From a sort of recent Publisher's Weekly, "A Day in the Life of a Book Publicist":8:30 a.m. Stop at Starbucks. Order venti latte and think about how ridiculous it is that the store sells The Kite Runner. Who hasn't read that yet?
8:46 a.m. Get on subway. Notice that the person sitting across from you is reading Eat, Pray, Love. Again, who hasn't read that yet?
I thought of this while sitting on the bus today reading Eat, Pray, Love, which I recently received as a gift from my oldest and dearest childhood friend. She wrote a lovely inscription, admitting that, yes, this was totally a commercial Starbucks kind of book, but that in it, Elizabeth Gilbert reminded her of a cross between the two of us. It was so sweet and thoughtful, how could I not pick it up immediately?
Still, I couldn't help but feel that at least one of my fellow commuters was probably judging me.
3 comments:
If it helps, I only got around to reading "The Kite Runner" the last two days.
And if you're the type who gets most books from the library (as we are), I think you're often late b/c it's so hard to get access to new books (unless you employees have secret ways). It usually takes me at least 6 months after a book comes out to get a hold of it.
I am pretty good at keeping up with forthcoming titles that I want to read, then stalking the library catalog like a puma until they show up so I can get a good spot on the waiting list.
But I never use my librarian powers to cut ahead of others. That is dirty pool.
Whenever I see a new book that sounds interesting, I put it on a list I keep of things I want to read and then keep an eye on the UNLV library system to see when it comes in. I don't like to get them if they're still really in demand, though, b/c then I might have one recalled or something and then only have it for 10 days, and that's annoying.
I have found, though, that the demand for books *I* think are fascinating isn't always as great as I would have presumed, so it's not as bad as waiting for a movie you want to see to come out on DVD.
I was at Wal-Mart again yesterday trying to pick out a book and I thought about "Eat, Love, Pray," but instead I grabbed "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian," by Sherman Alexie. It seemed fitting, me being in Oklahoma around my more-Indian mom and all.
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