Dystel, Goderich & Bourret » too many books http://www.dystel.com/blog Fri, 23 Jun 2017 16:41:33 +0000 en-US hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=4.2.15 I’m in the mood for… http://www.dystel.com/blog/2016/08/im-in-the-mood-for/ http://www.dystel.com/blog/2016/08/im-in-the-mood-for/#comments Fri, 26 Aug 2016 14:59:33 +0000 http://www.dystel.com/?p=13038 If you’re like me, I’m starting to think longingly about fall—nestling into soft sweaters and scarves, brisk temperatures, and the explosion of pumpkin that seems to accompany autumn. It also signals a new wave of books, TV shows, and movies that many of us have been eagerly waiting for all summer. With the new wealth of things available to lose yourself in, it can seem overwhelming. I’ve noticed that since moving to NYC, I’ve found myself in a mad dash to try and keep up with pop culture and just…culture in general. As a newbie to the publishing industry, there’s so much to learn and so much to read. I’ve subscribed to a few literary/publishing industry newsletters, try and read Publishers Weekly and Publishers Lunch fairly religiously, I’ve dipped a tentative toe into the podcast waters, and I have constant running fines at the New York Public Library.  However, when it comes to movies and TV shows, I’m totally out of my element. And with all the suggestions flooding in from various sources, it can be tough to figure out exactly what you want to spend your time immersed in.

Thankfully, for the film/TV illiterate like me, Vulture has released a fall entertainment generator, which they describe as, “an interactive guide to this season’s 306 best offerings” for books, movies, TV shows, theatre, art, and music. You pick what you’re in the mood for and how you want it to make you feel, and it spits out a list of recommendations for you to choose from. I’m excited to see what it might steer me towards in the ever-busy autumn months! I’ve already got a fall reading list going, but am always looking for new recommendations.

Where do you get your book recommendations from? How do you get your daily dose of culture? What makes one book or movie stand out to you from a list?

]]> http://www.dystel.com/blog/2016/08/im-in-the-mood-for/feed/ 3 Book Lists http://www.dystel.com/blog/2015/12/book-lists/ http://www.dystel.com/blog/2015/12/book-lists/#comments Fri, 04 Dec 2015 22:16:17 +0000 http://www.dystel.com/?p=12199 I’ve never experienced the holiday season in NYC and it’s been one of the things I’ve been looking forward to ever since moving downstate. Despite the temperatures remaining unseasonably warm, it seems that holiday cheer is in full swing. There’s nothing I love more than walking out of work and through the Christmas market in Union Square to get to the subway—all glow and promise. Christmas trees are being sold, signs are aglitter advertising gifts, and a street I walk down fairly regularly has wreathed their trees in holiday lights.

This time of year also always heralds the “Best Books of 2015” in all their varying forms and can provide a great holiday reading list for those quiet moments you can snatch away! (And for those of us who still have time to read copiously, it’s always very satisfying to go down a list and check off the ones we’ve read.)

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The New York Times released their list—“The 10 Best Books of 2015” yesterday. GoodReads, The Washington Post, and The Huffington Post among others, have released their choices as well. (Congratulations to Mary Doria Russell, whose EPITAPH made The Washington Post list and to Colleen Hoover, whose CONFESS was the best in the GoodReads Romance genre!)

However, “Best ___ of 2015”  can sometimes turn into a rabbit hole of fiction, non-fiction, young adult, and other genre specific lists. Which lists do you always look at? Do you pull some of your holiday reading from these lists?

]]> http://www.dystel.com/blog/2015/12/book-lists/feed/ 0 Subway Reading http://www.dystel.com/blog/2015/11/subway-reading/ http://www.dystel.com/blog/2015/11/subway-reading/#comments Tue, 10 Nov 2015 21:56:00 +0000 http://www.dystel.com/?p=12125 When I get on the subway, most times I read an e-book on my phone or a print copy. Other times, I people watch and get excited when I see people with books in their hands. I eagerly look around wondering if I’ll spot one of ours, a title I’ve read before, or one that looks interesting. I’ve never ventured to ask anyone about the book they are reading and what they think of it; instead, I try to look for signs on their faces (I can’t read without making a face: aghast, anxious, stupid grin….the whole roller-coaster thing), which does not help me at all. Sometimes, I get off at my stop and wrack my brain to try and remember the title of a book I thought looked good. It’s gotten to the point where I have the notepad on my phone ready to jot these things down!

Luckily, not too long ago I found a brilliant Instagram account to follow called Subway Book Review. It was started by Uli Beutter Cohen, who unlike me, talks to her fellow subway riders about the books they are reading and then posts the review on Instagram/ Facebook with a lovely picture of the book and the reviewer. The genres and titles differ greatly, just like the people that come in and out of the subways everyday.

Thanks to this amazing account, I am now inspired to start talking to people with books who might be standing or sitting close to me. What can it hurt? It’s the go-to conversation starter in our business. It’s also a great way to meet people and more importantly, practice pitching your book to agents/editors. I encourage you all to give it a try if you are like me and haven’t done so already. I would be glad to post a follow-up on the person I talked to and a review of the book they were reading!

 

]]> http://www.dystel.com/blog/2015/11/subway-reading/feed/ 0 Stalagmites of Books http://www.dystel.com/blog/2014/01/stalagmites-of-books/ http://www.dystel.com/blog/2014/01/stalagmites-of-books/#comments Tue, 14 Jan 2014 20:27:47 +0000 http://www.dystel.com/?p=9696 This morning I was browsing Twitter while waiting for my coffee to kick in, as usual, and this tweet caught my eye:

“I am making a very important New Year’s Resolution for 2014: read more books and own fewer of them.” –@doughtylouise http://t.co/bKHxs8Jzx2

— Book Keeping (@FSGBookKeeping) 

I’m totally on board with the first half of that resolution, but own fewer books?? This I gotta read.

So I clicked the link and read on to discover the author describing a very familiar predicament:

 

“All around my house – in the bedroom, the spare room, the sitting room – there are interesting geological features.  This is nothing to do with the fact that I live in a Victorian townhouse in North London, nor to do with the clay soil on which it is built.  It’s because I don’t have enough shelves.

These interesting features consist of stalagmites of books – great wobbly pillars of varying heights constantly threatening to come crashing down.”

 

This is a problem I can relate to. Books are stacked on every surface in my apartment, two rows deep on the actual bookshelves, taking over endtable space where normal other people have framed pictures of loved ones, and fighting for position on top of cabinets that more rightfully belong to wine glasses and board games. Like the blog post author, I too can blame my mountains of books on my career – but perhaps it would be more honest to blame my career on my greedy love of books?

It doesn’t help that I’m an inveterate producer of marginalia. Sure, I could check out more library books, or borrow from my friends with similar bibliophilic afflictions. But I love scribbling all over my books – asterisks and exclamation points in the margin, long rambling (and obviously brilliant) thoughts and comparison on the back pages at the end. They frown on writing in library books, I’m pretty sure. And if I start marking up my friends’ books, well, soon I’ll find myself with no friends, just tons of free time on my hands to read…hmmmm, on second thought, that doesn’t sound so bad.

Anyway, you should read the whole blog post, because the author offers a nice and logical plan for accomplishing her read-more-own-fewer book resolution. Have you ever tried to cut down on your own book collection? Any success stories to share?

If all else fails, you can always loan your unwanted/unwritten-in books to me!

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