Friday, November 03, 2006

William Styron 1925-2006

William Styron died the other day. There is an interesting article about him and his work at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Styron and a really great quote by him.

"A great book should leave you with many experiences, and slightly exhausted. You should live several lives while reading it."

He certainly gave us some great books; Sophie's Choice, Lie Down in Darkness, The Confessions of Nat Turner, etc.

Handselling

In the past week I've tried to keep track of what I handsold to see just how many books I talk up with our customers. Here's the list, incomplete as it is:
  • 2 books about falcons and various birds of prey
  • A pocket guide to wild mushrooms
  • A guide to edible wild plants
  • A bargain astronomy book
  • A star atlas (one of the round ones)
  • The new Junie B Jones hardcover Junie B., First Grader: Aloha-Ha-Ha!
  • The new Magic Treehouse hardcover Blizzard of the Blue Moon #36
  • A Captain Underpants boxed set
  • A Harlan Coben book on cd
  • A Janet Evanovitch book on cd
  • A Robert Ludlam book on cd
  • A First Dictionary
  • Haunted Connecticut
  • Ian Kershaw's Hitler: 1889-1936: Hubris
  • Olivia by Falconer
  • The very excellent How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman
  • Two J. California Cooper books: In Search of Satisfaction & Some Love, Some Pain, Some Time
  • A leather address book
  • A calorie counter guide
  • Two classic books on board books
  • A couple of teen fiction titles I can't remember what
  • A booklight
  • A Conspiracy of Paper by David Liss
  • The Club Dumas by Arturo PĂ©rez-Reverte
  • A Spanish audio set
  • A travel book for India
  • A baseball book for "a boy who doesn't like to read" (I forget which one)
  • A particular Don't Sweat the Small Stuff at ____
  • Caroline Kennedy's A Family of Poems: My Favorite Poetry for Children
  • Michael Patrick MacDonald's All Souls: A Family Story from Southie to a guy interested in books about South Boston gangster Whitey Bulger
  • the better of two college algebra test books
  • the best college guide
  • The new Barefoot Contessa book Barefoot Contessa at Home
and a host of others I forgot to write down.