Independent Booksellers Suggest Summer Reading on NPR

Just after the July 4 holiday weekend, Susan Stamberg, a National Public Radio special correspondent, spoke on air to three independent booksellers for her traditional roundup of summer reading picks.

Stamberg has commented previously to BTW that she finds the suggestions of independent booksellers "marvelous," both for her own summer reading list, and those of her many listeners. Stamberg said, "I know I can always count on them for great suggestions and great summer reading."

The most recent feature, with Rona Brinlee of The Book Mark in Atlantic Beach, Florida; Lucia Silva of Portrait of a Bookstore in Studio City, California; and Jacob Reis of The Alabama Booksmith in Homewood, Alabama, aired on July 6, during NPR's Morning Edition program. Brinlee and Silva are returning picksmiths; Reis made his first audio appearance with the effervescent radio personality. Each bookseller spoke about one or two titles on air, and each recommended a selection of five titles in total that are featured on the NPR website.

Reis' on-air selection was Rammer Jammer Yellow Hammer: A Journey into the Heart of Fan Mania by Warren St. John (Three Rivers Press), an account of a year spent following the University of Alabama football team. The title was an August 2004 Book Sense Pick, nominated by another Alabama bookseller, Cheryl Upchurch of Capitol Books & News in Montgomery, who called it a "fascinating and most enjoyable trip." Stamberg noted on air that the Chronicle of Higher Education has named it "the best book about college sports ever written."

Reis told BTW that St. John telephoned him just after the program aired and said that "he had received calls from all over the country asking about the book." The display of books "As Heard on NPR" that The Alabama Booksmith had prepared prior to the show was nearly sold out just minutes after the broadcast, said Reiss.

Southern California's Silva spoke on air about Other Electricities by Ander Monson (Sarabande Books) and Joan Didion's Los Angeles classic Play It as It Lays, A Novel (FSG), which, she said, she reads annually. Of Play It as It Lays, which was published in the 1970s, Stamberg noted, a woman very much on the edge "drives the L.A. freeways obsessively," and "it so evokes the nuclear white light of the Mohave Desert summer," said Silva.

A veteran of Stamberg's summer reading features, Silva called the other two booksellers prior to the broadcast to learn which books they would mention, so she could feature them in her store display. Thanks to her, Reis told BTW, his store was very well prepared with a complete display.

Talking to BTW from The Book Mark, Brinlee said that even though she's been interviewed by Stamberg on the radio several times, "it's always scary and thrilling when she calls, and I hope that I pick good books." One of her choices mentioned on air was The Orange Blossom Special by Betsy Carter (Algonquin Books), and the second was the appropriately titled The Beach Book: Stories of Paradise and Paradise (Lost), a collection by a wide range of authors, published by Melcher Media in its patented DuraBook format. "It's actually waterproof," Brinlee said with a laugh. "We've had one submerged in a fishbowl." She said the packaging of the book, in bright colors, is deceptive. This book may be for the beach but the stories, by authors including Jeffrey Eugenides, Isaac Bashevis Singer, Roald Dahl, and Gabriel Garcia Marquez, are hardly sunny and frothy.

"There's a story in which someone comes to the beach to die and other very serious and contemplative pieces. The Beach Book offers a great way to dip your toe in the water to decide if you want to take on an entire book by one of these authors," Brinlee said. "We're a half a block from the beach here, and I don't think it's just for frivolous books, it's a great place for long, uninterrupted times to enjoy all kinds of books. As long as you remember to get out of the sun before you get burned."

The NPR website, www.npr.org, includes more information on the segment, including an audio version. --Nomi Schwartz

Independent Bookseller Selections Featured on the NPR website are:

Rona Brinlee

• The Portrait by Iain Pears (Riverhead)
• The Orange Blossom Special by Betsy Carter (Algonquin Books)
• The Garden Angel by Mindy Friddle (St. Martin's)
• The Beach Book (Melcher Media)
• Meet You in Hell: Andrew Carnegie, Henry Clay Frick and the Bitter Partnership That Transformed America by Les Standiford (Crown)

Jake Reis

• Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim by David Sedaris (Little, Brown)
• Gods in Alabama by Joshilyn Jackson (Warner Books)
• Rammer Jammer Yellow Hammer: A Trip Into the Heart of Fan Mania by Warren St. John (Three Rivers Press)
• The Same Sweet Girls by Cassandra King (Hyperion)
• Novel by George Singleton (Harcourt)

Lucia Silva

• Other Electricities by Ander Monson (Sarabande Books)
• Vacationland by Ander Monson (Turpelo Press)
• Play It as It Lays: A Novel by Joan Didion (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
• Red Ant House: Stories by Ann Cummins (Mariner Books)
• Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer (Houghton Mifflin)