Generally Horrible Questions: Scott Montgomery

MysteryPeople's Scott Montgomery

Our first bookseller profile for 2012 is the mystery guru and driving force behind MysteryPeople, the store-within-a-store at Austin's BookPeople.  Scott reads lots and lots of mysteries, the tougher the better.  (Secretly we think he loves The Cat Who series, but he won't cop to it.)  Let's ask him a bunch of questions and see if we can make the tough guy cry.

Generally Horrible Questions: Scott Montgomery

1.  How did you get into the bookselling business?
I was in LA's The Mystery Book Store so often I got mistaken for an employee. [That's funny--Liz is regularly mistaken for a Random House employee.]

2.  Favorite mystery/thriller of all time?

James Crumley's The Last Good Kiss. [...Yeah, we're not touching this one.]

3.  Three desert island books? 
Lonesome Dove, True Detective by Max Allan Collins, and HW Brands' great Theodore Roosevelt biography TR. All good, long books.

4.  What are you currently reading? 

I'm juggling four books--an involving thriller called The Dispatcher, James Carlos Blakes' engaging look at Missouri border guerrilla Bloody Bill Anderson, The Wildwood Boys, The Professionals which is living up to its hype, and Elmore Leonard's Raylan.

5.  What is your favorite part of your job?

Money for nothing and your chicks for free...oh wait, that was Dire Straits cover band days. The friendships with the authors and customers. [Gianna claims to see Scott chatting up the ladies all the time.  They MAY be talking about books....]

6.  What books changed your life? 

Swag by Elmore Leonard, The Day The Cowboys Quitby Elmer Kelton, Reed Farrel Coleman's Walking The Perfect Square. [So...no Nora Roberts writing as J.D. Robb?]

7.  What is your second favorite bookstore? 

Murder By The Book in Houston. Like any good niche bookstore they're out there to promote the genre and not just sell stuff.

Scott with author
Reed Farrel Coleman

8.  What did you want to be when you grew up?

A veterinarian.  [Great! Someone can start administering Zorro's medications!]

9.  I have never read ______________ and I'm so ashamed.

Jackie Collins.

10. The most important question on the list: Liz or Gianna?

Liz. It's that warm, open personality. [The correct answer is always Liz.]

11. Choose one: Craig LaMorte (Gianna’s nephew), Craig Johnson, Craig T. Nelson, Craigslist, Daniel Craig,  Craig Biggio or you know what the hell….Larry Craig?

Author Craig Johnson

Selling Craig Johnson's books pays my rent, so I'll so with him. That said, I'm a big fan of James Bond and Coach. [What, no love for Mr. Wide Stance?]

12. Which mystery series should we all be reading? 

Reed Farrel Coleman's Moe Prager series. I always suggest the first book, Walking The Perfect Square, when people say the genre can't be literary. It suppresses my instinct to yell or punch. 

13. Last good non-mystery book you’ve read?

HW Brands' American Dreams;  great look at the US from the atomic bomb to Obama.

14. Coolest author you’ve ever met? 

You two broads are trying to get me into trouble since many of my friends are authors. Outside of the writers I normally hang out with, George Pelecanos. He's the definition. The man writes, walks, and talks cool. [Scott is the only person who can call us 'broads' and not risk injury.]

15. If you could be any detective in any novel, who would it be? Please don’t say Stephanie Plum….

Since the best detective writers have haunted or wounded heroes, I'd be Richard Prather's Shell Scott. He was oddly good looking with a white buzz cut and piece of his ear cut, drove a cool car, always had a great quip, never seemed to want for cash, and slept with at least two great looking babes in under 180 pages. Don't know if I'd want to be him when the was naked on top of the hot air balloon. [There's a mental image that'll linger.....] 

Here's Scott recommending blog pal Taylor Stevens' newest book and upcoming MysteryPeople at BookPeople event.

Keep Austin Noir.

Quick Questions: Holiday Giving

We asked some of our pals in the book business two questions--1. What is the best book you received as a gift this holiday season? and 2. What is the best book you gave/sold?  Here are some of the answers.

Seth Ransom Osborn– musician, BookPeople bookseller, pal of Vanny (pictured)  

Gave: Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey.

Seth's pal Vanny

Received - I got a pretty ok picture book of Big Bend but that's it. I bought myself a copy of The Way to Start a Day by Byrd Baylor. It's real pretty.

