Five Things including a Book Sale

Last week, my mother and I attended an author event at Boston College featuring Celeste Ng, which we enjoyed. BC has a freshman seminar in which many read Ng’s first novel, Everything I Never Told You. It was great to see several hundred students listening to Ng describe her writing process, including her habit of beginning her books with a very dramatic sentence.  I had to check this out:

Lydia is dead. But they don’t know this yet. Everything I Never Told You (2014).

Everyone in Shaker Heights was talking about it that summer: how Isabelle, the last of the Richardson children, had finally gone around the bend and burned the house down. Little Fires Everywhere (2017)

The letter arrives on a Friday. Slit and resealed with a sticker, of course, as all their letters are: Inspected for Your Safety – PACT. Our Missing Hearts (2022)

I don't think the third one is quite as dramatic, do you?  But I am now interested in reading the two I missed.

Today I organized a lot of books and decided it was time for my own sale! These are books I am trying to find a new home for, mostly duplicates or books for which I no longer have room.

My book group read Tom Lake by Ann Patchett this month, which I reviewed back in September. Here is a brief interview with the author on the inspiration for her book.  Everyone liked this book, which sometimes hurts the discussion, but there was still lots to talk about and I was glad I had persuaded us to read Our Town first.

Nonfiction book publishing is dominated by men. ABC News says a new prize hopes to help change that.

Usually, I work one weekend day in a nearby library each month. I am amazed by the demand for graphic novels – more than half of the children seeking books on their own.  Some just like the format and others say they are easier to read.  Certainly, all reading is good but I do occasionally coax them to add a traditional chapter book to their piles, hoping they won’t miss out on other great books. The New York Times stated recently that “[o]ne in four books sold in France is a graphic novel. Increasingly, those include nonfiction works by journalists and historians.” But publishers need demand for backlist books of all genres in order to survive.