Monday, September 24, 2012

Jackie's A Fan Of This Book of Books


An ode to the art of traditional bookselling and independent bookstores, this book offers lists of favorites that have flown under the radar, but off of bookstore shelves.  First published on Hans Weyandt’s blog for Micawber’s Books, each check-list style contribution includes a bookseller’s top fifty books, anecdotes, and interviews about the life of being a bookseller, reader, and engaged citizen.  Introduced by Ann Patchett, the book exhibits the range and diversity of these booksellers’ tastes and the stores in which they work.  But it goes beyond a typical book of lists to show how independent bookstores are havens for readers where individual tastes, location, and personality matter and where the staff provide an expertise and wisdom about readers and books often lost in large and online retail spaces. One hundred percent of royalties will go to the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression (ABFFE).

Jackie says:
"This book came to me at a very valuable time, a time when I'm exhausted by trying to read the murky crystal ball that is the future of publishing and bookselling while awaiting what could be a huge game changing election depending on how the votes go. I've gotten lost in the fear of it all. But this book, this tiny little book, has reminded me of just how lucky I am, because my job is to read, talk about and sell books. This book reminded me that this is my CAREER--it's not just a job. And it's not just a career, it's a calling that is the truest, best, most wonderful thing I've ever done and gotten paid for. As author and bookseller Ann Patchett says in her introduction to the book:

'There is no greater joy for a bookseller than introducing a reader to a book they will love for the rest of their lives. Those of us in this business are, after all, matchmakers at heart.

So consider this little book...a sort of catalogue of matchmakers.'


These are lists, fifty titles long, from independent booksellers all over the country, of their very favorite books to share with others. Each list is prefaced with a bit about the stores they are from and their ideas about books and bookish things. There is room built into the book for your own list, and space to make notes as you read the lists. A extra special thing about this book is that all the proceeds go to the American Booksellers Foundations for Free Expression (ABFFE), a group that fights literary censorship and supports struggling bookstores.

For me, it reads like a bucket list of book stores I MUST see before I die. I've got one down--Tattered Cover's got a list in there too. This is a great book for any bibliophile anywhere."

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