NPR Asks Independents for Hidden Gems

On Monday, December 6, National Public Radio's Morning Edition once again helped listeners find the answers to gift-giving in the recommendations of three veteran independent booksellers. "Winter Picks: Hidden Gems From Indie Bookstores" is the latest segment hosted by NPR's Susan Stamberg, who over the last few years has featured independent booksellers' recommendations for holiday gift-giving and, for the summer, the perfect beach reads.

For the recent segment, Stamberg asked Rona Brinlee of The Book Mark in Atlantic Beach, Florida; Laura Hansen of Bookin' It in Little Falls, Minnesota; and Lucia Silva of Portrait of a Bookstore in Studio City, California, to pick some hidden gems from their bookshelves for holiday gift ideas.

Brinlee selected Seven Types of Ambiguity by Elliot Perlman (Riverhead Books) -- citing it as "one of those long, juicy books that takes over your life" -- and Casanova in Bolzano by Sandor Marai (Random House). Commenting on Marai's proclivity for ambiguous endings, Brinlee pointed out that in Casanova, the Duke notes it's clear endings we covet. "We want the well-placed period. Full stop. All T's crossed, all I's dotted," Brinlee said. "That is how it has to be -- of course it's never that way."

Hansen's first selection was The Student Conductor by Robert Ford (Putnam). "What's stunning about the book, is that [Ford] takes something that probably seems very remote, like the conducting of an orchestra, and we are on the edges of our seats as if we're at the last few minutes of the Super Bowl," Hansen said.

Her second selection was Searchings, Volume II: Secret Landscapes of Flowers by photographer Barbara Bordnick (Welcome Books). "Some of [the photos] are of exotic flowers and some of them are everyday flowers," Hansen explained, "but in her handling they are like a Georgia O'Keefe painting, where the true sensuality and sexual nature of the flower itself becomes evident."

Silva's two selections were James and Other Apes by photographer James Mollison (Chris Boot) and Strike Sparks by Sharon Olds (Random House). Regarding Mollison's book, Silva noted, "Something very interesting happens as you turn the pages and you get to ape number 20 or 22. You begin to notice both the extreme differences between the apes even within their specific kind and also the extreme similarity, of course, to humans."

Silva described Olds, whose Strike Sparks covers 20 years' work, as her favorite contemporary poet, and a poet for people who are afraid of poetry. "She writes about marriage and children and sex and love and parents and being a mother and being a lover," Silva told Stamberg. "She has a very … sturdy, precise use of language. Very, very readable."

More of these independent booksellers' gift-giving suggestions can found on the NPR Web site.