Metro Pulse/Cover/Summer Reading Issue

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Voldemore
Harry Potter has captured the minds and wallets of most of the country. This is not a bad thing.

The Mayoral Reader
Hizzoner's tastes run to history and biography

A Literary Thread Runs through It
This year's list from the Taylor Prize screeners

A Community of Books

Opening the 'Dore Record
A history of sorts

Ignorance... Not Necessarily Bliss
Recounting a relationship that refuses to resume

A Community of Books
In which our Pulp lover goes to BEA in L.A. and connects

by Paul Lewis

There are two rules of thumb for trade shows. One, basically every industry known to man has a trade show, somewhere. Mouse-trap manufacturers probably have a trade show. Second, people like to go to places that are sunny and warm, so trade shows are quite popular in the Southern climes, in cities such as Las Vegas, New Orleans, and my current stomping grounds, Los Angeles. With these two rules in play, it was only a matter of time before Book Expo America, the publishing industry's fete of choice, made its way to the Los Angeles Convention Center, as it did on May 28-June 1.

Don't let a weekend of seminars, networking opportunities, luncheons, and general glad-handing fool you—BEA is about two things: making sales and building buzz, an all-too appropriate phrase considering the Tinseltown surroundings. Last year's bestseller, The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold, came out of BEA stirring up talk among booksellers, librarians, and their ilk, which translated into bookstore traffic. From the huge conglomerated publishers to the smallest of independent and university presses, what everyone wants to foster is an environment where their book is chosen as one worthy of praise and pocketbooks.

I was attending in my position as a reviewer for this esteemed publication (and as a sometimes-bookstore employee), so my quest was simple—find lots and lots of books to review in the coming months. The greatest thing about BEA is the piles and stacks and endless mounds of free books, new hardcovers and paperback advance reading copies, just awaiting passers-by. Pick one up, put it in your bag, take a bundle back to your car. Lather, rinse, repeat. The sight of people trundling through the aisles with three or four shopping bags hanging askew from their tautly extended arms was commonplace.

Despite the enthusiasm I felt and saw among attendees during this, my first BEA, reports were that this year's show was more sparsely attended than in years past, and publishers were disappointed with the lack of a true breakout titles. Sure, there's the Hillary Clinton book and the Harry Potter book, but as summer becomes autumn, what's out there? Following are a few books that appealed to me that will be coming out over the coming months:

The Wolves in the Walls by Neil Gaiman (HarperCollins). Hearing Gaiman, a Metro Pulse favorite, read his own work is a distinct pleasure. This book, illustrated by Dave McKean, is just as fun as the excellent The Day I Swapped My Dad For Two Goldfish. (Gaiman gives Metro Pulse credit for calling his Hugo award win for American Gods, by the way, as he waxed eloquent to his HarperCollins rep during his autograph session).

The Fortress of Solitude by Jonathan Lethem (Doubleday). One of America's finest young wordsmiths turns his pen to the decades-sweeping tale of childhood friends and social changes in his own inimitable style.

The Amulet of Samarkand by Jonathan Stroud (Miramax). Obviously influenced by the Harry Potter books, this "for kids but adults might like it, too" novel involves wizards and djinns in an alternate-reality London. Exactly the kind of high-concept stuff I can go ga-ga over, and Stroud's a heckuva nice guy.

Judgment Calls by Alafair Burke (Henry Holt). While I'm not usually a fan of female-centric legal thrillers, Burke's literary pedigree (she's James Lee Burke's daughter, and he is just simply one of the finest writers in the English language, bar none), warrants a bit of nepotistic readership for this Portland, Oregon-set mystery.

Edison and the Electric Chair by Mark Essig (Walker). Was Edison's invention of the electric chair a humane undertaking or a move to smear the credibility of bitter rival George Westinghouse?

Appalachian Lives by Shelby Lee Adams (University Press of Mississippi). Heartbreaking, textured follow-up to Appalachia Portraits and Appalachian Legacy. These photographs document the way life changes, yet ever stays the same, in rural Kentucky. Actually, this booth was among my favorites as UPM proudly represents The South with titles such as The Cajuns: The Americanization of a People and a new edition of the electrifying Juke Joint.

I also picked up a fresh-off-the-presses copy of Fluke by Christopher Moore, one of the funniest, most rewarding storytellers out there, and A Fistful of Rain by Greg Rucka, the best thriller writer you're not yet reading. Good stuff.

On a personal note, I was pleased as punch that Saturday was declared "Graphic Novel Saturday" by the BEA to highlight one of the biggest growing sections of most bookstores. As a vocal supporter of the comic book format, I was heartened to see the presence of publishers such as DC Comics (pushing the very cool books Barnum and Orbiters), Marvel Comics, Image Comics, CrossGen, Drawn & Quarterly, and Fantagraphics, among others. One of the most energetic areas in the entire convention center was the TokyoPop booth, proud publisher of a variety of manga (Japanese or Japanese-styled comics) trade paperbacks and perhaps the most rapidly growing publisher of bookstore-friendly comics.

besides the free books, interacting with creative types, and making professional connections, my most rewarding moment came when, after moving through an autograph line, I stopped, blinked, and recognized someone with whom I attended Knoxville's own Halls High School years ago, working at a booth for a book distributor in Nashville and making her own first trip to BEA. It made me think that the reason I'm so happy when I'm reading is not necessarily because I love the prose or the storytelling or the author's personality, but because I feel a connection with the other people who read and enjoy the same titles, some of them friends far away or near-forgotten. The community of books is a special thing, indeed.