Alison Kothe Nihlean – Mother of two and BookPeople bookseller

Books I gave as presents this christmas:

Bossypants on cd

Chris

Plenty by Ottolenghi

I Want My Hat Back by Klassen

Books I loved to hand sell:

The Tiger's Wife

Cutting For Stone

Home Field

Homesick Texan Cookbook

Chris Hoyt -- BookPeople receiving guy and proud Texan

The only book I was gifted this year was a Jack Chick tract from a well dressed hobo squatting near the Walgreen's Redbox. It was the perfect gift.

Elaine in the snow.

As for gifts given, I've lost count of how many copies of Dobie's Tales of Old Time Texas I've given to people. Strangers often stop me on the street asking how is it that I have come to embody all that is rugged and handsome and utterly Texas. To this I reply Dobie. 

Elaine “Lainey” Rathgeber – Sales representative for Southern Territory Associates and tennis nut

One of the best books I gave (because the recipient was so happy to get it) was The Art of Fielding and one of the best books I received was Rules of Civility.

Charley's pal Ophelia

Charley Carroll – Barnes & Noble Bookseller, community relations manager and generally cool person

You probably already know my book of the year...Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss. I handsold his first, The Name of the Wind, dozens of times and gifted it to my brother. Sadly, I did not receive any books as gifts.

Elizabeth Jordan – BookPeople book buyer and woman after Gianna’s heart

Best received: A signed first printing of The Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri. (It's the best not only because it was the only one I got).

Elizabeth...and a firearm.

Best given: The Complete Pogo Strips Volume 1 by Walt Kelly. My 80 year-old grandmother is obsessed with Pogo - quotes it all the time. She's not reading much anymore so it was great to see her so excited about a book again.

                         


John Kwiatkowski, Anne Kimbol and Matt Keogh from Murder by the Book in Houston 

Apparently, our friends and family don't seem to love any of us. None of us got books as gifts this year.

Anne’s book that she gave/and hand sold the most was Death Comes to Pemberley by PD James.

John, who loves Celine Dion

The book Matt --gave was The Friends of Eddie Coyle be George Higgins.

I (John) gave my nieces and nephews a big box of some of my favorite YA books for Christmas. Here's what was in it: Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr, Spellwright by Blake Charlton, Heist Society by Ally Carter, The Oracles of Delphi Keep and The Curse of the Deadman's Forest by Victoria Laurie, Stormbreaker by Anthony Horowitz, and Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl.

Michele Sulka -- Liz's Random House rep partner for Colorado

Best received: A Storm of Swords, otherwise known as Book # 3 in George Martin’s Song of Ice and Fire series, because I have gone completely batshit crazy for these books. Can you say batshit on your blog? [We've certainly said worse.  You go with your batshit self!] I flew through book #2 and made it known that if book 3 wasn’t immediately at the ready when I needed it, there might be violence. People have described the series as The Lord of the Rings but with lots of sex, and that’s pretty accurate, but I like to think of it as The Sopranos with swords. And dragons. And lots of sex.

I gave a copy of Jerry Spinelli’s Stargirl to my best friend’s daughter, who is 11 and reads constantly. We’re not sure where she got it because neither of her parents are great readers but she devours books and she’s in love with Jerry. She called to thank me and was so excited that it was one of the best moments of the whole holiday season for me.

Jeremy Ellis – Store Manager, Brazos Bookstore

Jeremy

Danielle wins the prize for giving me the best books this year. First, a beautiful edition of James and the Giant Peach in French, because we like to imagine we can read/comprehend the French. And second, an amazing craft edition of Rimbaud's A Season in Hell, in French and English, translation by Nick Sarno. 

I gave lots of copies of Schott's Quintessential Miscellany (at least 6) because they're endlessly fascinating and everyone can find something neat inside. The book I enjoyed handselling most was We Need a Horse by Sheila Heti, painted by Clare Rojas from McSweeney's Press. It's not for everyone, but for those who connect with the fable, it is the among the most remarkable illustrated books they have ever read.

Danielle Dubois Dimond – Bookseller and buyer at Brazos Bookstore

Danielle

BEST BOOK I RECEIVED THIS HOLIDAY - The best book(s) I received this year were first editions of three volumes of Anais Nin's Diaries.  I don't believe the whole set is still in print, so my husband did a little local used-book sleuthing for me.  I love reading authors' diaries because, as a writer myself, I'm really interested in what's going on behind the scenes with an artist's creative process.  Nin's diaries are kind of the holy grail because not only are they beautifully written, exhaustive, and subtly psychedelic, but they're naughty as hell, too.  High-brow wank material is clearly where it's at.

