Best Book of 2013 So Far: Michael's Pick

Michael Kindness is in New York right now at the Random House sales conference. He is stuck in conference rooms for up to ten hours a day, we can say whatever we want about the guy, he is never going to see this post. Let's dish on Michael...yeah all the dirty little secrets. Michael, Michael, Michael...nope the guy is as squeaky clean and nice as the name makes you think. He also happens to be one of the brightest, most well rounded readers that I know. He also happens to be one half of the mighty Books on the Nightstand Podcast duo (along with fellow RH rep Ann Kingman). We asked Michael for one book, and like any man or woman who makes a living selling books...he gave us two titles. 

Michael's favorite book of 2013 so far:

Liz and Gianna told me to pick one book, but I've never been very good at listening to them, so I picked two. To be fair, only one was published this year (or rather will be published in 3 weeks or so).

Let me start with the oldie-but-amazingly-goodie. Have you read 84, Charing Cross Road? If you’re a book lover and you haven’t, please stop reading my crap writing and go pick up Helene Hanff’s memoir of her correspondence with the staff of Marks & Co., an antiquarian bookstore in London. The humor, love of books, wonderful vitality, and ups and downs of life simply fill this book and you can’t help but smile while reading it. I’m sorry it took me this long to get to it.

Conversely, I was probably one of the first hundred people or so to read Night Film by Marisha Pessl. I love when my job gives me the opportunity to get in on the ground floor of a stunning book. I finished the first chapter of Night Film with goosebumps rising on my arms. (You can read the first chapter here) This story of a reclusive film director, a disgraced journalist, and the mysterious suicide of a young woman is filled with letters, web pages, mental hospital intake forms - all things that bring Pessl’s fully realized world to even more vivid life. It comes out on August 20, so you’ve got a little time to wait.

In the meantime go read 84, Charing Cross Road!

Things I Love, Things I Hate, Things in Between, V3

Thing I Love: The Random House Telephone Sales Department. Sure, they are my colleagues, but that's no guarantee that I'll like you. Heck, Gianna was once one of my colleagues. This group, though, makes me happy. First, they are professionals who do a great job of selling books to hundreds (thousands?) of stores. Second, they are team players who regularly chip in to help out toward the bigger picture.  If you're in a bookstore and there's a signed copy of, say, My Beloved World by Justice Sonia Sotomayor or the soon to be released Vampires in the Lemon Grove by Karen Russell, there's a good chance that the phones sales team set up that warehouse signing with the author. Most importantly, though, they are HUGE Baltimore Ravens fans, and they've had a great week. Also, they are 1,200 miles away, so I can take this picture:

The Random House telephone sales department, Ravens fans

And re-post it on Facebook as this picture:

I could used Photoshop, but cutting and pasting really points to my dedication
to a prank. They love me. (They threatened me. On a public forum.)

I'm pretty sure that the telephone sales department loves me too.

Marisha Pessl

Thing I Love: Fall books. Yeah, it's barely February, but we're beginning to hear about the upcoming fall books. There's a new novel coming from Marisha Pessl, the author who wrote Special Topics in Calamity Physics, which I loved. The new one is called Night Film, and holy hoo-hahs is it creepy. A disgraced reporter is fairly obsessed with the Oscar winning director Stanislas Cordova, a recluse who specializing in movies that combine Hitchcock-esque suspense and slasher films. They are freaky, and because of the content, they've become cult pictures only screened at secret gatherings. Then Cordova's daughter Ashley dies. Suicide? Foul play? What's going on at Cordova's mansion? What's up with the occult-like clues surrounding the case? And where is Cordova? Marisha Pessl's book has rep buzz already along the lines of what I heard for Justin Cronin's The Passage a few years ago. I flew through it, even at 700 pages. Seriously, 700 pages, three days. Mark it down on your list (and get comfy; it doesn't come out for quite awhile). This book is crazy fun and just creepy enough to keep you reading.

Thing in Between: The Super Bowl. Consider this: people watch the Super Bowl for the commercials, yet this is supposed to be the pinnacle of the NFL season. And those commercials? About 75% of them are less entertaining than an episode of Here Comes Honey Boo Boo. Some--looking at you Go Daddy--are incredibly offensive. And the most memorable part of this year's Super Bowl was the power going out. So let's think about this: the game is so dull that a power failure was more entertaining than the "sport." Can we finally agree that baseball is a superior sport? Good. Spring training starts in a week and my team is set to lose 120 games! Go Astros!

More Tina! More Amy!
These two are invited to our
dinner party.

Thing I Hate: Seth McFarlane is hosting the Academy Awards. Tina Fey and Amy Poehler are not. Televisions need selective mute controls. If you haven't heard, by the way, Amy Poehler signed a book deal. If it's even half as good as Tina's, it should be terrific. (Thing I Hate: Amy's book isn't from Random House.)

Thing in Between: I know that I have hoarding instincts when it comes to books, but seriously, how is it that I live in a cruel circle of buying books, buying bookshelves to hold new books, then seeing that I have shelf space and thinking I need more books? I think that I've been hexed or something.

Who doesn't love a list? (Gianna)

Thing I Love: Book lists. Make a list and I'll read it. What did you read last week? I want to know. Also, I love that Gianna hates making lists. Torturing Gianna is a pleasure unlike any other. She whines quite a bit. I haven't suggested we tackle the Modern Library List, yet. She has it so good.