A galley of Harry, Revised, Mark Sarvas’s debut, just landed on my desk! I’m very excited to start reading this book. I don’t care if I get accused of cronyism. Sarvas may be a friend of mine, but he’s got excellent taste in books (our tastes are scarily similar) and I imagine he’s a very good writer. So I’m going to promote the hell out of his book. I’m hoping to start it later today or tomorrow.

Sorry for the silence around here. My buying season kicked off last week. Even the snow storm on Monday didn’t deter reps from coming to my office. I’m a buying machine. In the meanwhile, I’ve read two wonderful books and am working on a pretty good but informative book right now (look at the sidebar to see what it is).

I had mentioned in a previous post that I was reading The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, a debut novel by David Wroblewski. I finished it last week. You’ll be hearing a lot about this book I guarantee. It’s a bestseller for sure and if not, I don’t deserve my job. It’s a tremendous, emotional, gripping debut. The story of a boy and the dogs that his family raises on a farm in Wisconsin does not sound like my cup of tea normally. I’m not a dog person—I like dogs, but not an enthusiast. I like all animals—but I found myself pulled into this book. I can’t believe I’m admitting this on the internet, but I even cried. Last night, I had the good fortune to meet the author at a lovely dinner which the publisher put together to introduce a few authors to booksellers. Gil Adamson, author of another incredible debut called The Outlander, also flew down from Toronto to meet us all. i found both authors charming and I can’t wait to see what sort of reactions their books get when the finally hit the shelves.

The other book I read since then was Wilkie Collin’s The Woman in White.  First serialized in 1859-1860, it’s considered to be among the first mystery novels. It took a while to get through, mainly because of the older edition I was reading, which seemed to be printed on thin bible paper with minuscule text. It’s a great read. To use a Briticism, I found it smashing.

Now I’m about two thirds of the way through David Kamp’s The US of Arugula.  It’s the “behind the scenes” story of the American food revolution after WWII. I’m finding it informative, but the gossipy tone can be a bit much sometimes. After this, I’m not sure what I’ll read next. I’m tempted to read Cathedral of the Sea by Ildefonson Falcones, an “international phenomenon” due out in April. It’s set in 14th century Barcelona around the building of a cathedral. I started a beginner’s Spanish class last night, so this might be just the thing.

I’m perusing the catalogs again to get ready for appointments. One obvious trend I’ve noticed across the board is a movement toward “green”, be it living green, thinking green, buying green. Often the title will be something like So-and-So’s Awesome Guide to Living/Thinking/Working/Loving Green. The catalog page will have a big dot that says “Printed on Recycled Paper!” This reminds me of a Simpsons episode where they’re touring the Springfield Shopper factory and Lindsay Naegle says that a percentage of each newspaper is printed on recycled paper. Lisa, spotting some phony business-speak, asks what percent and Naegle’s response is zero. “Zero’s a percent!”

It’s not that I’m against the green movement. It’s more that I’m wary of the way in which companies are now marketing towards this movement, as if simply buying something “green” will make you a better consumer. Replacing everything in your house with organic products won’t make you more environmental. People should try and do what they can to reduce their carbon footprint especially those in the US and Europe. Read Jared Diamond’s Op-Ed piece about first world countries’ consumption factor which is 32 times higher than the third world.

This all sort of goes against what I do for a living, selling a product based on chopping down trees. I’d like to see the publishers move to printing all books on recycled paper. Also, they should print fewer galleys and quit sending so much wasteful marketing materials—posters. pins, bookmarks—that end up in the trash anyway. I’m not sure how to go about making this happen.

I read many books last year—108 to be exact. Looking over the list, there were some high points and low points. I had tried to write a little something about each book, but you can see that I gave up after a while. I’ll try again this year.

I finished Robert Graves’s Good-Bye to All That on 1/1/08 but I’m including it in last year’s list anyway. It’s a great book on which to end the year–what a wonderful memoir! Graves gives an excellent portrait of a nation on the brink of change. The First World War changed everything, including Graves. An officer sent over to France, he grew appalled at the callousness of the military command, not to mention the people back home reveling in their jingoism while scores of men died absolutely horrific deaths in the trenches.

I started reading a novel that won’t be out until this summer, which is why I’m not linking to it on the sidebar as there’s no book jacket info yet. It’s a debut novel by David Wroblewski titled The Story of Edgar Sawtelle. They’re calling it a modern retelling of Hamlet set in Wisconsin. Lee Boudreaux is the editor from Ecco and I tend to like the books on which she has worked. Hopefully this will be number one on my Reading List of 2008. Has anyone else started a good book?

The holidays are over. I’m back and work trying to get ready for the buying season which starts next week for me. The store itself slows down in January, but I’m preparing for one of the busiest times of the year. This will be my first full season as the Head Buyer for the store. I’m taking on a lot of new publishers and sales reps. I’ve got piles and piles of catalogs. I try to get ready as best as I can, looking up sales and author information. There’s only so much I can do ahead of time of course. I can make an opinion based on catalog copy but often it takes the sales rep talking to me about the book to make up my mind.
Right now I’m looking at the Putnam catalog which is a member of the Penguin Group. Here I am in the Avery medical/health section and I flip to the page of The Gut Flush Plan: The Breakthrough Cleansing Program to Rid Your Body of the Toxins That Make You Sick, Tired, and Bloated by Ann Louise Gittleman. There are two things wrong with this title. First, The Gut Flush Plan? Really? Maybe they were thinking that with such a vile sounding title people might pick up the book? Second, the subtitle is way too long. I know it’s a health book, but really. It’s not that I have anything against the subject matter of the book. Gut Flush Plan. Ugh. The words just shouldn’t be put together like that.