BOOK I HANDSOLD THE MOST - Definitely The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes - we actually sold so many copies of that one that the Knopf editors sent me a signed copy!  I read this one immediately because the super-savvy book club I run at Brazos wanted to check the new Man Booker winner out as soon as this year's prize was announced.  It blew me away.  Barnes is a serious and intellectually rigorous writer who still manages to keep the pages turning.  His ruminative exploration of memory, responsibility, and age stood out from the crowd immediately as a "grown up" book - something we don't see a whole lot of these days, to be frank.  I certainly didn't sell the book to anyone looking for light and fluffy reading, but then again Brazos isn't known for light and fluffy!  The fact that book is so short seemed to help me sell it as well; shorter books tend to make better gifts, and even those customers who were apprehensive about reading something "serious" felt that they could weather it for 130 pages.  Almost everyone I've spoke to who's read the book has read it twice through.  A definite Brazos favorite.

Toni and Pat Conroy

Toni Hetzel -- Liz's Random House rep partner for Texas and Mississippi

I didn’t get any books for the holidays. I think people are reluctant to give them to me because I work in the industry. However, I set aside a copy of The Sense of an Ending to read during my break and loved it. A wonderful present to myself!

I, in the guise of Santa, gave my kids books for Christmas this year and the one they’ve loved the most is the National Geographic Ultimate Weird But True. 

Nicole Magistro -- Owner of The Bookworm of Edwards in Edwards, Colorado

Are you kidding? Bookstore owners never receive books for Christmas. It's a travesty!

My favorite book sold was Peter Sis's Conference of the Birds. A work of art, and a book that can't be duplicated on a digital reader. Just feel that paper quality!

Kester Smith -- BookPeople bookseller

Kester, Harry, and Rachel

I didn't get one book this holiday. I don't get books MOST holidays.

One of the (very few) downsides of being a bookseller in the know is that people don't think to buy me books or are intimidated by the idea of buying me books. They think of ME as the guy who gets THEM books (which I am). Best book I gave? Pulphead. To more than one person. Best book I hand-sold? Same. To around 25 or so customers.

Not that you asked, but my best sale was The Red Book by Carl Jung. A customer came to my register and saw it sitting behind me (where we keep the $200 books) and asked, "Hey, is that The Red Book?" When I responded in the affirmative, he said, "I've heard it's cool." My response was then, "It is. You should buy it." And he did.

Lisa Newman --bookseller and blog princess, Lemuria Books in Jackson, Mississippi

1. Sadly, nobody gave me a book.

2. I think the best book I sold was 1Q84.

Maggie

Maggie Lowery Stevenson -- bookseller, Lemuria Books

Since I started working at Lemuria no one gives me books anymore so I have to give them to myself.  This year I gave myself the Delta Magazine Cookbook.

I sold many books over the holidays, but probably the ones I sold the most copies of were The Keeper of Lost Causes by Jusi Adler Olsen, The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, Catherine the Great by Robert K. Massie, and Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward.  I also I am very proud that I was able to sell 7 copies of Crafting with Cat Hair by Kaori Tsutaya! [...No comment.]

Joe's son

Joe Hickman -- Bookseller, events guy, manager type, Lemuria Books, self-described "bad ass"

1.  You know no one even gave me a book. I think it's like giving a florest flowers - people are afraid to. Except I know other booksellers get books so maybe it's me - maybe I'm an ass. Actually, I didn't get too many gifts so....

2. 1Q84 

Clint Carroll -- BookPeople bookseller

I didn't get any books for Christmas, but I bought myself a copy of The Collected Plays Of Tennessee Williams, and I love it. I gave only one book this year and it was Home Field, published by UT Press!

Nolan Fellows -- BookPeople bookseller and talented artist

Nolan

I didn't get any books for Christmas, which isn't much of a surprise. My tastes are quite picky when it comes to books, movies, records, etc.

The book I love to tell people about and would give when I need to is How Soon is Never by Marc Spitz. It's a really great, quick read perfect for anyone who has ever loved music or a band way too much.

