Give This Book: Holiday Ideas 2014, Part 2

About a decade ago while out enjoying SXSW I received a phone call from my friend and then roommate that went something like this:

Me: Hello?

Friend: Hi. You have to come home; I think the house may have been robbed.

Me:  Why do you think the house may have been robbed?

Friend: Because the house was robbed.

Bless her heart; she was trying to do that thing where you break bad news in the most gentle of ways.

this song will now be
in your head

So, yeah my house was burgled and those little sons a bitches got a pretty good haul (relax book lovers, not one book was stolen so we can be pretty certain it wasn’t a gang of nerds). They took every ounce of booze in the house, my  old Minolta camera (which my mother tortured us with when were kids) and they cleared out over half my cd collection.  Like any civilized person my cds were alphabetized and A-O were stolen and yes, that included my Falco, Rock Me Amadeus extended mix single. Life just is not fair, I know that now.

hoodlums!

I tell you this horrifically sad story for two reasons. First, teenagers simply can not be trusted. If you do trust them (and you should not!), prepare yourself for disappointment and fewer musical choices. Second, a day or two after the unfortunate incident, I actually felt a bit lighter which intrigued me. A few weeks later I found  a few of my rare cds at a used music shop here in town (I was doing the equivalent of looking for a lost dog and checking the pound every day).  I was told that I could buy the cds back at the store’s cost (if I produced my police report). Huh, buy my stolen goods back? It was the most tempting, most American thing ever, but I thought maybe I liked having fewer things and walked away.

Marie Kondo

From that incident on, I have made an effort to acquire less and get rid of more but it wasn’t until reading The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo that I was able to begin to turn the process of having fewer things into a life practice. I got rid of what I got rid of, some of it was easy (so long acid washed jeans with a rip at the knee, we were so good together once), some things were hard (can we work this out acid washed jean overalls with a rip at the knee). Other things were off the table and I think you know what I am talking about…the books. All the books, so many books, the books the books the books. Why didn’t those kids take these books? Rotten kids leaving me with all these
books.

Marie Kondo prescribes holding each object in your hands, does this object, this thing, bring you joy? Obviously you cannot do this exercise if you’re drunk, holding a balled up pair of knee high striped socks with tears in your eyes and babbling something about Lollapalooza and 1998, it’s not helpful. And also, don’t ball up your socks anymore; there is a chapter on that in the book.

So, over a weeklong period I sat with a couple hundred books. I held each one, thanked the book, or in many cases wondered why I still had the book (lots of stinkers, let’s be honest), but I really had to meditate on what brought me joy. Was it the book, or was it the memory of the book, would I read the book again, did I need this physical book in my house? The answer was almost always, no and I began to purge nearly half my collection.

While there are certainly books that would painful for me to get rid of (my signed All Over But the Shoutin’ while not my favorite book, is very personal to me) and I know now that I can, I can get rid of any book in my house. Okay…that’s an overstatement but you see where I am going.

Most of us have too much, we do. We are drowning in it. So in this season of giving more stuff you can give the gift of letting go, having less, and moving on. This book helps you prioritize and rationalize why we keep things, why it’s so hard to let go, and why our lives are better with less clutter. And seriously, stop balling up those socks; they’ve been good to you.

Right now, both of my dogs are sitting at my feet and I just can’t help but think….is it one dog too many?

Best Book of the Year So Far: Emily Bruce

Well, I just love Emily. She can hand sell any book to anyone and is probably the smartest person I know in the book business. I know, if she's so smart why isn't she in a different business (ha ha ha....sad). Emily is a children's sales rep for Random House who is credited/blamed for getting me a job at Random House back in 2001. Emily is a rule breaker who refused to follow our simple directions of choosing one book (who in this business can't do that?); rebel until the end, she has chosen four.

