Date: Mon, 25 Aug 2003 17:17:03 -0400
From: "Michael Walsh" <MJW at mail.press.jhu.edu>
To: <wsfalist at keithlynch.net>
Subject: [WSFA] So many books (longish article)
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at keithlynch.net>

Not on the web, so, in it's entirety, here's an amusing piece about =
"readaholism".

mjw

>From  PW Daily for Booksellers (August 25, 2003)
-----------------------------------------------------------
Book of the Day: So Many Books, So Little Time by Sara Nelson

Publishing columnist Sara Nelson spotted "early-warning signs of
readaholism" when she was 13. She then, she has since gone on to
review books, write about books and read books incessantly. Her new
memoir, So Many Books, So Little Time: A Year of Passionate Reading
(Putnam; Oct.), chronicles her attempt to read a book a week for a
year. Of the book, PW said, "Most readers will probably come away from
this love letter to books eager to pursue some of Nelson's
favorites--Nora Ephron's Heartburn, perhaps, or Emma Donoghue's
Slammerkin--which is what makes Nelson's reflections inspiring and
worthwhile." Nelson spoke with PW while on vacation, where she had
just finished reading Train, Pete Dexter's new novel, and was almost
finished with I Capture the Castle, which, she says, is "so not a
kid's book."

PW: You weren't a particularly early reader or even a very avid one.
So how'd you get so into books?

Sara Nelson: I think it started when I was in college. Obviously I did
a lot of reading in college. But during the summers between college
and right after college, I really started to read for pleasure, partly
because I didn't have too much of a life at that point. I had a lot of
energy and I was interested in a lot of things, but I couldn't do a
lot of the things I wanted to do because I didn't have a lot of money.
I started to live through books. I still read like a maniac, although
I do have a life now. The amount of reading isn't inversely
proportional to the amount of life.

PW: Who do you think is going to read your book?

SN: Everybody! My intention was never to write a book that told people
what to read. I'm not trying to be Harold Bloom or Harold Bloom lite.
I think people who are trying to see what they should read next may
want to read it, and people who are interested in the reading life.
This is not a book about doing your homework in the library. It's not
about cutting yourself off from life and reading the great books. It's
about how reading can be integrated into the busiest kind of life. I'm
not giving advice--I'm pursuing a passion.

This book is preaching to the choir, in a way, because it's a book
about books for people who love to read. It's a pass-along kind of
book. It's a book that I hope people will give to each other.

PW: How should booksellers shelve it?

SN: To me, it's memoir, general nonfiction. It's as much about my
life, my family and my upbringing as it is a book about books. I don't
think it should be in the self-help section, and I don't think it
should be in literary criticism, because most of the chapters are
about the experience of reading books rather than a line by line
analyses of books.

PW: What sort of publicity are you doing?

SN: I'm going to be at the Miami Book Fair, the Sarasota Arts
Festival, and I hope to do a lot of radio. I'll be on Studio 360. I'm
reading at Barnes & Noble at Astor Place [in New York] and plan to go
up to the Northshire Bookstore in Vermont. The bookseller support has
been terrific. The book feels to me like a handsell book. Already I've
had several spirited conversations--and arguments, too--along the
lines of, "You liked that?! I didn't like that!" It gets people
talking about books and talking about reading, and that's the point.

We're also setting up a Web site, SoManyBooksSoLittleTime.com, where
people can write in in a sort of community forum. I hope people can
write about what they're thinking about books. It will launch this
fall.

PW: Is working in book publishing a blessing or a curse for someone
who loves to read?

SN: I've never officially worked in book publishing. But I've
certainly been around it. It's been a pleasure, because I do read
fast. It is what I love to do. So if I have to read something for
work, that's usually fine, because I love my work. But here on
vacation, I'm reading stuff I truly just want to read. When you read
this much and read this fast, you can fit it all in. So for me it's
been a blessing.

PW: So many readers are overwhelmed with bestseller lists, television
book clubs, their own book clubs, books they feel they "should have
read" and the desire to lose themselves in plain old guilty pleasures.
What's your advice to someone who is feeling besieged by the reality
of "so many books and so little time"?

SN: If you have a certain author or a certain kind of book that you
like, start there. Likewise, if there's a certain reviewer or a
certain newspaper whose opinion you tend to agree with, go with that.

--Lynn Andriani

-----------------------------------------------------------