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Letter to the editor

Books

Get your nose out of that book

Okay, just for a moment. When the literary world gathers at the noted BookExpo in New York, it's time to talk words.

By COLETTE BANCROFT
Published June 7, 2007

NEW YORK

Last weekend, some 30, 000 people gathered for BookExpo America at the Jacob Javits Convention Center.

Publishers, booksellers, authors, agents, editors, librarians, reviewers and more trekked across the huge exhibition floors and crammed into overstuffed meeting rooms. They pored over upcoming books, stood in line for autographs and partied with the Rock Bottom Remainders, an all-author band that includes Stephen King, Dave Barry, Amy Tan, Ridley Pearson, Mitch Albom and Scott Turow.

By and large, they were people for whom the only thing more delightful than reading books is talking about books.

Here's what some of them said.

* * *

"About 200, 000 titles were published last year. Maybe the number of readers is not smaller. Maybe we're producing so many books the slice of the pie is getting smaller."

Sara Nelson, editor in chief of Publishers Weekly, on whether people are reading less

"The first time I read my first novel in draft, I had a panic attack that lasted for several days. . . . I changed the working title to A Short Bad Novel."

Novelist Jennifer Egan "The Keep"

"I always keep in mind the advice of Herodotus, who wrote, 'No man should speak for any longer than he is able to make love.' So thank you very much."

Opening remark by novelist Ian McEwan ("On Chesil Beach")

"I am now quite free to go to the bookstores and do signings. You may have heard I'm not going to be on The View next year. Instead I'm auditioning for The Apprentice."

Rosie O'Donnell ("Celebrity Detox: The Fame Game, " coming in September)

"I'm not a fan of books. They always seem to be written by someone other than me."

Satirist Stephen Colbert, on video as his character from "The Colbert Report." His book "I Am America (And So Can You!)" is due in October.

"I look at the list (of authors who might appear on the show) as my character. The show is not about thinking, it's about feeling. How would my character feel this book? I have to be stupider than I want to be."

Colbert, in person and out of character

"I never intended to publish that novel. You can imagine my astonishment at the reception it got."

Novelist Khaled Hosseini ("A Thousand Splendid Suns"), talking about his first book, "The Kite Runner, " which has sold 4-million copies

"One of the things that bothers me about contemporary reviewing, and contemporary reading, is this nutty idea that if you don't like the characters, then you don't like the book. How would you ever read Crime and Punishment?"

Novelist and critic Francine Prose ("Reading Like a Writer")

" 'Oh, that mine enemy would write a book.' That's in the Book of Job. You could look it up. "

Journalist and gadfly Christopher Hitchens ("God Is Not Great"), on a panel about the ethics of book reviewing

"Why would I read you if you have less to offer me?"

Oscar Villalon, book editor of the San Francisco Chronicle, on recent cuts in some newspaper book review sections

"When I hear myself, I don't sound like myself. I know I don't dance like myself. I've had to live with that for years."

Humorist and reporter Roy Blount Jr. ("Long Time Leaving: Dispatches From Up South"), talking about recording audio books

"I think the blogger versus book reviewer thing is bulls---. It isn't us versus them. It's a conversation."

David Ulin, book editor of the Los Angeles Times

"I left The Daily Show and The Colbert Report in December, and then I had my epiphany. What could I do for less money and less recognition that would require me to be at the Javits Center at 8 in the morning on Sunday? A book!"

Ben Karlin, former executive producer of those shows. His book "Things I've Learned From Women Who've Dumped Me" is due in February.

"I want to write honest narratives about difficult people."

Novelist Alice Sebold ("The Lovely Bones" and "The Almost Moon, " due in September)

"When we started the Believer, we said we would never run a review that was less than 4, 000 words. . . . I hate those 700-, 800-word reviews. I hate reading them."

"Believer" editor and novelist Heidi Julavits ("The Uses of Enchantment"), talking to a room full of book critics who write a lot of 700-word reviews

"More cowbell!"

Novelist Stephen King, performing "(Don't Fear) the Reaper" with the Rock Bottom Remainders

Colette Bancroft can be reached at (727) 893-8435 or bancroft@sptimes.com.

[Last modified June 7, 2007, 07:20:32]