Here are four of Emily's favorite books of 2013 so far:

When Gianna asked me to pick my favorite book of 2013 (so far), I thought it would be easy. I was wrong. As I started looking at the list of books I’ve read this year, I kept changing my mind…so I’m writing about a few and maybe she’ll decide I’m cool enough to include more than one:

Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell – I will admit I picked up this book because of the cover. It’s set in 1986 and it’s about two teenagers who wind up falling in love. They’re both outcasts at school and they become friends over comic books and music. Eleanor’s home life is a mess and through her relationship with Park, she winds up finding her own voice. I loved the author’s writing style so much that I immediately picked up her previous book, The Attachments, and can’t wait for her next book, Fangirl. Eleanor and Park is shelved in the young adult/teen sections in bookstores but don’t let that deter you – it’s a great read, especially for anyone who wasn’t part of the cool kid group in high school (and nicely pairs with Stargirl, one of my all-time favorite books).

Bad Monkey by Carl Hiaasen – I read everything Carl Hiaasen writes – adult books, kids books – anything. Gianna might say I like him so much because he is good lookin’ (he is) but I also like him because his books are hilarious. His characters are colorful and his books perfectly capture the nuttiness that is the state of Florida – and bonus: the good guys always win in the end. I could tell you about the plot of this book – a cop with a human arm in his freezer, a wacko voodoo witch, real estate hijinks and of course, an incredibly bad monkey - but really, if you want a wickedly funny read, Bad Monkey is the book for you…and then go check out his kids books (Hoot, Flush, Scat and Chomp) where the kids always outsmart the adults.

Never Go Back by Lee Child – This doesn’t come out until September but there are plenty of Lee Child books available now to hold you over – and here is the good news: you don’t have to read them in any order. Pick one up and I’ll bet you’ll pick up another and another – if you like page turners, you can’t go wrong with Lee Child’s books. They all center on a character named Jack Reacher – a former military police officer who doesn’t have a home and travels around the United States with only a toothbrush, passport and his ATM card. He always seems to find himself in interesting situations – and those situations usually wind up with me staying up until the wee hours of the morning because I can’t put the book down. At a sales conference years ago, someone said “Jack Reacher is the man every man wants to be – and the man every woman wants to be next to” – and I couldn’t agree more…and I can’t wait for the next one.

Wonder – So technically, I didn’t read Wonder this year but I think it’s a book everyone should read (and if you’re making a list, please add Stargirl and All Over But the Shoutin’ to that must-read list). It’s a hard book to describe but I read it almost two years ago and I think about it almost every day – and I’ve been known to tear up when talking about it (awkward). Auggie, the main character, is born with a facial deformity and until now, he’s been home schooled. The book begins as he’s starting 5th grade in a new school – you’ll hold your breath, hoping for the best, watching him navigate friendships and bullies. It’s simply a beautiful story that will make you feel better about the world – and will remind you how a little kindness can go a long way.

Best Books of 2013 So Far: Jon Mooney's Pick

Who the heck is Jon Mooney and does he like NASCAR? Well, Jon is a sales rep for Penguin, now known as Penguin Random House and he is easily one of the finest sales reps we know. He is certainly more professional and mild mannered than us; he is in fact risking his entire reputation simply by associating himself with this blog. And yes, my lordy, yes...Jon loves NASCAR and everything car related. It's kind of adorable. 

Here's Jon's pick:

My favorite book of 2013 is LEXICON by Max Barry, a totally wild, action-packed thriller about the power of language and coercion.  At an exclusive, secret school students learn to use language to manipulate minds and use words as weapons.  The best students become “poets” and enter a shadowy organization that controls the world’s populace. A homeless teen, Emily Ruff, attracts the attention of this organization. While attending their school, she learns some of their powerful secrets but leaves before she can complete her full training.  While on the run from the organization she causes a catastrophe of unspeakable proportions. LEXICON is a riveting, powerhouse of a novel that will snare your attention from page one and question your own ideas of language, data-collection, privacy and identity.