I finished Buddenbrooks the other night. I find it hard to believe that Thomas Mann was only 25 when he wrote this book. I know I mentioned in a previous post its intensity and I was only a quarter the way into it! The intensity kept up and I found that Mann’s sly wit and his understanding of human nature increased as the book went forward. The only negative was the what I imagined was a hurried ending. Everyone begins to die and time leaps forward chapter by chapter. But young Hanno’s death seemed forced and out of place. This is not a book that you can fly through quickly. I found myself going back and rereading passages to make sure I understood fully what was really happening. Overall it’s a great book though one I’m glad to have finally read.

I think for the next classic I’m going to read Wilkie Collin’s The Woman in White. Has anyone else read it?

• New York magazine lists the best novels you’ve never read. It’s a good list which includes Roberto Bolano’s Savage Detectives, Calvin Baker’s Dominion (love, love this book), and Mavis Gallant’s Varieties of Exile. There’s also a lot on there I haven’t read but have heard good things about such as Sepharad by Antonio Munoz Molino and Experience by Martin Amis. I have to admit to having never read Martin Amis or any Amis for that matter. This makes me a bad bookstore employee.
• Condalmo reports that the Morning News needs book recommendations for its annual Tournament of Books. Email your favorite two books to tob at themorningnews dot org.
• I’m skeptical of Scholastic’s brilliant idea of what to do now that Harry Potter is over. Part of what worked with HP was the word of mouth. Typically when a large corporation tries to create the buzz, it fails. But what do I know? I do love Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson series. Brilliant and better than HP.
• Commentary magazine writes about Simon Armitage’s new translation of Sir Gawain & the Green Knight. This book also received a rave review in this past week’s NYTBR.
• Thanks to Maud, I read this interview with Andrew Wylie, power literary agent to the likes of Susan Sontag, Italo Calvino, and Martin Amis. I did not know that he was old money Boston. I do like his attitude toward getting his job done: “When you represent someone’s work, if you’re passionate about it, and that passion is sincere, it’s conveyed,” Wylie told Portfolio.com.
• This sort of ties into my next link. This post about the NBCC’s Best Recommended list debuting at bookstores is interesting, but the comments on the post really caught my attention. I’m sure to call down the wrath of the internet for even commenting on it, but I have to defend the independents from the first commenter Fran. I get that you’re upset to not have been published, but if this is how you talk to the local indies in your neighborhood, no wonder they won’t carry your book! I’d love to see her open her idea of an “independent” bookstore and see how long it lasts. Besides, is it really a crime to carry the books of Michael Chabon and Denis Johnson? Isn’t that throwing out the baby with the bath to suggest that all books from larger publishers are inherently bad? Maybe your books aren’t picked up because they’re no good! And I’ve got another statement that’s going to piss folks off: Far too many people think that they’re great writers these days. Anyone who’s stubbed their toe thinks they should write a memoir about it. It’s fine to write, go for it, but everyone shouldn’t expect to get published. There’s just no way. Rant over.
• Last but not least, Ed Champion is closing up shop for now. Is this the end of our intrepid litblogger? Will he close up shop never to blog again? I hope not, but I also  understand his decision and wish him the very best.

I have a problem. I’m finally at the stage where I am admitting it out loud. I love cookbooks. I read them, I scour them, I love reading the introductions and looking at all the recipes. I keep adding more and more to my collection each year. In my defense, I cook from many of them, but I’m at the point where there’s no way I can cook from all of them regularly. The shelf in my kitchen is full, so now there’s an annex in the living room. That just became full yesterday as I added my newest book Roast Chicken and Other Stories by Simon Hopkinson. All the papers are printing they’re gift guides for cookbooks and food lovers right now, so I thought I would mention a few that I’ve loved from this year.

First, there’s Country Cooking of France by Anne Willan. This is a thick, beautiful cookbook detailing rustic French cooking. With such great pictures, you’d think it would just be a coffee table cookbook, but the recipes actually seem simple and doable. Creole by Babette de Rozieres is a lovely book from Phaidon. Traditionally an art publisher, they’ve gotten into cookbooks in the last few years. They’re very well designed. This one has a lovely plaid cover and they carry the theme throughout the book. Also, I don’t think there are many Creole cuisine cookbooks out there.

I read Bill Buford’s article in the New Yorker on meat and of course had to try and get all of the books he wrote about. I got my hands on a copy of Roast Chicken & Other Stories as mentioned above. I also got Beyond Nose to Tail by Fergus Henderson. Both are small with less emphasis on the pictures as on the writing and recipes. Mr. Bookdwarf just made some pork jowls and the next book came in handy. I was smart enough to have bought Pork & Sons by Stephane Reynaud as soon as it came out last Spring. Another well designed Phaidon book, this one details cooking with pork. The author’s father was a butcher and his father was a butcher. They bring back a time when slaughtering the pig was a family ritual. We’ve got a freezer full of meat—Mr. Bookdwarf loves buying odd selections and these are the kind of books we need.
The only book I can’t get my hands on is The River Cottage Meat Book by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall. He’s a celebrity chef in England who writes about the importance of sustainably raised meat. I saw a copy on the shelf of a small store in San Francisco this past weekend and am kicking myself for not buying it. My store has sold our last copy and it’s tough to find. Of course, Amazon not only has it but is offering a 40% discount! How unfair. They’re basically dumping this lovely book and meanwhile we can’t get our hands on any. I can’t bring myself to order it from them. Anyway, from what I saw this weekend, it’s a lovely book that I can’t wait to read and cook from.

The Litblog Co-op has chosen Matthew Eck’s debut novel The Farther Shore as the Winter 2007 READ THIS! Selection. This week will bring a lot of discussion of the book as well as some interviews and more. Dan Wickett has written a review and Levi Asher has interviewed Matthew Eck. Stay tuned for more.