Gianna -- Book Land Adventurer, most willing to dispose of Liz's body in a remote location

Books I gave this year - I gave the photography book Timeless Mexico to my brother Chris, the Stephen King novel 11/22/1963 to my brother Ron. I gave my father the latest John Grisham  (The Litigators)and the ESPN book Those Guys Have all the Fun. I also gave my mother the latest Stephanie Plum book - she loves the series - and I bought my girlfriend a Running Press book called Upcycling...which she asked for...I think it's a crafty book which scares me.

I received two excellent books. One from Lizzy and one from the old lady. Liz gave me a signed first edition of the Diane Keaton memoir Then Again. I haven't read it as I don't want to mess it up. Hoping someone else will give me a unsigned 3rd edition so I can actually read it. My girlfriend gave me a truly cool book published by Lonely Planet called The Cities Book. I think she wants me to be smarter. To her I say good luck.

Liz and Gianna...awkwardly.

I also gave signed copies of Molly Shannon's children's book Tilly the Trickster to my best friend Lulu (who is a real choo choo charlie), and to my little friend Eleanor who is a class act.

I gave myself It Chooses You by Miranda July and an Art of Fielding UK first edition. I also gave myself a hangover on Jan 1st. My first in years.

Liz -- Book Land Adventurer, Gianna's foil

Despite repeated hints, no one gave me the $200 art book on my list.  I could be a little bitter.  I did receive some non-Random House books (I don't ask for RH books since I read them for work), including Birds of Paradise by Diana Abu-Jabar and Stone Arabia by Dana Spiotta.

I gave quite a few books this year, including Gianna's signed Diane Keaton memoir.  I managed to part with a signed first printing of Interpreter of Maladies; I considered keeping it for myself.  I also gave copies of In the Garden of Beasts, The Destiny of the Republic, and The Sisters Brothers...and about 10 other books.  I mostly give books because I mostly want books in return.

Generally Horrible Questions: Anne Kimbol

Look, a picture of Anne!

Anne Kimbol is the manager at Murder By the Book in Houston.  If Murder By the Book were the TV show King of the Hill, Anne is the Hank Hill of Strickland Propane.  She's not the loudest or most outrageous, but she's the steady hand that keeps the ship afloat.  Anne's a great reader and generally the type of person you want to hang around, even though she owns two pugs.  I have my issues with dogs that look like self-mutilators.

And another picture of Anne!

We sent her our silly little questionnaire and Anne kindly agreed to play along.  A note about the process--we send out a survey of 15 questions and ask for a picture to include.  Anne quickly answered the questions even though she's sick today, but she responded that "I don't believe in pictures of myself."  Gianna immediately called me to discuss this sentence.  I mean, Gianna doesn't believe in the Easter Bunny, and I don't believe in doing housework when there are books to be read, but we're both pretty certain that photographs exist.  Let's just say that our general opinions about Anne's sanity were drawn into question.  Let's poke some more holes in this mystery-loving bookseller's professional facade and see if we can dig up photographic proof of her existence.

Generally Horrible Questions: Anne Kimbol

1. How did you get into the bookselling business?

By accident. I was working at University of Houston Law School and became a customer at Murder By the Book. I was curious about the business and started working part-time to help with signings. Now I am full-time, and they are stuck with me.

2. What's the best experience you've had working at the bookstore?

Tie between meeting Jim Butcher and meeting Bob Crais. [I'm sure that Anne meant to include "...after the day that I met Liz and Gianna.  She's sick today.  The fever, I'm certain, made her forget this sentence.]

3. What book(s) changed your life?

This is humiliating
for any animal...

Ngaio Marsh's books gave me my love of mysteries. Mystic Arts of Erasing All Signs of Death by Charlie Huston and Urban Waite's Terror of Living reminded me of just how expansive and amazing the genre can be.

4. What are you currently reading?

Lauren Willig's Orchid Affair

5. What’s the deal with your pugs?  How much would we have to pay you to name one “Undergarment Varmint?"

...and I'd never place
Zorro in such attire.

Pugs are the best, most ridiculous creatures on the planet. Money would not be required, merely a funny story involving one of the boys and underwear. [Ummmm....Anne dressed her dogs as dinosaurs for Halloween; underwear shouldn't be a stretch for the little gargoyles.  Also, Anne believes in dressing dogs for Halloween, but not in pictures of herself.]

