:

FSAD is the ladies’ edition of ED (erectile dysfunction). It is distinct from FOD (female orgasmic disorder) and HSDD (hypoactive sexual desire disorder, or low libido). —there’s a footnote here—And from HFAD, hyperactive acronym formation disorder. The condition has reached epidemic proportions in the sex research community. Cindy Weston staged a quiet parody in her days as a postdoc at Washington University. She had the task of composing a questionnaire to screen patients to see if they were promising candidates for surgical correction of a crooked penis (due to Peyronie’s disease). The surgery repairs the crook but takes as much as an inch off the length. Meston called the questionnaire the Washington Examination of Expected Negative Identity Post-Peyronie’s: the WEENI PP.

And yes, I realize what I am doing to my search stats just by typing the words penis and clitoris on here.

Happy President’s Day!

No, I don’t get the day off. I’m here at work having just finished meeting with the rep who sells me Johns Hopkins University Press books among others. Coincidentally, he’s also the man behind Old Earth Books, who published Things Will Never be the Same by Howard Waldrop. The more I hear about Waldrop, the more I think I need to read him.

As you can see in the right hand column, I’ve finished the Engineer trilogy and moved onto something quite different. I’m a fan of Mary Roach. I thought Stiff was hilarious and informative. Bonk is turning out to be much the same, which is a good thing. I find myself laughing and then saying “I didn’t know that!”

Shark’s Fin and Sichuan Peppers by Fuchsia Dunlop

Somehow I imagined this book as a travelogue/memoir of Fuschia Dunlop’s travels around China, sampling all sorts of exotic foods. This turned out to be only part of a wonderful and engaging book with much larger themes.

The English author began in the Sichuan region, moving to Chengdu to research Chinese policy on ethnic minorities at Sichuan University. There she succumbs to the lure of street food, spending more and more time exploring the kitchens of Chengdu rather than actual studying. She spends a month taking formal cooking classes at the Sichuan Institute of Higher Cuisine, which shows her the most basic elements. And then, instead of returning to England, she joined a three month professional chef’s training course. As the only Western student and one of three women in the class, Dunlop has a lot to learn besides figuring out the Sichuan dialect.

Dunlop also spends a lot of time exploring the differences in attitude toward food. The Chinese prize a lot of food that Westerners find from repugnant to abhorrent. Some of it comes down to texture, as in the Sea Cucumber, described by the author herself as looking like “fossilised turds.” Preparing them is laborious. You must salt-roast them or char them first. Then soak them in hot water until they are soft enough to be scraped clean and then gutted. After this you need to summer them in stock to remove the fishiness. Finally, you can add seasonings and cook as you please. Of course, the cucumber still has its rubbery texture.

Why do we abhor eating certain things? And what does that say about us? According to Dunlop, many Chinese think dairy is disgusting. They say Westerners’ sweat smells like milk. It’s a fascinating divide. The author spends a lot of time wrestling with this question especially towards the end of the book. She feels lucky to have traveled as extensively as she has. Now that China’s doors are more open, many of the places she’s visited don’t exist anymore as old makes way for new. And her own tastes have changed. Before she would eat anything, particularly the exotic, just to try it. Meanwhile, more animals have become endangered and the Chinese, like Americans, grow to like eating meat on more than just holidays. Steroids and antibiotics are all introduced. Just this week, a report said that the Olympians traveling to Beijing this summer will bring their own food. Much of the food tested was so full of steroids that athletes would have failed the drug tests.

Overall, I found this book highly enjoyable. Dunlop’s enthusiastic writing makes you want to run out and get some Chinese. It prompted Mr. Bookdwarf and myself visiting Super 88 in Allston , where they have a large number of food stalls serving all sorts of yummy food. After reading passages out loud to him, Mr. Bookdwarf eagerly waited by my elbow as I finished the last five pages, so he could get his hands on the book. Now that’s a recommendation.

Get Ready for Titlewave!

Jessica Stockton Bagnulo asked me to post this for booksellers in the area interested in attending:

On February 27, 2008, independent book wholesaler BookStream will host TitleWave, a unique event including a lunch with authors, new title information, author presentations, and handselling tools, for the benefit of independent booksellers. TitleWave will take place at the Sheraton East Hartford, a central location for many of the area’s finest bookstores, from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM. The authors who will take part in this event are Steve Toltz, author of the novel Fraction of the Whole (Spiegel & Grau); Hillary Jordan, author of the novel Mudbound, (Algonquin); and Richard Price, author of the novel Lush Life, (Farrar Straus & Giroux). The event is free for booksellers, but space is limited; attendees must RSVP with BookStream for a place at the event.

