Newsweek's "What to Read Now and Why" Display

Sharon, our magaczarina, was quite taken with Newsweek's "What to Read Now and Why" list in the July 13th issue. It's a really interesting collection of titles, that whether old or new, reflect on some issue of interest today. It's great to see Anthony Trollope's The Way We Live Now at #1, a classic novel of financial and moral crisis.

#2 is Lawrence Wright's 9/11 book, The Looming Tower. Prisoner of State is the controversial Chinese memoir at #3. But did you expect William Faulkner's The Bear at #5, "The best environmental novel every written?" Or how about Ayelet Waldman's Bad Mother at #25? (We sold a copy of Waldman's book this week off the display (below). No Great Gatsby for this list.

Sharon was particularly excited that The Elegance of the Hedgehog was at #45.

We made a snappy display, including a snappy sign. We've got a number of the fifty titles on hand, and several more on order. But where is American Journeys, by Don Watson? Seemingly out of print. And lots more is out of stock.

So in the old days, if this took off, titles would be reprinted, buzz would continue, all would be well. But what if the rights only go to Sony readers or Kindles and there is no printed copy, except for perhaps a print-on-demand, nonreturnable, short discount version? Eeks.

If nothing else, I'm hoping this display sells through my draw of Newsweeks. Hey, Michael Jackson's on the cover and it should already have flown out the door. But People is doing far better--we're already in double digits, which is pretty good for us.

I was hoping to link to the list, but it's not yet posted--you have to buy it! Good for them. Here's a link to Newsweek's site.