6. Would you rather....Sherlock Holmes (Robert Downey Jr) or Jack Reacher (Tom Cruise) or Tom Ripley (Matt Damon/John Malkovich)?

Man of Anne's Dreams

Robert Downey Jr. [According to a MBTB customer who called the store yesterday, Holmes's hat is called a 'cocksucker hat.'  I'm not joking about this.  Nice choice there, Anne.]

7. What's the biggest lie ever told by a sales rep?

Undoubtedly one I haven't caught on to yet.

8. What's your second favorite bookstore?

BookPeople in Austin

9. Gianna or Liz?

Robert Downey Jr. [Gianna: clearly she means Gianna ...she is the one with a dark past.] [Liz:  Everyone knows that 'Liz' is the correct answer to question #9.  Also, I'm obviously Robert Downey Jr. because I'm the straight one.  Gianna...is Tom Cruise.]

10. The most depressing book you've ever read?

The Old Man and the Sea. Love Hemingway, but the man could be long and depressing when the mood inspired him.

11. I've never read ____________.  And I'm so ashamed.

Dorothy Sayers

12. I once read ____________.  And I’m so ashamed.

Some of the Harlequins my mother kept around the house. [Yeah, you should be ashamed of that.]

Great book.

13. Worst job you’ve ever had. 

Re-alphabetizing all the files in a law firm's filing room.

14. I wanted to be a ________ when I grew up.

A kept woman.  [....Ummmm....I'm sure Gianna can help you with that.]

15. _____________ is my favorite book ever.

Einstein's Dreams

10 Cool Things: Murder By the Book

This week we're focusing our Holmes-y magnifying glass on our favorite mystery bookstore, Murder By the Book in Houston, Texas.  Murder By the Book is located on Bissonnet St, on the block between Kirby and Greenbriar, and is legendary in the mystery community as one of the best stores in the country.  McKenna Jordan and her terrific staff are some of our favorite people.


Here's why we love Murder By the Book:

1. These crazy bastards are passionate about books. Ask for a recommendation and you will get a honest answer. Lord knows they've never worried about hurting our feelings about books we've tried to sell them.... [Actually, they love all of my, Liz's, books.  Gianna's, not so much....]


2. Shop here once and you will be convinced of two things:   Independent Bookstores rock
McKenna is hot

Hey McKenna, watch out for Gianna!

3. These guys have mind-blowing author signings - and they have the authors before they become huge. In other words, if you're a book collector, keep your eye on their events page.


4. They are of course a mystery book shop, but when the staff is really in love with a non-mystery you will know it (and so will the author)!


5. Two Words: Jack Reacher. 

...Not that Jack Reacher....

This is the Jack Reacher we love!

6. These guys can party. For example, say you went to Vegas with one or more of the staff...chances are someone is going to accidentally get married (note to self... invite McKenna to Vegas).

7. These guys have their fingers on the pulse of what is about to explode; we will never forget the day at MBTB when we were told about how popular Harry Hole had become!


8. Store has only had to close a couple of times due to hurricanes...so you know...it's totally safe.

Hanni-bear Lector

9. They love the bestsellers, and they love the no-name noir pulp from 1953 that only your grandfather owned.  No one we know knows more about the genre.


10. Some stores have employees.  Murder By the Book, the staff is family--sometimes literally in the case of McKenna and her mom Brenda.  They love working with each other, though, and it's obvious.  And they open this family up to their customers and authors, too. 

Robert Crais hanging out with the MBTB family.

"The Best Book I Ever Received": Book Industry Folks Pick Their Holiday Favorites, Part 1

As the holiday season kicks into full gear, I’m once again reminded that the gift I most want—more books—is the one I’m least likely to receive. Just because I work in the book business doesn’t mean that I don’t NEED more books. I’m convinced that anyone who works beyond the college part-time job level in the book industry is in it for the love of the product (just as I’m convinced that anyone who makes a career of it is mentally not-right). It’s more than a job. Give us our books!


To that end, I asked a few booksellers to tell me the best book they ever received as a gift. Gianna says she’s going to ask her mom, too, and that Gianna’s mom will probably recommend “porn.” Something to eagerly anticipate!