As part of a new its innovative new TitleWave program, independent wholesaler BookStream seeks to bring booksellers from the New England and Mid-Atlantic regions together with authors. The goal is to provide booksellers with information about great new titles and build enthusiasm for specific authors’ work, which will result in sales in independent bookstores throughout the region. The event is geared toward bookstore buyers and frontline staff – any booksellers looking for great titles to feature and handsell in their stores. The TitleWave program will give these booksellers tools for making the most of the best new titles of the Spring list, for the benefit of author, publisher and bookstore. The centerpiece of the event will be an author lunch and presentation in the tradition of New York City bookseller lunches. This gives authors the chance to engage one-on-one with booksellers, chatting informally over lunch and then speaking briefly to the assembled booksellers.

The lineup of authors for this first event is diverse and exciting. Australian author Steve Toltz has received advance buzz for his first novel Fraction of the Whole (the debut offering of Random House’s new imprint Spiegel & Grau), a hilarious epic of fathers and sons. Hillary Jordan’s novel of Mississipi farmers, Mudbound, won the 2006 Bellwether Prize awarded by Barbara Kingsolver. Bookseller favorite Richard Price returns to New York City and takes on crime and gentrification with his new novel Lush Life.

To inquire about the February 27 event, booksellers should call BookStream sales rep Carolyn Bennett toll-free at 866-416-1112 x209, or email carolyn dot bennett at bookstream dot com.

Historical Novels

I need some help for a display idea. I want to feature historical novels set from the Classical era to the Medieval era. This is my working list:

  • The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco
  • Baudolino by Umberto Eco
  • Roma by Steven Saylor
  • Instance of the Fingerpost by Iain Pears
  • I, Claudius by Robert Graves
  • Augustus by John Williams
  • Memoirs of Hadrian by Marguerite Yourcenar
  • Julian by Gore Vidal
  • Persian Boy by Mary Renault
  • Pope Joan by Donna Woolfolk Cross
  • Niccolo Rising by Dorothy Dunnett

I only need one book by each author—Steven Saylor, Mary Renault and others have each written many historical books I know. I

I Think I’m Going to Throw Up

I just read this article in The Atlantic (the Atlantic has opened its archives by the way) about how great the chain bookstores are. I feel a little dirty now. Yes, the author makes some valid points, but she also doesn’t mention that the publishers often pay the chains for placement of their books in windows and displays. I’m glad that the non-urban areas of the country now have access to books, but I also know that most of the money spent in my store will stay in the local economy. Money spent at Barnes and Noble? Not so much. I’m glad it’s Friday and that my blog is working again.

Heading to the Bluegrass State

Tomorrow morning I’m off to Louisville, Kentucky for the third ABA Winter Institute for three days of educational programming. I’m being reprogrammed! To buy nothing but Nora Roberts and James Patterson books! Just kidding. It’s very fun. I get to see loads of booksellers from around the country, meet some authors, drink lots of bourbon. I’m bringing along some books by authors that will be at the show: America America by Ethan Canin, The Resurrectionist by Jack O’Connell, and How the Soldier Repairs the Grammaphone by Sasa Stanisic. Don’t know much about any of them, but they look like a good lot.

I’m hoping to finish my current read K.J. Parker’s Devices and Desires before I leave tomorrow. We expanded our scifi/fantasy section last Fall and I’m trying to read more so I can add the right books to the section. So far this book is engrossing not to mention huge—over 600 pages in just the first book of the trilogy. I like the style. It’s not so serious as Tolkien. There are a lot of references to fencing and I mean a lot. has anyone read this series or any of Parker’s other books?
I did finish Mark Sarvas’s book Harry, Revised over the weekend too. I spent the better part of Saturday gulping it down. It’s good folks. I’m really proud of Mark’s accomplishment with this novel. It’s funny, sad, and reflective. The parts involving Anna were wrenching. So run out to your local bookstore when it comes out and pick up a copy. Better yet, if you’re in the Boston area, you can come see him read here at my store on May 15th.