In the COVID age, the knowledgeable book-seller has been deemed nonessential. And I get that: books are not as important as health care, food, and education. Booksellers do serve an important function, though. With over 300,000 new titles published each year, they can guide a buyer through the legions of available reads.
Consider, for instance, the difference between books and movies. Pre-Covid, there were about fifteen new movies released per week for a total of about 800 per year. By contrast, there was one recent Tuesday on which booksellers grappled with 600 new titles being released into stores. Let that sink in: there are as many new book titles published on one day as there are movies in a year. This is why it is numerically impossible to feel caught up on reading. Give up on that fantasy. It will never happen.
And, yet, there are a few tricks to navigate the stacks even without an available book-seller. One is to identify someone in your life whose taste you share. If you love books, you probably know someone who does too. Take recommendations from them. I often ask bibliophile friends to tell me their three favorite books. I’ve gotten some great ideas that way.
It’s also a good idea to bookmark a favorite blog. I read one from a woman my age who lives in TX. Although I don’t know her personally, we often have similar taste.
Finally, another useful shorthand are starred reviews. Unlike their sketchy first cousin, the blurb, starred reviews separate the wheat from the chaff in a comparatively objective way. The starred review is the equivalent of a knowledgeable book-seller: someone whose livelihood is dependent on assessing book quality without as much need to curry favor with professional contacts.
Two of the most famous starred reviews are Publishers Weekly and Kirkus. As it happens, two of my 2021 reads thus far have earned this accolade.
- This LA noir caught my eye in part because of the Kirkus starred review on its back cover. The protagonist works for the titular crime boss, a woman who sets up sting operations for show biz scoundrels. After successfully taking down a Weinstein type, they set their sights on a local politician. Because it’s noir, you can expect a double cross. What’s different here is that the betrayal has some genuine resonance. The style also had some bite. Getting nowhere in her pursuit of the Newsom-like mark, the narrator says, “What did I need to do, stick a hand down his pants?”
2. This novel got a starred review from Publishers Weekly, the trade magazine for the book world. Its protagonist, Camille, has returned to a small town in WA after serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. After she discovers the corpse of a young man, she is pulled into a local crime operation. Complicating matters, Camille suffers from PTSD. Her flashbacks are harrowing, as is the reality of her fractured family back home. Camille is a flawed protagonist with a certain grit. Her estrangement from Sophie, the daughter she left behind, is realistic and compelling. I also enjoyed the Pacific Northwest setting. What is it with small towns? They always have an underbelly.
Books Smitten 