Sara Glassman sells books at The Little Professor Book Center in Homewood, Alabama. Sara actually had several recommendations:


Dead Men Do Tell Tales by William Maples

This is a really engaging book about forensic anthropology. If you've got a "Bones" fan who likes the nitty gritty this is great for them! I got it when I was 15 and it actually set me on the course that ended with a graduate degree in Anthropology. Maples is great at balancing detail with anecdote and gives insight into cases as varied as identifying the Romanovs to the murders of Ted Bundy.

D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Mythology by Ingri & Edgar Parin D'Aulaire

My mom gave me a copy of this when I was very young, six or seven maybe. I'd checked it out from the library 10 times by the time she bought it for me. I loved Greek mythology. I knew the names of the Olympians before I knew the names of the Seven Dwarves. It's still one of my favorite books to sell so that I can introduce more people to these wonderful stories.

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley
This is cheating a little since it was a "gift" from Toni Hetzel (Toni is my Gianna for stores east of the Mississippi River, selling books to the stores in the Deep South, and a big fan of Juicy Couture), but I was having really bad week and I mentioned it to her when she was here for a meeting. She went out to her car and got an ARC (advance reading copy) of Sweetness and handed it to me. I started reading it then on my lunch break and it was the first thing that week that made me smile.

Brian Contine is a bookseller at BookPeople in Austin, Texas, who happens to be married to the store’s adult book buyer. He’s also a skilled amateur chef, a skill his wife joyfully exploits. Here’s Brian’s advice for holiday book giving:


In this season of giving, is there a way I can make it a little about me? Yes. Give your spouse a cookbook and you'll win every time. A couple of years ago, my wife gave me a copy of Simon Hopkinson's Roast Chicken and Other Stories. Hopkinson is the British Alice Waters, creating succinct, refined, homestyle recipes which will challenge the cook and warm the belly. I suggest Salade Frisee Aux Lardons. If it matters to you, and it should, this is the best written cookbook I've ever read, you could read it cover to cover without cooking a thing and feel full.

Anne Kimbol is an expert in a particular genre, mystery, working at Houston’s elite specialty store Murder By the Book. Nonetheless, the best book she ever received as a gift transcends genre boundaries:

A friend of mine gave me a copy of Einstein's Dreams by Alan Lightman. I have since given it as a gift to many friends. It is a book about different theories of time told as dreams of Einstein's. I know that sounds terribly boring, but the writing really brings you into the worlds Lightman created on Einstein's behalf. It is still the book I go to when I really need an escape from the everyday craziness of life.

Check back for other picks from some of the biggest book lovers in the country…and Gianna’s mom.

Gianna's Thoughts on the Passing of a Bookselling Legend

Two weeks ago longtime bookseller David Thompson of Murder By the Book passed away unexpectedly. Yesterday a celebration of his life was held at the Briar Club in Houston and hundreds of people--including authors such as Lee Child and Robert Crais--gathered to pay respects, drink margaritas, and swap David stories. Gianna was unable to attend, so she composed this piece to be read at the gathering if there was the opportunity. Because the...party? wake? shindig?...was pretty informal and no one spoke, such an opportunity did not arise. Therefore, we are sharing her tribute to our friend David in this space. Here is what she wrote:

It’s been an incredibly difficult couple of weeks; just when I think the shock will wear off it just doesn’t. In the first few days after David’s death I found myself continually looking at his and the Murder by the Book Facebook pages – you’ve all seen the dozens and dozens of posts – everyone from famous bestselling authors to book lovers who never met David in person, it is truly remarkable. There was another post on Sept. 15th that I have thought about every single day – often more than once a day – it is a post that took strength, grace, kindness and enormous generosity. It simply read, “Thank you all,” and it was posted by McKenna. Just to know she felt us with her helped a little bit.

I am proud to work in books – proud of the way the staff at Blue Willow, Book People, and Sally at Brazos across the street (who knew David so long), and even stores across the country reached out. The staff at Murder by the Book has been, I have no words, very strong I guess, a real tribute to David. Anne, we depended on you for news, and everything else. I don’t know how you did it. This news truly rocked Random House, I got calls from editors and publicists – some crying on the phone. Ours is a business, and often the participants in the business of publishing books are required to be tough, consummate professionals, but my god they loved David. We really are a family – the kind of family that can’t borrow cash from each other because you know – we all work and books and make crappy money!

