Names can sell books in a way good writing rarely does. How else would you explain the success of Jordan’s tomes? She at least, has the good grace to be blunt about the process – to paraphrase what I once heard her say – Of course I’m not going to pretend I wrote them. Then there’s the Richard and Judy effect – I’m sure many a good book has been missed by the programme’s researchers, just as many a good book has been passed over by the reading public just because it had one of those wretched stickers on it. Oprah has even greater power. Occasionally a good book develops a following by word of mouth – Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, Louis de Bernieres, was one of these, I believe.
I like to be guided in my book reading because life’s too short to browse bookshop shelves for every read and besides, who wants to pay £7.99 for something they can’t get through? Occasionally I’ve selected my reading material on the basis of the book jacket design (among my husband’s many talents is the creation of some of these). Sometimes this method of buying has worked out for me, but twice it has proved a disaster. I’m thinking of Twelve Bar Blues, Patrick Neate, and Everything is Illuminated, Jonathan Safran Foer. I admit, I do look for prize winners when I’m buying, that method served me well for Possession, A.S.Byatt, one of my all-time favourite reads. I have to say though, there’s nothing quite like a recommendation from someone whose taste you admire, (I’m thinking of Caroline, if she’s reading this) for a foolproof buy. Whatever she has chosen for our book group has been a success with me. Another friend raving about reading Dickens, from whom I’d been switched off as a child because of his “paid by the yard” approach to fiction writing, persuaded me to give him another try. I’m hooked. Just as you can be switched on to a writer’s other works by one good book, you can be switched off by a single bad offering. I bought two follow-up novels by a prolific modern author only to be disappointed. I now have her name etched into my brain to ensure I don’t make the same mistake again. I’m over her, dear reader. Another, mentioned elsewhere in my own blog, has disgraced herself in my view, by penning a work sold as historical biography, only to later admit it was fiction, based on an invitation she’d had to write up an ordinary woman’s diaries. I, who had loved the book, recommended it to others; they, buying later copies, were enlightened by an admission in the epilogue that my own early edition didn’t have. Her writing is no doubt still brilliant, it’s the duping I object to. I’ve neither bought nor recommended her work since, though I have three of her books on my shelves.
Tonight there’s a chance to debate book buying at Blackwell’s and as I write this I understand there are still tickets available for the event. Sir Ian Blair, former Metropolitan Police Commissioner, will be up for questioning, so will feminist writer and speaker Naomi Wolf. Modern day fairy story teller Ali Shaw will be on the panel, and of course, Roma Tearne – broadcaster Razia Iqbal will be chairing and keeping order.
Doors open at 6.45pm for a 7pm start.
Sandra
Roma's Residency 