NPR Features Independent Booksellers' Holiday Picks

Last week on National Public Radio's Morning Edition, Susan Stamberg and several independent booksellers gave NPR listeners a gift -- a roster of favorite titles unlike those on any bestseller list. The three booksellers interviewed for "Independent Booksellers Make Their Holiday Picks" were Rona Brinlee of The Book Mark in Atlantic Beach, Florida; Lucia Silva of Portrait of a Bookstore in Studio City, California; and Chuck Robinson of Village Books in Bellingham, Washington. Each offered several on-air picks, with additional selections featured on the NPR website.

Rona Brinlee, who has been interviewed by Stamberg several times, said that each time is "a treat. Customers come in and say, 'I heard you on the radio!' It's a nice opportunity to be able to do that. It's one of those great presents in life."

Brinlee noted that talking books with Stamberg, who chooses two or three titles from the booksellers' shortlist to include on Morning Edition, is made easier, because Stamberg "has a wonderful voice and laugh that puts you at ease." Brinlee's on air selections were Rereadings: Seventeen Writers Revisit Books They Love, edited by Anne Fadiman (FSG), and Poetry Speaks to Children, edited by Elise Paschen and others (Sourcebooks MediaFusion).

For Chuck Robinson, who has appeared many times on local Washington television and radio stations to discuss books, this was his national debut. Robinson chose to read a selection from Ursula Under by Ingrid Hill (Penguin).

"It was a fun thing to do," said Robinson, who was contacted by customers and friends from all over the country who happened to catch him on their local NPR station. He also e-mailed the NPR link in his e-bulletin to customers and said that he noticed a surprisingly high click-through rate.

Robinson's other on-air pick was Hungry Planet: What the World Eats by Peter Menzel and Faith D'Aluisio (Ten Speed Press).

Lucia Silver, who contributes to Stamberg's list twice a year, once during the holidays and once in late spring for "Beach Reads," said that each list is always an "interesting, very different, off-the-beaten path mix." She added, "I thought Rona's picks were fabulous, and Chuck's picks I loved.

"I love participating in the Morning Edition show, even though it makes me terribly nervous. We're so lucky to be able to do this every year. It's great for our store and for other independent booksellers."

Silva's on-air picks were In Memory of My Feelings by Frank O'Hara (Museum of Modern Art), from which Silva read the last few lines of the poem "The Day Lady Died," about reaction to the death of Billie Holiday. For a holiday story, Silva tapped A Christmas Memory by Truman Capote (Knopf), which she described as an "embroidered memory" that can be read every Christmas and other times of year "no matter who you are or what you celebrate." --Karen Schechner

Additional selections featured on the NPR website are:

Rona Brinlee:

• The Accidental Masterpiece: The Art of Life and Vice Versa by Michael Kimmelman (Penguin Press)
• Solo: My Adventures in the Air by Clyde Edgerton (Algonquin)
• The Reasons I Won't Be Coming by Elliot Perlman (Riverhead)

Chuck Robinson:

• The Complete Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson (Andrews McMeel)
• Democracy's Edge: Choosing to Save Our Country by Bringing Democracy to Life by Frances Moore Lappe (Jossey-Bass)
• An Unfinished Life by Mark Spragg (Vintage)
• The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst (Bloomsbury USA)

Lucia Silver:

• Chip Kidd: Book 1: Work: 1986 - 2006 by Chip Kidd (Rizzoli)
• The Penguin Great Ideas Series (Penguin)
• Norton Anthology of Children's Literature: The Traditions in English, edited by Jack Zipes (Norton)