Now I want to talk about David possibly being a cross dresser. When someone dies, events, conversations, break down into such small moments for me – and I have been really focused on one in particular. One day, not too terribly long ago, David said, pretty casually, more casually than one would expect from anyone else but he said, “I sometimes accidently wear McKenna’s clothes to work.” I should point out that we weren’t in a confessional or even alone. McKenna, Brenda (David’s mother in law) and I were all in the back talking about I don’t know what but I am sure the topic wasn’t wearing each others clothes. Anyway, I said “What do you mean?” and David went on to say that McKenna buys these oversized Oxford shirts she likes to lounge around in and sometimes when he is in a hurry he just grabs one and goes to work, and later at some point McKenna will see him and say in a sort of sad but not totally surprised voice, “Oh David… that’s my shirt.” So I asked David if he has done it more than once and he was pretty proud to say yes, definitely more than once he “accidently” wore his wife’s clothes. I pointed out that once was an accident, twice was unfortunate and you know more than that is just cross dressing. Brenda had her back to David and I remember so so clearly looking at her and she was organizing books sort of shaking her head and had the sweetest smile on her face, and just by looking at her you knew she adored this guy. That’s one of my favorite moments, McKenna and I laughing – tears in my eyes, Brenda with that sweet smile and David trying to convince us it wasn’t weird.

One last thing. I last saw David on Sept 9th at the store, I just stopped in to chat and joke around for a bit and David talked about how excited he was to meet Dean Koontz in October. I was about to leave and then in the frantic passionate voice we all know from David he said, “wait wait come here!” We went to a shelf he picked up a book handed it to me and insisted I would love it. And that was that. . The last time I saw David he put a book in my hand – pretty perfect.

A Loss in Book Land

Earlier this week the book world suffered a major blow when longtime bookseller David Thompson passed away unexpectedly. David worked at Murder By the Book in Houston, one of the country's preeminent mystery bookstores, for 21 years--his entire adult life--and to call him a legend in the industry is not an exaggeration.

I don't know how to comprehend this tragedy. Others knew him better, longer, shared more in common. Still, I miss him. His death seems so terribly unfair. I grieve for him and for the pain felt by his family, friends, and everyone who ever came into contact with him. To know David was to love him.

I knew of "David at Murder By the Book," as my sales reps referred to him in telling me stories, back when I was a buyer at BookPeople and long before I ever met him. Someone so respected and with so much experience--I was shocked when I finally did meet him (in my capacity as a rep for Random House) years later, shocked that David was my age, in his 30's. The book industry by-and-large is a world populated primarily by an old guard of the stalwarts who've run the best stores and the best presses for decades, and then another group of the young booksellers making less than $10 an hour hocking their favorites while figuring out what to do with their lives. David was that rare individual who was experienced but not embittered, young but not looking for "a real job," a man who'd found his love as a 17 year old stocking shelves at a mystery bookstore and made it his life.

Another first impression of David: Gianna and I were escorting one of our New York bosses to stores around Texas, and because we were in Houston we took her to Murder By the Book. At the time, MBTB was a telephone sales account, so I wasn't actually selling to the store and felt a little awkward walking through the door as a stranger...who only lived three blocks away. I needn't have worried. David was in his element and swept all of us into a tour of the store and a discussion of his favorite books, and ours. I wasn't a mystery reader and worried that I would be lost in his world, but the opposite was the case. He accepted everyone, drew out others' passions, and found commonalities to bond people together. In his delightful dorkiness and infectious enthusiasm, it was impossible to feel out of place in his company and in the store. That visit was also special because David and MBTB's new owner McKenna Jordan were about to fly to Scotland to get married, and both of them were giddy about the trip and their obvious love for each other.

When I moved to Houston a year earlier after I accepted the Random House job, I despaired at my disconnection to people in the city; I worked from home but travelled frequently, I don't like organized social gatherings, I didn't have a preexisting group of friends. I had met a few booksellers and eased into a new life straddling my new, isolated life in Houston and my old life in Austin with my friends. David and McKenna unknowingly acted as a bridge between these worlds. They made me feel welcome, they laughed at the same things, they worried about the same issues (to be in your 30's and looking at the rapid changes in the industry and ponder your chances for a career in this business--it's a daunting vision of the future). I counted them as friends. I loved giving David a hard time--he and McKenna joined Gianna and me for an Astros game earlier this year and David insisted that McKenna bring a glove to protect him from foul balls--and he loved the exchanges.

I have never met a more passionate bookseller than David Thompson. He possessed an innocence in his boyish enthusiasm for what he loved--books, authors, and sharing the joy of reading--that was entirely unique and beautiful. David was supposed to attend a dinner the night of his death, a dinner I was hosting along with a group of people representing Other Press, and I'd specifically wanted him there because everyone in the industry needed to know him and know that the written word had such passionate advocates. He was loved by his customers, he was loved by his sales reps, he was loved by the publicists with whom he booked signings, he was loved by the authors, he was loved by his fellow booksellers, and he was loved by family and friends. I am a better person, a better book rep, and a better reader because I knew David Thompson, even if only for a couple of years. I've missed him every day this week, and I don't anticipate the longing to see an email pop up in my inbox or hear his voice on my phone to ease any time soon.

Read a mystery in David's memory this weekend and drink a margarita. He would have liked that.

Well I Never!

It's been awhile. I beg forgiveness. Gianna is working on something for the blog that involves her tendency to scatter underwear like Johnny Appleseed across hotels far and wide, and I do hope that I'm earning double Hilton Honors Points every time I pass through a hotel where Gianna has previously stopped. It seems only fair considering what I might find.

Anyway, recently I've been playing with an idea that popped up when Doubleday announced the publication of THE ANGEL'S GAME, the new book by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. He's the guy who wrote SHADOW OF THE WIND, and I know there are a ton of fans for SHADOW. I've actually never read the first book, but I did read and enjoy ANGEL'S GAME. It's published in June and should be humongous. The book, like SHADOW, is set in Barcelona and is full of book lover delights like the cemetary of lost books, a catacombs of books left and taken. You bring a book to leave, you take one that calls to you. It's a great idea. Here's another great idea: Spain has a holiday, La Diada de Sant Jordi, or St. George's Day, where it is customary to give a book and a rose to a loved one, on April 23rd. We need this holiday in the US! Gianna and I have been playing with this idea of lost books and rediscovering books that aren't lauded on Good Morning America or Oprah here and now. How great would it be if every bookstore in the US set up a display for this St. George's Day, and sold their favorite books to give to loved ones? It's like Christmas, except in my case I'd get something I actually want.

All of this lost book thinking led me to all of those books out there I've never read. For example, in the last few months we've started selling to a terrific mystery book store in Houston, Murder By the Book. I actually haven't read many mysteries in my life. As a kid I read mostly American lit classics because those were the books I could get in podunk East Texas without a bookstore or Amazon. In college I focused mostly on the English masters and came late to the wonders of contemporary literary fiction, which is one of my two book passions. While I enjoy mysteries as movies (and the darker the better), I'm just now coming to the genre in book form. I've read read Raymond Chandler or Dashiell Hammett or James Cain. I just last week read my first James Ellroy book (BLOOD'S A ROVER, which releases in fall 2009). In the last year, with Stieg Larsson's amazing thriller GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO and a book about to come out called THE SWEETNESS AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PIE, I'm really starting to embrace mysteries into my literary comfort zone.

There are other authors whose company I have yet to keep. There's a new biography out called CHEEVER, about the life of John Cheever, and though I should have, I've never read any of his stories or novels. In fact, many of those masters writing between World War II and, say, 1990, are new to me. I think I was born too late to read them on release and too early for them to be taught in my college classes, so there's a gap. I've read some Updike, but not the Rabbit series, just the last few novels. I've never read CATCH 22. I've read more of the women writers from that time, and Joyce Carol Oates, Muriel Spark, and Margaret Atwood are some of my favorite writers.

This St. George's Day, I'm going to celebrate by giving a book to a loved one (me), and reading one of these books that I've missed thus far in my journey. I don't know what yet--I'm willing to take suggestions. Maybe I'll read one of Gianna's favorite books, THE THINGS THEY CARRIED. It's supposed to be terrific. Never read it.

Random sighting while traveling in Lewisville, Texas, yesterday: I passed an out of business barbecue joint called Sugar Babies, which looked like a barn and featured a morbid, cartoon pig feasting on a rack of ribs (isn't that cannibalism?) on its sign. Sugar Babies also had one of those marquee signs where you can advertise specials. The specials were still posted, and the first was "'Sonic' like ice, only 99 cents!" So, the best lure this restaurant could come up with was that they had an ice machine that spewed crunchy ice like that found at Sonic Drive-Ins? No wonder the place went under. Awesome.